Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday said displaced people belonging to Karbi and Rengma Naga tribes in central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district have started returning from relief camps to their villages. He said till Wednesday about 600 of 3600 inmates of the relief camps had returned to their villages with the situation fast returning to normalcy.
Mr. Gogoi also urged the Centre to impress upon the Nagaland government to handover the case of recovery of bullet-riddled bodies of nine Karbi persons, with hands tied and blindfolded, in Chumukedima area of Dimapur district in Nagaland either to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Nagaland government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for conducting investigation into the recovery of the bodies in Chumukedima and also constituted a High Power Committee to probe the case.
Violent clashes between the two ethnic insurgent outfits — Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) and Naga Rengma Hill Protection Force (NRHPF) — that broke out in December displaced about 3,600 panic stricken people belonging to both the tribes, some of whose houses were burnt and properties destroyed during the clashes, and were forced them to take shelter in relief camps.
While six Rengma Naga villagers including five women were killed by KPLT insurgents during the recent clash between the two outfits in Bokajan area of Karbi Anglong, the NRHPF through “statements given to a section of media in Assam” has claimed responsibility for the killing of the nine Karbis near Chumekedima in Dimapur district of Nagaland, the bodies of whom were recovered on January 3. On January 4 suspected NRHPF also gunned down one Karbi youth in Karbi Anglong district. There was also intelligence input that three KPLT militants were killed in the clash with NRHPF but their bodies have not been recovered so far.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to police chiefs of both Assam and Nagaland and Superintendent of Police, Dimapur on recovery of nine bodies in Chumukedima and called for reports within four weeks.
Earlier on January 8 the Assam Government in a status report submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the situation prevailing in violence affected areas of Karbi Anglong, alleged the insurgent National Socialist Council of Nagaland(NSCN) imparted training and extended logistics support to the KPLT while NRHPF also has the support of the NSCN.
Although the status report had not specified as to which NSCN faction the state government has referred to, a top Assam Police official told The Hindu that it was NSCN (Isak-Muivah) which imparted training to insurgent Karbi Longri N.C. Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF). The KPLT is a breakaway faction of KLNLF and was formed after the KLNLF signed the Suspension of Operation (SoO) with the Centre and the Assam government in 2010. He claimed that KPLT is now backed by the NSCN (Khaplang) after it moved closer to insurgent United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The official also claimed the NRHPF has the backing of the NSCN (Isak-Muivah).
The NRHPF was formed in 2012 for protection of the Rengma Nagas, a Naga tribe living in Karbi Anglong from KPLT attacks. The outfit has been demanding creation of a regional council for the Rengma Nagas of Karbi Anglong. The KPLT has been demanding creation of a Hemprek Kanthim (self-ruled homeland) for the Karbi tribe.
