Nagaon, Dec. 12: The anti-talks faction of the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) today rejected the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA)’s peace overtures, dashing hopes of an immediate end to the Karbi-Kuki feud.
“In the name of a peace gesture, the KRA has been trying to gain some respectability and cover up the killings of innocent Karbi people under its Operation Volcano,” the anti-talks faction of the UPDS said.
The statement came a day after the pro-talks faction of the group threatened to pick up weapons again to protect the Karbis from the KRA. Branding the KRA as “an organisation of outsiders”, UPDS (anti-talks group) publicity secretary Tung-Eh-Nongloda said: “The KRA has no right to speak on behalf of the indigenous people belonging to the Kuki community and living in the Singhasan Hill area of Karbi Anlong.”
A few days ago, the KRA had offered to talk peace with its main rival and, if necessary, even accept a Karbi as mediator.
The offer came from K. Hanghshing, the self-styled divisional commandant who leads the KRA’s operations in Assam. The militant leader, however, put the blame for the ethnic feud entirely on the UPDS.
Reacting to the statement, the UPDS publicity secretary said the KRA should learn lessons from its history of clashes with the Nagas, Paites and other tribes in Nagaland and Manipur. The rebel leader said bold statements would land the indigenous Kukis in trouble. He cited Hanghshing’s remark that the KRA would continue its fight “till the last Kuki in Karbi Anglong” as an example of provocation.
Nongloda described the KRA divisional commandant’s claim about Singhasan Hill having a population of about 35,000 Kukis as “highly provocative and absurd”. He said it was a tacit move by the KRA to justify its claim of a separate administrative set-up for the tribe.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi yesterday requested Delhi to ban the KRA, saying the militant group was “behind much of the violence” in Karbi Anglong.
The conflict between the KRA and the UPDS has left 40 people from both the Karbi and Kuki tribes dead and rendered thousands homeless.
