Politics / Assam

GUWAHATI, Dec 28 ? ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has appealed to the People's Republic of China to offer safe passage to the ultras for temporary shelter in that country, reports PTI. Rajkhowa, in a letter faxed to the ?Chairman of the Peoples Republic of China? on December 25, copies of which were e-mailed to a section of the local media here today, said that of late ?we have come under massive attack of Indo-Bhutan joint forces and our combatants have been forced to retreat up to Sino-Bhutan border due to all-out air and artillery campaigns?. Rajkhowa said that at this moment ?they have no...

TEZPUR, Dec 28? ULFA?s political adviser and the founder of the outfit Bhimkanta Buragohain, who is presently in police custody in Sonitpur district after he alongwith four other ULFA cadres, was handed over by the Indian Army to the State Police, said that he had not surrendered before anybody including the Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA).

In an exclusive interview to The Assam Tribune, here Buragohain, popularly known as ?mama? in the rank and file of the outfit, said the attack on the North-east-based militant outfits (ULFA, NDFB and KLO) by the RBA was beyond imagination. The RBA has betrayed...

NEW DELHI, Dec 28 ? Acting along expected lines, the Government of India has turned down ULFA?s conditional offer for negotiations, even as the suspension of flights between Bhutan and Bangladesh came into effect today. The outlawed ULFA?s offer for talks with a slight variation was not what New Delhi was expecting and it was promptly rejected. The Government of India is interested to hold dialogues with ULFA but without any pre-conditions, Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi had told newsmen on Friday here after deliberating on the issue with officials of Union Government.

Union Minister of State...

New Delhi, Dec. 27: The militant Dima Halam Daoga (DHD), which entered into a ceasefire with the Centre in January, has expressed dissatisfaction over slow progress in its peace process with the government. The ceasefire with the outfit, which has been demanding a separate ?homeland? for the Dimasas in Assam and Nagaland, was extended twice this year.

However, the Centre is yet to begin talks with the outfit though its leadership was summoned to Delhi thrice during this month.

?We were intimated about the talks in December thrice, only to be cancelled later. The operation in Bhutan was cited...

Tezpur/Guwahati, Dec. 27: The Ulfa and the NDFB reeled under further setbacks today with 51 militants captured by the Royal Bhutan Army being handed over to the police in Nalbari and Darrang districts. There were reports that all Ulfa, KLO, and NDFB camps in Bhutan have been razed to the ground.

Of the 51 rebels, 32 were handed over at Tamulpur in Nalbari district and the remaining 19 at Mangaldoi in Darrang district. Sources said another batch of nearly 30 Ulfa and NDFB rebels is likely to handed over by the RBA tomorrow.

In Mangaldoi, the army also handed over 18 AK-56 rifles with bayonets...

NEW DELHI, Dec 27?The Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) has appealed to all insurgent outfits of the North east to come forward for negotiations. DHD chief Joel Garlusa has also made an appeal to the Government of India to go for a political settlement of issues with militants through political dialogue.

The DHD, which has a ceasefire pact with the Centre, is planning to submit its list of political demands to the Government of India. The outfit is demanding a separate state of ?Dimaraji?.

A delegation of DHD, led by Garlusa, is currently in the capital to hold talks for extension of the ceasefire...

TEZPUR, Dec 27 ? Four ULFA members including the founder of the outfit Bhimkanta Buragohain were today handed over to the State police by the army authorities here. According to official sources the ULFA men besides Bhimkanta Buragohain (78) popularly known as Mama are Captain Dr Amarjit Gogoi, Bolin Das and the 66-year-old political advisor to Mama, Robin Handique.

Sources talking to The Assam Tribune disclosed that the Army also handed over cash amount of Rs 2,6,588 (Indian currency) along with three AK-56 rifles, two pistols, two handsets, one satellite phone, one satellite phone set, one...

GUWAHATI, Dec 26 ? The ULFA, NDFB and KLO today imposed a ban on the trading with the Bhutanese individuals or firms by any individual or firm from Assam, Bodoland and Kamatapur. The ban will come into force with effect from midnight today. The three outfits, in a joint statement received here today, said that they had imposed ban on the movement to and from Bhutan to the soil of these three areas. The outfits also demanded that the Bhutanese authorities should allow the international bodies like the Amnesty International and International Committee of the Red cross and the family members of...

GUWAHATI, Dec 26 ? The ULFA and the NDFB, jolted by the recent events in Bhutan, may carry out terrorist attacks in the state, particularly in the state capital, to make its presence felt. Security agencies operating in the state have been alerted to the possibility and security reviews are being carried out of the possible terrorist targets.

Security sources said here that the recent events in Bhutan may have left the banned ULFA and NDFB badly crippled but there are chances that the militants may carry out surprise attacks to avenge those killed and wounded in Bhutan. There is a possibility...

NALBARI, Dec 26 ? The 64 ULFA kin who were handed over to the Indian authorities day before yesterday by the Bhutanese authorities, were remanded to 48-hour police custody by the Nlabari Chief Judicial Magistrate?s court All the kin were sent back to the Tamulpur 30-bedded Hospital, where they are lodged for interrogation by the security forces. They were remanded to police custody in connection with the Tamulpur Police station case number 203/03 under sections 121 (A)/123/125/10/13 of the IPC and section 120 (B) of the IPC.

Police, however, prevented the kin from talking to newspersons. But...