Insurgency / Assam

Silchar, Jan. 17: The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) last night set free the three hostages they had abducted from Cachar district last week. Police sources said the captives were released at noon from a hilltop hideout of the NCSN (K) in Jiribam subdivision of Manipur.

They took an autorickshaw and reached the subdivisional headquarters town of Jiribam on the Manipur-Assam border in the evening. Cachar police escorted them to their houses.

Though police could not confirm if any ransom was paid, sources said the relatives of each of the three hostages had paid Rs 50,000 for...

Silchar, Jan. 15: Negotiators trying to secure the release of three persons taken hostage by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) in south Assam nine days ago have convinced the outfit to scale down its demand for Rs 10 lakh by half.

Sources said a seven-member team from Jirighat town, located on the Cachar-Manipur border, negotiated with representatives of the NSCN (K) for four hours yesterday.

A 22-member group went to a hideout of the militant group on Saturday to bring back the hostages, but returned empty-handed. The three captives ? Sudhir Sarkar, 86, Aloke Dhar, 25, and...

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 ? Reacting to outlawed ULFA?s clarion call for help, China has turned it down cautioning that it has alerted its Frontier Forces to check intrusion by the militants into the country. A spokesman of the Chinese embassy in its first-ever reaction to the ULFA?s appeal said that the peoples republic has taken note of the reports and it would closely monitor the situation. ?We are confident that Chinese frontier forces are capable of safeguarding the security and stability of our border areas,? the spokesman said. China has always followed the principle of non-interference in...

GUWAHATI, Dec 31 ? Though the process of handing over of the militants arrested by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) to India is still on, security agencies are of the view that several senior militants are still in the captivity of the RBA. Highly placed security sources said that the RBA has informed the Government of India about the arrest of several other top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) but they are yet to be handed over to India. According to information available with the security agencies, top leaders of the ULFA and...

GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? Noted filmmaker Jahnu Barua, celebrated author Indira Gowami, prominent journalists Sanjoy Hazarika , Patricia Mukhim, Dileep Chandan and others have called on Bhutan and India to ensure transparency and respect the rights, especially of non-combatant women and children, in the ongoing military operations in Bhutan.

In a statement e-mailed to this newspaper they have urged that civil society groups and media be given access to the detainees. They also called on the armed groups to turn to dialogue and end their armed struggles in an effort to solve the problems of the...

GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? The crackdown by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) inflicted heavy loss to militant outfits ? the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) ? both in terms of loss of cadres and weapons while more and more cadres of the outfits are still being arrested or have surrendered before the security forces.

Police sources said that so far, 170 ULFA cadres, who either surrendered or were arrested have been handed over to the police in different parts of Assam since the RBA crackdown began on December 15. Altogether 27 children of the ULFA...

NEW DELHI, Dec 30 ? The ceasefire between Central Government and Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) has been extended for another year. The ceasefire would remain in force till December 31, next year. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) here made a formal announcement to that effect today. The suspension of hostile operation between militant outfit DHD and security forces in Assam has been extended for one more year. The suspension of hostile operations has been in operation since January 1. It was decided to extend the suspension of hostile operations between the DHD and the security forces after mutual...

GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today accused the self-styled commander-in-chief of the banned ULFA, Paresh Baruah, and other top leaders of the outfit of standing in the way of talks with Government of India. Addressing a press conference at Janata Bhawan this afternoon, Gogoi in reaction to the ULFA leaders attaching pre-conditions for talks with Government of India (GOI), said that the ULFA cadres by and large wanted to sit for talks barring a handful like Paresh Baruah who are puppets in the hands of anti-India forces in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

?As long as the top leaders...

GUWAHATI, Dec 29: Violent inter-tribes conflicts confined to the two hill districts and tribal groups demand for right to determine their fate for themselves have sowed the seed for a new band of complex tribal politics in the State in the year gone by. The early part of the year was marred by violent clashes between majority Dimasa and minority Hmar tribes in North Cachar Hills district which witnessed mindless killings of members of both the tribes at the hands of Hmar and Dimasa militants as well as mob frenzy hitherto uncharacteristic in the tribal society in the State.

Scores of lives...

GUWAHATI, Dec 29: The recent clashes between Karbi Anglong?s majority Karbi and minority Kuki communities had about a decade-long history of acrimony behind it. Though the Karbi leaders are trying hard to project the clashes as ?group clashes?, reality speaks otherwise. Leaders of both the Congress and the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) are blaming the anti-talk faction of the United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), a Karbi militant group and the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), a militant group of the Kukis, for the recent developments. They also go to the extent of demanding a...