Insurgency / Assam

Udalguri, Dec. 5: The banned National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) struck a discordant note on the eve of the formation of the interim Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), describing it as an exercise in futility. The militant group, which, along with the Ulfa, has been a major source of worry for Dispur, said December 6 would go down in history as the day a group of ?opportunists? surrendered the Bodo dream before Delhi.

The BTC was envisaged in the February 10 accord between the NDFB?s rival, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), and Dispur and Delhi. The interim council will be...

Kokrajhar, Dec. 5: For the battle-weary Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) cadre, it is the moment for mixed feelings as life as a ?soldier? comes to an end. On the eve of their formal surrender to the authorities with a vow to lead normal lives, BLT cadres from different backgrounds spoke about their past and future aspirations.

Twenty-two-year-old Sanjib Basumatary and his two friends from Ambari Surubera in Nalbari district want to resume the studies they had discontinued to join the ?freedom movement? some years ago.

?We want to stand on our own feet now,? they said.

Recalling his weird past...

GUWAHATI, Dec 5: Defence Minister George Fernanades today stated that Pakistani ISI in collusion with the banned ULFA was trying to fish in the opportunity provided by anti-Bihari violence in Assam. Talking to newsmen at the Army base in Narengi here, Fernandes said, ?Although it was not the ISI which stoked the fire of anti-Bihari attacks in Assam, it is definitely trying to fan the fire in collusion with the banned ULFA.?

Earlier, the Defence Minister visited victims of anti-Bihari violence in Tinsukia civil hospitals and in relief camps in Doom Dooma. He was also briefed by Brigadier A K...

Kokrajhar, Dec. 4: Such a long journey ? but all?s well that ends well. For nearly 2,500 members of the Bodo Liberation Tigers, Saturday will be the last day when they will dress in combat fatigues and carry weapons, though only to lay them down. Now that the struggle for Bodoland is over. As BLT chief Hagrama Basumatary pointed out, it was a long journey, but has borne fruit in the end.

The general council meeting of the BLT at Banargaon mini-stadium on Monday authorised Hagrama to dissolve the outfit on Saturday after the surrender ceremony is completed. A total of 2,525 activists from all...

SHILLONG, Dec 4 ? Fresh ethnic violence between the Karbi and Kuki in Assam?s Karbi Anglong district has halted the process of rehabilitation of over 4000 displaced Khasi-Pnar people now staying in camps in Meghalaya?s Jaintia hills for the last three weeks following threats of militants there, reports PTI.

?Since there is a problem going on, they (displaced Khasi-Pnars) want to be here (in Meghalaya) for some more time,? Deputy Commissioner of Jaintia Hills district L Kharkongor told PTI here over phone adding only 34 people have so far returned to their villages in Block-I and Block-II...

GUWAHATI, Dec 4 ? Five additional companies of Army have moved into the troubled torn district of Karbi Anglong to help the district administration to bring the situation under control following a series of clashes between the Karbi and Kuki communities. The Karbi Anglong Deputy Commissioner A Goel told The Assam Tribune this evening that with the arrival of the additional force, the total number of Army companies in the district has increased to eight and the new companies would start operating in the disturbed areas of the district shortly.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the security...

GUWAHATI, Dec 3: Notwithstanding deployment of additional forces, marauding Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) militants gunned down three more innocent Karbi villagers besides setting fire to about 30 houses at Mansing Teron village under Manja Police outpost about 18 kilometres away from Diphu in Karbi Anglong last night.

Police sources informed that a large group of KRA ultras raided the remote village at around 8 p.m. last night and opened indiscriminate fire from sophisticated weapons killing three Karbi persons including a 12-year-old boy and a woman and injured one.

The deceased were...

Nagaon, Dec. 2: The Karbi Anglong and N.C. Hills People?s Resistance (KNPR), the armed wing of the anti-talks faction of the United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), today threatened to purge the district of all Kukis. Declaring open war against the Kuki outfit, the UPDS said its operation would end only after the last Kuki village was uprooted from the twin districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hiils. The UPDS claimed that Kukis had migrated to the two districts from neighbouring Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

The outfit?s warning came even as suspected UPDS militants torched five...

GUWAHATI, Dec 2: The Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT), which became the first militant outfit of Assam to successfully complete peace negotiations with the State and Central Governments to sign an accord, will be disbanded formally on December 6, bringing an end to an era of violence in the Bodo dominated areas of the State. Giving a detailed account of the history of the BLT, the vice chairman of the outfit Chandan Brahma alias Kamal Mushahary told The Assam Tribune that after the failure of the Bodo accord signed between the State and the Central Government and the All Bodo Students? Union (ABSU)...

GUWAHATI, Dec 2: With barely three days left for constitution of the interim Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), the Assam government has come out with an announcement that general amnesty will be granted to former militants of Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT). Talking to newsmen at Janata Bhawan today, Gogoi informed that in response to the BLT?s demand for withdrawal of cases pending against its leaders and cadres to facilitate setting up of the BTC, State government has decided to grant general amnesty to the former ultras. However, he pointed out that individual criminal cases pending against...