Hmar tribe is up in arms. Its target of ire is Dimasa tribe, which is clamouring for an independent home land. Hmars and Dimasas are not strangers to each other. They live in close proximity along Assam-Mizoram border.

But no one was prepared for the ethnic cleansing that has shaken the area in March. How the trouble broke out and who perpetrated it is secondary. The most important thing is the bloodletting was gruesome. It had claimed 28 lives by the time we were going to press. Police expect the death toll to mount as more bodies are tumbling out of the Natsul Pahar dense forests that dot the border, about 410 km from Guwahati.

A security patrol stumbled upon five decomposed bodies one Friday night with no advance notice. Not even pre-monition. “It appears the five were shot at from close range and then pushed down a deep gorge,” a police official said. Soon the police recovered 23 more bodies. The victims, mostly farmers, were kidnapped by militants of the tribal Hmar People’s Convention (HPC) from three villages.

HPC is a rag-tag militant group fighting for greater autonomy for the Hmar tribe living in southern Assam and northern Mizoram. Dima Haolam Daoga (DHD), which is fighting for an independent homeland for the Dimasa tribe in Assam.

The massacre of 28 villagers is seen as fallout of a bitter rivalry between the HPC and DHD.  “It is nothing but a gang war between HPC and DHD, and the victims are poor farmers,” Pradeep Das, Cachar district magistrate said. “The two groups are fighting for territorial supremacy”, he said.

The killings have sparked off a wave of panic amongst the Dimasa. Fearing fresh attacks, at least 500 Dimasas deserted their homes. They are given shelter in school buildings and primary health centres.

The district magistrate said: “We are intensifying vigil in vulnerable villages and in the makeshift camps where people are now taking shelter. Army has also been called out to flush out militants.”

CM announces ex-gratia

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the next kin of each of those killed in the ethnic violence between the Dimasas and Hmars. He said the primary task of the Government would be to restore peace and rehabilitate the riot-affected families. Gogoi and minister of state for home Rakibul Hussain visited the relief camps at BNMP HS School at Dhalai and Nikama High School at Ganganagar in Cachar district.

Chief Minister directed construction of houses of the affected families under the IAY, income-generating schemes involving self-help groups would be implemented for them. Reviewing the law-and-order situation in the area, Mr Gogoi said that the Army and paramilitary forces have been asked to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents in future. He said that he would contact with Manipur and Mizoram Governments so that militants from those two states could not create disturbance in Cachar. Earlier, he visited the relief camps at Lakhipur and Hmarkulin under Lakhipur subdivision.

More hostilities, more hurt

There have been more reports of continued hostilities between the Dimasa and Hmar tribes. 12 passengers of Cachar Express were injured when armed Dimasa youth raided the train at Mupa station in North Cachar Hills district; 13 houses of Dimasas were torched in two villages - Guwabari and Chalitcherra areas under Udarbond police station.

Police officials in Silchar and Haflong say that the roots of the recent clashes between the two
communities dates back to the last week of February when the HPC-Democratic in connivance with the NSCN(I-M) abducted three Dima Halong Daoga (DHD) activists. The incident followed by the abduction of three Hmar farmers and attack on Hmar-dominated villages of Multhajaeu and Balmul in N.C. Hills by the Dimasa outfit.  But after a lull of less than three weeks, a dozen armed Dimasa insurgents swooped down on   Hmar-inhabited Muldampunj village on Cachar-NC Hills border, assaulted people there and asked them to leave. The insurgents also abducted seven Hmars but released them with a warning if the later don’t leave North Cachar, they would be driven out.

On March 31, the bloodbath  took place when a large group of HPC-Democratic militants attacked the Dimasa hamlets of Meghnatool and Chekarcham in Cachar district. The militants whisked away 21 Dimasa farmers and shot them dead on Mastul Hill nearby.
                    
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