Insurgency / Northeast

NEW DELHI, August 24: The Centre is despatching a high-level team to be led by the Union home secretary, Kamal Pande, to the Northeast later this month on a stock-taking mission in the wake of sudden jump in terrorist-related violence and unearthing of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) gameplan to destabilise the region. The home secretary accompanied by top officials from the ministry, besides senior intelligence officials, will arrive at Guwahati on August 27 on a two-day visit, official sources confirmed. This will be the home secretary's maiden visit to the region after he took over...

GUWAHATI, August 24: The Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), a dreaded militant outfit of Kashmir backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has intensified its activities along the Indo-Nepal border to destabilise the Northeast and the neighbouring states of the region. According to highly-placed official sources, the security forces have unearthed the "nefarious design" of the militant group following recovery of a letter in which the Mohna unit of the organisation urged the members to create unrest in West Bengal and the Northeast. The official sources further said that the letter which was...

SHILLONG, August 23: A high-level meeting of police and civil officials besides nongovernmental organisations will be convened here soon to draw up an action plan to counter the unabated infiltration of Bangladeshis into Meghalaya and activities of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The meeting is being convened by the state deputy chief minister, D D Lapang, in response to a memorandum submitted to him by the Khasi Students' Union (KSU) here today. Quoting a United News of India (UNI) report based on a home ministry survey indicating "on an average 1,000 Bangladeshis cross over to...

GUWAHATI, August 21: Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed Islamic militant outfits like the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have set up strong bases in Dhaka to launch their operations in the northeastern region of India, police sources said here. The police came to know about the bases of the Islamic militant outfits in Dhaka following the recent arrest of four ISI agents in Guwahati and more than 20 Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militants from different parts of Assam. According to information gathered by the security forces so far, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen had established a strong base in a...

NEW DELHI, August 20, 1999: The allies of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) have condemned outright the killing of its general secretary Dali Mungro. The Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF) president, Ranjit Debbarma, offered its "deep sympathies" to the NSCN(K), the Naga people and the bereaved family of the leader. Debbarma, in a statement made available to this e-zine, said his organisation would remember the efforts of Mungro towards unity of all revolutionary organisations of the region. The "cowardly" assassination of Mungro is sure to lead the process into rough...

GUWAHATI, August 20: Even as security forces are striving to contain militancy in Assam as well as in the other Northeast states, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) have consolidated their bases in Myanmar. According to a confessional statement made by a senior ULFA member of the Morigaon district, over 100 ULFA members are undergoing training in different NSCN(K) camps in Myanmar. The Kachin-trained member who was arrested by the Morigaon police recently, said that these camps are located in dense forests in Myanmar. It takes...

SOMEWHERE IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, August 16 His name is Chipo Menon. He is the military and political supervisor of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) for Tirap and Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh. He holds the rank of 'Lt. Col' in the organisation and is considered a natural successor to Khaplang, who is reportedly suffering from prostrate cancer. "Chipo combines the shrewdness of his Malayalee father and the physical agility of his Wancho mother" remarked a military officer. What prompted him to drift towards NSCN (K) is not known. His father was an IAS officer, and so his...

GUWAHATI, August 11: A virtually open Assam-Bangladesh border and a favourable demographic pattern along the border areas has encouraged the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agents to use Assam as a route to enter the country. This fact came to light after the arrest of four important ISI men in the city recently, police sources said. They said during interrogation of the four arrested ISI men - Md Fasih Ullah and Md Javed Wakhar of Pakistan, Maulana Hafiz Md Akram Mallik of Kashmir and Qari Salim Ahmed of Uttar Pradesh - the police came to know that those people came to Dhaka from...

JORHAT, August 10: A cloak-and-dagger game is on all over Assam. Bitten and embarrassed by the Kargil bug that showed India's intelligence personnel in bad light, the sleuths appear to be waking up to seek revenge against Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). It was once again the Army that issued the wake-up call. On July 31, Major-General B P Bopanna, GoC 21 Mountain Division, made a startling disclosure: Some madrassas (schools) in Assam were helping the growth of separatist forces with the help of ISI. The General was specific: the madrassas engaged in anti-national activity were...

NEW DELHI, August 9: The Centre today finalised a fresh strategy to counter the ongoing spurt in militant-related violence in Kashmir and the Northeast particularly the Kupwara region in North Kashmir and few select areas in Assam. The nuts and bolts of the strategy are understood to have been cleared for instant implementation at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani at his North Block office here today. The meeting among others was attended by Chief of the Army Staff Gen V P Malik, Director General Rashtriya Rifles, Home Secretary and other senior officials of...