Politics / Assam

GUWAHATI, Dec 24 ? Governor of Assam Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh today claimed that some major leaders of the banned ULFA, NDFB and KLO outfits who are on the run in Bhutan have established contact with the security forces in the country expressing desire to surrender. Talking to the media at Raj Bhawan here for the first time since the Royal Bhutan Army launched the crackdown on Northeast militants outfits, the Governor sent out the message to the ultras that those who are willing to surrender could do so at the nearest security post in the country without fear for their lives as the Government...

TAMULPUR, Dec 24 ? Ending the week-long speculation, the Royal Government of Bhutan today handed over 64 kin of the ULFA militants at Samdrup Jongkhar to the Nalbari district administration. Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Samdrup Jongkhar formally handed over the militants? kin to the DC of Nalbari at the Samdrup Jongkhar High School this morning.

The kin were later taken to the Tampulpur 30-bedded Hospital campus by the Nalbari district administration by two buses. The kin included 37 women and 27 children .Five of the women were unmarried.The women included the wife of Ashanta Bagh Phukan...

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...

GUWAHATI, Dec 23 ? The Gauhati High Court has directed that NDFB publicity secretary B Erakdao and some other militants captured during operations in Bhutan be handed over to the nearest police station if they were in army custody. A Division Bench comprising Justice D Biswas and Justice I Ansari also directed the state government to immediately produce Erakdao before a magistrate within 24 hours. The Bench was hearing a Habeas Corpus filed by Erakdao?s niece Regina Narzary stating that he had been handed over to the Indian Army on December 16 but the State administration was yet to locate him...

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Flooded with demands for recognition of languages under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, the Government of India has decided to bring out a comprehensive list of languages in consultation with linguistic experts, Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani disclosed here today. He was replying to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Constitution (One-hundredth Amendment) Bill that proposes to give recognition to Bodo, Santhali, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Dogri languages under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday. The decision to...

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...