GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? Noted filmmaker Jahnu Barua, celebrated author Indira Gowami, prominent journalists Sanjoy Hazarika , Patricia Mukhim, Dileep Chandan and others have called on Bhutan and India to ensure transparency and respect the rights, especially of non-combatant women and children, in the ongoing military operations in Bhutan.

In a statement e-mailed to this newspaper they have urged that civil society groups and media be given access to the detainees. They also called on the armed groups to turn to dialogue and end their armed struggles in an effort to solve the problems of the...

New Delhi, Dec. 30: India wants its neighbours to follow the example of Bhutan?s operation against Northeast insurgents entrenched in its territory to show their commitment to ?good neighbourly? relations. Foreign secretary Shashank said the issue of Indian terrorists camping in neighbouring countries would be raised at the discussion of senior officials of the Saarc summit beginning in the Pakistani capital tomorrow.

In Guwahati, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi accused Bangladesh of playing a major role in the growth of insurgency in the Northeast, saying its reluctance to admit the presence...

GUWAHATI, Dec 29: The recent clashes between Karbi Anglong?s majority Karbi and minority Kuki communities had about a decade-long history of acrimony behind it. Though the Karbi leaders are trying hard to project the clashes as ?group clashes?, reality speaks otherwise. Leaders of both the Congress and the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) are blaming the anti-talk faction of the United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), a Karbi militant group and the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), a militant group of the Kukis, for the recent developments. They also go to the extent of demanding a...

Agartala, Dec. 29: The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) successfully weathered some dissidents? bid to split the party in its state conference here even as it sprang a surprise by demanding 2,060 square miles of more areas within the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). The tribal-based party created more organisational posts to accommodate the dissidents who had challenged the leadership of Bijay Kumar Hrangkhawal as president and Rabindra Debbarma as general secretary, sources within the INPT said.

Both Hrangkhawal and Debbarma managed to retain their...

Agartala, Dec. 29: The erection of barbed wire fence on Tripura?s long and porous border with Bangladesh has run into troubled waters over land acquisition and related problems. The 856-km international border in the state runs through 15 subdivisions. At many places, houses, schools and government offices have fallen outside the line marked for the fence.

The issue came up for discussion in the Assembly today with PCC president Birajit Sinha pointing out that resentment was running high at many places over the issue and people were contemplating launching an agitation to protest the...