Insurgency / Assam

GUWAHATI, January 26: What could be the best gift for a 73-year old man on the occasion of Republic Day, then being finally released, though on bail, after languishing for over seven years in prison following his arrest in connection with as many as 85 TADA cases ? And exactly that has happened to Arjun Sharma, a person of Nepal origin, who has been in Assam since he was fourteen years old. Sharma was arrested in the wake of the counter-insurgency operations launched in the state way back in November, 1990. Arrested first on November 28, 1990, a day after Operation Bajrang was launched against...

GUWAHATI, January 25: The Centre has once again urged Bhutan to flush out ULFA and Bodo militants from the jungles in the southern part of the Himalayan kingdom. Official sources said a senior Union home ministry official made the request on the Centre's behalf during a meeting with Bhutanese bureaucrats at the Bhutan Embassy in New Delhi last night. Bhutanese ambassador Dago Tshering was present at the dinner meeting between G.K. Pillai, joint secretary in charge of Northeast affairs in the Union home ministry, and a team of visiting officials from the Himalayan kingdom. Giving details of the...

GUWAHATI, January 24: Police said on Wednesday they had killed two separatist guerrillas including a key leader in the Northeastern city, Guwahati. Senior police official G.P. Singh told reporters that S.S. Lemba, "defence secretary" of the PREPAK group, and one of his lieutenants were killed in an encounter with police late on Tuesday night. The left-wing People's Revolutionary Army of Kangleipak (PREPAK) is fighting for independence of Manipur. It is one of the several ethnic groups in the mountainous region fighting for political autonomy or independence. Police said three guerrillas...

GUWAHATI, January 23: The unlawful activities (prevention) tribunal has asked the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Boroland to explain why they should not be declared "unlawful associations" by the Centre. In two separate notifications issued yesterday, the tribunal asked both the rebel groups to show cause as to why the Centre's declaration should not be confirmed by the tribunal. The Centre had referred the notifications to two separate tribunals of Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice Manmohan Sarin of Delhi High Court for adjudicating whether or not there...

GUWAHATI, January 20: The hope of a possible negotiation along with ceasefire with the ULFA was halted today with the latter questioning the sincerity of the Centre for talks, reports UNI. In a telephonic statement, given to local vernacular newspapers last night, ULFA chairman Aurobindo Rajkhowa and C-in-C Paresh Barua said the Centre's recent talks proved that they were not sincere. The Home Ministry had sounded that even sovereignty could be discussed with the ULFA triggering tremendous hope in entire Assam of a negotiated settlement. But the ULFA leaders described the Home Ministry's words...

GUWAHATI, January 18: The underground National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) has declared as "banned" five other Bodo groups including the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) and All Bodo Women's Welfare Federation (ABWWF) for their alleged "nefarious" activities and threatened selective elimination of their leaders. A statement by the NDFB's publicity secretary B Erakdao on Wednesday evening said the ABSU, BSS, ABWWF, Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) and the Bodo People's Action Committee (BPAC) had joined hands to "crush" the NDFB's "revolution" for a sovereign Bodo...

GUWAHATI, January 18: The State police has failed to withdraw personal security officers (PSOs) from as many as 20 surrendered militants in the State in view of the Court directive to maintain status quo in this regard. The Director General of the State Police, H K Deka today informed that total 38 surrendered militants had been provided with PSOs in view of the threat to their lives. However, the State Police recently decided to withdraw PSOs from 20 surrendered ultras as per the suggestion of the review committee. However, the former ultras moved the Court raising objection to withdrawal of...

GUWAHATI, January 18: The peace talks between the Government and the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) are progressing satisfactorily and the Central Government will announce a comprehensive package for the solution of the Bodo problem shortly, said the BLT publicity secretary, Mainao Daimary. Talking to The Assam Tribune here, Daimary, who was in the city to attend a meeting of the ceasefire monitoring group, said that the BLT was hopeful of an amicable solution to the Bodo problem. He said that they have confidence in the sincerity of the Central Government in solving the Bodo problem as both the...

GUWAHATI, January 18: The Government of India has decided to provide Rs 200 crore during the next five years for modernisation of the State police in response to a comprehensive proposal submitted by the State police. With this enhanced grant the State police plans to modernise the training facilities in training institutions at Dergaon and Mandakata in addition to procuring vehicles, weapons and communication equipment. The police has also drawn up plan to upgrade the existing forensic laboratory at Kahilipara to international standard and set up three regional laboratories and 25 mobile...

GUWAHATI, January 17: The All-Bodo Students Union (Absu) and the Bodo People's Action Committee today criticised the banned National Democratic Front of Boroland's threat to eliminate select Bodo leaders for allegedly indulging in "nefarious activities" against the militant outfit. In a press statement, Absu president Urkhao Gwra Brahma described the NDFB threat as "words of insane mentality who might have lost their mental balance". The NDFB, in a statement issued to a section of the Press yesterday, threatened that "selective elimination and shoot-at-sight orders" shall be issued against the...