Silchar, April 4: The roots of the ethnic clashes between Hmars and Dimasas in the south Assam districts go back to the last week of February. Attacks were masterminded by militants of the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD), an eight-year-old outfit of Dimasa tribals in North Cachar Hills district.
Dimasa militants went on the rampage in the district?s Balmul and Multhajao villages near Harangajao township on March 3.
The DHD had signed a ceasefire with both the Centre and the state government last December in New Delhi in the run-up to peace parleys over the demand for granting the status of an autonomous state to the district.
Yet its rebels swooped down on these two Hmar-dominated areas in full strength.
Official sources said the DHD activists singled out these Hmar villages as the targets of their raids as they suspected the Hmars were hand-in-glove with the NSCN (I-M) in abducting three senior DHD activists. They are yet to be freed from the custody of the NSCN (I-M).
As the feelers from the DHD to the Hmars did not bear any fruit, the Dimasa militants stormed both the villages and assaulted the Hmar inmates there. They even issued threats of further persecution if they did not leave the villages forthwith.
Official sources at Haflong said after the orchestrated raids on these villages, the Hmar enclaves located on hilltops along North Cachar?s borders with Cachar district were stormed.
The Cachar village inha-bited by Hmars, which bore the burnt of the DHD attacks, is Muldim.
There has been an unending exodus of destitute Hmar villagers to Hmarkhawlien, a Hmar-dominated hamlet, on Cachar?s eastern flank since early March. According to an official estimate, nearly 741 Hmar tribals have till now trekked across the border of the two districts from their homes in North Cachar and taken shelter at Hmarkhawlien.
Another 160-odd Hmars had travelled further south to take shelter in the Kolasib area in north Mizoram.
At Hmarkhawlien, Hmar refugees are now lodged in a number of schools by the district administration, non-governmental organisations and others.
Though patrolling by the army and CRPF in North Cachar has choked off DHD raids on the Hmar villages, tension still lingers in the Hmar-dominated areas.
The Hmars also claimed that three members of their tribe, identified as Lalri Khuma and Uma Hmar, have also been abducted by the DHD and not freed yet. There are over 12,000 Hmars in North Cachar Hills district. Their numbers in Cachar are estimated at a little over 6,000.
In contrast, there are nearly 15,000 Dimasa residents in Cachar district alone.
The Hmars in North Cachar district, mostly poor backward farmers, fear that they would be discriminated against in North Cachar Hills once the district is carved out as an autonomous state after the peace talks between the Centre and the DHD are over. The Hmar Inpi, a Hmar body, has already expressed its apprehensions in this regard, claiming that an autonomous state would be beneficial only to Dimasas.
The insatiable hunger for land in North Cachar Hills district is another factor which has spurred the Hmar-Dimasa animosity. The Hmars fear that the DHD is only trying to create a hostile environment by asking them to leave, so that the Dimasas can grab their land.