A tripartite agreement among five insurgent groups of Assam, the Centre and the State government was recently signed to end years of violence in the Karbi Anglong region.

The insurgent groups which signed the peace accord include:

• Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF),
• People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK),
• Kuki Liberation Front (KLF),
• United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA) and
• Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger (KPLT).

Highlights of the Agreement:

=> Under the peace accord, more than 1,000 armed cadres have abjured violence and joined the mainstream.

=> The agreement provides for their rehabilitation.

=> The Centre will make available a special development package of ?1,000 crore over the next five years, for the Assam government to undertake specific projects for the development of Karbi areas.

=> The Assam government will set up a Karbi Welfare Council for focused development of Karbi people living outside the ‘Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council’ (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.

The memorandum of settlement would ensure:

=> Greater devolution of autonomy to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC).

=> Protection of identity, language and culture of the Karbi people.

=> Focused development of the Council area, without affecting the territorial and administrative integrity of Assam.

Who are Karbis?

=> A major ethnic community of Assam— Karbis are dotted by many factions, and marked by ethnic violence, killings, abductions, taxation since the late 1980s.

=> Originally, they are one of Northeast India’s tribal groups, largely inhabiting the Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao (formerly North Cachar) hills districts.

What did the Karbis demand?

The core demand of the Karbi outfits was the formation of a separate state.

=> In late 1990s, the Karbi National Volunteers (KNV) and Karbi People’s Force (KPF) had come together to form the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS).

=> In November 2011, the organisation decided to lay down its arms and sign a tripartite memorandum of settlement with the Centre and the Assam government, settling for enhanced autonomy and special packages for the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC).

The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) is an autonomous district council, which is protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

Bodo peace accord:

The former militants belonging to five Karbi splinter groups laid down their arms a year after the Assam state government signed the historic Bodo peace accord, bringing an end to the long-run violence in Bodoland.

• The Bodoland region is also an autonomous territorial region that is administered by the elected body – Bodoland Territorial Council.
• The Accord was first signed in 2003 and then extended in 2020.

Significance of Karbi Anglong Agreement:

The Karbi Anglong Agreement is important as an insurgency by Karbi has had a long history in Assam, which has been marked by killings, ethnic violence, abductions and taxation since the late 1980s.

• The agreement hopes to bring an end to this violence and establish peace in the state.
• Around 1000 Karbi militants had surrendered before the Assam government in February 2021.
• Around 150 of those Karbi militants reached North Block where the Karbi Anglong Agreement was being signed and about 15 of them were present in the meeting.