Insurgency / Assam

NEW DELHI, March 10: In a significant development the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has shifted two petroleum products (POL) distributors from Assam to West Bengal and Rajasthan following threats by the ULFA and NDFB militants. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry's action assumes significance because it has come at a time, when the Centre in its report, claimed that the situation in Assam has shown improvement this year. The Home Ministry, in its annual report, painted a rosy picture claiming that the overall situation has shown improvement as the number of killings has gone down...

GUWAHATI, March 7: A number of Western nations have officially warned their citizens not to venture into Northeast, including Assam, citing "civil unrest, insurgent attacks and political killings" occuring in the region. The warning, also posted on government websites of these countries, has evoked a sharp response within the Northeast tourism industry. Apart from recommending remedial measures, the industry here has also blamed the ministry of external affairs and some of the big Indian tour operators for their failure to present the correct picture of the prevailing security situation in...

Kolkata, March 6: United Liberation Front of Asom commander-in-chief Paresh Barua escaped yet another bid on his life on Thursday evening when a group of six assailants attacked his vehicle in Dhaka. Barua lost his right-hand man in Bangladesh, Hossain Rumy, in the attack. Rumy was the ULFA frontman in Bangladesh, into whose bank account all ULFA funds have been deposited so far. A top Intelligence Bureau official told TheNewspaperToday that the attack was carried out mainly by surrendered ULFA cadres and some hired assailants from Bangladesh, guided by Indian security personnel. According to...

GUWAHATI, March 6: The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Tuesday denied that its chief Paresh Baruah was attacked by gunmen in Dhaka on Thursday. Reports to that effect were the 'Indian government's propaganda', it said. In a statement, exclusively e-mailed to TheNewspaperToday, ULFA foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury, said: "These reports are all rubbish. He (Paresh Baruah) is fine with his comrades-in-arms at the general headquarters." Choudhury added: "India is only trying to locate him with these very propaganda traps. They want his voice over telephone to pin point his...

GUWAHATI, March 3: Top SULFA leader Lohit Deuri and 12 of his accomplices, including three personal security officers, were arrested this evening for assaulting businessmen and indulging in vandalism at the Fancy Bazar. The former militant's personal security officers, provided by the government, were also disarmed by the city police. The arrested persons will be produced before a magistrate tomorrow. Police said Deuri's personal security officers and a group of SULFA members went to Fancy Bazar, ransacked some shops and beat up shopowners and employees after an altercation over money matters...

AGARTALA, March 3: In a new twist to the current insurgency problem, the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) militants, comprising Reang tribals living in Tripura and Mizoram, have turned against Tripuri tribals living in Hailakandi subdivision of Barak valley in Assam. Altogether seven Tripuri tribal families comprising 46 members have recently taken shelter in Gandacherra subdivision of Dhalai district, after being driven away from Durgapur village under Lalghat police station of Hailakandi district. These families are eking out a sub-human living in remote Bhagirath para village of...

NEW DELHI, March 2 (PTI): In a bid to placate the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) in accepting two other Naga factions NSCN (Khaplang) and the Naga Federal Group (NFG) in the peace process, the Government today indicated that the three-year-old ceasefire could be extended to Naga inhabited areas in the neighbouring areas. The response from Assam and Manipur Chief ministers PK Mahanta and Radhabinod Koijam were positive, home minister LK Advani told reporters after the two Chief Ministers held separate meetings with him and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But it has been...

GUWAHATI, March 1: Nearly eight thousand militants belonging to different outfits, including the ULFA, NDFB, BLT, BTF, KNV, DNSF and MULTA, surrendered before the Government since 1992. Official sources said that the surrender process started in the year 1992 and in that year, 3850 militants, all of whom belonged to the ULFA, surrendered. As many as 1986 militants, including 1625 ULFA, 128 NDFB, 42 BLT, 39 BTF, 23 KNV, 58 RNSF, eight GNLF, 13 UPDS and 43 MULTA, surrendered last year. Sources said that 889 militants were given training on vocational courses through Government and non-government...

GUWAHATI, February 28: The Designated Court, Guwahati today acquitted all the three persons chargesheeted in the case relating to murder of the then Superintendent of Police of Dibrugarh district Daulat Singh Negi. Negi, an Indian Police Service officer, was killed in an ambush by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants near Panitola in Dibrugarh district on July 29, 1990. The case was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the central investigating agency filed the chargesheet of the case in 1991. The central investigating agency chargesheeted...

GUWAHATI, February 26: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has said his organisation favours a plebiscite in Assam to decide once and for all whether the people support his outfit's demand for sovereignty or prefer to stay with India. The ULFA leader, however, made it clear that any plebiscite would have to be held under the supervision of a "neutral country or an international body", and with an electoral list comprising only indigenous people. In an exclusive interview with TheNewspaperToday through e-mail, Rajkhowa, 45, on Thursday answered questions on the...