News

GUWAHATI, Dec 2 ? The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) today threatened to snap its ?working understanding? with the BJP for the failure of the BJP-led Government in the Centre to resume talks on creation of an autonomous state in Karbi Anglong and NC Hills. Stating that the MoU signed with the Government in 1995 has failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people in the two hill districts, the ASDC has announced its decision to launch fresh agitation with a 48-hour hill areas bandh beginning at 5 am on December 13 next. However, essential services and examinations have been exempted...

IMPHAL, Dec 2 ? Seventeen militants were killed, 107 others arrested and several arms and underground materials recovered by BSF in the past one year in Manipur, BSF DIG (Manipur and Nagaland) PK Misra said on Sunday, reports PTI. Misra said in a statement 10 militants belonging to different outfits had also surrendered to the para-military forces, which had been deployed to assist the counter-insurgency operations in the sensitive state. The militants killed or nabbed belonged to different underground groups, he said adding 58 arms including AK 47 rifles, light machine guns, pistols and 2693...

AGARTALA, Dec 2 ? Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura will demand 18 ST reserved and two general seats from the alliance partner Congress. The Central Working Committee of the INPT held a six-hour meeting Saturday at old ADC building in Palace Compound to discuss the political impasse that had arisen out of Congress stand not to share more than 14 seats with it. The CWC which was attended by INPT president Bijoy Harangkhawl, veteran tribal leader Shyamacharan Tripura and party? general secretary Rabindra Debbarma, has resolved that in case Congress declines to share all the 20 ST reserved...

Guwahati, Dec. 1: Nine persons, including a major and a sepoy, were today killed in bizarre circumstances at a village near Hajo in Kamrup district of Assam.

The mayhem was sparked by a mob that mistook a group of seven army personnel in civvies for a group of extortionists. Hajo police said the mob attacked the soldiers, all from the Assam Regiment, when they entered a teacher?s house in Athiyabari to enquire about an Ulfa militant.

The mob killed two members of the army team and their civilian driver with sharp weapons, prompting the remaining personnel to open fire on the attackers. Six...

Imphal, Dec. 1: The grandness of a Ratan Thiyam production was missing, but the raw brilliance of pastoral theatre more than made up for it.

The fortnight-long Theatre Summit 2002, organised by the Manipuri Theatre Academy at Wangoi under Imphal West district, ended yesterday with a thought-provoking play on the continuing tussle between militant outfits and the administration. However, what left aficionados of theatre pleasantly surprised was the depth in the performances of the rural groups that participated in the festival.

Of the 22 theatre groups that had been invited to the event...