Dimapur: The Dimasa Public Organisation Nagaland (DPON) has taken offence at allegations of the Dimasa National Council (DNC) that Naga rebels had committed atrocities on the Dimasas of Nagaland.

At a meeting held here on Tuesday - to take stock of the situation arising out of the allegation and to clarify the matter - the DPON said it had no knowledge about the council's existence and demands put forth by it to the Centre.

According to DPON publicity secretary Amon Difoe, the council was formed by a few individuals without having the mandate of people as per reports from the Dimasa fro-ntal organisations of Assam.

Strongly refuting and condemning the allegation of atrocities on the Dimasas of Nagaland by Naga rebels, the DPON said it was nothing but "a sinister design to create animosity between indigenous tribes".

According to a recent report of a Guwahati-based news portal, the DNC had iterated its demand in a memorandum to Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday for a separate "Hirimbapur autonomous state" including return of Dimapur to Assam.

In it DNC president Dhironjay Naiding reportedly said: "We, the members of the Dimasa National Council, also apprised the government of the atrocities of Naga rebels in some parts of our former territory and opposed the demand of a separate Nagalim comprising the land of Assam. This move of a Nagalim will be resisted at any cost by the DNC. We will not lose an inch of our land."

Sources said the group included in their 10-point charter a demand for "Hirimbapur autonomous state" under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution by carving out the entire North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council in Dima Hasao district of Assam. According to its demand, the proposed state includes Dimapur, Maibang and Khashpur areas of adjoining Karbi Anglong, Hojai, Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts of Assam.

BJP MP from Tezpur Ram Prasad Sharma on Tuesday had demanded that the Nagaland government should immediately return Dimapur to Assam as it has "no legal ownership of the commercial town". His statement came against the backdrop of the DNC's demand for a merger of Dimapur with Assam on Monday.

Sharma requested Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to claim the territory of Dimapur district in Nagaland as the territory of Assam. According to him, Dimapur was leased out to Naga hills for 30 years in 1918 for construction of railway tracks, but after the lease period Nagaland continued to occupy the land and even made Dimapur a district.