Decks cleared for DHD pact

New Delhi, Oct. 2: The decks have been cleared for the signing of a settlement with the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) factions on Friday, unless pitripaksh casts a shadow on official business.

Contented with the steps the Centre is ready to take, more than 70 representatives off the two DHD groups will reach New Delhi tomorrow. Dilip Nunisa, chief of one of the factions, is already in the capital hoping that the signing of the memorandum of settlement which has been deferred twice since July is not put off once again.

The pitripaksh problem was discussed (with us by the government). We do not have any problem in signing during this period, Nunisa told The Telegraph. Pitripaksh is the ongoing fortnight-long shraddha period from September 30 in the Hindu calendar, which is considered inauspicious and in which politicians seem to have a deep belief.

Officials are unsure if the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) will take up the issue on Thursday. Last week, no cabinet meeting was held. If the matter is included in the CCPA agenda by tomorrow evening, North Block will intimate chief minister Tarun Gogoi to attend the signing ceremony, if it is scheduled for Friday.

The signing could be done anytime between October 5 and October 10, a government official said, leaving a large time window open till the ceremony. He, however, assured that the MoS would be signed soon. Pitripaksh ends on October 15.

Uncertainty over the schedule aside, all work by the government has been concluded. Several ministries, including defence and finance, whose schemes would be implemented as part of the settlement, have given their nod to the draft MoS. Both factions have already signed the draft agreement Dilip Nunisa on July 13 this year and Jewel Gorlosa in 2011. The Cabinet meeting is only a formality actually, a senior official involved in negotiations with the DHD factions said.

Nunisa hoped that the Centre would not call off the ceremony as it had done earlier. The MoS was to be signed on July 30 but it was deferred after violence broke out in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD). The signing was then scheduled for September 28, but the Centre cancelled the date again.

What is certain, however, is that with the signing of this settlement, one more militant group of the Northeast will dissolve itself. It will be a joint celebration of the Dimasa groups two factions in Haflong.

The DHD will be the second group within a year after the Karbi group United Peoples Democratic Solidarity that will be dissolved. The UPDS signed the MoS in November 2011.

DHD will be dissolved. Our cadres will be rehabilitated in the army or police depending on fitness and their willingness and all cases except those concerning heinous crimes, will be withdrawn, Nunisa said on Tuesday.

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Decks cleared for DHD pact