GUWAHATI, May 2 — The Army today released the 15 Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) militants it had picked up from Udarbund area in Cachar district on Tuesday last on charges of violating ‘ceasefire’ ground rules. The Army apprehended the militants along with weapons far away from their ceasefire designated camp at Ditokcherra in North Cachar Hills district on suspicion that the Dimasa ultras were out to attack Hmar community areas in Cachar district.
However, in the wake of arrest of its cadres by the Army, the DHD yesterday threatened to pull out of the ceasefire agreement with Government of India security forces and demanded immediate release of its cadres for the sake of longevity of the truce. Sources in the DHD informed that the Army today handed over all the apprehended DHD militants to Assam Police at Bandarkhal much to the relief of the DHD and other authorities concerned which got restive over the fate of the truce.
The police later took the ultras to their designated camp at Ditokcherra. The Army, following the arrest of the militants, had been reasoning that movements of these 15 lower rung cadres of the DHD with sophisticated weapons was a clear violation of ceasefire ground rules.
However, the DHD refuted the Army charges stating that their cadres were on transit and were not violating ceasefire ground rules. The DHD yesterday demanded immediate release of the cadres failing which they threatened to reconsider the outfit’s decision to continue with the ceasefire with the government security forces.
The Army had picked up the DHD cadres with a huge cache of arms and ammunition including nine AK-47 assault rifles with 24 loaded magazines, a 7.62 SLR with four magazines, eight Chinese-made grenades and some rocket propelled grenades. Today’s release of the apprehended DHD cadres has apparently saved the ceasefire between Government of India security forces and the DHD for the time being. It may be mentioned here that the DHD was accused of joining hands with majority Dimasa community in North cachar in launching attacks on Hmars during the recent ethnic flare-up in the hill district.
The then Deputy Commissioner of the NC Hills was forced to organise a meeting between the Dimasas represented by the DHD commander in chief Pranab Nunisa and representatives of the Hmar in presence of local church leaders in a bid to restore peace in the hill district.