48-hour bandh paralyses life in Assam’s Dima Hasao

PTI HAFLONG, JANUARY 16 [dropcap]N[/dropcap]ormal life was paralysed in Assam’s Dima Hasao district in the wake of a 48-hour bandh beginning on Friday. The bandh, called by the Halali Progressive Welfare Society (HPWS), an NGO formed by the ex-cadre of the disbanded militant outfit Dima Halam Daoga (DHD), began at 5 am today and would end at 5 am on January 18. All schools, colleges, commercial establishments, markets, offices, banks, post office, transport remained closed in the district but no untoward incident has been reported so far, a district police officer said.The bandh has been called to protest against the killing of its member and DHD’s former general secretary Rajesh Naiding. We are demanding immediate arrest of the killers, a CBI investigation into the incident, besides condemning kidnapping, killing and extortion by extremist outfits in the district, a statement by HPWS said. Forty-year-old Naiding was killed on January 9 last by unidentified gunmen near Rajbari in Diyungmukh area of the district.