Karbi-Rengma clash: Situation tense, security on alert
Source: Hueiyen News Service NNN/Agencies

Dimapur, January 05 2014: Four of the nine persons found killed in Dimapur have been identified till today and all four hailed from Karbi community.

Families of the victims along with Karbi Anglong Peace Committee (KAPC) members visited Dimapur Civil Hospital today and identified the bodies as that of Rajiv Engti (18), son of Bura Engti; Sunil Rongpi (25), Mangal Sing Engti (24) and Doni Rongpi (25) .

Intelligence sources suspected that these victims were labourers and they were abducted by armed men while they were heading from Kohima to their homesteads in Karbi Anglong district of Assam some ten days ago.

The sources further said the remaining five victims that are yet to be identified could also well be from Karbi community.

The post mortem examination on the nine decomposed bodies which were found dumped in a nullah near Pachaspura area in Chumekedima area under Diphupar Police Station, Dimapur was carried out at Dimapur District Civil Hospital on Saturday.

The victims were believed to have been murdered some ten days earlier elsewhere before their bodies were dumped.

Meanwhile, with the news of the four dead bodies out of the nine corpses identified so far all turning out to be from Karbi community, situation in Karbi Anglong district of Assam has become tensed.

Night curfew is continuing in Bokajan area of the Nagaland-Assam border since Saturday and additional security forces have been deployed in the area by the Assam government this afternoon.

Along with issuing an alert following the recovery of the bodies, the district administration of Dimapur has also beefed up security measure as a pre-emptive move to deal with the situation.

The Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur has appealed to the people this evening not to spread rumours.

The Karbi-Rengma ethnic problem has heightened since Saturday following the identification of one of the nine victims which turned out to be a Karbi student leader.

Adding fuel to the heightened tension, on Saturday evening, five motorcycle-borne youths allegedly killed a Karbi youth at the Nagaland-Assam border point of Khatkhati in Karbi Anglong district.

Police said the attackers may have escaped to Dimapur.

On December 27 last, a clash between Karbi and Rengma Naga militants in Karbi Anglong district led to an ethnic flare-up in the district.

Four Rengma Naga villagers died in the clashes which has evoked sharp criticism from Nagaland.

Since then, tension is prevailing in the area.

Though police from both states do not want to link the recovery of the bodies to the ongoing tension in Karbi Anglong between Karbis and Rengma Nagas, Nagaland Police have issued an advisory to Naga people travelling through Karbi Anglong to be careful.

People travelling from Mokukchung district to Dimapur in Nagland have to travel through Karbi Anglong in Assam.

Karbi Anglong SP Mugdhajyoti Dev Mahanta said that the situation in Karbi Anglong district is under control but is still tense.

"We are taking all precautions to keep the situation under control and bring down the tension," he added.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has ordered a special investigation team and high-powered committee to inquire into the crime and bring the culprits to book.

Rio has also appealed to the people to remain calm and maintain peace.

The Naga People's Movement for Human Rights, Karbi Human Rights Watch and Indigenous Women Forum of North East India have also jointly appealed to all sections of Karbi and Rengma Naga communities to stop all provocation and reflect on what could have triggered the destruction of the age-old relationship between the Nagas and the Karbis.

In a joint statement issued today, the three organisations said the root of the problem might lie in the clashes between the militant groups, Karbi Peoples Liberation Tigers and the Rengma Naga Hills Protection Force, and the entire Karbi and Rengma Naga communities were not necessarily involved. The Hills State Youth Forum, a Karbi organisation, today staged a dharna at Diphu, the district headquarters of Karbi Anglong, and blamed the administration and the police for failing to control violence in the district.

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