Less than 24 hours after a Union Home Ministry team took stock of the deteriorating law and order situation in the strife-torn North Cachar Hills district in Assam,fresh violence has claimed lives of two persons while at least 26 houses were set afire on Thursday. Two persons,identified as Nahameabe Jeme and Cereabe Jeme,were killed when men armed with sophisticated arms raided Mabao village near Sontila under Haflong police station and set on fire several houses there. The village is about 10 km north of Haflong,the district headquarters. The situation is going from bad to worse. People from both communities,Dimasa and Zeme-Naga,are being targeted. Though the authorities had constituted a peace committee,villages continue to be attacked and villagers being killed, said Josias Jeme,president of the Indigenous Peoples Forum,that claims to represent the non-Dimasa tribals of the hill district. On Wednesday,joint secretary in the union home ministry Naveen Verma,accompanied by Assam Chief Secretary P C Sarma and other senior officials,flew to Haflong and discussed the situation with state and district officials. Verma,who was at Haflong for about 25 minutes,also met the brigade commander of the Army and senior police and CRPF officials and directed them to create better coordination among the security forces.
