GUWAHATI, August 8: The product of a protracted popular movement, the Brahmaputra Board, which once gave the people of the Northeast and particularly, Assam, solace that the perennial problems of flood and erosion would be taken care of in a conclusive and speedy manner, has now allegedly started betraying the hopes of the people of the region as a whole. According to allegations, the 17-year-old board has now started handing over the task of implementing major projects, arduously prepared by its technocrats over the years, to other organisations to fulfil the careerist aspirations of some of...

GUWAHATI, August 8: The Assam police achieved a major breakthrough in busting the network of the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the state and nabbed 31 persons including two ISI officers, two agents of the agency and 27 militants belonging to different Islamic militant outfits. The arrests also exposed the plan of ISI to convert Assam into a separate Islamic country. The chief minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, said the Assam police yesterday arrested four persons - Mohammad Fasih Ullah Hussaini alias Hamid Mehmood, alias Khalid Mehmood of Hyderabad, Sind of Pakistan, Mohammad...

GUWAHATI, August 8: The United Minorities' Front (UMF) led by HRA Choudhury has condemned the statements made by the general officer commanding of 4 Corps, Lt Gen BS Shekhatkar, suggesting that mosques and madrassas in the state are becoming shelters for agents of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In an executive meeting today, the UMF passed a resolution condemning the statements and said that it was a well-calculated move by the Army as well as the state government to harass religious minorities, particularly religious leaders, intellectuals, social workers and known political workers...

KOHIMA, August 7: The woshinna (vice-chairman) of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), Khodao Yanthan, has urged the rank and file of his organisation to "appreciate the difficulties" faced by the Indian government due to internal problems and to have patience and yet be persistent in the search for solution of the Naga political issue. He also assured that "the struggle of the Naga people for recognition of our sovereignty has come to the last stage". Khodao, said, "I am convinced that it will be sooner than later that we shall see the light of the day". The NSCN leader his...

GUWAHATI, August 7: The ruling four-party alliance in Assam today announced that it would contest 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president and Chief Minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, announced this at a press conference after a meeting of the four partners -AGP, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and United People's Party of Assam (UPPA). Mahanta said UPPA would contest the Silchar seat, CPI would contest from Dhubri while CPM would field candidates in Barpeta and Karimganj constituencies. The AGP will contest the...