Thursday, September 18, 2008

No permanent camp of Indian rebel groups in Myanmar


Shillong, Sep 18 : Claiming that there are no permanent camps of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar, the Assam Rifles today said the army of the neighbouring country is acting against the ultras present in its territory in coordination with it.

“As far as our information goes, there are no permanent camps of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar. But the groups tend to set up temporary shelters in the country. We have been coordinating with the Myanmarese army and there has been operations against the rebels on both sides of the border,” Assam Rifles DG Lt Gen K S Yadava told reporters here.
He said the groups have set up shelters in the thick forested terrains along the border and it is not easy to flush them out.

“Anyone can move around within certain limits of the border as per laid rules. Such a scenario is bound to foment the movement of the militants to and from the boundary,” the DG said.

Yadava’s statement comes in the backdrop of reports that some militant groups of the region like the ULFA were using Myanmar for regrouping and carrying out its subversive activities from its bases in the neighbouring country.

US Consulate concerned about Uranium smuggling

Shillong, Sep 18 : Reports of uranium smuggling from Meghalaya have attracted the attention of the United States of America. Well placed sources in the Meghalaya police have confirmed that the US Consulate at Kolkata has been making enquiries about the alleged uranium smuggling from Meghalaya even as investigations have revealed that these reports of uranium smuggling are mere fraudulent acts perpetrated by a few individuals.

Nothing definite is known about the nature of the queries made by the US authorities but Meghalaya police was lucid in terming the alleged uranium smuggling as a mere fraud case. While investigating into the seizure of the suspected mineral two weeks ago from West Khasi Hills, police picked up a total of five people with the last one being Hep John from Wahkaji. On Monday Hep John was remanded to two days police custody, however in a bizarre twist to the case the same court released him on bail a few hours later.
Sources in the police said, “The tests performed by the officials of Atomic Mineral Division (AMD) in Shillong confirmed that the smuggling is not uranium ore. The real report will be shortly furnished by AMD.” “Even the packet used by the alleged smugglers, all hailing from the same district, is totally different from the one made by AMD while packing the mineral”, said the police source.

Police further added that there is no need for concern as this is nothing but a hoax call and could be the handiwork of a few unscrupulous miscreants out to earn quick money by fooling unsuspecting and gullible people. Yet the keen interest shown by the US Consulate has raised many an eyebrow and the question doing the rounds is, why the US officials are so concerned about the incident and why seek so much information about it.

‘Restricted entry hindering tourism growth in northeast’


New Delhi, Sep 17 : Contrary to what the government says, tourism experts believe the restrictive system of entry to several states in India’s picturesque northeast is a big hurdle for those wanting to visit the region.

“The restrictive entry system in some states in the northeast is one of the bottlenecks which projects a wrong image of the region and discourages tourists from visiting the region,” M.P. Bezbaruah, the former tourism secretary who hails from the northeast himself, told IANS.
The northeastern region, which consists of eight states, each with a wealth of natural heritage, has ironically not been able to cash in on its tourism potential, failing even in the domestic market.

For instance, despite boasting of rolling meadows, tea gardens, hills, varied tribal cultures and wildlife parks, the region gets only four percent of the five million foreign tourists to India.

The restrictive entry system, which requires special area permits to visit the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, is often cited as one of the main bottlenecks.

For these states, a foreign tourist has to travel in groups of four and go through a government approved travel agency. The permit’s validity is also for a stipulated short period of time. This is done for security reasons as many states in the northeast are border states and are home to insurgent groups.

To travel through north Sikkim, an Inner Line Permit (ILP) is required.

However, there are no restrictions while visiting Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, the minister for Development of the North East Region (DoNER), has said the permit system is not all that complicated and that tourists can travel without much hassle.

But Bezbaruah said this is one factor that hasn’t helped stakeholders like tour operators in boosting the region’s prospects.

“The restricted area permit system, some at the central level, some at the state level, would have their justification. More so, if the security is at stake. But the end result is that the tourist finds the entire process very hassling and is deterred from coming to the region,” he said.

Manoj Jalan, vice president of Purbi Discovery, a tour operating agency that has been organising tours to the northeast for years now, said it was a pity that now, when other states are diversifying into different tourism sectors - monsoon and medical tourism, for instance - the northeast was still far behind.

“The northeast is an emerging destination, with a wealth of natural beauty. To simply state a few statistics, of the total percentage of tourists that India gets, northern India gets the chunk at 49 percent.

“Western India gets 29 percent, southern India gets 18 percent and northeast India - just four percent,” Dibrugarh-based Jalan said during a visit to Delhi.

Jalan, who has been working in the sector and is familiar with the ground realities, laments that the restricted area permit is one of the constraints in promoting tourism in the region.

“We know that the insurgency problem here is a constraint. But then, which region is free of any problem? The fact is that people, even at the centre, are not aware of the ground realities here and promote a wrong image on safety issues.

“The policymakers need to take a hard look at the realities and, in association with the private sector, play an active role in promoting tourism - whether it’s tea tourism, botanical, cultural or wildlife - in the region,” Jalan said.

Bezbaruah added: “Tourism requires awareness - of the people, the policy planners and the industry - about its importance for socio-economic development for it to grow. Unfortunately, such awareness is not in strong evidence in the northeast though everyone talks about it.”

“Let’s start with promoting domestic tourism to clear wrong perceptions,” he said.