Black Widow chief held but threat continues

AGARTALA, 7 JUNE : Though the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) supremo Jewel Garlosa’s arrest came as a major setback for Dimasa rebellion in the North Cachar Hills of Assam beyond Tripura’s fringeline, the insurgents' threat to essential supply lines to Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram alongwith Barak Valley areas is still worsening.

Now, Army has been deployed to provide security to the railway traffic in the Lumding-Badarpur-Silchar section following frequent rebel attacks on passenger trains and railway wagons carrying food grains and other essential items across north cachar hill areas.

One may remember, DHD, a rebel outfit in Assam’s North Cachar Hills had in 2003 expressed willingness to shun violence and seek solution to its problems through peaceful negotiation. The DHD group, which had opposed negotiation, subsequently floated “Black Widow” under Jewel Garlosa’s leadership to “fight for its cause”.

The “ Black Widow” guerillas indulged in large-scale violence in North Cachar Hills in recent months.

There were a series of rebel attacks on engineers and other employees engaged in railway and highway construction projects, trains and highway traffic in North Cachar Hill in the last two years, inflicting substantial casualties.

Hundreds of tribal houses were torched in the area giving rise to tension between ethnic groups recently.

Acting on a tip off, Guwahati Police arrested Garlosa and two of his close associates at a hotel in Bangalore on 4 June last. They were flown in to Guwahati yesterday. The Black Widow chief is now being interrogated by senior police officers and intelligence officials in an undisclosed place DHD (Jewel) faction’s “home secretary” Franki Dimasa was shot dead by security personnel in the Assam capital on Thursday last.

The chief executive member of the North Cachar Autonomous Hills District Council, Mr Mohit Hojai, was arrested by police for being in close collusion with Garlosa’s “Black Widow”. Mr Hojai had sent Rs 1 crore to the Black Widow chief for “purchasing arms”, it was alleged.

Police captured two staff of the North Cachar Autonomous Hills District Council along with the cash at a Guwahati hotel recently. The two Council employees were carrying the cash to a secret destination in Shillong.

The amount was given by Mr Hojai from Council funds earlier sanctioned by the state government for development of the hill areas. Since then, the state government has suspended activities of the North Cachar Autonomous Hills District Council.

A senior BJP leader from Silchar complained over the telephone: “Assam’s Congress government had deliberately tried to protest the the tribals leaders associated with the Council NC who have close links with the Black Widow till the last moment obviously for political gains."