Politics / Northeast

AIZAWL, May 6 – The Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) and the underground Bru National Liberation Front have refuted allegations by Mizoram Opposition parties that the BNLF leaders forcibly collected 3,620 postal ballot papers, reports PTI. A press release issued by the MBDPF, faxed to media here from Kanchanpur in North Tripura, said free and fair polls to Mizoram’s lone Lok Sabha seat was conducted in the relief camps in Tripura on April 20.

“The postal ballot papers, after each voter exercised their franchise, were placed inside envelopes which were sealed and were collected by...

New Delhi, May 5: The displaced Bru community of Mizoram is set to return home from the refugee camps of Tripura after seven years of uncertainty and hardship. The militant Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) and the Mizoram government have drafted an agreement on rehabilitation of the 40,000-odd members of the tribe who were hounded out of the state in 1997.

“The draft of the accord has been finalised and it will be placed before the cabinet for approval very soon. Almost all contentious issues have been resolved and the accord is likely to be signed after May 25, by which time the poll...

IMPHAL, May 5 – Various social organizations have come out strongly in protest of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s pledge to work towards “integrating all Naga inhabited areas as desired by the Naga people” while addressing an election rally in Dimapur on May 1. Denouncing the former Prime Minister and national president of the Janata Dal (Secular) as an “imperialist agent,” apex Manipur body, All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation (amuco) stated, “it is really unfortunate that a political figure of Gowda’s stature should try to pass off the movement for self determination in the North...

IMPHAL, May 4–Former Manipur mp kim Gangte has condemned Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga’s decision of fielding a candidate to contest in the outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency in the ongoing 14th Lok Sabha polls as “very much destructive and criminal.” Kim Gangte is one of the six candidates in the fray for the outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The others include Rosangzuala, a Mizo, contesting on a Janata Dal - United (jd-u) ticket.

“It is fortunate again that Zoramthanga has sent a candidate from Aizawl to contest in the outer Manipur...

DIMAPUR, May 3 – Former Prime Minister and JD(S) president HD Deve Gowda on Sunday said the United Front Government under him was the first regime at the Centre to make serious efforts to remove regional imbalances and solve the insurgency problem in the North East.

“I have been the only Prime Minister who visited the region for seven consecutive days and announced the first economic development package to remove the infrastructure bottlenecks in the North East,” Deve Gowda told PTI here. The former Prime Minister said he was aware of the long-felt demands and needs of the people of the...

GUWAHATI, May 2—With Jehadi Islamic militancy on the rise across the globe, security agencies in the North East are worried about its spread in the region. With the region already embroiled in a large number of secessionist movements, there are fears that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) may fire the imagination of susceptible young minds, among the Muslims here, with “ultra-fundamentalist” propaganda.

What has caused alarm in security circles here is the steady growth in the number of madrassas in the region, particularly in the states bordering Bangladesh. Among these states...

NEW DELHI, April 30– India has asked for details of the recent arms seizure in Chittagong even as Bangladesh reiterated its claim about presence of wanted terrorists and criminals in the country. The five-day Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) talks that started on an uneasy note yesterday saw both sides engage in claims and counter claims. While the BSF delegation denied the contention of its counterpart, Dhaka appeared reluctant to share details of the arms seizure estimated at about Rs 1,000 crore maintaining that investigations were still on, sources said.

The five...

GUWAHATI, April 11 – Traditional institutions in the North-East are surviving the onslaught of time and evolving into a major vehicle for building peace and development, reports PTI. Despite the impact of modernisation and technology, the communities in the North East have retained their old systems and institutions embracing both the old and new elements while at the same time co-existing and remaining functional, say experts.

“I have never seen such transformation of people in such a short time – from almost a Neolithic cultural setting propelling into the modern times without facing any...

DHAKA, April 11 – A senior leader of Bangladesh’s main Opposition Awami League has claimed the existence of Indian insurgents’ camps in his country, reports PTI. Mayor of southeastern port city of Chittagong ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury was quoted by media reports as saying yesterday that the huge cache of arms and ammunition seized on the night of April 1 were “shipped from the USA and Pakistan to arm Indian rebels camped in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).”

Bangladedsh has repeatedly denied India’s charge that Indian insurgents were sheltered in its territory. Chowdhury claimed the Indian...

NEW DELHI, April 7— The arms haul believed to be the country’s biggest so far has rattled the Government of Bangladesh so much so that it has reportedly put its airports on red alert restricting the movement of 29 persons including top leaders of ULFA, NDFB, ATTF and NLFT besides a few other militant outfits. While security agencies in the country continue to grope in the dark, reports of a confidential order by Bangladesh Government restricting movement of a few selected individual has aroused the curiosity of the intelligence agencies here. Sources revealed that the Look Out List delivered...