Insurgency / Northeast

Nagaon, Dec 23: The last batch of Khasi-Pnar refugees returned to their homes in Karbi Anglong yesterday after spending over two months in Meghalaya. Over 4,000 Khasi-Pnar residents of blocks I and II of Karbi Anglong had fled their homes and taken shelter in the Jaintia Hills after being served extortion notes by the militant United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), which professes to represent the Karbi community. The result was a backlash against Karbis residing in Meghalaya.

The situation, however, appears to be limping back to normality with the final batch of about 500 refugees...

Jalpaiguri, Dec. 23: If Bhutan was their sanctuary, Bangladesh was the armoury ? in a manner of speaking. Indian intelligence has been saying that arms for insurgents in India?s Northeast have been coming in through Bangladesh, but the recent crackdown by Bhutan on rebel camps has again brought into focus the role of transit and landing points on the smuggling route on the soil of the eastern neighbour.

Dhaka has denied these charges. But, after Bhutan responded to persistent Indian requests to act against the northeastern militants, the pressure on Bangladesh could go up with Delhi using the...

IMPHAL, Dec 23: Normal life was affected in Manipur today due to 12-hour general strike called by the separatist Manipur People?s Liberation Front in solidarity with the ULFA, NDFB and KLO whose camps in Bhutan were busted. Markets, shops and business establishments were closed and people preferred to remain indoors. Attendance in both Central and State government offices was almost nil, official reports said, adding that transporters also cancelled long-distance services. Police and para-military forces had been deployed in all sensitive points and patrolling intensified in various places...

SHILLONG, Dec 23: Bhutanese students have been fleeing Shillong over the last couple of days in the wake of Northeast-based ultra outfits having decided to serve a ?quit notice? on the Bhutanese nationals living in the region. Nine extremist organizations of the region, including the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), have decided to serve ?quit notice? on Bhutanese nationals residing in the Northeast faced with continued onslaught by the Royal Bhutanese Army in the Himalayan Kingdom. The ULFA, while demanding immediate cessation...

GUWAHATI, Dec 23: Bhutan does not see the need for involvement of the International Committee of Red Cross at present in the evacuation of non-combatant women and children of the ULFA, NDFB and KLO camps, demolished in the operation against the outfits by its Army. Bhutan Deputy Head of Mission in India Thinley Penjor told PTI today from New Delhi over phone that the ICRC had met ambassador Dago Tshering yesterday with a request to allow its delegation to visit the kingdom. ?The government at this stage does not see the need for their (ICRC) involvement. Their help will be taken later if...

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Close on the heels of military action launched by Bhutan, Myanmar today declared that it will flush out Indian insurgent camps, if any, in that country and assured New Delhi that it will not allow militants from Bhutan to enter its soil, reports PTI. ?We will flush out Indian insurgent camps, if any in our country,? Foreign Minister of Myanmar U Win Aung told reporters here.

He was asked about reports that militants from United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland and Kamtapur Liberation organisation were sneaking into Myanmar from Bhutan...

GUWAHATI, Dec 22? The Gauhati High Court today issued a notice on the petition filed by the Manab Adhikar Sangram Samitee (MASS) and directed the petition to come up for further orders on January 2. The petition has been filed for an order from the High Court regarding the handing over of the dead bodies of combatant and non-combatant members of the underground ULFA whose camps have been under attack in Bhutan. The Division Bench of Justice D Biswas and Justice IA Ansari further directed the Army authorities to hand over the body of Bhimkanta Buragohain, the octogenerean founder-member of the...

PANERY(Indo-Bhutan border), Dec 22 ? Bhutan is determined to weed out Indian militant groups from its soil and the Army?s ?Operation All Clear? will continue, a spokesman for the Bhutan government said today, reports PTI. There would be no let-up in the Army operation against the ULFA, NDFB and KLO ultras who illegally operated from camps in Bhutan for 12 years, the spokesman, Yeshey Dorjee, told PTI.

The Royal Bhutan Army is now concentrating on the deeper recesses of the jungles where they had escaped after their camps were destroyed, Dorjee said. Apart from dealing a heavy blow to the...

Imphal, December 21: The Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak today said the sovereign Bhutan rather than supporting the movement to restore the lost sovereignty of the region is standing against the people of the north east people whose rights had been taken away. It is a game for the government of India but it will read to conflicts amongst kinsmen it further said. Prepak wants to have good relations with Bhutanese but it condemned the puppet Jigme Wangchuk government. It condemned in the highest terms the killing of those who are in their custody. It clarified that the offer to go back...

Guwahati, Dec. 21: Cornered by Bhutanese troops but apparently more angry with the Indian army, a frustrated Ulfa today said the armed forces on this side of the Indo-Bhutan border had launched a propaganda war to ?demoralise? its ranks. Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua said in an interview to an Internet news portal that the army had wrongly announced the capture of a couple of its top leaders.

?Major Bening Rabha and Captain Biju Deka are very much present in Bhutan and leading the fightback. The news of their surrender and arrest has been spread by the Indian army to break the morale of...