Militant outfit Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) has accused the Centre of adopting double standards in inviting militant outfits of the North-East for peace talks even as it threatened to retaliate if security forces continued to ‘harass’ the Dimasas in Assam.

In a statement, the DHD asserted that despite its willingness to discuss the Dimasa issue with New Delhi, no reciprocal gesture was extended by the Union Government. Stating that DHD had positively responded to Prime Minister’s Independence Day call, the statement regretted that there was as yet no formal invitation for parleys and harassment of our people had increased.

Citing a specific instance, the DHD statement said the security forces and the police had launched a joint operation at Demiji Pathar village, two days after “we conveyed our willingness to talk”. Charging the security forces with ‘’brutally torturing’’ several innocent villagers and setting ablaze seven houses, the outfit said, the Sunday incident forced the DHD to revise its opinion as to whether the Centre was sincere about solving the militancy problem in the region.