Insurgency / Northeast

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...

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Pradesh have also agreed to observe November 27 as Anti-Armed Forces Special Powers Act Day until and unless the Act is repealed.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...

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...

AGARTALA, August 7-The seven Northeast states have jointly urged the underground militant outfits of the region not to hinder developmental works. A resolution to this effect was passed at the 46th meeting of the North Eastern Regional Electricity Board (NEREB) here yesterday. Power ministers from Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and deputy chief minister of Mizoram, also holding the power portfolio, attended the meeting. The NEREB chairman and Tripura power minister Badal Chowdhury told newsmen here today that all the seven power ministers expressed concern over...

GUWAHATI, August 5: Lack of adequate knowledge of the security force personnel engaged in the counter-insurgency operations about the Assamese way of life has led to many problems including unnecessary harassment of innocent people. But to do away with the problem, Army authorities here have started a training programme for the security personnel coming from outside. The general officer commanding of the Tezpur-based 4 Corps, Lt Gen DB Shekatkar, told this correspondent that a counter-insurgency training school has been opened in Solmara in Sonitpur district where Armymen and the personnel of...

GUWAHATI, August 4: The activities of a newly-formed Islamic militant outfit People's United Liberation Front (PULF) came to light after the arrest of four members of the outfit in Barpeta recently. It is suspected that the outfit has links with the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), security sources said here. They said the four militants -Md Saifu Islam, Md Akbar Ali, Zehirul Islam and Hazarat Ali - all belonging to the Howly area of Barpeta district, were nabbed by police on July 22 last. Sources said the outfit was originally formed in Manipur with the support of the Isak-Muivah...

GUWAHATI, Aug 1- A worldwide campaign, at the behest of Amnesty International, will be launched on November 27 to protest against the November 27, 1997, verdict of the Supreme Court granting validity to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Human rights activists the world over will wear black badges and present memoranda to the Supreme Court urging it to review its order. The call to this effect was given by human rights activists in a workshop on human rights under the aegis of Amnesty International held at Bhubaneswar in Orissa recently. The workshop, however, opposed a resolution put...

GUWAHATI, July 31: Increasing activities of the outlawed National Socialist Council of Nagalim in Assam's Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills districts, bordering Nagaland have become a matter of grave concern for the Assam government. The group, which is in a ceasefire mode in Nagaland, is reportedly indulging in abductions and extortion in the two districts. While in some cases, the NSCN cadres are directly involved, in most others they have been engaging cadres of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) and the Karbi People's Front (KPF), government sources said. The Assam government has shot off...

DHAKA, July 31: India today said allowing its goods to pass through Bangladesh would benefit both countries and dispelled apprehension that it would jeopardise that country's national security. The proposal of allowing transhipment facilities to Indian goods approved by the Bangladesh Cabinet on July 28 does not mean a "corridor" to India or even "transit rights", the Indian deputy high commissioner to Bangladesh, Pinak R Chakravarty, told newspersons. "It is just transhipment of Indian goods to northeastern states of India by Bangladeshi companies," he said, responding to strong opposition...