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GUWAHATI, April 10— Tension continues to grip the minority Hmar community people who have been under attack from Dimasa ultras of the Dima Halong Daogah (DHD) in different parts of the North Cachar Hill district even as the Centre has been requested to rush additional force and an expert counter insurgency team there. Hundreds of Hmar tribal people have fled their villages in the district out of fear of attack from the Dimasas who are apparently avenging killings of Dimasas by the Hmar People’s Convention (HPC) extremists in Cachar district areas.

The district administration in North Cachar...

Guwahati, April 9: In a bid to evolve a concrete tourism policy for the Northeast, leading tour operators and consultants, potential investors and entrepreneurs and government officials will hold a two-day meet at the Northeast tourism summit in Shillong from tomorrow.

“We want to promote tourism as an economic activity, as a job creator and a tool to alleviate poverty,” said Jyoti Kapur, president, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India here today.

The main theme of the summit, organised by the Association of Tour Operators of Northeast India and North East Council is “Tourism in...

German social worker Heinrich Wolfgang was released today after 17 days in captivity by the Kuki Liberation Army, a militant outfit in Manipur. The peace trainer was abducted on March 23 while on an inspection tour of the state. In this first person account to The Telegraph, he rues that he has missed the action in Iraq but is obviously happy to be able to communicate with his family now that his ordeal is over.

The boys told me only this morning that I would be freed. What better gift could I have asked for on my 48th birthday?

I remember that we were returning to the capital city on March...

Silchar, April 9: A 48-hour curfew was today clamped in North Cachar Hills district of Assam following sporadic clashes during a 12-hour bandh called by the All-Dimasa Students’ Union (ADSU) in protest against the massacre by Hmar militants on March 31.

District magistrate Syed Iftiqar Hussain described the curfew, which took effect at 1 pm, as “a precautionary step to prevent breach of peace and tranquillity”.

Official sources in Haflong, the district headquarters, said they had received reports of Dimasas torching 20 Hmar huts in Retzawl, Mahur and Umrangshu. It is not known if there were...

GUWAHATI, April 9 — “People must be laughing at our products,” says the president of the Association of Tour Operators of North East India (ATONEI) Lata Umrey, a sad but candid admission that the North East has not yet matured as a favoured destination for tourists. This despite the fact that the region has to offer almost anything that a tourist may possible want. The problems are many.

It is to address these issues that the ATONEI, along with the North Eastern Council (NEC) is hosting a two-day North East Tourism Summit in Shillong from tomorrow. Tourism in the North East as a “gateway to...