Politics / Assam

Jan. 9: The Bodo heartland was rocked by violent protests by non-Bodos following a 12-hour Assam bandh called by the All-Adivasi Students’ Association, Assam, against the creation of the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The bandh supporters lobbed a Molotov cocktail on an oil tanker, which caught fire, at Srirampur in Kokrajhar district. The supporters also damaged 10 vehicles on the national highway between Dhemaji and Lakhimpur. Nearly 100 picketers were arrested in Sonitpur district. Incidents of stone pelting were also reported from some non-Bodo pockets in the proposed BTC...

Guwahati, January 9: With the NSCN(IM) leaders already in Delhi for talks with the Centre, several smaller underground outfits of the North-East have started showing readiness to come to the negotiating table.

One of the first to have shown such interest is the Dima Halam Daoga, a group operating in Assam’s North Cachar Hills district. The DHD has been demanding a separate state for the state’s Dimasa tribals.

Last week, the outfit announced a unilateral ceasefire for six months, with its vice-chairman Dilip Nunisa saying it was encouraged by the manner in which the Government had responded...

DIBRUGARH, Jan 8 — A controversial decision to put up a boundary wall around the campus of the Assam Medical College (AMC) during 1982-83 by its then principal Dr Nekibur Zaman, has put the institution authorities in a quandary. For, the wall excludes more than 442 bighas of land which old land records say, belong to AMC. The matter has since been taken up by the local Youth Leadership Centre (YLC), which has also filed a public interest complaint before the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Earlier too, the matter was reported in a section of the print media, but lost significance as...

GUWAHATI, Jan 7 — The proscribed Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) will demand a separate State for Dimasas whenever it sits for the peace talks with the Government of India (GoI) as a sequel to the truce. Talking to this newspaper here, the self-styled commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of the outfit, Pranab Nunisa declared, “our primary demand before the Government of India during the peace negotiation will be creation of a separate State (Dimaraji) for Dimasa tribe. We feel, the problems of our people will never get resolved sans a separate State within the territory of India.”

The C-in-C said it took...

New Delhi, Jan. 7: Swivelling the spotlight back on foreigners overstaying in India, the Centre today obtained concurrence from states on issuing citizens’ identity cards and announced the launch of a three-month drive from April to flush out illegal immigrants. The multi-purpose identity cards will be issued on the basis of a proposed national citizens’ register.

A pilot project for the identity cards will be launched in specific areas in 13 states, including Bengal, Assam and Tripura, which have a sizeable number of immigrants from Bangladesh. If the finance ministry releases Rs 14 crore...

Kokrajhar, Jan. 6: Giving vent to its frustration over the impasse in Assam’s Bodo belt, the Bodoland Liberation Tigers (BLT) today accused the Tarun Gogoi government of deliberately delaying the formation of a new administrative set-up. The outfit’s secretary general, Derhasat Basumatary, said the state government need not have convened an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of constituting the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). “The state government began a never-ending process by convening an all-party meeting. It was nothing but a delaying tactic.”

Basumatary criticised the...

Dhekial (Golaghat), Jan. 5: Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Brindaban Goswami and his predecessor, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, today put up a rare show of unity at the launch of a mission to regain the party’s “lost touch”. Goswami and Mahanta sat next to each other on the dais during the party’s annual convention here, setting at rest speculation about a showdown between AGP factions owing allegiance to the two leaders.

Both leaders hit out at an unnamed faction, saying it was trying to cause a rift in the AGP. “An anti-party lobby has become very active, trying to divide party workers. This...

Gangtok, Jan. 5: Sikkim police’s prize catch Dhiren Boro has revealed that the National Democratic Front of Borloland (NDFB) was keen on talks with the Indian government. Police sources said Boro, the NDFB vice-president who was arrested from his hideout here on new year’s day, had disclosed during questioning that the outfit was looking for a mediator for opening a dialogue with the Tarun Gogoi government in Assam and the Centre.

The Bodo top gun was arrested along with his wife Pratima Boro and two associates, Babloo Sargari and Praveen Boro, at a rented flat in the flour mill area of Tadong...

Imphal, January 03: ‘Kalpana’ a Manipuri digital film produced by Goodwill Pictures is doing well. The premier show was held today at Friends Talkies. The Rs two lakhs budget film has already earned half the cost at Kakching and Thoubal. Produced by Rajendra and Seema the film running nearly two hours signals the heralding of new stars. Lalit, Seema and some other senior artistes who had already proven their mite performed well. The new stars Kaiku and Manda performed well acting with ease and pleasing he spectators with their fresh looks and charm. The story revolves around two sisters who...

Jan. 2: Assam police today moved the chief judicial magistrate of Kamrup for a production warrant against the arrested vice-president of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) even as Sikkim police produced their prize catch in the court of the district sessions judge (east and north) in Gangtok. Dhiren Boro, his wife and accomplices have been booked under four Sections of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). It is the first instance of the legislation being employed in Sikkim. The militant leader and his wife Pratima, also an NDFB member, had been living in Gangtok for...