Politics / Assam

TEZPUR, April 6— The Adivasi people living in the proposed Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) areas are not safe and are facing death threats said Silvius Condpan chairman Assam Planning and Development Board. Talking to mediapersons here at Tezpur circuit house, Condpan said without any tangible solution by the ruling State Congress (I) government, the lives of the Adivasi people and other non Bodos living in the BTC areas will be at stake in future.

Many of the Adivasi people living in Kokrajhar and Gossaigaon areas have left their villages and have been camping in the relief camps, the...

Shillong, April 6: Umrangsho in the North Cachar Hills has had little to do with the ethnic feud between Dimasas and Hmars so far, but after the March 31 incident at Chekarcham and Meghnathal in Cachar, things are not the same any more.

Forty-five-year-old Dingi, who fled the village with her family of eight members including a month-old baby, fears a violent backlash by militants of the Dima Halam Daoga in Umrangsho, which is flanked by Dimasa and Karbi villages in the north.

?We fled our homes as some of us have heard of a conspiracy by the DHD to torch our villages in retaliation against...

GUWAHATI, April 6 — The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the provisions of amended Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, is likely to be formed in the first part of May. The State Assembly has already passed a Bill for repealing the Bodoland Autonomous Council Act to pave the way for creation of the BTC. Official sources said that the Bill for amending the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution would be placed in Parliament shortly and with both the Congress and BJP supporting the same, there should not be any hurdle in passing the Bill. The interim BTC executive council is likely...

GUWAHATI, April 4 — That the city is fast emerging as the safest haven for the criminals has again been proved by an incident of looting Dr K Sreenivasalu, Under Secretary (ADIV) of the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development by some armed miscreants last evening of Rs 13,000 and his luggage. According to the complaint lodged by Dr Sreenivasalu with the Director General of Police, Assam here today he, along with his wife arrived at the Guwahati Railway Station by the 2423 down Rajdhani Express, on their way to Shillong headquarters of the North Eastern Council, last evening. He hired two...

Silchar, April 4: The roots of the ethnic clashes between Hmars and Dimasas in the south Assam districts go back to the last week of February. Attacks were masterminded by militants of the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD), an eight-year-old outfit of Dimasa tribals in North Cachar Hills district.

Dimasa militants went on the rampage in the district?s Balmul and Multhajao villages near Harangajao township on March 3.

The DHD had signed a ceasefire with both the Centre and the state government last December in New Delhi in the run-up to peace parleys over the demand for granting the status of an...

Silchar/Guwahati, April 4: The army was called out in North Cachar Hills district of Assam and asked to be on standby in nearby Cachar as the orgy of ethnic violence continued to torment tribal-inhabited villages and the body count mounted.

Alarmed by the worst ethnic flare-up in the state since the Bodo-Adivasi clashes in Lower Assam, the Assembly decided to send a peace mission to the affected areas tomorrow. Speaker Prithibi Majhi will lead the delegation.

Police officials in Silchar said panic-stricken Dimasas lynched a Kuki tribesman, mistaking him for a Hmar, in Diongmukh village of...

GUWAHATI, April 4 — Several organisations representing the Hmars had been warning a Nastul Pahar – like retaliatory action by the Hmar extremists in case of the failure of the State administration to rein in the marauding Dima Halong Daoga (DHD), the Dimasa militant outfit, which has allegedly been carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign in North Cachar Hills District and in parts of Cachar District.

Even on March 31 last, the leaders of the Hmar Supreme House – the Hmar Inpui, the Hmar National Union, the Barak valley Hill Tribes Development Council, the Hmar Students’ Association, Mizoram...

GUWAHATI, April 4— Assam now has four state symbols. The State Cabinet recently approved the rhino as the ‘State animal’ the white-winged Wood Duck as the ‘State bird’, the fox-tail orchid as the ‘State flower’ and the hollong as the ‘State tree’. The symbols reflect the State’s rich flora and fauna, its culture and heritage, Assam Minister of State (Independent) for Forests Pradyut Bordoloi announced here today. Bordoloi, who was addressing presspersons at the Janata Bhavan, said that every State in the country has been adopting its symbol having their state animal, bird, flower and tree...

GUWAHATI, April 4—Alarmed at the ethnic flare-up in Cachar district areas along the Assam-Mizoram border where Hmar People’s Conference (HPC) extremists have killed at least 23 Dimasa villagers, the State Assembly today decided to rush an all-party team headed by the Speaker Prithbi Majhi to take stock of the situation in the violence-affected areas. The speaker announced that the House team would leave early tomorrow even as the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi underlined the need for evolving a coordinated mechanism by all the NE States to fight insurgency jointly.

In response to a Zero Hour...

GUWAHATI, April 3: In one of the most gruesome incidents of terrorist violence in the State, the bodies of 22 persons kidnapped by Hmar People’s Convention (HPC) in Cachar district were recovered this evening from the dense jungles at Nastul Pahar, five kilometres from Sonai PS in Cachar district. It may be mentioned that 28 persons from the Dimasa community of three villages of Cachar district were kidnapped by the Hmar ultra outfit. Police said that the victims of the massacre were shot from a very close range and were killed the very next day after their abduction. Most of the bodies were...