Politics / Northeast

NEW DELHI, June 28 – The game of musical chairs among the ministerial aspirants has begun with the AICC constituting a three-member panel to handle downsizing of ministries in consultation with general secretaries-in-charge, chief ministers and PCC chiefs.

Although the three-member committee comprising AICC president’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, general secretary, Ambika Soni and Treasurer Motilal Vohra is set to formally begin its sittings from tomorrow, preliminary talks with the State leadership have already got under way. Amidst rising tension among the aspirants, chief ministers...

New Delhi, June 27: The Centre has begun surveying the porous Mizoram-Bangladesh border with a view to fence the frontier, regarded as one of the hotspots of gunrunning in the Northeast. The National Building Construction Corporation Limited (NBCCL), which is under the urban development ministry, has been asked to conduct a survey and compile a report on fencing 200 km of Mizoram’s western border with Bangladesh, the total length of which is 318 km. A final decision will be taken by the home ministry after the completion of the survey. “The survey has been initiated and expected to be...

SHILLONG, June 26 : Faced with the task of downsizing their jumbo ministries, chief ministers of the north eastern states are planning to approach the Centre for raising the size of the Cabinet, reports PTI. Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang, also the chairman of the North-Eastern Congress Coordination Committee, said on Friday that his counterparts from Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam were ‘sharing’ views for taking up the matter with the Centre.

“Nagaland Chief Minister contacted me today and it has been the same with Arunachal Pradesh. We also discussed the matter with Tarun Gogoi...

KARBI ANGLONG, June 26 –Tension continued in the Dhansiri Reserve Forest area of central Assam's Karbi Anglong district following an attempt to construct houses and a church there by Nagas from across the border, reports PTI.

Official sources here said the people from across Nagaland were setting up houses and a church there on the land they claimed to have been sold by a fake NGO which provided them with false land deeds in the name of the district administration.

Security forces had been deployed in the area and district superintendent visited to ease the tension there and prevent the...

Imphal, June 25: Even as neighboring States like Nagaland and Meghalaya have worked out the model for the impending Ministry downsizing which will come into force from July 7, the Congress led SPF Government is still groping in the dark waiting for a nod at New Delhi from the AICC high command to the model worked out by the Steering Committee of the ruling Front. Chief Minister O Ibobi who left for New Delhi to meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to get their approval to the model worked out here is yet to be granted an audience by the two most important persons...

NEW DELHI, June 25 – The UPA Government’s stand on maintaining territorial integrity of North-Eastern States threatens to snowball into a major controversy with the Naga organisations hardening their stand on the issue. A delegation of three prominent Naga bodies including Naga Students’ Federation, Naga Mothers’ Association and Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights today conveyed to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh that the issue of unification of Naga areas was non-negotiable.

“Whatever be the outcome of the peace negotiations, integration of all Naga areas will remain non-negotiable as...

KOHIMA, June 22 – In the backdrop of abetment of movement of insurgents across the international border, Myanmarese and Indian Army official met at Dimapur to discuss strategies to launch operations against holed-up militants in Myanmar on the lines of a similar one in Bhutan, reports PTI.

Although officials denied that there was any discussion to flush out North-east militants taking shelter on the other side of the international border, an intelligence report said the meeting chalked out strategies to launch operations against Indian militants sheltering in Myanmar.

The meeting held at...

IMPHAL, June 21– Even as the army authority deployed in the State has denied to disclose their activities in flushing out of the Manipur-based insurgents along the Indo-Myanmar border, a high-level meeting of Indian and Myanmarese armies was held at Army headquarter at Rangapahar in Dimapur (Nagaland).

According to the reports received here, a 14-member delegation of Myanmar Army led by Lt Gen Ye Myint and their Indian counterparts held a discussion at length the overall security scenario along the international border. Although the meeting was believed to have chalked out strategies to...

NEW DELHI, June 19 – The Centre said it would work for peace through dialogue and take all steps for speedy economic development of the north-eastern region, reports PTI. The UPA government is keen to achieve peace through the process of dialogue and would take all steps for the development of the entire region, an official release quoted Union Tribal Affairs and Development of North Eastern Region P R Kyndiah as having told Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who called on him on Friday.

Zoramthanga discussed a wide range of issues related to the development of the entire region and the...

DIMAPUR, June 19 – A delegation of the Myanmarese military junta is arriving at Rangapahar cantonment based headquarter of the 3 Corps to discuss the modalities for flushing out armed rebels taking shelter in the jungles of Myanmar inside Indo-Myanmar border. Defence sources said that the military delegation from Myanmar would arrive in Dimapur by today. Even though, Army officials at 3 Corps have denied launching of any offensive jointly, sources in Manipur said the building-up of Army along Manipur-Myanmar border is a definite indication of launch of some kind of joint operation against NE...