NAMRATA GOSWAMI
Dr Namrata Goswami Research Fellow Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses New Delhi, India.
nity and Self Worth It was warm day with a hint of rains in the horizon. The year was 2010. I was in Dhansiripar, Karbi Anglong district of Assam in the northeastern part of India. Surrounded by the Barail mountain ranges, and lush green forest, Dhansiripar (by the river Dhansiri) in Assam had witnessed ethnic conflicts between the local Karbi and Dimasa ethnic groups since the 1990s. In 2005, this clash had turned bloody with severe violent clashes killing many, between two armed groups, the United Peoples’ Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) representing the Karbi ethnic group and the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) faction representing some sections of the Dimasa community led by Jewel Gorlosa. Five years hence, while the situation of violence had calmed to an extent, the atmosphere continued to reek of the hidden tension.
As I got down from the train in Diphu, the main railway connected town in this distant remote area of India, I saw a group of young men and women walking towards me. They were members of the other faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) led by Dilip and Pronab Nunisa, an armed faction that had signed a cease-fire with the Government of India in 2002. I was escorted by this group in a vehicle to meet their leader, Dilip, and from thereon was taken to one of the designated camps marked out for the outfit by the Government as part of the cease-fire agreement. © Namrata Goswami volume two 2015 december © www.liveencounters.net