NEW DELHI, August 9: The Centre today finalised a fresh strategy to counter the ongoing spurt in militant-related violence in Kashmir and the Northeast particularly the Kupwara region in North Kashmir and few select areas in Assam. The nuts and bolts of the strategy are understood to have been cleared for instant implementation at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani at his North Block office here today. The meeting among others was attended by Chief of the Army Staff Gen V P Malik, Director General Rashtriya Rifles, Home Secretary and other senior officials of...

GUWAHATI, August 9: The names of two of the four Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) men nabbed by the city police figure in the list of the most wanted enemies of the nation prepared by the Union government, police sources here said. They said the two -Qari Salim Ahmed of Uttar Pradesh and Maulana Hafiz Md Akram Mallik- were wanted in connection with several bomb blasts in different parts of the country. The other two ISI officers nabbed by the city police are Md Fasih Ullah Hussaini and Md Javed Wakhar, both of Pakistan. Giving details of the events leading to the arrest of the ISI men, police...

AIZAWL, August 8: The Myanmar Army accidentally entered 300 metres inside Indian territory last week while chasing a group of rebels, two of whom were later killed, authoritative intelligence sources here claimed. Eight days back in Mizoram's Chhimtuipui district at the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh trijunction, a Myanmar Army patrol, while chasing a group of Arakan Muslim rebels, entered about 300 metres inside the Indian territory. In the subsequent encounter, two of the rebels were killed, senior officials of a central security agency in the state said. The Arakanese are an ethnic group in...

GUWAHATI, August 8: A pilot project to reduce the maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rate has been launched in four districts of Assam by the state branch of the Indian Council of Child Welfare (ICCW). The project, sponsored by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), if found successful, will be expanded to more districts later. According to the National Family Health Survey 1992-93, the under-5 infant mortality rate in Assam is 142 per thousand, one of the highest in the country. The all-India figure is 109 per thousand. Similarly, the maternal mortality rate in Assam is 544 per...

IMPHAL, August 7: Hundreds of human rights activists from the entire northeastern region have come out unitedly to fight the draconian laws imposed in the region. The human rights defenders from West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have also agreed to observe November 27 as Anti-Armed Forces Special Powers Act Day until and unless the Act is repealed. This was announced by a team of human rights activists of Manipur who participated in the recently-concluded Amnesty International workshop at Bhubaneswar. The executive director of Human Rights...