KARBI INSURGENCY

About:

• The surrendered militants comprised cadres from five outfits — Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger (KPLT), People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK), Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF), Kuki Liberation Front (KLF) and United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA).
  
  
• Insurgency by Karbi — a major ethnic community of Assam — has had a long history in Assam since the late 1980s.
  
  
• These outfits originated from a core demand of forming a separate state.
  
  
• Today, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) is an autonomous district council, protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
  
  
• The entire political discourse in this constituency — comprising three districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong (split from the former in 2016) and Dima Hasao — revolves around the demand for
  • granting of “Autonomous State” status to the region and
    
    
  • more autonomy and power to the KAAC and the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (which administers over Dima Hasao district).