GUWAHATI| FEBRUARY 11 : Rebel outfits have stepped up pressure on the Assam government for the release of their leaders. They have also pointed out that there is more to militancy in the state of Assam than the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The government had in the past few months released several ULFA leaders including its Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa to facilitate peace talks. The release raised hopes that leaders of lesser outfits – each catering to a specific tribe – would also be treated similarly, however serious the charges are against them.
These outfits are reluctant to wait. The Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) group, for instance, has threatened a return to the “bad old days” from February 15 if its chairman Jewel Garlossa and commander-in-chief Niranjan Hojai are not released.
Garlossa was arrested from Bangalore in June 2009. Hojai was caught near the Indo-Nepal border in July 2010 after slipping away soon after the outfit surrendered in October 2009.
“We want our leaders released or Dima Hasao (formerly North Cachar Hills) will burn from the morning of February 15. For starters, we will not allow trains to run besides disrupting work on the East-East Corridor,” said DHD-J vice-chairman Peipring Dimasa. “The government should learn not to be partial to any group.”
The DHD-J had shot to notoriety by blowing up trains and carrying out an ethnic cleansing that killed more than 350 people prior to Garlossa’s arrest. Also known as Black Widow, the group’s nexus with politicians and bureaucrats leading to diversion of development funds was the first assignment of the National Investigation Agency.
The National Democratic Front of Boroland has also demanded the release of its chairman Ranjan Daimary, a prime accused in the 30 October 2008 serial blasts that killed 92 persons. As if to mean business, the outfit has let loose a reign of terror in western Assam, its latest strike being the abduction of six WWF volunteers last Sunday. Daimary, captured from near the India-Bangladesh border last year is in the central jail here along with Garlossa and Hojai.
“There is an inherent danger in having separate yardsticks for separate outfits with similar objectives,” said Noni Gopal Mahanta of Gauhati University’s Centre for Conflict Studies. A senior home department officer denied being partial to the Ulfa. “We are accommodative and looking into everything case by case,” he said.
These outfits are reluctant to wait. The Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) group, for instance, has threatened a return to the “bad old days” from February 15 if its chairman Jewel Garlossa and commander-in-chief Niranjan Hojai are not released.
Garlossa was arrested from Bangalore in June 2009. Hojai was caught near the Indo-Nepal border in July 2010 after slipping away soon after the outfit surrendered in October 2009.
“We want our leaders released or Dima Hasao (formerly North Cachar Hills) will burn from the morning of February 15. For starters, we will not allow trains to run besides disrupting work on the East-East Corridor,” said DHD-J vice-chairman Peipring Dimasa. “The government should learn not to be partial to any group.”
The DHD-J had shot to notoriety by blowing up trains and carrying out an ethnic cleansing that killed more than 350 people prior to Garlossa’s arrest. Also known as Black Widow, the group’s nexus with politicians and bureaucrats leading to diversion of development funds was the first assignment of the National Investigation Agency.
The National Democratic Front of Boroland has also demanded the release of its chairman Ranjan Daimary, a prime accused in the 30 October 2008 serial blasts that killed 92 persons. As if to mean business, the outfit has let loose a reign of terror in western Assam, its latest strike being the abduction of six WWF volunteers last Sunday. Daimary, captured from near the India-Bangladesh border last year is in the central jail here along with Garlossa and Hojai.
“There is an inherent danger in having separate yardsticks for separate outfits with similar objectives,” said Noni Gopal Mahanta of Gauhati University’s Centre for Conflict Studies. A senior home department officer denied being partial to the Ulfa. “We are accommodative and looking into everything case by case,” he said.
