The almost two-year long lull in the insurgency-hit ethnic cauldron of Dima Hasao (erstwhile North Cachar) hill district of Assam has been vitiated once again even as the government is trying to restore peace in the area through dialogue with faction of militant Dima Halam Daogah.
After a lull trouble is once again brewing in Dima Hasao (erstwhile North Cachar Hills) district of Assam with the Indigenous People's Forum (IPF), a banner organisation of non-Dimasa ethnic groups, protesting the Centre's intension to sign a memorandum of understanding with militant Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) without heeding to the IPF's demand for bifurcation of the hill district into two autonomous council instead of the existing one.
Although a memorandum of settlement (MOS) has been finalised between the Centre and the leadership of the Dima Halam Daogah (D) militant outfit in a marathon meeting held in New Delhi on June 12, top DHD (D) leaders including its supremo Dilip Nunisa are still camping in the national capital as the Assam government is yet to receive the proposed draft MOS.
Even as the Centre is trying to restore peace in insurgency-hit Dima Hasao district (erstwhile North Cachar Hill district) of Assam by engaging two factions of the Dima Halam Daogah in the peace process, another militant group is rearing its head in the troubled area.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday appealed to all militant groups to come forward for peace talks with the government to solve their problems saying violence has no place in democracy.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday extended the suspension of operation agreement with the Dima Halam Daogah-D faction, an Assam-based insurgent outfit, for another three months till September 30.
According to an official source, suspected Dimasa tribe militants from Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or Black Widow outfit swooped down on Borchenam basti inhabited by the Zeme Naga tribe and fired indiscriminately before torching the entire village.
The passenger train service through the hill district has already remained suspended since last month following a series attacks on trains by the ultras. The Northeast Frontier Railway now has decided to suspend all goods train services in Lumding-Badarpur route passing through the insurgency ravaged hill district following Friday's attack on a goods train by militants that left 12 persons including security personnel injured.
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) today cancelled trains in the militant-infested Haflong-Badarpur hill section following today's attack, a Railway source informed. One CRPF man was killed and 17 others were injured in another attack on a passenger train along the same route yesterday.
A Central Reserve Police Force personnel was killed and 17 passengers injured, two of them critically, when suspected Black Widow or Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) militants opened fire at a passenger train at North Cachar Hill district of Assam on Friday afternoon.A senior Northeast Frontier Railway official informed that the Badarpur-Lumding Up Barak Valley Passenger was attacked by militants at Wagrendisa, before reaching the Maibong railway station.
The Assam government stated that it had no abjection to granting bail to the militant leaders in the interest of materialising peace talks with the outfit which had surrendered arms over a year ago.
Three Northeast Frontier Railway employees were killed when suspected militants belonging to the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) group, also known as the Black Widow, hurled grenades at Harangajao railway station in the North Cachar Hills district of Assam late on Monday night. Senior army officials and police officials rushed to the spot after the strike and a combing operation has been launched in the area.
Seven Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed on Friday in an encounter with suspected tribal militants in the North Cachar Hills district of Assam.
Former chief of the Intelligence Bureau P C Haldar will be the interlocutor between the government and the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam if a peace process is initiated with the outfit, given the positive signals emanating from its ranks.
The militant group, also known as the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel faction), had for the last couple of years held almost every development project in the picturesque North Cachar Hills district of Assam at ransom.
Four officials of an oil exploration company, who were abducted by suspected tribal militants on Thursday afternoon at Langting in North Cachar Hill district of Assam, remain untraced though the police and the army have launched a search operation for them from Friday morning.The police suspect that militants of the Dima Halam Daogah group or the Black Widow might be responsible for the abductions.
Threat from militants belonging to the banned Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or the Black Widow group has forced the Railways authority to stop train services in the Lumding- Badarpur Hill Section in the night.A spokesman of the Northeast Frontier Railway informed that the Railway decided to do away with train services in the night fearing attacks by Black Widow militants active in the area.This is not the first time that train services have been disrupted.
DHD (Jewel) militants opened fire at a CRPF patrol party at Maibong in Karbi Anglong district at around 0730 hours, killing two CRPF jawans and injuring four others.
The Assam government has decided to institute a probe into the alleged diversion of development funds by the the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Autonomous State Demand Committee combine in the North Cachar Hills autonomous district council to the Black Widow militants' coffers.
The Dima Halam Daogah, also known as 'Black Widow', on Monday declared a unilateral ceasefire for a more than a month in Assam's North Cachar Hills and asked the railways to resume its suspended train services and construction work.
The police informed that a group of armed militants suspected to be from Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or Black Widow opened indiscrimate fire at the construction workers killing eight of them on the spot. The labourers were engaged by a contractor working in the multi-crore gauge conversion project of the Indian Railways in Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section under Northeast Frontier Railway.
Suspected militants from anti-talks faction of Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or Black Widows gunned down four workers of a cement plant owned by Vinay Cement at Umranghsu in North Cachar Hill district of Assam on Tuesday.
The Dimasa tribe militant group Dima Halam Daogah has threatened to renege on the peace process with the Central government expresing its frustration over 'no progress' in the on-going peace talks with the government of India.
Tribal militants from the anti-peace talk faction of Dima Halam Daogah called Black Widow, abducted three employees of a Delhi-based construction company from a place called Muktacherra in Cachar district of South Assam on Friday.
The ultras avoided better-known institutions for fear of being noticed and the strict enrollment process and settled for lesser popular ones instead.
Over 360 militants belonging to Dima Halam Daogah (DHD-Jewel) have surrendered in Assam, along with a huge cache of hi-tech foreign made weapons ahead of Tuesday's deadline for laying down the arms.
The Assam police in co-ordination with the Karnataka police picked up a notorious terrorist belonging to the Dima Halam Daogah (Black Widow) group.
The tribal Black Widow militant group, which has been running riot in the North Cachar Hill district of Assam, has offered a unilateral truce with the government. However, the state government has preferred to adopt a wait and watch policy before responding to the truce offer. Security sources feel that the offer of unilateral truce from the Black Widow was a positive development towards finding a solution to the violent atmosphere prevailing in the hill district.
The successive arrests of its two top leaders within a week of each other have served a major blow to the insurgent group Black Widow. The group has been terrorising Assam's North Cachar Hill district. The Police arrested the outfit's No. 2 Joy Kishore Tharasen alias Daku Singh two days ago. The Black Widow's No. 3 leader Action Dimasa, along with seven militants, was arrested earlier this week. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered in both cases.
Eight ultras from the militant outfit Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) were arrested during a joint operation by police teams from the Meghalaya Police and the Assam Police on Tuesday. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the arrested militants. A senior police official said that the arrested militants of the DHD (J), which is also known as the Black Widow group, included at least four senior leaders of the outfit.
Three militants belonging to the Dimasa tribe militant group, United People's Liberation Front were killed in an encounter with a joint team of Assam Police and Assam Rifles at a forest area between Hatikhali and Manderdisha under Langting police station in Dima Hasao hill district of Assam early Thursday morning, police informed.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances