Autonomous State Demand Committee president Holiram Terang has slammed the government for not including a Hill Tribe member in the recently formed High Level Committee set up for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
The ASDC president said that hill tribes of the state like the Karbi, Dimasa, Kuki, Rengma and Baite do not categorise themselves as Assamese, but call themselves the hill tribes.
He specifically mentioned that any recommendation by the committee for the protection of the indigenous people’s rights in Assam should not cover them as they claim to be only hill tribes and not Assamese.
It may be mentioned that following request from the committee members, the Centre had only recently added a tribal member to the panel in the form of eminent educationist Mrinal Miri.
It is to be noted here that the second meeting of the High Level Committee was held yesterday at Guwahati. The ASDC has long been demanding for a separate state of Karbi Anglong to be carved out of Assam.
The review meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura.
In total, around 1,200-1,400 houses primarily belonging to Bengali-speaking Muslims, were demolished during the eviction…