JALUKIE | JUNE 7 : Fear and despair are writ large on the faces of these women and children who fled the carnage unleashed by militants in NC Hills, Assam, and came seeking refuge here in the relatively peaceful Jalukie valley, Peren district of Nagaland.
[Women and children who fled the ongoing violence in NC Hills of Assam, seen here in a relief camp in Jalukie town.]
Around 200 Zeme Nagas, mostly women and children, are presently taking shelter in nine relief camps scattered on the outskirts of Jalukie town, following the ethnic violence between the Dimasa and Zeme in NC Hills.
The women and children arrived in batches, with many of them trudging the jungles for three days to reach safety after crossing the border. Others were transported in vehicles provided by the Zeme brethren of Peren district.
A middle-aged woman in one of the relief camps told visiting media persons that women and children of her village had to spend ten days and ten nights in the jungles to escape the wrath of DHD militants while their men folk stood guard over their village.
“We had to endure the rains and insects like mosquitoes and leeches. Whenever rain comes, our limited rations like rice and salt get spoiled. We finally decided to cross the border and seek shelter here,” she said. Another woman, a mother of three minors, said it was a frightful experience walking in the deep jungles at night carrying her children, always wary of militants.
A group of naked children were seen playing in the courtyard of a relief camp, their tiny laughter masking the scar of the violence that would haunt them in later life. In a room of a building at a multi-sports stadium, a one-year-old boy lay fast asleep on the floor, oblivious of the circumstances, which transported him to a new environment.
Some children were more subdued. A seven-year-old girl was near to tears when asked if she would like to go back to her village where her father stayed behind. “Yes,” she nodded in saying she would like to go back.
Even as the women anxiously wait for good tidings from their menfolk back home in NC Hills that peace has returned to their hamlets, they are not sitting idle in the relief camps but working as daily wage labourers in the fields and as domestic help in various homes. They know that the little savings they make here would help them when they go back and rebuild their homes, destroyed in the ethnic frenzy.
Meanwhile, members of the Jalukie Town Council (JTC), said the council has so far distributed clothes, utensils and food items donated by council members, various churches and well-wishers, to inmates of the relief camps. The Zeliangrong Baudi (Nagaland) is also actively mobilizing funds. It may be mentioned 31 people have been killed and more than 300 houses burnt in the Dimasa-Zeme conflict since March 19.
Source: The Morung Express
[Women and children who fled the ongoing violence in NC Hills of Assam, seen here in a relief camp in Jalukie town.]Around 200 Zeme Nagas, mostly women and children, are presently taking shelter in nine relief camps scattered on the outskirts of Jalukie town, following the ethnic violence between the Dimasa and Zeme in NC Hills.
The women and children arrived in batches, with many of them trudging the jungles for three days to reach safety after crossing the border. Others were transported in vehicles provided by the Zeme brethren of Peren district.
A middle-aged woman in one of the relief camps told visiting media persons that women and children of her village had to spend ten days and ten nights in the jungles to escape the wrath of DHD militants while their men folk stood guard over their village.
“We had to endure the rains and insects like mosquitoes and leeches. Whenever rain comes, our limited rations like rice and salt get spoiled. We finally decided to cross the border and seek shelter here,” she said. Another woman, a mother of three minors, said it was a frightful experience walking in the deep jungles at night carrying her children, always wary of militants.
A group of naked children were seen playing in the courtyard of a relief camp, their tiny laughter masking the scar of the violence that would haunt them in later life. In a room of a building at a multi-sports stadium, a one-year-old boy lay fast asleep on the floor, oblivious of the circumstances, which transported him to a new environment.
Some children were more subdued. A seven-year-old girl was near to tears when asked if she would like to go back to her village where her father stayed behind. “Yes,” she nodded in saying she would like to go back.
Even as the women anxiously wait for good tidings from their menfolk back home in NC Hills that peace has returned to their hamlets, they are not sitting idle in the relief camps but working as daily wage labourers in the fields and as domestic help in various homes. They know that the little savings they make here would help them when they go back and rebuild their homes, destroyed in the ethnic frenzy.
Meanwhile, members of the Jalukie Town Council (JTC), said the council has so far distributed clothes, utensils and food items donated by council members, various churches and well-wishers, to inmates of the relief camps. The Zeliangrong Baudi (Nagaland) is also actively mobilizing funds. It may be mentioned 31 people have been killed and more than 300 houses burnt in the Dimasa-Zeme conflict since March 19.
Source: The Morung Express
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