A Report

North Cachar Hills : An Introduction

North Cachar Hills district of Assam is one of the two-hill districts of Assam and divides the Brahmaputra valley from the Barak Valley. When the British annexed the erstwhile Dimasa Kingdom in 1864, it remained part of the Naga Hills district to be soon tagged to Cachar district and subsequently carved into a sub-division, which was declared an "excluded area" directly under the Governor in 1935. In 1951, it was separated from Cachar district and amalgamated with the then Mikir Hills (present day - Karbi Anglong district) to become the United Mikir and North Cachar Hills district. In 1970, it was made a separate district and comes under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution under which it has Autonomous District Council that governs it except for law and order matters. It has a population of about two lakhs covering an area of 4,888 sq. km.

What is "Black Widow"?

It is an armed underground group from Dimasa Community, which is also known as the Jewel Garlosa faction of Dima Halom Daogah or DHD (J). Its roots can be traced to the Dimasa National Security Force (DNSF), a group formed in 1993 to "safeguard" the interest of the Dimasa tribe, the largest tribe in the North Cachar Hills district. While DNSF surrendered, two of its leaders, Dilip Nunisha and Mihir Garlosa alias Jewel Garlosa alias Mihir Burman stayed out to float Dima Halom Daogah (DHD) in 1995. On January 1, 2004, when the DHD under Chairman Dilip Nunisha, signed a "ceasefire" agreement with the Government of Bharatvarsh,Garlosa was removed from the post of "Commander-in-Chief" and expelled for forming the "Black Widow", another faction of the outfit which came to be known as DHD(J). The parent body remained under the chairmanship of Dilip Nunisa called as DHD (D), also referred to as ‘cease-fire group'. During Hmar-Dimasa clash in early 2003, Hmar militants (Hmar People's Conversion-HPC) threw beef into a kali mandir and killed 28 Dimasa youths, thereby 28 ladies became widow on 1.04.2003. The faces of widows  were saddened/ blackened. The term ‘Black widow' derived from this incident. 

What does the "Black Widow" want?

Black Widow or DHD (J) has the same demand as the original DHD which still wants to negotiate with the Government for creation of "Dimaraji" - a separate state for the Dimasa community - out of the existing N.C. Hills and parts of adjoining Cachar and Nagaon districts apart from portions of Nagaland where the Dimasas once had their capital at Dimapur which is now known as Rajbari protected by Govt. of Bharatvarsh. Dimapur is connected with Mahabharat which is the place of Hidimba whom Bhim married.