Dimasa people

"But in the same year, a Hindu tribe called Dimasas had suffered immensely because of religious strife. This was reported by other prominent human rights watch groups in 2005 but ignored by USCIRF’s biased filtering. For example, the US-based Committee for Refugees and Immigrants mentioned that Dimasa tribes were becoming internally displaced refugees. Unfortunately, it failed to provide the religious dimension behind this displacement. It merely acknowledged that ‘about two thousand Dimasas, displaced by communal rioting in 2003 between the Dimasa and Hmar tribes over land and governance in the northeast, were still living in camps in southern Assam as well as in Manipur and Mizoram. About three thousand others had likely returned to their homes’. Major Anil Raman, a strategic analyst and commander in the Indian Army in the Northeast, explains the role of Western Christianity in this conflict: The Hmars are devout Christians while the Dimasas are mainly Hindus. The Hmar church-bodies and social networks, including those abroad, have been heavily involved in directing political activities. The Dimasas lack this external support and are extremely apprehensive and critical of activities of Hmar religious bodies. The unchecked and widespread proselytism by missionary groups to achieve a ‘Christian belt’ from Meghalaya to Nagaland has brought them into direct conflict with the Dimasas, who are staunch Hindus."