GUWAHATI: The All Apex Bodies Co-ordination Committee, comprising membership of 11 communities in Dima Hasao district of Assam, has categorically opposed any move to bifurcate the district on “communal lines”.
The committee had in this regard even staged a peace rally on Monday in the wake of violence erupting during the indefinite bandh called by the North Cachar Hills Indigenous People’s Forum (NCHIPF) on February 11.
The NCHIPF had called the bandh demanding a separate autonomous district council for non-Dimasa communities. Some vehicles were damaged by miscreants while a few people were injured during clashes between the security personnel and protesters.
“We are clear in our stand that Dima Hasao district cannot be bifurcated on communal lines, such as Dimasa and non-Dimasas. The All Apex Bodies Co-ordination Committee has the support of 11 communities and contrary to its claims of 67 per cent support from the district’s population, NCHIPF has only three communities as members and about 16 per cent support,” Frezer Sengyung, working president of the committee, told The Shillong Times over phone from Haflong on Wednesday.
The district administration had invited both the committee and the NCHIPF for talks on February 9, 2020 in this regard.
“However, the NCHIPF had demanded a separate meeting with the deputy commissioner and preferred not to sit in the meeting with members of the apex committee,” Sengyung said.
He further said that such a demand to carve out a separate district has seven criteria to be fulfilled and “bifurcation on communal lines” is certainly not among them.
Meanwhile, sources in the North Cachar Hills Indigenous People’s Forum (NCHIPF) have said that discussions on the issue were held with the Assam government.
“The discussions with the state government in regard to our demand have been positive,” David Keivom, the president of North Cachar Hills Indigenous Students Federation (under NCHIPF) told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
Keivom however did not divulge any details of the meeting and said that they would be made known soon.