Silchar, April 22 : A Dimasa rebel group is ready to lay down arms in a formal ceremony in Haflong after the period of the electoral code of conduct is over with the counting of the votes on May 13.
A senior police official in Haflong last night said the Dima National Democratic Front, a 50-cadre gang, will surrender soon.
The rebel outfit had started to flex its muscles following the mass surrender of a big contingent of the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah, comprising around 375 members, before Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on October 2, 2009, in Haflong.
Another big surrender of the Dimasa insurgents took place in 2003 when the DHD surrendered in an effort to flag off peace parleys with the authorities in both New Delhi and Dispur on its demand for larger autonomy of the Dima Hasao district and economic development.
The police source said there was no other alternative for the Dima National Democratic Front as it was enfeebled following some encounters with the security forces and the police in the hill district during the past one and a half years.
Sources in the Dima Hasao district police said the outfit got a big blow when its self-styled commander-in-chief Bihari Dimasa, 27, was recently gunned down by combined troops of the security forces and police during an encounter in the Dihangi area near Haflong.
The rebels got another jolt on February 9 when the outfit’s chairman, Bidyalal Sengiyong, along with his two comrades in arms surrendered to district deputy commissioner Dilip Kumar Borthakur.
Sources said altogether 29 of its cadres came overground after the security forces and the police had tightened their grip over this tiny band of the rebels through intensive patrolling in the jungle alleys and vulnerable hot spots.
The security operations were started following the kidnapping the three Indian Oil Tanking Ltd officials from the Manja area near Maibong town in the district on December 5 last year by the outfit.
The officials of the Guwahati-based firm were engaged in the seismic surveys in the oil-bearing areas of the district on contract by the Indian Oil Corporation, when this abduction took place.
Police sources in Haflong today said a few rebels were still cooped up in the Manja jungles near Maibong, which is the stronghold of the outfit.
They said there was, however, no trace of John D. Dimasa, who spearheaded the formation of the Dima National Democratic Front following the surrender of the DHD (Jewel Gorlosa).
Sources said there was a possibility of fixing the date of the surrender by Dispur in mid-June.
No comments:
Post a Comment