Politics / Assam

GUWAHATI, April 23: Dissension in State Congress over selection of party nominees today took a turn for the worse when several stalwarts of the party filed nominations to contest polls as Independent candidates. However, sources in the APCC tried to play it down by saying that the party leadership would be able to persuade the rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations in the greater interest of the party. Noted among those Congressmen who have filed nomination as Independent candidates were Rashidul Haque (Rupahi), Mukut Sharma (Nagaon), Uma Phukon (Barhampur), Samsul Haque (Sarbhog)...

SHILLONG, April 23: The condition of the two wounded BSF men who were returned by Bangladesh Rifles yesterday was stated to be critical, RC Siloti, Headquarters Commandant, said. "The condition of injured constables Akshay Kumar and Bimal Kumar, who are admitted to the Battalion hospital in Tura, is stated to be critical," Silkoti told PTI over phone. Akshay Kumar and Bimal Kumar reached the 118 Battalion headquarters at Tura in West Garo Hills district on Sunday afternoon with the body of slain havildar Dhyan Chand, he said. "The cremation of the slain Havildar Dhyan Chand will take place at...

MANKACHAR, (Indo-Bangla border), April 23: 20 BSF men, who were attacked by Bangladesh rifles (BDR) on Wednesday, might have strayed into Bangladesh territory by mistake due to darkness in the night, according to Border Security Force DIG IJ Singh yesterday, reports PTI. "Twenty BSF men had gone for patrolling at Boroibari as there was red alert because of the situation prevailing along the Dawki border in Meghalaya along Bangladesh," Singh told a group of visiting journalists. He said that the two BSF jawans who had managed to escape from BDR custody had reported to the higher authorities...

MANKACHAR (Indo-Bangla Border), April 23: There is visible tension in the Boraibari border outpost area, in the adverse possession of Bangladesh, though the situation on the international boundary along Assam and Meghalaya was reported to be normal today, reports PTI. This correspondent who visited the border areas and Boraibari, where 16 BSF jawans were killed and another two injured by Bangladesh Rifles on Wednesday, found Boraibari village almost deserted with a few men guarding cattle. The men refused to talk or even respond and ran away when hailed. The people, who pay revenue in Dhubri...

GUWAHATI, April 23: The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) today demanded that India should snap all its ties with Bangladesh as the barbarism perpetrated by the Bangladeshi security forces on the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in Mankachar sector has exposed the attitude of the Bangladeshi authorities towards India, it said. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, after a four-day visit to the Indo-Bangla border areas in Mankachar, as a leader of an AASU team, chief organising secretary of the AASU Inamul Haque said that the barbarism committed by the Bangladeshi authorities on...

GUWAHATI, April 22: The Asom Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP)- a constituent of the five-party Regional Democratic Alliance (RDA) has decided to field its candidates in 28 Legislative Assembly constituencies (LACs) for the ensuing Assembly polls in the State and the names of candidates for 26 LACs were released today by party president Jatindra Kumar Borgohain at a press conference here at the party office. The candidates are: Dilip Sarkar (No 32 Bongaigaon), Kamaleswar Medhi (No 46 Sarukshetri), Satyabrata Kalita (No 56 Kamalpur), Hiranya Choudhury (No 57 Rangiya), Prabin Deka (No 65 Kalaigaon)...

TURA, April 22: The fifteen Border Security Force (BSF) jawans, tortured and killed in the hands of Bangladesh Rifles, were yesterday given full military honours in the presence of the BSF Director General (DG), Gurbachan Jagat, at Tura Praharinagar 118 Battalion of BSF. Earlier, a post-mortem was again done by government doctors at Tura. Jagat, while interacting with the jawans, called upon them to be brave and not to be deterred by what Bangladesh had done. He said that the BSF would not be cowed down by such an act perpetrated by Bangladesh. Jagat who was scheduled to leave for Delhi, the...

NEW DELHI, April 22: Eight of the 15 BSF soldiers, killed by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel along the Indo-Bangla border were shot dead to point blank range after being brutally tortured while another was strangulated, Home Secretary Kamal Pande said today reports PTI. "It is a brutal act of murder," Pande told reporters after a high-level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to discuss the killing of BSF soldiers at Boraibari along the Assam border and the intrusion by BDR in Pyrdiwah in Meghalaya. The meeting was attended by Home Minister LK Advani, Defence and...

MANKACHAR, April 22: The situation in the Mankachar subdivision of Dhubri district bordering Bangladesh is limping back to normalcy as the villagers, who fled to safer places in the face of heavy exchange of fire between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), have started returning to their deserted villages. Meanwhile, after visiting the affected area, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today demanded that security measures along the border should be strengthened by deploying more forces. As many as 16 BSF men were brutally killed by BDR men and local villagers, while...

NEW DELHI, April 21: Former Chief Minister, Syeda Anwara Taimur, Hemaprabha Saikia, wife of the late Hiteshwar Saikia and several former ministers of Assam figure in the list of 122-Congress candidates for state Assembly polls released by the AICC today, reports PTI. Releasing the list at the AICC headquarters here, party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters the party would be contesting all the 126 Assembly seats in the state "on its own" and that the remaining five names would be declared tomorrow. The last date for filing nomination in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and...