Assam govt signs final pacts with 4 armed groups, claims to end ‘ethnic militancy’
Assam govt signs memoranda of settlement with three Kuki and one Hmar armed groups, formally closing the chapter on decades of ethnic militancy in the state
The Assam government on Sunday (March 15) signed the memoranda of settlement with four armed groups — three Kuki and one Hmar — marking what the state officially described as the end of ethnic militancy in Assam. The agreements were signed at a formal ceremony in Guwahati, culminating several rounds of tripartite talks held over the years.
Groups that signed the pacts
The three Kuki armed groups that inked the settlement are the United Kukigam Defence Army (UKDA), the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), and the Kuki Liberation Organisation (KLO) along with its armed wing, the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA). The Hmar Peoples' Convention-Democratic (HPC-D) signed a separate pact with the government on the same occasion.
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All four groups had laid down arms in 2012 in the presence of the then Union Home Minister and the Chief Minister of Assam, and had since operated under a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.
Welfare councils for Kuki and Hmar communities
The two settlement agreements — one covering the Kuki groups and another for the Hmar group — provide for the formation of dedicated welfare and development councils for the Kuki and Hmar peoples respectively, with both councils to be headquartered in Guwahati.
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The government also assured the armed groups of rehabilitating former cadres and providing financial compensation to the families of militants who lost their lives during the years of insurgency.
"With these two pacts, the ethnic militancy comes to an end in the state of Assam," the official government statement said.