Dec. 11: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today requested Delhi to ban the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), saying the militant group was “behind much of the violence” in Karbi Anglong district.
Gogoi told deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in New Delhi that the Manipur-based group had been found to be the culprit in most of the recent clashes in the violence-scarred district. The chief minister pleaded with the BJP leader not to withdraw the 25 additional companies of paramilitary forces sent to Assam recently.
The conflict between the KRA and the anti-talks faction of the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) has left 40 people of both the Karbi and Kuki tribes dead and rendered thousands homeless.
The two groups, one professing to be the voice of the Kukis and the other claiming the support of the Karbi community, are engaged in a turf war in the adjacent North Cachar Hills, too.
Gogoi’s plea is likely to raise the hackles of Kuki organisations, which are already seething because his government and the security forces have branded the tribe as the “aggressor” in the continuing turmoil.
The state’s move to get the KRA declared a banned organisation coincided with the pro-talks faction of the UPDS threatening to pick up weapons again to protect the Karbis from persecution.
In a release issued by its publicity secretary, the UPDS said it would not remain a “mute spectator” to attacks on the Karbi community. It vowed to “organise higher forms of resistance in the interest of the Karbi people”.
A police official interpreted the “higher forms of resistance” as an euphemism for “armed action” and said it spelt more trouble for Karbi Anglong.
However, interspersed with the warning was a plea by the UPDS for “peaceful coexistence”. It urged the KRA to call a halt to the killing spree. “We request the state government to trace the nine Karbi villagers who were abducted by the KRA during the second week of November and provide security, relief and rehabilitation to the displaced Karbis.”
The pro-talks faction of the UPDS also expressed displeasure over the “slow pace” of the peace process it had initiated with the Centre and state government.
A couple of days ago, the KRA offered to talk peace with the anti-talks faction, saying it was even ready to accept a Karbi as mediator. The offer was made by K. Hanghshing, self-styled divisional commandant of KRA operations in Assam.
“For the sake of peace in Karbi Anglong, we are ready to sit for discussions across the table. The mediator may be a Karbi or from other community, but we are ready to talk on the issue of peace in Karbi Anglong,” he said.
Blaming the UPDS (anti-talks faction) for the feud, the militant leader said: “For the last few years, the UPDS has been carrying on operations in Karbi Anglong and N.C. Hills with the aim of rooting out the minorities like the Kukis and Dimasas. The clashes in Karbi Anglong are the result of ethnic cleansing.”
