Militants set fire to 27 houses in Dimasa village

Sushanta Talukdar

Guwahati: Suspected militants set ablaze 27 houses in a Dimasa village in southern Assam’s troubled North Cachar Hills district on Saturday.

Police said the incident took place at Dolen Wattaling village near Maibong. A school student was reported missing after the attack.

The Asam Satra Mahasabha, the apex body of the Satra (Vaishnavite monasteries), alleged that there was a conspiracy to include the N.C. Hills district in the Greater Nagalim demanded by some insurgent groups of Nagaland. This, the organisation claimed, fuelled the current spate of violence in the hill district. The organisation also suspected that there was a design by preachers of a particular faith from neighbouring States to convert the tribal people of the hill district and alleged that it was one of the reasons behind the violence.

Asam Satra Mahasabha president Bhadra Krishna Goswami alleged that there was a conspiracy to wipe out the traditional culture and faith of the indigenous tribal communities of the hill district by certain quarters from neighbouring States.

Mr. Goswami, accompanied by Janardan Deva Goswami, satradhikar of the Natun Kamalabari Satra in Majuli and Bhaba Goswami, secretary of the Mahasabha were speaking to reporters after returning from a three-day fact-finding tour to the hill district.
Mr. Goswami said that apart from armed groups, preachers of a particular faith from neighbouring States had added fuel to the fire by sowing seeds of distrust among the tribes of the district.
Mr. Janardan Deva Goswami claimed that common people of the two tribes said to be in conflict were still living in harmony although some quarters have been trying to project the ongoing violence by miscreants as a clash between the two.
The satradhikar alleged that the government’s failure to arrest even a single miscreant had added to the feeling of insecurity among the affected villagers.