SUMMARY

The north-eastern regions of India, surrounded by Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar (Burma), is a compound of different ethnicities (Dimasa, Hmar, Karbi, Zeme etc.) and a mosaic of religious affiliations. After the independence from the British Empire in 1947, ethnic sentiments rose amongst the tribes in the north-east. Regions such as Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura have become arenas of conflicts due to similar demands regarding the claims of land, enhanced by ethnic tensions. The British colonialism was perceived as an encroachment as taxes and administrative fees were imposed on the various tribes. For a long time, language has been the paramount mean of distinction between the ethnicities in the region. What followed subsequently was the emergence of armed resistance among various ethnic groups after the independence. The Dimasa - Karbi non-state conflict has its roots in claims made by the two groups to the same swathes of territory in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. The two tribal groups overlap in terms of inhabitation in the North Kachar Hills and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam.

For some time the Dimasa militia group DHD (Dima Halim Daogah) has laid claim to the territory inhabited by the Karbi people for inclusion into the ethnic homeland it wishes to create. The Karbi people have in turn accused the Dimasa group of encroaching upon and occupying territory belonging to them. The conflict is thus one both of political aspirations of autonomy and sovereignty as well as one over living space for one's people. The conflict has also been fuelled by the involvement of other militant outfits, in particular ethnic Naga rebels, who complicate matters of territorial control through supporting Karbi as well as Dimasa militants.

The one-sided violence by DHD is to be viewed in the context of attempting to recreate the homeland from the past and has rendered several ethnic clashes. Thus, the violence carried out by DHD against the Karbi population is an act of attempted “correction” of the demography statistics as a majority of the population in the North Cachar Hills belongs to non-Dimasa tribes

DHD first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2005, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in October that year when two buses were attacked by the group which resulted in more than 25 deaths.