Hasabra (Lanka), Dec. 14: Leading Dimasa organisations today urged the Dilip Nunisa-led Dima Halam Daogah not to sign a peace accord if New Delhi refused to include their demarcated 95 villages outside Dima Hasao district within the proposed Dimaraji territorial council.

The Nunisa group will sit for the final round of talks with the Centre on Saturday.

Remaining firm on the demand, Nunisa, who was present at the public rally organised by the Joint Action Committee of Dimaraji Movement here, 30km from the Hojai subdivisional headquarters of Sankardevnagar, also assured the people that the DHD would safeguard the rights of the Dimasas and non-Dimasas living within the Dimaraji boundary.

Ulfa leader Mrinal Hazarika participated in the rally as a special guest.

More than 5,000 Dimasas from adjacent districts, including Hojai subdivision in Nagaon, had converged at the rally to support the inclusion of the four lakh Dimasas living in the 95 villages in Cachar, Nagaon and Karbi Anglong districts in the proposed territorial council.

The convener of the Joint Action Committee of Dimaraji Movement, Sanmoni Kemprai, said originally, the Dimasa leaders had marked 104 villages in Cachar, 147 in Nagaon and 144 in Karbi Anglong. They had later left out the mixed population villages and included only the Dimasa-dominated areas that were part of the Cachari kingdom in the eighth century.

Demanding a permanent solution to the DHD issue, the Dimasa leaders appealed to the government to pay heed to the sentiments of those living within the geographical boundary of the proposed Dimaraji. They also submitted a memorandum to Union home minister P. Chidambaram through Hojai sub-divisional officer (civil) Biswajit Pegu in support of their demand.

In another memorandum submitted recently, the Dimasa organisations had demanded a single administrative unit of Dimaraji carved out from the Dimasa-dominated areas of Nagaon, Cachar and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam and a few parts of Dimapur district in Nagaland. These areas are contiguous to the Dima Hasao district.

The Dimasa-dominated Hasabra in Nagaon district, with a population of around 8,000, is also a part of the proposed Dimaraji.

Kemprai said New Delhi had offered that the DHD leadership sign the accord for a territorial council and it would ponder over the inclusion of villages outside Dima Hasao after an expert committee constituted for the purpose submitted it report. “But we can hardly accept this,” he added.

n Picture on Page 17