GUWAHATI, January 17: The Assam government will circulate a list of villages proposed for inclusion in the Mising, Rabha-Hajong and Tiwa Autonomous Council areas of the state to the concerned members of the Assembly on Republic Day to elicit their opinion on the demarcation of boundaries of the three councils. This was decided at a tripartite meeting here yesterday between the Centre, the state government and leaders of the autonomy movements belonging to the Mising and the Rabha communities. The meeting also decided that the concerned legislators would get a fortnight's time to put forth...

GUWAHATI, January 16: The Government of India is ready to hold unconditional talks with the ULFA on any issue including the question of sovereignty. Disclosing this, the Joint Secretary (Northeast) of the Union Home Ministry, GK Pillai told The Assam Tribune here this evening that if talks with the ULFA materialised , the Government was confident of convincing the ULFA leaders that they had no case in their demand for sovereignty. The official, however, said although the ULFA had issued statements in the Press expressing its desire for talks, it was yet to send any feeler to the Government...

GUWAHATI, January 16: Spectre of fratricidal clashes looms over Bodo dominated areas of the State with banned National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) resolving to go for 'selective elimination' of leaders of rival Bodo groups including the BLT, ABSU, Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS), Bodo People's Action Committee (BPAC) and All Bodo Women's Welfare Federation (ABWWF). The NDFB in a statement issued today stated that the resolution to this effect was taken in a special session of the outfit held in an undisclosed place on January 10 last. It also stated that as soon as the decision would be put...

SHILLONG, January 16: Meghalaya government on Monday announced ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of those killed and Rs 20,000 to those injured in insurgency-related violence, report agencies. Finance Minister AH Scott told a press conference after a Cabinet meeting that it was decided that the ex-gratia payment would be made with retrospective effect from January 5, when five persons were killed and eight others injured by Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) militants at Dhankheti in the heart of the city. Asked if the government was making progress in calling militants for...

GUWAHATI, January 16: Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta indicated here today that the ULFA should immediately begin some kind of informal discussions with the Centre, in order to at least pave way for declaration of a cease-fire between the two sides. Mahanta, who was talking to journalists at a Bhogali bihu party in his official residence here today morning also pointed out that it was only following informal parleys that cease-fires were declared in Nagaland ans well as Kashmir."Look at the cease-fires in Nagaland and Kashmir. Both were preceded by informal discussions between the...