Protest against NIA verdict, PM's intervention sought

From a Correspondent

Haflong, May 29: In protest against the verdict of life sentence by NIA special court to Mohet Hojai, former Chief Executive Member of N C Hills Autonomous Council and former DHD(J) leaders Mihir Gorlosa (Jewel) and Niranjan Hojai and all the accused civilians, the Jadikhe isho Hosom (JNH), Dimasa Students’ Union, All Dimasa Students’ Union (DHDC), Dimasa Mothers Association and Dimasa Women Society organized a protest rally at Haflong on Monday.

Thousands of people from every walk of life took part in the rally which started from Town Committee field, popularly known as Lalfield, and marched through the main road of Haflong up to the council rotary and converged in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Dima Hasao. They demanded justice for their leaders while condemning the NIA verdict.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India, rendra Modi seeking his intervention and proper and impartial enquiry to find out the actual facts, through the Deputy Commissioner of Dima Hasao.

 The memorandum stated that after much persuasion by various social organizations, the DHD(J) reciprocated the gesture of the government in the most positive manner and for the first time in lndia, the whole tion witnessed the en-masse surrendering of more than 400 fully armed cadres on October 2, 2009 at Haflong, the district headquarter of Dima Hasao. This paved the way for the signing of the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) between the Government of India, Government of Assam and both the factions of the militant group DHD.

The signing of the MoS ushered in hope, peace and development in the region which also paved the way for other armed groups of the north-eastern region to come forward for talks to work out an amicable solution to join the mainstream and work together for the prosperity of the tion. But after nearly eight years of the signing of the MoS, the people of Dima Hasao feel that the DHD leaders are not getting a fair deal despite the fact that they were the first insurgent group in the country to have unconditiolly laid down their arms en-masse, for initiating peace talks and have ever since abjured violence for the betterment and development of the society, stated the memorandum.

It further added that the people of Dima Hasao felt that they had been betrayed by the government since the MoS had been breached. The fact that the very sigtories of the MoS had been awarded life imprisonment by the NIA court has definitely exposed the insincerity of the government. Now that the very sigtories of the MoS have been sentenced to life imprisonment, the whole peace process has totally collapsed which will surely destabilize the faith and the trust of the people on the government. The failure in honouring clause 4.3 of the MoS has created a doubt on the minds of the people of Dima Hasao on the intention and motive of the government’s sincerity.

The protesters urged the Prime Minister to intervene in the whole matter and grant general amnesty to all the individuals who were arrested in connection with the movement of the DHD so that faith, trust, peace and development prevailed in the hill district of Dima Hasao. They also urged for a high-level enquiry into the alleged Rs 1,000-crore scam in the erstwhile NC Hills district, now Dima Hasao, which was exposed in the Week magazine.