Woman, child killed in ethnic violence in Assam

Haflong , July 6 A Dimasa woman and her child were killed today by suspected Zemi Nagas tribals in continued ethnic violence in Assam&aposs trouble-torn North Cachar Hills district.

Official sources said the woman and child were killed while they were returning from their jhum fields in Natunwari village under Haflong police station this afternoon during the day-long bandh called by several public organisations to protest against the ongoing clashes between the two groups.

The district has been rocked by violence since March with the militant group Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) striking in a big way in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls as they targeted railway and security personnel and property.

Ethnic clashes broke out between the two warring tribes -- Dimasas and Zemi Nagas -- resulting in the killing of over 32 people and razing to ground more than 200 houses.

Police, paramilitary to guard rly tracks in North Cachar Hills

GUWAHATI: The Union government has rejected requests made by the Assam government and railway ministry for deployment of army along railway tracks in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section of NC Hills district. Instead, the responsibility of manning the rail tracks in that particular section has been placed on the Assam Police and Central para-military forces.

This was decided at a security review meeting attended by senior Central and state government officials here on Thursday. A team of MHA officials, including special secretary (internal security) Raman Srivastava, joint secretary (North East) Naveen Verma and director general of RPF Ranjit Sinha, had visited the NC Hills on Tuesday to chalk out a strategy to tackle the Black Widows, the militant group which has held the entire district to ransom over the last couple of years.
As part of the strategy to rein in the Black Widows, the Centre directed that the Army, which has been engaged in counter-insurgency operations in NC Hills district, would continue with its present task in the vicinity of the railway tracks.
The meeting also decided that the Railway Protection Force (RPF) would be responsible for security of railway stations, railway staff colonies and other railway properties. Moreover, it has been decided to rush two companies of Rapid Action Force to the district to add to the 67 companies already deployed there to carry out counter-insurgency operations.

The new distribution of responsibilities among security forces is aimed at resuming train services on this rail section, sources said adding that the government plans to resume train services in the section within next couple of days. With militants of the Black Widows continuing their relentless attacks on trains in the distrrict, railway employees had also been demanding deployment of Army to provide security cover along rail tracks and at stations in the hill section for resumption the train services.
While passenger train service in this section has remained suspened for the last few months, goods train services, which resumed last month, had to be suspended again for fear of militant attacks. On an average four goods trains run in this section carrying essential commodities to the neighbouring states of Manipur, Mizoarm and Tripura and south Assam's Barak Valley.

North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council chief arrested for alleged links with militant group

GUWAHATI: Special Task Force commandos on Saturday arrested Mohit Hojai, chief executive member (CEM) of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) in Assam for alleged links with the militant outfit, Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel faction).
Mr. Hojai earlier refuted the charge as a political conspiracy to malign him.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told journalists here that he had ordered the arrest of Mr. Hojai and now it was for the police to establish the charge
Mr. Hojai, who heads the tribal council that is vested with powers under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, went into hibernation after the police recovered Rs. 1 crore, meant for an arms deal by DHD (Jewel), from the possession of two activists of the outfit near the Assam-Meghalaya border on April 2. Two pistols and three DHD (Jewel) letter pads were also seized from them.
Earlier, the security agencies received an input that DHD (Jewel) had demanded Rs 1.5 crore from Mr. Hojai towards payment for an arms consignment already received by the outfit. The police alleged that one of the arrested DHD activists confessed that the money was brought from Mr. Hojai’s residence.
The Chief Minister said more security forces would be sent to the hill district to curb the insurgent activities.
The DHD (Jewel) has lately been creating havoc there, targeting trains and railway staff, and abducting contractors, engineers and workers engaged in railway gauge conversion. On the other hand, a total 17 incidents of extremist attacks on Dimasa and Zeme Naga villages of the hill district since March 18 has so far claimed 24 lives. Altogether 1658 people belonging to both Dimasa and Zeme Naga tribes are now taking shelter in six relief camps opened by the administration after their houses have been set ablaze by the militants.
The Chief Minister said that the his government would consider holding peace talks with the DHD(Jewel) only if the outfit abjured violence and surrendered their arms.
He said that even though there were a large number of security forces present in the hill district, they had not been able to reach the destinations in time in their operation against the militants due to non-existence of proper roads.

Meet reviews NC Hills security

Guwahati, May 278 : A high-level meeting on the security situation in North Cachar Hills today decided to requisition the army’s help in the running of trains in the district.

Frequent attacks by rebels have disrupted train services in the district since May last year.

The decision was part of a security blueprint prepared at the meeting attended by senior central and state government officials.

It will be submitted to the Centre for its approval.

The blueprint also envisages the redeployment of security personnel, including those from the army and better co-ordination among the various security agencies to foil the “evil designs” of the militants and other elements.

A central team led by special secretary (internal security), Union ministry of home affairs, Raman Srivastava and joint secretary (Northeast), Navin Verma, visited Haflong this morning for an on-the-spot review of the situation with the district administration and security agencies there.

Train services in the district have been suspended following militant attacks causing disruption in the supply of essentials to Barak Valley, Mizoram and Tripura.

Assam chief secretary P.C. Sharma and senior railway officials were also part of the review meeting held at the Assam Rifles camp in Haflong.

Sharma told The Telegraph that the state government was doing everything possible to restore normality and ensure the resumption of train services in the district.

The central team returned to the state capital at around 3pm and held another round of meetings at the Border Security Force DIG sector headquarters at Patgaon here before departing for Delhi.

Besides the attack on trains, the district has also seen a spurt in ethnic clashes.

The Zeliangrong Hoho, an umbrella organisation of Zeme, Lingmai and Rongmai Nagas of Nagaland, today blamed the DHD (Jewel) group for the ongoing ethnic clashes in the district.

Union Home Ministry reviews NC Hills situation

Haflong (Assam), May 28 : A high level meeting of Union Home Ministry and Assam government officials was held here today to review the prevailing law and order situation in the state&aposs troubled North Cachar Hills district.

Official sources said that a closed-door meeting, presided over by Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary for North East Navin Verma was held at the headquarters of 45 Assam Rifle headquarters.

The meeting was attended by Assam&aposs Chief Secretary P C Sarmah, North East Frontier Railway&aposs General Manager Ashutosh Swamy and representatives of various security agencies.

The meeting discussed the deployment of security agencies in the troubled areas and measures to tackle the situation.

The sources, however, refused to divulge further details of the meeting.

Militant attacks and ethnic clashes by Dima Halam Daoga (Jewel) faction has led to uninterrupted violence in this hills district since March last.

The outfit had launched a series of attack on trains, railway personnel, employees of various central government projects and also engaged in ethnic clashes with the Zeme Naga tribe to allegedly assert their supremacy in the district.

Bandhs to protest deaths

Nagaon/Kokrajhar, May 8 : Normal life was thrown out of gear in the North Cachar Hills and Baksa districts today during two separate bandhs called to protest the deaths of three persons, including a student leader and a pastor, allegedly in the custody of security forces last week.

The 12-hour bandh in Baksa was called in protest against the killing of two youths on April 28 whom the army said were hardcore militants, but who, residents said, were innocent.

The 12-hour bandh called by the ASDC is in protest against the death of one of its senior party leaders allegedly in the custody of the Assam Rifles on Friday at Haflong.

NC Hills police said the bandh passed off peacefully. The family of the victim today received the body from the police after completion of the second post-mortem at GMCH and brought it to his birthplace, Dimapur, for cremation.

The middle-aged ASDC leader and pastor, Liden Jidung, was picked up from his residence in Haflong along with a party worker and a village headman on April 30. The next day, Assam Rifles handed over the body of Jidung to the police, claiming that he was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure and had died soon after interrogation.

The ASDC claimed that Jidung died of torture in the Assam Rifles camp.

The Baksa district bandh called by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) in protest against the deaths of two youths — its district vice-president Jayanta Sing and Rajesh Bandoa — in an alleged encounter with the army affected life in Adivasi-dominated areas like Mushalpur and Dumni.

Anil Kujur, president of the district unit of the AASAA, said they have filed an FIR against the army at Mushalpur police station for allegedly killing the youths in a fake encounter. The AASAA members will meet again tomorrow to discuss its future course of action.

Army orders probe into 'custodial' killing

Shillong, May 7 : The Army has ordered a court of inquiry into the alleged custodial death of a pastor in North Cachar Hills district, sources in the Assam Rifles headquarters here said on Wednesday.

Assam Rifles had picked up pastor Liden Judung and two others on charges of having links with militant groups. Judung's body was later handed over to Haflong police on April 30 by the paramilitary force, who attributed the death to his health condition.

The other two men were also handed over in a critical condition.

The Assam Rifles battalion in NC Hills is under the operational command of the Army.

The NC Hills district administration has already ordered a magisterial probe into the alleged custodial death.

Police have registered a case against Assam Rifles amid a flurry of protests in the district over the incident.

DHD(J) acts add to security worries

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, April 13 – Despite having the highest concentration of forces among all the districts of Assam, the situation in the North Cachar Hills district has started deteriorating again with the militants belonging to the DHD (J), commonly known as the Black Widow group, launching a series of attacks.

The administration and security forces are apprehensive of the situation in the hill district, particularly in view of the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Within the last three days, the Black Widow militants fired at trains twice killing three persons while one election observer also came under attack from the militants.

Official sources admitted that the Black Widow group is turning out to be one of the most dreaded militant groups of the State as unlike the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which resorts to planting of explosives, the Black Widow militants dare to fire at the security forces.

According to an assessment of the security forces, the militant group, established in 2004, has around 150 cadres, but the group has no shortage of funds and weapons, while the terrain in the hill district also puts the militants in an advantageous position. Sources said that the group has been collecting huge amounts of funds through extortions and there have been instances in recent past when members of the group even kidnapped people in the name of other militant groups.

The security forces came to know about a recent arms procurement deal by the militant group after the recent arrest of two persons while they were on their way to Shillong to hand over an amount of Rs 1 crore to the group. Sources revealed that according to information available, in the recent deal, the Black Widow group received more than 60 AK series rifles from a Mizoram-based clandestine arms dealer. But it is still not known from where the arms were brought, sources admitted. Security agencies also have evidences of Black Widow militants receiving payments in Kolkata, sources added.

Sources said that more than 50 companies of forces including 21 companies of Central paramilitary forces, Army and Assam Police battalion personnel are currently deployed in the NC Hills district, but unfortunately, the success rate of the forces in the counter-insurgency operations has been very limited, while a recent jailbreak incident also strengthened the hands of the outfit. Sources said that the senior leaders of the outfit are based abroad.

The chairman of the outfit, Jewel Garlosa, is believed to be in Nepal, while the Commander in Chief Niranjan Hojai is also controlling the operations from Nepal, sources added.

The attacks of the outfit have created havoc in the district and severely affected the implementation of mega projects like railway gauge conversion project and the National Highway project. In fact, train services in the hills section had been suspended for months last year because of the attacks and later the Railways had to spend a substantial amount of money to press into service bullet-proof engines on the trains.

Sources said that last year, the State Government was keen on having a ceasefire pact with the outfit, but the Centre was reluctant. The State Government even went to the extent of telling the Centre that it would not be possible to ensure smooth implementation of the railway and highway projects if a ceasefire pact is not signed with the Black Widow group.

But the Centre refused to be a party to such an agreement and directed the State Government to take a decision in this regard in the Unified Command meeting, following which, operations against the members of the group slowed down. But after the killing of ten police personnel, the Unified Command decided to intensify operations against the members of the group.

However, so far, the success of the operations against the group has been “very limited”, sources admitted.

Recently, the group faced a problem with around 40 to 50 cadres deserting the outfit and there have been several attacks on the family members of the ‘deserters’. Sources also revealed that the Black Widow group does not enjoy the close ties with the NSCN (I-M) as in the past and in fact there have been instances of Black Widow militants attacking Naga people.