Relocating NC villagers a tough climb

Haflong, July 15 (Agencies): Thirty-six-year-old Namteubuile Zeme is tired of living in a relief camp. She not only lost her house, but also a granary full of paddy when heavily armed militants attacked her village Michidui and burnt down 23 houses. As many as 15 persons from her village were killed before her eyes that afternoon.
“I don’t want to stay here. But I don’t know whether we will be able to go back to Michidui. They (the militants) might come again, and they might kill more of us,” says Namteubuile, holding her 18-month-old daughter, the youngest of three, close to her chest. She is among the 1,227 people, including 506 children, who have been lodged in a relief camp at Lodi, a Zeme tribe village on the outskirts of Haflong, since that terrifying day.
Nearly 10,000 persons from both tribal communities, Dimasa and Zeme, have been living in relief camps for weeks since militants began raiding their villages in Assam’s strife-torn North Cachar Hills district. At least 50 tribals have been killed since the first attack on Tungje, a Zeme village on March 19.
The authorities blame Black Widow, an outlawed underground group for attacks on the Zeme villages. But there is no answer as yet on who is behind the attacks carried out on Dimasa villages. With North Cachar Hills district sharing an inter-state boundary with Nagaland and Manipur, names like NSCN(IM) and NSCN(K), two top Naga outfits, do come up once in a while.
“It is difficult to say for sure which group is behind the raids on Dimasa villages. But as far as the Michidui incident is concerned, there are strong indications of the Black Widow’s involvement,” says Anurag Tangkha, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) here.
The authorities have drawn up an ambitious plan to relocate residents of different vulnerable villages to 12 distinct clusters, including provision of security cover as well as availability of various other basic services. People rendered homeless in the attack on Michidui do not have much to worry about because the village itself has been identified as a cluster location.
“But we will have to leave our village and shift to Michidui, which means we will also have to leave behind our land and cultivation,” says Paoram Yile (53), a widow who has fled from Nimkai, a village about 6 km from Michidui, and taken shelter in Lodi. The mother of three boys and a girl, Paoram has no earning member in her family. “But my land is precious. How can I shift leaving behind my land?” she asks.
District Deputy Commissioner Shyam Jagannathan feels that relocation would not be a major problem. “The gaonburras (village heads) have been briefed on the relocation plan. We have also consulted the senior villagers currently staying in the relief camps. They have, by and large, agreed. After all this is a temporary measure. They will go back to their respective villages as normalcy returns,” he says.
The plan includes posting fixed pickets of armed security personnel drawn from the Assam Police Battalion, while activities under NREGS would be introduced to provide a source of income for the villagers, Jagannathan informed. Right now, nearly 10,000 people have been put up in at least 29 relief camps. Of these, 16 camps are packed with Zemes, the rest being filled with Dimasas.
But people like J K Thaosen, a former principal secretary of the Autonomous Council, are not satisfied with the relocation policy. “I don’t think it is going to be an easy task. Most of the tribals, be they Dimasa or Zeme, are dependent on jhum cultivation (shifting agriculture). One can shift schools and hospitals. But what about the fields?” asked Thaosen.
D Naiding, president of Jadikhe Naiso Hosom, apex body of the Dimasa tribals, is also not very enthusiastic about the clustering plan. “The Government must instead concentrate on resolving the crisis and bring normalcy back as early as possible. We don’t see any major confidence-building activity except providing gratuitous relief to the uprooted people,” he complains.