A rallyist in Guwahati calls for an end to the recent Karbi Anglong strife

Nagaon, Dec. 23: At the receiving end of the recent ethnic strife in Karbi Anglong, the Karbi community has floated its own watch-dog organisation against human rights violation in Karbi Anglong and NC Hills districts.

Christened the Karbi People?s Fight for Human Rights, the forum will take up cases of violation of human rights with national and international panels like the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Amnesty International.

Two former student leaders of the community ? ex-president of the Karbi Students? Association Ronald Killing and its general secretary Pankaj Teron ? have been made convenors of the newly formed organisation.

Teron said the failure of both the Centre and the state government to address the issue of rights violation during ethnic clashes, as well as under the pretext of counter-insurgency operations by security forces, have prompted the Karbis to launch the forum.

?New Delhi and Dispur?s failure in bringing permanent peace to Karbi Anglong and NC Hills, the continuous harassment of innocent villagers in the name of security, the fruitless political dialogue with militant outfits have almost robbed the community of its right to live,? said Pankaj Teron in Nagaon today.

Teron said a detailed list of major cases of human rights violation in the two hill districts since 2002 will be prepared and forwarded to national as well as international organisations.

Over the past few years, the twin hill districts have seen some major ethnic bloodbath. In February 2003, clashes between Dimasas and Hmars took a turn for the worse. Around 120 villagers were killed and more than 30,000 displaced in the NC Hills clash which continued for six months. The same year, in October, clashes erupted between Kukis and Karbis in Karbi Anglong. More than a hundred people of seven communities ? Karbi, Kuki, Dimasa, Manipuri, Tiwa, Boro and Nepali ? were killed as the violence continued till March 2004.

The latest in this series is the tit-for-tat killings by Dimasa and Karbi groups that started on September 26. It has claimed 117 lives and displaced more than 50,000 people till date.

?Everyone knows how abominable the activities of the militants are. We have nothing to add about them. However, it is clear that what is going on in Karbi Anglong at this moment is only because of the failure of Delhi and Dispur. They are busy deriving political advantage by letting the outfits struggle among themselves while innocent lives are being lost,? Killing said.