The NSCN-IM has come out strongly in support of the Rengmas of Karbi Anglong and has slammed the Assam government for a move to create a Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council.
NSCN-IM says creation of such a territorial council will deprive and alienate the Rengma Nagas of Karbi Anglong who are legitimate owners of the land.
The NSCN-IM said the move to create a territorial council was aimed at appeasing six Assam-based tribal insurgent groups active in Karbi Anglong.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma last week said that peace accord with militant outfits in Karbi Anglong will be inked within a week.
What Rengmas say
The Rengma Naga Peoples’ Council said in the memorandum that the Rengmas were the first tribal people in Assam to have encountered the British in 1839, but the existing Rengma Hills was eliminated from the political map of the State and replaced with that of Mikir Hills (now Karbi Anglong) in 1951, The Hindu reported.
Narrating its history, the council said that during the Burmese invasions of Assam in 1816 and 1819, it was the Rengmas who gave shelter to the Ahom refugees.
The council says that the Rengma Hills and Mikir Hills were two separate entities till 1951. Karbis have no history in the Rengma Hills. People who are presently living in Rengma Hills are from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
The council is obviously unhappy that the government is planning to create a terrirorial council without Rengmas on board and has written to Union Home minister and Assam CM on the matter.
The Rengmas are now demanding an autonomous district council.