Insurgency / Assam

DIMAPUR, Dec 31 — The white flag of peace may yet again flutter in the insurgency-ridden North-East as the peace initiatives between the Dimasa extremist organisation Dima Halong Daogah (DHD) and the Government of India show encouraging signs. Earlier, in a statement issued in the later part of August this year, the DHD had stated that although it had positively responded to Prime Minister’s Independence Day call and expressed willingness to discuss the Dimasa issue with the Centre, no further reciprocal gesture had been extended by the Union Government.

Citing an incident of harassment of...

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 — In a big boost to Government of India’s peace plan in the North Eastern Region (NER), yet another underground outfit the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) operating in Assam has opted for talks with the Centre sealing a ceasefire pact for six months with effect from tomorrow. The DHD is the second outfit from the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills Districts to be engaged in peace talks with the Government. Earlier last year it was a faction of the UPDS, which signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre. Incidentally both the outfits operating in the same area are known to have...

NALBARI, Dec 30 — Two major militant outfits — the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) — have losing ground as in the current year 2002, they have lost altogether 590 cadres — 83 of them killed in encounters, while the rest of them either surrendered or were arrested by the security personnel. The security were also successful in preventing all new recruitments. Police and other security personnel engaged for counter insurgency in Nalbari district which is considered a hotbed of insurgency made a significant development in combating...

DIMAPUR, Dec 29 — In what can be considered as a crucial and significant move, the Dimaraji Khunang Hosom (Dimaraji Gaonbura Union) has resolved to support peace talks and welcomed the possibilities of a ceasefire agreement between the Dima Halom Daoga (DHD) and the Government of India so as to facilitate a peaceful solution to the issue of attainment of proposed Dimaraji statehood. The resolution along with other resolutions was unanimously adopted during the subject meeting of the Hosom’s general meeting at the Dhansiri government high school, on December 27. The meeting of the gaonburas of...

GUWAHATI, Dec 26 – The security forces are still in the dark about the identity of the miscreants involved in the mortar attacks in the city last evening, which killed two persons and injured 19 others including former member of Parliament Prabin Sarma. The Director General of Assam Police has announced a reward of Rs one lakh to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of the miscreants involved in the attacks. Superintendent of City Police Hiren Nath told The Assam Tribune this evening that the needle of suspicion points towards the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)...

Guwahati, Dec. 25: The diplomatic mission to convince Bhutan and Bangladesh to flush out militants of the Northeast from their territories has made substantial progress, according to the Union minister in charge of the department for development of the northeastern region, Arun Shourie.

He made the statement during an informal interaction with members of the media on the runway of Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here. “Diplomatic initiatives are on at the appropriate level and the results will be known soon,” he said.

Shourie said he had spoken to leaders of Bangladesh —...

GUWAHATI, Dec 23 — The Dilip Nunisa-led faction of the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) has demanded the exclusion of Dimapur from Nagaland, claiming that the commercial town was ceded to the hill state for only 25 years from the time of its creation. According to a leaflect circulated by the militants outfit, which is fighting for ‘Dimaraji’, or self-rule for the Dimasa people within the India state, Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland, was only ‘temporarily’ included in the then Naga Hills district under the Sixth Schedule. DHD says that in 1949, during the framing of the Sixth Schedule, Kuladhar...

NALBARI, Dec 23— Assam Assam Students’ Union (AASU) president Prabin Bodo today reiterated its willingness to mediate the ULFA-Government talks in the interest of a lasting peace and normalcy in the State. Talking to The Assam Tribune here, the AASU chief said, ‘‘If any side of the Government and the banned outfit ULFA want, we are ready to consider the mediation of the talk only in the interest of the greater Assamese nation.’’ Bodo further stated that in the crucial moment of the Assamese nation when most of the small communities have been raising demand for separation, the leaders of ULFA...

NEW DELHI, Dec 21— Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga is yet to begin the process of opening dialogue with the outlawed outfits of Assam including the ULFA and NDFB. The Chief Minister has been entrusted by the Central Government to initiative dialogue with the underground outfits in the North-east. Talking to this newspaper on the sidelines of the National Development Council (NDC) meeting here today, the Chief Minister said that he is yet to receive any feelers from ULFA or from any other outfits in Assam.

In this connection, he sought to play down his aborted Bangladesh visit saying that...

Guwahati, Dec. 21: The Royal Bhutan government has warned militant outfits from Assam and West Bengal that it would be left with no option but to use military force if Indian insurgents did not leave their camps in the Himalayan Kingdom peacefully.

King Jigme Singe Wangchuk, addressing the nation, said his government would soon hold talks with the militant outfits, asking them to leave the country.

?Our objective during the talks will be to ensure that the militants remove their main camp, which serves as their headquarters, from Bhutanese territory. If our efforts to resolve this problem...