Dima Hasao/ North Cachar
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Cachar, North
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This section has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
A subdivision of Cachar District, Assam, lying between 24° 58' and 25° 50' N. and 92° 32' and 93° 29' E., with an area of 1,706 square miles. The subdivision is a section of the range which divides the Surma Valley from that of the Brahmaputra. It was through these hills that the Kachari kings moved from Dimapur, their capital in the Dhansiri valley, to the plains of Cachar, and for many years their capital was at Maibang, in North Cachar, on the northern side of the Barail range. Early in the nineteenth century Tula Ram Senapati, a chaprasi in the employ of the Kachari Raja, succeeded in establishing himself here; and till 1854 he and his sons were recognized by the British Government as feudatory chiefs of the desolate tract of jungle lying between the Mahur river on the south and the Jamuna river in Nowgong District on the north. The whole of the subdivision consists of mountainous country, the hills taking the form of serrated ridges, whose sides in their natural condition are clothed with dense evergreen forest. Shifting cultivation is practised, according to which the land, after being twice cropped, is allowed to lie fallow for seven or eight years, when it becomes covered with a dense growth of reeds and bamboo jungle. The population is extremely sparse, and excluding the persons enumerated by the railway authorities, there were in 1901 only 12 persons per square mile. In 1891 the population was 18,941, and in 1901 it had risen to 40,812 ; but almost the whole of this increase was due to the presence of a large number of persons engaged on the con- struction of the railway, who have since left the District.
The Assam- Bengal Railway runs through the subdivision, connecting the Brahma- putra Valley with the sea at Chittagong. Its construction was a work of great difficulty and expense, owing to the fact that the hills are largely composed of shale, while the country is covered with jungle, destitute of supplies, and very unhealthy for people working under such conditions as the railway employes. The subdivision is administered by a police officer exercising magisterial powers with head-quarters at Haflang, and contains 254 villages. House tax is assessed in lieu of land revenue. The assessment under this head in 1903—4 amounted to Rs. 6,600. The rainfall is much lighter than in the Cachar plains, the high wall of the Barail acting as a barrier to the monsoon clouds. At Haflang the average fall is only 77 inches, and at Maibang farther north 55 inches.
NC Hills in 2007
BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY| The Black Widows Rule | 28 JUNE 2007 Outlook India
Spread over 4,890 square kilometres (6.24 percent of Assam’s total area) and with a population of 186,189 (seven percent of Assam’s population), this sparsely populated district is the third largest in Assam. With a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.363, NC Hills remains part of the state’s extended dark underbelly. Ranking a poor 11 on the HDI, among 23 districts, according to the Assam Human Development Report, 2003 (Assam now has 27 districts). Geographical remoteness (the district headquarters at Haflong is 370 kilometres away from state capital Dispur], poor communication and a lack of infra-structural facilities continue to afflict the district. The ADC, formed under Articles 244(2) and 275(1) of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which enumerates special provisions for administration of tribal areas, looks after the revenue administration of the district. However, since its creation in 1952, personal as well as political rivalries have not allowed the ADC to realise its potential as an engine for growth and development.
Inadequate policing
BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY| The Black Widows Rule | 28 JUNE 2007 Outlook India
Six reserve forests and vast stretches of unclassified forest areas, accounting for 4,630 square kilometres, roughly 95 percent of the district’s territory, make NC Hills a veritable nightmare for the security forces dealing with the militants. The utter lack of policing facilities has only compounded the challenges posed by nature. While Assam has a police to population ratio of 181 per 100,000 (the corresponding national average is 122) and a police density (policemen per 100 square kilometres) of 66.4 (India: 42.4), the NC Hills district has 175 police personnel per 100,000 population but, crucially, less than seven police personnel per 100 square kilometres. Incidentally, Assam, among the eight north-eastern states, has the worst police population ratio in the region.
The entire district is administered by only four Police Stations and seven ‘non-sanctioned’ police outposts. Three of these Police Stations (Haflong, Maibong and Mahur) are located in the lower half of the district within a 53 kilometre radius. The fourth police station at Umrangso is in the north-western part, 93 kilometres from Haflong. Vast stretches of the district’s territory thus remain entirely unpoliced, serving as free hunting grounds for the militants. Village Defence Parties function in about 400 of the district’s 552 villages. However, little resistance is expected to be put up by these groups of unarmed villagers against militants brandishing an arsenal of sophisticated weapons.
Crucially, there is no police presence along NC Hills’ eastern border with both Manipur and Nagaland, allowing militants from either side several points of ingress and egress. The border outposts along the borders were withdrawn in 1994 vide a state government order. For the militants, exiting westwards to Meghalaya and southwards to the Cachar district, are also viable options. Intelligence sources indicated that the BW chief Jewel Garlossa could be hiding with his top lieutenants in the Meghalaya capital Shillong, after the June 4 incident. Official sources indicate that the Assam government is considering a proposal to establish at least five or six new police stations in the district.
Three battalions (about 3,000 personnel) of the Army and six companies (about 600 personnel) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are also engaged in counter-militancy operations in the district. However, since, as a matter of practice, operations of all the three Forces are limited to the same areas where the district Police is present, and are complementary to each other, the presence of Army and CRPF, in spite of their experience and proven superior capability, adds little to the area domination capabilities across the district. Achievements in the operations, thus, remain modest. According to district Police sources, 12 militants have been killed and another 58 have been arrested this year, till mid-June.
Militancy, on the other hand, appears to suffer from no such shortcomings. The BW, formed in March 2003, is led by the erstwhile leader of the Dima Halim Daogah (DHD), which entered into an official ceasefire with the government in January 2003. With a cadre-strength of about 300 militants, 100 of whom are believed to be armed with AK series rifles and a handful of Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers, the BW has been responsible for a majority of the militancy related activities in the district. About 300 DHD cadres, who are lodged in four designated camps following the ceasefire, have also often been found to have moved out of the camps to engage in extortion. Among the targets of both the BW and the DHD are the gauge conversion project of the railways, the National Highway project, projects of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), a number of tea gardens, traders and government servants.
Black Widow (BW) militants
BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY| The Black Widows Rule | 28 JUNE 2007 Outlook India
The BW, whose strength lies in the legacy it inherited from the DHD, has been courted by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), operating in the neighbouring state of Nagaland. Reports indicate that in exchange for a share of its funds, the Naga outfit trains and arms BW cadres. NSCN-IM facilities in Nagaland have also been used by the BW cadres during security force raids in NC Hills. Apart from the flow of finances, links with the BW help the NSCN-IM maintain a crucial level of influence in the district, which forms a part of its Greater Nagaland (Nagalim) project.
The greatest advantage for militancy in NC Hills remains its localised nature. While, on several occasions, both the DHD and the BW cadres have clashed with each other and also with outfits operating in neighbouring areas, their activities have largely been restricted to the limits of three contiguous districts of NC Hills, Karbi Anglong and Cachar. The dominant militant outfits operating in Assam, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), too, do not operate in NC Hills. As a result, counter-insurgency operations in the district, seen to be directed against few a hundred militants, in the absence of any larger repercussions on the security of Assam, are characterised by a certain measure of tedium and indifference, unless aggravated by a ‘major’ incident such as the one on June 4.
NSCN-IM’s shadow appears to hang heavy over the June 4 2007 incident. Two NSCN-IM militants, ‘sergeant major’ Colombus alias Jangjing Newmai and ‘corporal’ Ango Lotha, who were arrested on June 5 in connection with the killing, not only provided details of the incident, but also of the linkages between the BW and the Naga outfit. In fact, both Colombus and Ango Lotha were overseeing the entire operation for which the BW had constituted a nine-member team. The NSCN-IM, however, has denied its involvement in the killing.
June 4, 2007: the martyrdom of Langthasa
BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY| The Black Widows Rule | 28 JUNE 2007 Outlook India
The Black Widows Rule
A four year old militant outfit, with AK series rifles and a handful of Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers, and their nexus with the local political establishment, makes this crucial district of Assam a veritable nightmare for the security forces
It was a case of bargaining that went dreadfully awry. On June 4, Purnendu Langthasa and his colleague Nindu Langthasa, both politicians of the ruling Congress Party in Assam’s southern North Cachar Hills (NC Hills) district, abandoned their 16 armed guards and moved into the remote settlement of Langlai Hasnu, 65 kilometres from the district headquarters town of Haflong. Their mission was to persuade the Black Widow (BW) militants to scale down an extortion demand served on the party before the June 12 Autonomous District Council (ADC) polls. Discussions were held inside the house of the village headman. However, following altercations, in a completely unanticipated move, militants led Purnendu, the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the outgoing ADC and Nindu, a former Executive Committee member of the Council, to a slope behind the house and shot him dead. In a separate development the same day, the dead body of Ajit Boro, Vice Chairman of the ADC, abducted a day earlier by unidentified militants, was recovered from the Kalajan area. In yet another case, hours before the Congress duo’s murder, BW militants shot at two civilians near a Congress office in Maibong town, mistaking them for political activists. Elections to the ADC have since been postponed.
Official sources in Haflong maintain that the killing of the Langthasa duo was a fallout of the failure to meet BW monetary demands. While the outfit had demanded Rs 150 million, the slain politicians had actually carried suitcases containing currency notes amounting to Rs 10 million. The BW, in a statement, on June 5, linked the killings to politics in the hilly district. While claiming responsibility for the killing of Purnendu and Nindu, and not that of Boro, BW ‘publicity secretary’ Phaiprang Dimasa indicated that both had offered money after failing to adhere to the demand for reservation of constituencies in the ADC polls. On April 26, the outfit had apparently asked the party to reserve three of the five newly created constituencies for BW representatives and had warned against making any attempt to "buy peace". The Congress had decided to ‘allot’ only two.
Following the June 4 killings, the Assam government rushed in additional Central Para-military Force companies into the district. Such moves have become far too predictable and, given the unaltered geographical and infrastructural drawbacks that have aided militancy over the years, are not expected to deliver any significant results. Similarly, the state government is reportedly mulling over a full-scale Army flush-out operation in the NC Hills and the neighbouring Karbi Anglong district. Opinions in the Police establishment, however, favour an increase in the Police strength and infrastructure, rather than such intermittent operations by Central Forces.
The June 4 killing, according to authoritative sources in Haflong, confirmed the nexus between the local political establishment and the militants. The Police, on the other hand, complain of an absolute lack of intelligence on the militants and the problems of operating in a vacuum. With little help, apart from the customary deployment of additional force, coming from the powers that be, the war on militancy in this remote and neglected corner of the country, remains un-winnable.
Bibhu Prasad Routray is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management.Courtesy, the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal.
2017: the pain lingers
Prabin Kalita | Why hobnob with terrorists, PM asked | Mar 02 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
A local politician's son in Guwahati put out a video on social media in Mar 2017 to tell the story of his father who was killed by suspected militants of Dima Halam Daogoh (Jewel) in 2007.
In the video, Daniel Langthasa, singer with a local alternative rock band called Digital Suicide, highlights the attacks by DHD(J) militants on security forces and appeals to PM Narendra Modi not to let killers become le aders. Daniel's father Nindu, who was an executive member of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, was killed by suspected militants of DHD(J) in Dima Hasao district on June 4, 2007. The council was in 2017 ruled by BJP and several of its members are former DHD(J) militants.
“So is this how we repay them (soldiers) for their sacrifices,“ Daniel asks in the video. “All I am asking is (that) the BJP government, especially PM Modi and CM Sonowal, should introspect about their decision to let ex-militants become their leaders.“
Daniel Langthasa trolled
On February 27, Daniel Langthasa, the lead singer of popular local alternative rock band Digital Suicide, posted a series of images using 13 placards on his Facebook page to tell the story of his father, who was “brutally murdered” by militants in the state’s Dima Hasao district in 2007.
“The militants took up arms and were fighting against India!” he said in a placard.
He went on to say that when his father died, he “neither asked for money (meaning compensation) nor a government job” but that “after the militants surrendered, (the) Indian government gave them crores of money”.
“With the money, they bought cars, properties, and set up businesses and funded their political campaigns.”
Trouble for Langthasa began because of what he said in the seventh placard. “Now they have joined BJP and are the RULERS of my district Dima Hasao in Assam.”
The next placard asked, “Can you please explain this to me Dear BJP and ABVP?”
“My family members, relatives, friends, people of my land are afraid to speak up against your party and its powerful members.”
“They will see this post and most likely ask me to remove it asap.”
“The ‘media’ will not help this post go viral because I’m NOT from Kashmir/DU or a Muslim/Dalit.”
“But I am not AFRAID.”
Within an hour of posting the video on social media, Langthasa was heavily trolled. He responded after some time on his Facebook timeline. “Wow! Such a hate-filled world I am living in today that even asking my government for answers and justice for my father’s murder is being trolled and politicized by people whom I don’t even know.”
“May be it is my mistake that after years of being afraid and haunted by the image and nightmares of my father’s bullet ridden cold dead body and just channeling it out through my music, I decided to muster enough courage only when such a divisive political party is ruling us. It would have been better to blame and ask questions to the Congress and garner support I guess. F… you human beings!”
By late evening, he uploaded another post saying, “It (his father’s murder) has scarred us forever. We smile but we truly never laugh. And yes, am not ashamed to admit that we fight too. We get frustrated. We feel hopeless.”
Langthasa highlighted his trolling by ABVP and BJP supporters in the state by posting an example, which showed different names but the same words, a usual modus operandi followed by paid trolls.
“For people who are not aware or still think that paid trolls of government do not exist, here is a proof that you need. We all need to wake up now,” he wrote on February 28.
Daniel also wrote what he thought of the Congress, which ruled the state for three terms before the BJP took over the reins in May 2016 and also controlled the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council that administers Haflong.
“Congress is a corrupt political party with no clear vision for our future. Rahul Gandhi is at best an average stand-up comedian who cannot inspire future generations to do any better in these challenging times. Are you happy now dear BJP supporters who are stuck in the never ending Congress-BJP debate?”
Langthasa’s band, the four-member Digital Suicide, focuses its music around local issues, and also on portraying the angst of the youth caught between militancy and misgovernance. In 2015, in an interview to this correspondent, Langthasa said, “We are only looking for a platform to air opinions” on events happening around them. He said, “We are like most young people in the world today, angry and sad to see things happening around us, which are wrong. Though we sing about life as we see it, our families and friends do not approve. They want us to keep quiet and not ‘offend’ authority; and that bothers us more.”
Political trends
2013-16
Since October 2015, the Dima Hasao district has been witnessing an ugly power struggle between the Congress and the BJP. Though the Congress won ten seats in the 2013 council and took control of it with the help of six independent members, the BJP – after nine Congress rebels and some independents under the leadership of former militant Niranjan Hojai defected to it – staked claim to form a council led by it. That council lasted for about three and a half months.
In February 2016, the Congress regained power of the council after the defectors returned to the party. However, after the BJP won the May 2016 state assembly polls, the party’s fortune changed in the district. Congress members defected to the BJP again to form a new council.
In the 2013 council elections, Congress won ten seats and the rest were won by independents. The BJP didn’t win a single seat.
See also
Dima Hasao/ North Cachar
