Sunday, 5 October 2014

HMAR - DIMASA ETHNIC CONFLICT: 1988-2004.



HMAR - DIMASA ETHNIC CONFLICT: 1988-2004.
 By Prof. Lal Dena
       
INTRODUCTION:
North Cachar Hills is one of the sixth scheduled districts of Assam. It is a pluralistic and multi-ethnic district where there are at present eight different tribal communities, namely, Biete, Dimasa, Hmar, Hrangkhawl, Karbi, Khasi, Kuki and Naga. In the beginning, Dimasas are part of the larger Bodo-Kachari tribe. Only after the census of 1961, they are recognized as Dimasa. But the Cacharis in Cachar district identify themselves as Barman. The Dimasas are found mostly in Cachar, North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong, Nagoan districts of Assam and Dimapur of Nagaland. Dimasas believe that their rajas once ruled in Kamrupa. After their expulsion from Kamrupa by the more powerful Ahom rulers, they shifted their capital at Dimapur during the 13th century and again from Dimapur to Maibong and finally to Khaspur in the plains of Cachar. Dimasas are Hindu in the sense of mainland Indian Hinduism. But in reality their religion is more in the realm of animistic nature[1]. Mikirs are now recognized as Karbis who are found predominantly in Karbi Anglong district and of course a small section of them are also found in the North Cachar hills. The Old Kukis during the British period are today known as Hmar, Biete and Hrangkhawl and the New Kukis comprise of Thado, Haokip,etc. The Aroong Nagas include Zemei, Liengmei and Ruongmei Nagas. Linguistically, they all belong to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. Hmars are a part of the Mizo-Kuki ethnic group who originally came from China via Myanmar. They are found mostly in Cachar, North Cachar Hills, South Manipur, North Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Myanmar. The Hmars particularly in the North Cachar Hills are believed to have already settled there by the time the Dimasas were driven out from Dimapur. For instance, the Leiris, one of the leading Hmar clans, made their settlement at the Leiri village in North Cachar hills and erected a monument on which they inscribed that they established the village in 1470 A.D.

During the British period, there were only six distinct tribes as per Mills’ report of 1854 and Allen’s report of 1859 in the district[2].They were as follows:
Mills (1854)    Allen (1859)
1. Hill Cacharis                                 3940                           6735                  
2. Hojai Cacharis                           1170                 3260    
3. Mikirs                                             1820                           5076            
4. Old Kukis                                   3335                        3709
5. New Kukis                                    7575                          4763 
6. Aroong Nagas                           3505                              5885

Another British record of 1875 listed the population of only four leading tribes, namely, Cacharis-10824; Mikirs-4335; Nagas-7536; and Old and New Kukis-15080[3]. According to this report, the non-Dimasa population was 26951 against the Dimasa population of 10824. Though the Dimasa were few in number in 1854, their population doubled up in 1859 due to large-scale influx of thousands of Barmans from Cachar plains, the foothills of Nagaland and  Dhansari areas of Karbi Anglong and Nagoan districts to the present North Cachar Hills in between 1854 and 1859 and 1959 and 1875. Their inclusion in the scheduled tribe lists as per affidavit made in the deputy commissioner’s office is a proven fact. There was not even a single Dimasa village in and around the Haflong town till 1952[4].

2. Formation of the district and its subsequent development:
The North Cachar Hills district was first created by the colonial officials in 1861. For a long time all the different ethnic groups had enjoyed a relatively peaceful co-existence and the relation between Hmar and Dimasa in particular was marked by close social interactions and even inter-marriages in some cases, never having conflicts of any kind for the last 250 years. Five years after the attainment of India’s independence in 1952, the United Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills district council was formed on the recommendation of Bardaloi sub-committee; but on 29 April, 1952 it was bifurcated into two separate districts -the Karbi Anglong Hills district and the North Cachar Hills district. Chonhau Khawthlang (Hmar) and Doulagapu (Dimasa) were the two leading figures who were instrumental in the creation of the North Cachar Hills district. As a matter of fact, Chonhau became the first chief executive member (CEM) of the council. Subsequently Haulung Lungtau and Lalvuon who belonged to Hmar community also became CEM at different times. Because of the fast widespread of modern education with the coming of Welsh missionaries, the Hmars soon became one of the most progressive and advanced communities in the district and began to hold almost all the key posts for the last fifty years. At the same time the district also witnessed an unusual rapid increase in the population of the Dimasa tribe. Even the present district council houses more Dimasa members. Thus, the table is now being turned in favour of the newly emergent Dimasa elite. The council was also upgraded to full-fledged autonomous council with the provisions of the sixth scheduled under the constitution of India since 1970. The present tribe-wise population as per 1991 census and an unofficial estimated population of 2002 are as given below[5]:

 Year                                                1991                           2002 (Approx).
  1. Biete (Hmar)                                   ……                             4000
  2. Hrangkhawl (Hmar)                        ……                             2000
  3. Hmar                                              10882                         15000
  4. Dimasa                                           49667                         50000
  5. Karbi                                                 6517                           2500
  6. Khasi                                               ……                             2000
  7. Kuki                                                  5896                           7500
  8. Naga                                              11467                         16000  

According to the above figure, the population of Dimasa and the non-Dimasa is fifty-fifty. In the existing district council, there are 27 members of whom nineteen are Dimasa and two are Hmar, three Naga, one Kuki, one Karbi and one Khasi. This clearly shows that there is no due representation of tribes in the council and no delimitation has been made for the last 50 years. What is of urgent necessity is to update the district population, to delimit the constituencies under the council on the basis of new population figure, to ensure due representation of every tribe according to its population and to revamp the whole of the district administration in the light of the 73rd constitution amendment of 1994.

3. Genesis of the conflict:
In general, ethnic conflicts normally involve a clash of interests or a struggle over rights: rights to land, to education, to the use of language, to political representation, to freedom of religion, to the preservation of ethnic identity, to autonomy or self-determination and so forth. Where different ethnic groups live side by side within a given society, the likelihood of conflicts is always present when a more dominant ethnic group tries to impose its own norms and standards or its own model of society on other minority group or groups. The Hmar-Dimasa conflict in the twin districts of North Cachar Hills and Cachar of Assam is to be discussed within a conceptual framework of majority-minority relationship in which a minority resisted decades of majority’s discrimination and oppression. The basic hypothesis is that the root of the conflict lies in land. The hunger for land was the underlying factor which had spurred the Hmar-Dimasa animosity. The Dimasas were only trying to create a hostile environment for Hmars to leave their lands so that they could grap them.  This is the ideological basis of Dimasa’s political scheme to turn the whole of North Cachar Hills and Cachar district into their own homeland as Dima Hilali (Golden Land of Dimasa). In this connection, they also submitted a memorandum to Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao, prime minister of India. In support of the memorandum, G.C.Langthasa, A.H. and Veti. minister, made an open declaration in 1993 at Harangajao by saying that “Now the time is ripe to demand for Dimaraji and the demand for autonomous state is over.” With the formal establishment of the Dimaraji Revival Demand Committee (DRDC) and its armed wing, Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) in 1994, the movement soon gained momentum and even assumed violent character[6]. Initially, the movement was launched ostensibly with the support of NSCN-IM cadres.

The demand for Dimaraji was based on the policy of Dimasaisation of other ethnic groups in the two districts. The very attempt of changing even the name of the present district as “Dima Hilali” against the wishes of other members in the council in December, 2002 was a clear violation of the fundamental rights of the minority groups and it shook the very basic democratic structure which was the foundation of Indian constitution. All the non-Dimasa members opposed the bill tooth and nail and the Dimasa leadership alleged that the Hmar representatives were primarily responsible for this legislative debacle. Thus much to the surprise of Hmars, the DHD leadership began to initiate and intensify what is known as the ‘Hmar ethnic cleansing operation’ since 1988. The methods adopted for this ethnic cleansing are: force collection of tax from every household of Hmars at the rate of Rs.200 annually; imposition of fine to the tune of Rs.25 lacs to some selected Hmar family; and intimidation or kidnapping[7]. The above stated facts clearly show that the violence which triggered off since 26 February, 2003 was not the root cause, but the product of the narrow and long-standing political scheme hatched by the Dimasa leaders for the last ten years or so.

4. Outbreak of the present conflict:
In January, 2003 a cease-fire was made between the DHD and the centre and the state of Assam. Under the ground rules of the cease-fire, the security personnel were not to touch any DHD cadres and the latter were supposed to confine themselves to their designated camps. The cease-fire did not cover other minority ethnic groups of the district and the question of their inclusion does not arise at all as they have nothing to demand from the state and central governments except the upgrade of the existing district council into an autonomous state for all ethnic groups of the district. As a result of the cease-fire, the DHD cadres could move freely in groups with their sophisticated weapons thereby committing innumerable crimes from lootings to killings of innocent Hmars without any fear of retaliatory action from security personnel. In fact, the incident which finally ignited the already surcharged tense relationship between the two ethnic groups was that the NSCN(I-M) cadres in Dittokchera area in North Cachar Hills had kidnapped three DHD cadres on 26 February, 2003 ostensibly because of the latter’s claim to some parts of Nagaland. The DHD had mistakenly believed that the kidnapping was the handiwork of so-called Hmar People Convention, Democracy (HPC-D) cadres alleging that some of the kidnappers spoke Hmar dialect. Despite the repeated deny of Hmar’s involvement in the kidnapping vide their official letter of 7 March, 2003 which was also read out in the presence of the district authorities and leaders of the two communities at the office of the deputy commissioner, the Dimasa militants had already started raiding some Hmar villages in search of their men and kidnapped two Hmars and one Kuki on 2 March, 2003. The DHD had then let loose reign of terror in the Hmar inhabited areas in Cachar on the foothills bordering the North Cachar hills and the panic stricken villagers began to flee their homes and villages. In confirmation of the fact that the kidnapping of the three DHD cadres was done by the NSCN-IM, Wazir Hussain, a noted journalist observes thus: “The immediate provocations aside, the latest string of attacks is seen as a battle for territorial supremacy. The DHD formed in 1995 has been fighting for a Dimasa homeland (Dimaraji) in southern Assam and has laid claim to Dimapur, Nagaland’s commercial hub which is the ancient capital of the Dimasa royalty. This in fact is one of the reasons for the DHD and its major ally or mentor, the NSCN-IM parting ways and turning hostile. The NSCN-IM rather wants parts of Assam to be merged into its proposed ‘Greater Nagaland’ plan. The other reason why the DHD severed its ties with the NSCN-IM was the latter’s claim to a large chunk of the tax extorted by the DHD either in its own or jointly, from areas dominated by the Dimasa”[8]. This clearly shows that the three innocent Hmars were made sacrificial lambs in the power-game between the DHD and NSCN-IM leaders. On 5 March, 2003, the DHD outfits attacked two Hmar villages in North Cachar hills adjoining Cachar district and forced nearly eight hundred Hmars to desert their homes and flee to Lakhipur on the Assam-Mizoram border. On 16 March, 2003, they barged into a church in North Cachar hills while a service was in progress. The armed militants molested the church goers, snatched away their offerings and forced them to bow down before them saying that they were more powerful than the Almighty. Again on 24 March, 2003, the DHD militants kidnapped three more Hmars from Saisi village and killed them[9].

Unable to bear any longer the Dimasa’s ethnic cleansing campaign which had already rendered many Hmar women widows, many Hmar children orphans and thousands of Hmars homeless, a group of Hmar Protection Cell (HPC) mounted for the first time simultaneous attacks on two Dimasa hamlets at Chekarcham and Maghnathal under Sonai police station in Cachar district in the wee hours on 1st April, 2003 leading to the massacre of about twenty seven persons.(8)This was the beginning of attacks and counter-attacks from both sides resulting in the loss of many precious and innocent human lives, displacement and exodus of several thousands of poor villagers from both sides. Altogether, the Dimasa militants burned down more than 500 Hmar houses, 431 houses in the North Cachar Hills alone. Thousands of them were rendered homeless. Many of them fled to Churachandpur, Manipur and many more to different parts of Mizoram and Meghalaya. The rest of the displaced persons were sheltered in makeshift refugee camps at Hmarkhawlien in Cachar and at Muolhoi, Saron, Mahur and other places in North Cachar Hills[10].

Of the many atrocities inflicted upon the innocent Hmars by the DHD volunteers, the most horrific and inhuman one was the murder of Lalthakung and his four family members at Hmartlangmawi village on 5 April 2004. The DHD armed cadres captured Mr Lalthakung (70 yrs) and his four family members, namely, (1) Lalmakthang (35 yrs); (2) Mrs Melody, pregnant and wife of Lalmakthang; (3) Mr Lalthanghrim; and (4) Ms Lalzarkim. The DHD activists hanged the three men to death after torturing them. They then pulled out the two women outside the village which was burned down to ashes. They raped them in turn one after another to death. Even after death, they humiliated the dead women by dragging their dead bodies and laying them nude in Langting market square for all to see[11]. In another incident on 13 May, 2003 the DHD outfits kidnapped three Hmar youths from K.Phailien village in Cachar district, peeled off their skins and buried them alive. In spite of the Hmar Students Association’s (HSA) repeated requests, the state police had not taken any action against the culprits[12]. Besides these incidents, there had been many occasions in which the DHD had colluded with the security forces of the state. On 29 April, 2003, the army arrested 15 DHD militants who were in combat dresses with sophisticated weapons from Thapa village in Cachar district which is about 50 kms away from their designated camp and released them again after two days. Contrary to this action, the 12 Granadier Red Shield Division, the CRPF, and the police raided K.Phailien village for the second time on 20 June, 2003, killed 6 local youths alleging that they were ‘HPC-D outfits’ and disposed them half-naked at the Joypur thana for Dimasa spectators to see[13].

5. Peace initiatives:
Right from the beginning of the conflict, various peace initiatives had been made from government side and NGO groups. The all-party delegation in Assam toured Cachar district on 5 and 6 April, 2003. It held Dimasas and Hmars equally responsible for the loss of lives and properties over the past ten days. At the same time, the speaker of the Assam legislative assembly convened a meeting of public leaders including Shri Santosh Mohan Dev, M.P. (LS), Koronendu Bhatterjee, M.P. (RS); Bimalangshu Roy, MLA; Md.Nurul Huda, Ex-M.P and the DIG, South Zone, Assam and those leaders of Hmars and Dimasas. In response to this peace initiative on 5 April, 2003, the DHD and Hmar leaders amicably expressed their resolve to abstain from further violence. But before the ink of the agreement was dried, Dimasa vulonteers continued their ethnic cleansing campaign. On 2 May, 2003, North East India Social Forum, Guwahati, Christian Religious Society, Kolkata, Council of Baptist Churches of North East India, Guwahati represented by Roy Chaudhury and CASA represented by Mukul Roy visited the refugee camps. In the mean time, the government of Assam announced the formation of the Fact Finding Ministerial Team (FFMT) headed by Shri Bhumindar Barman, Health Minister to restore peace and concentrate on confidence building measures and visited Haflong on 13 June and Cachar on 26 June, 2003[14]. The team consisted of the following persons, namely, Sarat Borkotoky, Bharat Chandra Narah, Mithius Tudu, G.C.Langthasa, Misabul Islam Laskar, Rupam Singh Ranghang and Prannoy Rava. It was definitely a pro-Dimasa team. The chairman himself was a Dimasa and G.C.Langthasa was the brain and think-tank of the Dimaraji. What justice could one expect from such team? While the so-called fact-finding was being carried on, a Hmar youth was again brutally murdered at Lower Haflong, the capital of the district[15]. In short, the Hmars could not expect any square deal from the team and the state government. In this connection, one writer has lamentably commented thus: “The step-motherly treatment meted out to the Hmars by the Assam government in the wake of the clash, was a reason strong enough for the Hmars of Assam to lose faith in the Gogoi’s government. Being treated as strangers in the land of their birth by their own state government, the Hmars had no choice but to flee to the other neighboring states of Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya. A government that cannot protect the life and security of all sections of the people is not fit to be called a government in any sense of the term.”[16]

In their memorandum submitted to the chairman of the FFMT, the Hmar student leaders had reiterated the demand for setting up an impartial committee comprising a central representative and prominent citizens with no political leaning whatsoever. Among others, the memorandum stressed that “the situation is not only a law and order problem as the benign Assam government has wanted it to be but a result of a deep-rooted nexus between Dimasa politicians and insurgent element which has allowed the state machinery to greatly favour the Dimasas to further their ends of rendering the Hmars ineffective so that their sustained ethnic cleansing campaign may proceed unhindered….as long as Mr G.C.Langthasa is present, all other findings of the committee apart from recommending a separate administrative unit for the Hmars would be unacceptable to us. We are very much aware of his capacity as a seasoned politician to manipulate the process of the committee to ensure further misery for the Hmars and gain for the Dimasas[17].” As anticipated, in stead of finding out facts, the team right from the beginning took a partisan and biased attitude and charged that the whole conflict was the making of so-called Hmar militants. Not surprisingly, it thus recommended an operation to flush out Hmar militants from North Cachar Hills and Cachar districts of Assam in complete and deliberate ignorance of the role of the DHD outfits in the conflict. Any conflict of any nature, big or small, always involves two groups. The sequence of recent past incidents clearly showed that it was the Dimasas who played the role of the wicked wolf in the famous Aesope’s fable. So long as G.C. Langthasa and pro-Dimasa ministers were there, the Hmars’ view-points were never listened to. Therefore, the so-called peace efforts of the FFMT failed miserably.    

            Tired of the partisan and lackadaisical attitude of the government of Assam, the Hmar leaders had no other alternative than to fall back upon the central government for the timely and speedy remedy of their grievances. Accordingly, the Hmar Peoples’ Union (HPU), North Cachar Hills, had submitted a memorandum to Shri I.D.Swami, minister of state for home affairs on 23 June, 2003 which highlighted among others the following points: (1) The central government should sever ties with DHD as they continue to curtail the legitimate rights of the Hmars living under their domain. (2) The central government should send a high level team to investigate the terrorizing role of the DHD. (3) The central government should see that the law and order mechanism do not let loose a reign of terror towards the minority Hmars. (4) The central government should direct the Assam government to probe into the nexus between the DHD and various state actors and that the chief minister of Assam should be directed to drop Shri G.C.Langthasa from his cabinet. (5) The paralyzed district council of the North Cachar Hills should be dismissed as the council had become a puppet at the hands of the majority Dimasas and an instrument of fund allotment to the DHD. (6) The central government should see that adequate security forces were deployed in the Hmar villages and the free movement of the DHD in and around the Hmar villages be curtailed. (7) The central government should not bow down before the pressure of the Assam government which was giving undue support to the extension of the ceasefire agreement[18].  Moved by this memorandum perhaps, I.D.Swami visited Cachar and Corth cachar hills and had a discussion with the chief minister of Assam. Though no detail about the discussion was available, this much is clear to the public that the central minister recommended the intelligence bureau probe into the conflict.   

In the absence of concrete response both from the centre and the state government, the Hmar Inpui (Hmar Supreme House), Manipur went to New Delhi to meet Shri L.K.Advani, deputy prime minister on 30 June, 2003. In its memorandum, the Inpui delegates pressed the central government to immediately intervene and bring about a political solution to the conflict in the interest of the nation as well as the victimized minorities in Assam. By endorsing the points raised in the earlier memorandum mentioned above, the Hmar Inpui placed the following points before the deputy prime minister for immediate consideration: (1) The central government should check and once for all stop the continued destructive ethnic cleansing agenda of the demographically stronger Dimasas against the Hmars in the two districts of Assam. (2) The central government should immediately intervene to mediate and initiate a constructive peace process to establish long-term political solution to the Hmar-Dimasa problem. The rights and existence of the indigenous Hmars of Cachar and North Cachar Hills ought to be secured with the establishment of a separate administrative unit under the constitution of India. The aggrieved Hmars were now compelled to resort to a solution in this direction. (3) The central government should act immediately to settle the thousands of internally displaced Hmars who had crossed over to Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya in search of refuge. (4) The central government should also provide immediate relief to the internally displaced Hmars who were scattered in different camps in Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam. The displaced Hmars were living in deplorable temporary huts and subsisted on charities doled out by the local communities and various other philanthropic organizations. (5) The central government should arrange ex-gratia payment to the innocents killed and mained in the ethnic carnage. (6) The central government should prosecute state actors as well as non-state actors who were actively involved in carrying out the unwanted progrom. Shri G.C.Langthasa, whose surfacing role as the perpetrator of the unwanted pogram should be dropped from his position of cabinet minister in the present ministry, Assam. Moreover, the district council of North Cachar Hills should be dismissed as its treasury had been, for years, the source of DHD`s income. (7) The government of India should discontinue the ceasefire agreement with the DHD in the larger interest of the Hmars and other minority tribes who were victimized and terrorized by the DHD on breaking the ground rules of the ceasefire agreement. The DHD had blatantly exploited the blanket of immunity provided by the ceasefire for extortion and spawning the ethnic cleansing campaign. The aggrieved Hmar people thus felt that the DHD had no interest in peace, no respect for peace as has been repeatedly manifested in their deliberate violations of the ceasefire ground rules. As such, instead of extending the ceasefire agreement with the DHD, the government of India should rather adopt a strict and severe measure to curb their unwanted activities in the best interest of peace and human rights[19].

In the mean time, the government of Assam constituted a one-man commission of Justice P.C.Phukan known as “The P.C. Phukan Commission of Enquiry into ethnic clashes in N.C.Hills/Cachar districts, Assam” with following terms of references: (1) The root causes leading to the clashes between the Hmars and the Dimasa. (2) Involvement/provocation of third party resulting in the ethnic clashes. (3) Actions taken by the law and order authorities of Cachar districts. (4) Appropriate recommendations for ensuring long-term peace and ethnic harmony in N.C.Hills/Cachar district between Hmars and Dimasas. The commission started series of meeting with the leaders of the two warring parties by inviting written statements from them on 9 September 2003, and 8-13 December, 2003 at Haflong and on 23-28 February, 2004 and 7-13 June 2004 at Silchar followed by several rounds of discussion with supplementary statements. Again, final hearing was conducted at Guwahati on 6-7, August and 4-6 September, 2004 by the commission[20]. The commission is yet to complete its report which is to be tabled to the floor of the Assam legislative assembly. Long-term solution of the problem therefore depends entirely on the sincerity and impartiality of the government of Assam. The only gain so far is that there is no violent incident since the constitution of the commission.

Concluding remarks: From what has been indicated above, it is clear that the Dimasa’s demand for Dimaraji state within the Indian Union to North Cachar Hills by joining with it portions of the Dhansiri valley in Dimapur under Nagaland as well as some Dimasa inhabited parts of Nagoan and Karbi Anglong districts in Assam is the root cause of the conflict. Feeling insecure in the face of such demand which is accompanied with the ethnic cleansing campaign, the Hmars have been compelled to demand a separate administrative unit in the form of sixth schedule district comprising the Hmar inhabited areas of North Cachar Hills and Cachar district of Assam. Therefore, the Hmar-Dimasa ethnic clash is essentially a political problem which can only be solved through political means by initiating political dialogue with all sincere efforts both on the part of the central government and state government of Assam with the aggrieved parties. Considering the complexity of the ethnic situation in the affected districts in particular and North East India as a whole, some kind of reorganization of the whole of North East India on ethnic lines will not only ensure long-term peace and harmony but also contribute towards the stabilization of nation building in the region.  




Reference:


[1] D. Deka                                  :           ‘Dimasa-Hmar Conflict’ in the Mail Archive,
                                    25th April, 2003, p.3.

[2] Alexander Makenzie                 :           The North East Frontier of India, (Reprint)
Mittal Publication of India. New-Delhi, 2001,
p.p. 145-146.

[3] Ibid                                         :           p. 147

[4] Written statement submitted to the Phukan Commission.

[5] L. Thanmawi Pajamte               :           Thangko (Messenger), 2 July, 2003, p.1.

[6] Joint Memorandum of Hmar Peoples Union (HPU) and Hmar National 
   Union, May, 2003. pp. 1-2.

[7] Brief Chronology of the Ethnic Cleansing Campaign in N.C. Hills and
  Cachar, Assam.

[8] Wasbir Hussain                       :           ‘Assam. A New Rebel Turf War’, in the Mail
Achive, 25th April, 2003. pp.2-3.

[9] The Frontier Sun                      :           (English Daily) Silchar, 2 April, 2003, p.1

[10] Ibid.                                       :            p.1

[11] Joint memorandum of Hmar People’s Union and Hmar National Union, May 
    2003. pp.7-8.

[12] L.Thanmawi Pajamte               :           A document of the Army atrocities and Police  
excesses on innocent Hmars, 23 June, 2003, pp.1-2.

[13] Ibid.                                       :           p.1.

[14] Progressives Atrocities committed by the DHD militants on Hmars, p.10.

[15] The Telegraph, 13 June,2003, p.17.

[16] The Hmars/Dimasa Imbroglio in Lamka Post (local daily paper), 20 June,2003, p.2.

[17] Memorandum to the Chairman, Fact-finding ministerial team (FFMT), Assam, 26 June,2003.

[18] Memorandum to Shri I.D.Swami, minister of state for home affairs, 23 June, 2003.

[19] Memorandum to Shri L.K.Advani, deputy prime minister, 30 June.2003.

[20] Written statement submitted to the Phukan Commission.
           
 The author is at present Coordinator,                                                                                                 Remedial coaching Centre for SC/ST & others backward class
Manipur University
Imphal, Manipur, India.
Pin-795003.
 E-mail:laldena@hotmail.com

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