TURA, Dec 5 ? The two main political parties in the Garo Hills, Purno Sangma?s NCP and the Congress have begun moving into the villages reactivating their grassroot workers in preparation for the coming by-elections to two assembly constituencies and one district council seat.

The by-elections to Selsella and Songsak MLA constituencies and Tura MDC seat have been precipitated following the death of its representatives in a tragic helicopter crash at Kyrdemkulai in Ri-Bhoi district on September 22.

Selsella MLA and Minister Cyprian R Sangma, Songsak MLA Heltone N Marak, and Tura MDC and...

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 ? Despite India furnishing a list of 195 terrorist camps of various proscribed outfits operating in Bangladesh, there has been no response from Dhaka in dismantling them, a top BSF official said today, reports PTI.

"We have already furnished a list of 195 training camps to Bangladesh authorities which are located in their territory. But as of now it appears that they have done little to dismantle them and the terror infrastructure exists as before," BSF Director General Ajai Raj Sharma told PTI here. Sharma said infiltration continues through the porous borders and the...

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 ? Asserting that a solution to the Naga issue has to be based on the ?uniqueness? of Nagas, top leaders of insurgent group NSCN (IM) arrived here tonight to hold talks with the Centre keeping on track the peace process in the northeastern State, reports PTI.

The outfit?s chairman Isak Swu and general secretary T Muivah were greeted by hundreds of Naga people, dressed in typical attire, singing ?we shall overcome one day?, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on their arrival from Amsterdam. Addressing a meeting of Naga students soon after their arrival, Muivah said...

SHILLONG, Dec 4 ? ?Growing government pressure? was threatening the indigenous community-based system of forest conservation in the North East, where 54 per cent of forest area is under the control of traditional village institutions, communities and individuals, experts said here yesterday.

While forest-dependent communitities of the north-eastern region may have considerable legal authority over the natural resources, based on the constitutional safeguards provided by the Sixth Schedule and Article 371 A-H, at present, the indigeneous community-based systems of forest conservation were being...

ITANAGAR, Dec 4 ? The United States only wanted to offer technical assistance for forensic analysis of the residues of bomb explosions in Assam and Nagaland in October and nothing more, US Consul General George N Sibley said here.

The US Ambassador?s letter to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in October was an expression of condolence following loss of several lives in the bomb explosions just as the Government of India did after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, Sibley told reporters here.

?The matter was projected in a negative way. We only wanted to offer technical...