Peace meet gives sanity call in Karbi Anglong
Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network

Dimapur, January 14 2014 : The joint meeting between the Naga civil societies led by Naga Hoho and the Karbi civil societies led by Karbi Anglong Peace Forum at Diphu in Assam today has ap-pealed to all the people of Karbi Anglong, particularly the Karbi People's Liberation Tigers (KPLT) and the Naga Rengma Hills Protection Force (NRHPF) to maintain peace at any cost.

The joint meeting demand-ed that the enquiry being or- dered in the killing of nine Karbi youths in Nagaland should also include the killing and arson incidents in Karbi Anglong.

The meeting was of the opinion that a third force was involved in the killings and arson both in Dima- pur and Karbi Anglong.

The third force must be identified and eliminated once and for all.

Also, the enquiry must include all the incidents of ethnic violence in Karbi Ang-long since 2003 .

The ex-gratia payments announced by the government of Assam must be given to families of the victims of both the Rengmas and the Karbis adequately and without partiality within 31st January 2014 .

"We urge upon the government of Assam to rehabili- tate the affected families after taking a proper assessment of all the losses and damages of houses, crops, livestock, and other properties, and to complete the resettlement of all the displaced families by the 31st of January 2014.The meeting also urge upon the government to provide rations for one year to all the affected fa-milies, and also provide seeds for cultivation," the joint press communique of Naga Hoho and Karbi Anglong Peace Forum (KAPF) said.

The joint meeting also urged upon the government of Assam to provide proper and adequate security in all affected areas including the approach roads to the villages to prevent any reoccurrence of the incidents.

If there is any recurrence of such incidents the government of Assam shall be held responsible.

The joint meeting further appealed to the armed groups of people to shun violence and not to fall into the trap of the third force.

"Many students have lost their books and study materials.

Therefore the government of Assam is urged to provide all necessary books study ma-terials and tuition fees for one year.

The government of Assam is also urged to provide immediate hostel facilities se-parately for both boys and girls, especially those who are appearing in the forthcoming HSLC, HSSLC, and degree examinations, along with rations for at least six months," it added.

The joint meeting agreed upon to visit all the relief camps jointly by the KAPF and the Naga Hoho.

The body of the meeting urged the public not to be misled by media publication either by print media or electronic media before ascertaining the facts and also appealed to groups and individuals of any community to refrain from issuing any statements that may jeopardize the process of bringing normalcy by the two bodies.

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