At least seven persons, including three women, were killed in a remote village in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on Friday during a clash between Karbi tribe militants and Rengma Naga who defied quit notice served on them by the Karbi ultras.
The Centre is likely to rush additional paramilitary forces to trouble-torn areas along the Assam-Nagaland border to maintain peace and prevent the clashes between Naga and Karbi tribals from spreading.
The Naga Rengma Hills Protection Force has claimed responsibility for the killing of nine people of the Karbi community, all residents of Assam's Karbi Anglong district on December 28.
The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that highly decomposed bodies of nine persons were recently found in a gorge, covered in polythene sheets, in Nagaland's Dimapur district adjacent to Assam.
The Nagaland government has directed all its deputy commissioners to take immediate steps to ensure protection of the Karbi tribe community of Assam who are residing in different districts of Nagaland.
Exploiting the killings to ratchet up the tension in the region and harden negotiating positions with the central government serves nobody, least of all the people of Nagaland. The peace process must not be stalled because of this incident or distracted by calls to repeal the AFSPA, argues Vivek Gumaste.