/ 0
Assam is marching towards peace under the able leadership of Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma. The recent accord is the step in that direction. The historic Karbi Anglong Accord signed is a tripartite agreement between the Assam government, the six factions of the Karbi and the government of India. According to the accord, the armed groups shall shun the path of violence, surrender their weapons and disband their organisations within one month of the signing of the agreement. All camps occupied by these groups shall be vacated right after. As per official records, thousand militants would return to the mainstream and lay down more than 300 sophisticated arms they possess. As per the report the former militants submitted a total of 338 weapons, including 8 light machine guns with 11,203 bullets, 11 M-16 rifles and 58 AK-47 rifles so far.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Minister from Assam Sarbananda Sonowal and the representatives of the Karbi faction were present during the signing ceremony held at the North Block office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi.
Among the signatories of this historic accord include the Chairman of all the six factions of Karbi Anglong, which included representatives of the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF), People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK), United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA), Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) and the Kuki Liberation Front (KLF) along with the Chief Secretary of Assam, Jishnu Barua, and Additional Secretary North-East from the MHA Piyush Goyal. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and CEM of KAAC Tuliram Ronghang signed as witnesses.
So what is it that this accord guarantees the people of Anglong?
The agreement grants greater devolution of autonomy to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) apart from providing protection to the language, culture and identity of the region and reservation to the Karbi people.
According to the Accord, the Assam government shall set up a Karbi Welfare Council for focused development of Karbi people living outside the KAAC area. The Consolidated Fund of the state will be augmented to supplement the resources of KAAC. Overall, the present settlement proposes to give more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers to KAAC.
Here is a look at some of the key salient features of this agreement;-
To read the further articles please get your copy of Eastern Panorama September issue @http://www.magzter.com/IN/Hill-Publications/Eastern-Panorama/News/ or mail to contact @easternpanorama.in
