Silchar, June 23: Three organisations have joined hands with the Hmar Students’ Association (HSA) to intensify the movement for a separate administrative set-up for the tribe within Assam’s troubled North Cachar Hills district.

HSA president Lallawmthang Hmar and general secretary H.B. Joute said the movement had been strengthened by the support of the Hmar Inpi, the apex organisation of the community, the Hmar National Union and the Hmar People’s Union. The duo said a long-term agitation programme would be drawn up soon in consultation with these organisations.

Lallawmthang said the conflict between the Dimasa and Hmar communities of Cachar and North Cachar Hills — nearly 70 people have been killed since February — had widened the divide between the two tribes.

The Hmars number about 9,000 in the North Cachar Hills and are mostly based in and around Mahur, Harangajao and Maibong areas of the district.

In a two-page statement, the HSA leadership said it was imperative to carve out a separate administrative unit for the Hmars because of the allegedly sustained ethnic cleansing campaign by the Dimasa community. It said the Dimasas’ demand for a separate state of Dimaraji reflected the community’s desire to monopolise the North Cachar Hills district.

The Hmar leaders criticised the Tarun Gogoi government for looking at the ethnic conflict as a law and order problem.

The student organisation condemned the killing of six Hmar youths by the army at Phailen village in eastern Cachar on June 20, saying they were victims of persecution. It threatened to refer “this act of atrocity on the Hmars by the army” to the National Human Rights Commission.

The army yesterday arrested two Hmar youths at Harangajao, suspecting them to be members of the militant Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic).

Last week, the army busted the main hideout from which the outfit had been orchestrating attacks on the Dimasa community of North Cachar Hills.

Six militants were killed during the army raid on the hideout, located in adjacent Cachar district. It was the first major offensive by security forces against the outfit since a Cabinet fact-finding team last week recommended an operation to flush out all Hmar militants from North Cachar Hills and Cachar.

The HPC (D) considers the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD), which represents the Dimasa community, as its main rival.

The HPC (D) is an offshoot of the Hmar People’s Conference, the first militant outfit of the Hmar community, which has genealogical links with the Mizos. The group was disbanded after most of its leaders laid down arms in 1994. Today’s army offensive is seen as a setback to the HPC (D), whose members have been sneaking into North Cachar Hills since February to kill and indulge in arson.