From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Even as the Government of India is trying to restore permanent peace in the area through dialogue with faction of militant Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), now in truce, at least 19 houses belonging to dominant Dimasa community were razed to ground in two villages of the Dima Hasao hill district by armed miscreants who also shot dead a 99-year-old man.
A police official informed that a group of about 30 armed miscreants with their faces covered with black cloth swooped down on remote Gaijen villages of Dimasa community located about 30 kilometres away from the district headquarter town at Haflong and set fire to 16 houses out of total 36 houses in the villages. The armed men also opened indiscriminate fire before setting fire to houses. A 99-year-old man Thaishring Daulagupu was killed in the firing while three others including a woman were injured. The fire gutted some granaries of the villages besides causing some poultry and livestock. The same armed group while returning set fire to three more huts in a nearby village called Ziri.
Meanwhile, a newly-formed insurgent group called Hill Tiger Force (HTF) has claimed responsibility for the dastardly attack on innocent villagers. The HTF which is a militant group comprising cadres from non-Dimasa tribes, is opposed to the renaming of erstwhile North Cachar Hill district to Dima Hasao ( Dimasa Homeland) district as it is known now. The outfit also opposed to proposed formation of a Dima Hasao Territorial Council as is being discussed by the government India with DHD miltant groups – DHD (N) and DHD (Jewel Garlosa) –in truce.
Meanwhile, police have apprehended six persons from a nearby village called Kempai on tip off provided by villagers from Gaijen who have identified some persons from Kempai villages who were showing the way to armed miscreants.
The uneasy peace in the troubled but picturesque hill district was in peril since Thursday last in the wake of killing of the leader of a faction of the militant Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) on near Haflong by suspected assailants of the HTF. James Dimasa, leaders of the DHD (James) faction was shot dead from close range by assailants while he was coming out of his residence driving his SUV on Thursday evening with his armed PSO provided by Assam police.