Insurgency / Assam

GUWAHATI, August 4: With the Lok Sabha elections fast approaching, all the political parties as well as the people of the state are watching with keen interest as to what will be the stand taken by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) vis-?-vis the election this time. The interest stemmed from the fact that during the Lok Sabha elections last year, the outfit had called for a poll boycott. In the wake of ignominious defeat in the elections, the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had tried to blame it on an alleged ULFA-Congress nexus. The AGP alleged that the Congress engineered the ULFA...

GUWAHATI, August 4: The activities of a newly-formed Islamic militant outfit People's United Liberation Front (PULF) came to light after the arrest of four members of the outfit in Barpeta recently. It is suspected that the outfit has links with the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), security sources said here. They said the four militants -Md Saifu Islam, Md Akbar Ali, Zehirul Islam and Hazarat Ali - all belonging to the Howly area of Barpeta district, were nabbed by police on July 22 last. Sources said the outfit was originally formed in Manipur with the support of the Isak-Muivah...

SIBSAGAR, August 3: Any news about extremists and terrorists coming to the national mainstream is good news for all. The recent reported surrender of 22 ULFA extremists at an Army camp near Sibsagar town, however, cannot be an exception to this. The silence and secrecy maintained by the Army till the last moment has raised many an eyebrow. The civil and police administration of the district too were kept in the dark about the surrender. The concept of unified command operation envisages a coordinated and concerted approach among the civil and police administration and the Army. The July 30...

GUWAHATI, August 2: Sumita Ghose, wife of social worker Sanjoy Ghose, today claimed that a recent workshop on human rights held in Bhubaneswar had passed a resolution condemning the United Liberation Front of Asom's action in abducting Sanjoy Ghose and demanding accountability from them as to his fate and whereabouts. In a faxed statement, Ghose said the workshop, however, passed the resolution against the ULFA with reservations from organisations like Manab Adhikar Sangram Samity (MASS), North East Coordination Committee on Human Rights (NECCOHR) and Human Rights Alert. These organisations...

TEZPUR, August 1: Some middle-level cadres of both the political and military wings of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have expressed their desire to come forward for talks with the Government and they are in constant touch with the Army authorities here, said the GOC for the 4 Corps of the Army, Lt Gen DB Shekatkar. Lt Gen Shekatkar said that the ULFA men's move to contact the Army started during the Rongali Bihu festival in April. He pointed out that during the festival, the Army declared a ceasefire to enable the militants to visit their friends and relatives and that must have...

GUWAHATI, Aug 1- A worldwide campaign, at the behest of Amnesty International, will be launched on November 27 to protest against the November 27, 1997, verdict of the Supreme Court granting validity to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Human rights activists the world over will wear black badges and present memoranda to the Supreme Court urging it to review its order. The call to this effect was given by human rights activists in a workshop on human rights under the aegis of Amnesty International held at Bhubaneswar in Orissa recently. The workshop, however, opposed a resolution put...

GUWAHATI, July 31: A Guwahati-bound goods train was derailed near Sarupeta in Barpeta district when militants triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) early today. In another incident, at least 20 CRPF personnel had a providential escape when militants detonated a powerful bomb on Nalbari-Dhamdhama Road at Balitara under Ghograpar police station last night. Suspected Bodo militants exploded a powerful bomb at Bhalaguri between Sarupeta and Barpeta when the Guwahati-bound goods train was passing through the area at 8.30 am this morning. Six bogies and the engine were damaged. Four other...

GUWAHATI, July 31: Increasing activities of the outlawed National Socialist Council of Nagalim in Assam's Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills districts, bordering Nagaland have become a matter of grave concern for the Assam government. The group, which is in a ceasefire mode in Nagaland, is reportedly indulging in abductions and extortion in the two districts. While in some cases, the NSCN cadres are directly involved, in most others they have been engaging cadres of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) and the Karbi People's Front (KPF), government sources said. The Assam government has shot off...

KARGIL, July 29: Lieutenant Tarun Saikia's parents and friends in Assam think he is a trainee bank manager in State Bank of India in Jammu. And comrades-in-arms of Captain Jintu Gogoi say his neighbours were surprised back home in Assam when news came that he had died fighting in Kargil. They did now know he was in the Army. The brave Assamese soldiers fighting fearlessly in the icy wastelands north of Zoji La are haunted by fear of a different kind. They have to worry about the safety of their families back in Assam. The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has threatened all Assamese...

NALBARI, July 28: Disgusted with the activities of the different militant outfits, which had vitiated the atmosphere of the district with rampant killings, extortion, abductions, the people of Nalbari have come out to the street to put an end to it. Four militant outfits - United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), Bodoland Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF) and Bengali Tiger Force (BTF) are active in the area. A new outfit Adivasi Cobra militants has also emerged. The people of Nalbari held a series of public meetings at several places to protest the...