IMPHAL, August 4: An Assam Rifles jawan was killed and a captain injured when armed activists launched an attack on the 8th Assam Rifles post at Toupokpi in Manipur's Bishenpur district on Tuesday night, official sources said on Wednesday. They said the attack took place around 1930 hours. The security personnel also fire back during the encounter which lasted for about 15 minutes. A jawan was killed on the spot and a Captain was seriously injured, they said. The militants escaped under the cover of darkness. Security forces have cordoned off nearby areas and launched a manhunt.

NEW DELHI, August 5: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF) have said there will be no change in their previous collective decisions together with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), People's Revolutionary Party og Kangleipak (PREPAK) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) over the boycott of India's Independence Day celebrations "in our entire region". A statement issued by ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and TPDF president Ranjit Deb Barma appealed to the people of the Northeast to...

GUWAHATI, August 2: Sumita Ghose, wife of social worker Sanjoy Ghose, today claimed that a recent workshop on human rights held in Bhubaneswar had passed a resolution condemning the United Liberation Front of Asom's action in abducting Sanjoy Ghose and demanding accountability from them as to his fate and whereabouts. In a faxed statement, Ghose said the workshop, however, passed the resolution against the ULFA with reservations from organisations like Manab Adhikar Sangram Samity (MASS), North East Coordination Committee on Human Rights (NECCOHR) and Human Rights Alert. These organisations...

SHILLONG, August 3: Meghalaya Students Federation activists today trooped into the state Assembly shouting anti-government slogans forcing the one-day special session of House to be deferred by 30 minutes in which the Opposition candidate was elected as the deputy speaker. Ten members of the ruling Congress cross-voted in favour of the Opposition nominee Martin M Danggo of the Peoples' Democratic Movement who defeated the ruling Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum candidate, Tonsin N Marak (Congress) by 34 votes to 24. The MPF which comprises the Congress and United Democratic Party (UDP) enjoys a...

SIBSAGAR, August 3: Any news about extremists and terrorists coming to the national mainstream is good news for all. The recent reported surrender of 22 ULFA extremists at an Army camp near Sibsagar town, however, cannot be an exception to this. The silence and secrecy maintained by the Army till the last moment has raised many an eyebrow. The civil and police administration of the district too were kept in the dark about the surrender. The concept of unified command operation envisages a coordinated and concerted approach among the civil and police administration and the Army. The July 30...