Two injured in clashes during Dima Hasao bandh, Section 144 imposed

SILCHAR: Clashes between two groups of people erupted in Haflong during a 12-hour-long bandh called by Indigenous People Forum (IPF) from 5am on Thursday demanding bifurcation of Dima Hasao district. Two people, including a woman, were injured in the clashes.
Sources said the clashes occurred at around 11am in Haflong when a group of people opposing the bandh attacked some of the picketers supporting the band with bricks and stones. In the incident, a youth and a woman sustained injuries.
Police led by Dima Hasao SP Vir Bikram Gogoi soon rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. The injured were sent to Haflong Civil Hospital for treatment. Following the clashes, Dima Hasao district magistrate Amitav Rajkhowa promulgated Section 144 of the CrPC in the entire district at 11am.
Reports said normal life came to a grinding halt in Haflong, Harangajao and Mahur areas during the 12-hour-long bandh. While shops and business establishments did not open their shutters, banks, offices and educational institutions were also closed in these areas. Vehicles were also off the roads. The bandh hit the district's road connectivity with Silchar and Guwahati. However, trains on the Lumding-Silchar section ran normally under strong security measures, said an official.
Meanwhile, IPF leaders have called an indefinite bandh in Dima Hasao from February 11 in protest against the government's alleged failure to bifurcate the district. "We want the Dimasa-dominated Maibang subdivision to be made a separate district known as Dima Hasao, and there should be another district comprising areas of Haflong subdivision and it should be known as North Cachar Hills. The proposed new district should also have an autonomous council," the IPF leaders said.
Meanwhile, the situation in Haflong remains tense, with shops and business establishments closed and vehicles remaining off the road even after bandh was over at 5pm.
NCHIPF, which is a conglomeration of students belong to Biete, Hmar, Kuki, Karbi, Vaiphei, Zeme Naga, Khelma and some other non-Dimasa ethnic groups, has been spearheading a series of agitation programmes since the Assam government changed the name of the erstwhile North Cachar Hills district to Dima Hasao vide a notification on April 1, 2010.