north east online - north east india news: Sep 14, 2009

Monday, September 14, 2009

Assam rebel group to surrender en masse

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opes for an end to long years of violent bush war brightened in Assam with an influential tribal separatist group deciding to surrender en masse and hold peace talks with New Delhi, officials said in Guwahati on Monday.

A police spokesperson said some 350 cadres and leaders of the outlawed Jewel Garlosa faction of the Dima Haolam Daogah (DHD-J), more popularly known as the Black Widow, have decided to surrender and join the peace process.

"The process is on with 193 Black Widow militants already surrendering their weapons before authorities, while about 157 more are expected to lay down their arms by Monday," Khagen Sharma, Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) said.

The Black Widow militants, active in the North Cachar Hills district of southern Assam, had unleashed a reign of terror in the region killing an estimated 100 people so far this year and attacking passenger trains, resulting in suspension of railway services for months.

"The nearly 350 militants would be put up in some designated camps," Sharma said.

A formal surrender ceremony is expected after September 22 when Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi returns from a visit to the US.

The DHD-J was formed in March 2003 following a split in the outfit. The faction led by Jewel Garlosa continued with its fight for an independent homeland for the majority Dimasa tribe, while its rival group led by guerrilla leader Dilip Nunisa entered into a ceasefire with New Delhi.

The decision by the Black Widow to surrender follows an ultimatum by central home minister P. Chidambaram last month to lay down arms by Sep 15 or face a stepped-up military offensive.

The Black Widow suffered a setback with police arresting its chief Jewel Garlosa from Bangalore in June.

"If all their top leaders and cadres surrender then we can expect peace in the region. We welcome their decision to join the peace process," Nunisa said.

Arunachal takes steps to step up apple production

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pple production started in Arunachal Pradesh a couple of years back but the state is yet to become a producer of any repute mainly due to lack of post harvest facilities in the state.

However, the Technology Mission for Horticulture in Northeastern states has now decided to impart training to apple growers in the state on post harvest handling and marketing.

"We want to promote apples grown in Arunachal Pradesh. The state is lagging mainly due to lack of knowledge in handling post harvest produce, which is resulting in crop loss," National Horticulture Board (NHB) Managing Director Bijay Kumar told PTI.

The northeastern states adopted growing apples commercially three years back and has about 11 thousand hectares under it in the four districts of Tawang, Dirang, West Siang and Zero.

But the total production is still low at only about 9,800 tonnes. The country's annual estimated apple production is about 20 lakh tonnes, with Jammu and Kashmir producing about 13.32 lakh tonnes, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 5.10 lakh tonnes and Uttrakhand at 1.32 lakh tonnes.

No Indian driver is good enough for F1: Mallya

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ew Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) Karun Chandhok can kiss his Force India ambitions good-bye, at least for the time being, after chairman of the resurgent outfit Vijay Mallya said he doesn't consider any Indian driver good enough for Formula One.

Embolden after the team's stunning show in the last two races, Mallya was amused by the populist demand that Karun should be handed a race seat at the team even though the Chennai driver did not have an F1 super license.

"My job is to make sure that the team is successful.

Whichever driver I need, that is completely my decision. I want someone to convince me and justify the drama about this Indian driver thing," Mallya told Indian journalists via teleconference from Monza, where Force India driver Adrian Sutil came fourth to underline the outfit's growing stature.

"The fact remains, right now no Indian driver is good enough for Formula One," he added.

Vijender returns home to a tumultuos welcome

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ew Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) World Championship's bronze medal winning boxer Vijender Singh returned home to a tumultuous welcome at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here in the wee hours today.

Amid a throng of fans and an army of media persons, Vijender arrived flaunting his bronze medal which he won in Milan last week.

"We have just started getting back medals. The day is not far when we will come back with Gold," Vijender said.

The 2008 Olympic bronze medallist hoped with the Commonwealth Games coming up next year, the Indian boxers will come up with better performances.

"You know they say 'yeh dil maange more' (this heart wants more). It's hard to be satisfied. I'm not satisfied with this. The commonwealth Games is coming up abnd there we will do even better," he said.

Gorkhaland by 2010 if Dec talks fail, warns GJM

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iliguri (WB), Sep 14 (PTI) The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, fighting for a separate state in the Darjeeling hills, has warned that it will unilaterally form 'Gorkhaland' if the next round of tripartite talks scheduled in December failed to deliver "justice".

GJM chief Bimal Gurung told a central convention of the 'Yuba Morcha', the youth wing, in Darjeeling yesterday that the fourth round of tripartite talks between the Centre, the GJM and the West Bengal government to be held on December 21 were "vital" for the Gorkhas and Gorkhaland.

"In no case Gorkhas will continue to live under West Bengal government," he said.

Gurung said that the GJM would also raise a special force of 500 youth to be named after 'Durga Malla', a Gorkha freedom fighter who was hanged during the British rule in 1944.

2010 Games: Damage control begins

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fficials are going public in rapid succession to assert that Delhi will meet all deadlines for the 2010 Games.

First, the Delhi chief minister went on record on Monday with the slightly confusing statement that she's "both satisfied and nervous" with the current status of affairs.

Then, Suresh Kalmadi, who heads the Organizing Committee, called a full-fledged press conference where he said there's absolutely no cause for concern. Kalmadi guaranteed that all required infrastructure will be ready by December-February, and that the venues for different events will be completed on time.

The damage control comes after NDTV discovered a report prepared by the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India), which warned that Delhi is behind schedule on several fronts. The report said that swimming pools especially are unlikely to be ready in time for the Games.

Based on that NDTV report, Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell announced that he was going to write to the prime minister to express his concern about Delhi's ability to meet international standards as host of the Games. Barely able to keep his sarcasm in check, Kalmadi responded on Monday by saying he'd be happy to personally escort Fennell to this meeting with the Prime Minister.

Sheila Dikshit also dismissed the CAG report, saying that it's 6-8 months old, and therefore outdated.

Tripura editors agitate against low ad rates, arrested

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GARTALA: Editors of all newspapers published from Tripura were arrested on Monday for staging a demonstration in front of the Assembly. They
were seeking a change in the advertisement guidelines introduced by the state government in 2009.

No sooner had the House begun its business for the first day of its monsoon session than the editors and newspaper executives, under the banner of the Tripura Newspaper Society (TNS), gathered outside it and started shouting slogans against the advertisement guidelines, which they described as "anti-media".

The editors were later sent to court, which granted them bail. This was for the first time that editors were arrested in the Communist-ruled state.

The new guidelines that came into effect from January 1 curtailed 40 per cent of advertisements to newspapers. TNS officials claimed that advertisement rates in Tripura were perhaps the lowest in the country. "In Assam, the highest rate is Rs 139 per column cm, while in Tripura it's only Rs 22," said Arun Nath, editor of a local daily and secretary of the TNS.

He said, "In the absence of industries and corporate sectors in Tripura, newspapers both dailies and weeklies depend heavily on government advertisements. But with the new guidelines, the government wants to curtail the flow of advertisements to newspapers. This will severely affect the revenue and thousands of families who are dependent on the newspaper industry."

The arrests of the editors caused ruffles in the media circles. Many of their colleagues were seen gathering at the West Agartala police station where a group of Congress MLAs went to meet them. In the second half of the session, the Congress raised the issue in the Assembly and staged a walk-out.

KLO No. 2, wife arrested in Assam

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UWAHATI/KOKRAJHAR/KOLKATA: After waging an armed struggle for nearly 15 years seeking a separate Kamtapur state, the Kamtapur Liberation
Organization (KLO) suffered a body blow late on Saturday night when securitymen arrested the outfit's second man in command and his wife following an encounter in Assam's Kokrajhar district.

"Second lieutenant" Dhananjay Barman and his wife, Sumitra Das, had reportedly masterminded serial blasts on Haldibari Passenger Train at Belakoba in north Bengal's Jalpaiguri district in 2006. Eight people had died in the blasts.

Incidentally, Sumitra is the sister of KLO chief and founder Jibon Singha and is the only woman of the outfit to have gone to Bangladesh for training in guerrilla warfare.

Dhananjay, the zonal commander of KLO and number two in its hierarchy after Jibon, had, along with Sumitra, sneaked into the northeastern state two months ago from their Khagracharri hideout in Chittagong, Bangladesh. They were strengthening the banned outfit's base in Assam's Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts and various areas in north Bengal.

Police said Dhananjay suffered a bullet injury in the encounter between KLO militants and personnel of Kokrajhar police and Panbari-based 19 Madras Regiment at Part 11 Maoriagaon village near Chandrashila wildlife sanctuary. He was admitted to a nursing home in Bongaigaon, while Sumitra and her son, who was present when his parents were arrested, were brought to the Kokrajhar police station.

Acting on a tip-off, police said, the security personnel raided Part II Maoriagoan village and found Dhananjay and Sumitra taking shelter in the house of Dalim Choudhury. On seeing the police and armymen, Dhanajay started firing at them and tried to flee, but in vain. He was hit in his stomach in the retaliatory firing by the security forces, who arrested the couple.

An Italy-made 7.65 pistol, a magazine, four rounds of ammunition, five SIM cards, including three of Bangladesh, two mobile phones and a note of Taka 100 were found on Sumitra, defence spokesman Col R Kalia said.

Talking to the media at Kokrajhar police station on Sunday, Sumitra said she, along with about 40 KLO members, had gone to Bangladesh during the 2003 offensive launched by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) to flush out Indian militant outfits holed up in that country.

Dhananjay, who hails from Coochbehar district, was a member of the third batch cadre of KLO and completed training in a Bhutan camp during 1998-1999.

Earlier in March 2009, Dhananjay entered India and tried to extort money from some traders at Barabisha in Jalpaiguri and at Golakgunge in Assam.

Till date, the biggest setback for the KLO was during the Bhutanese offensive when the RBA destroyed its camps along the Indo-Bhutanese border and captured many of its senior leaders. But along with some top Ulfa and NDFB leaders, Jibon had then managed to flee the Himalayan kingdom and took shelter in Bangladesh.

Since 1995, KLO has been waging an armed struggle for a separate Kamtapur state comprising Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Malda, North and South Dinajpur districts of West bengal and four contiguous districts of Assam Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara.

Eleven new police stations to be set up in Manipur

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mphal, Sept 14 (PTI) Eleven more police stations would soon be set up in Manipur to strengthen the police force besides equipping them with sophisticated weapons to combat insurgents in the troubled-torn state, official sources said today.

Of the 11 police stations, three would be set up in Imphal East district, two in Imphal West district, four in Thoubal district and two in Bishenpur district, the sources said.

The decision to set up eight police stations was taken at a cabinet meeting on September 1.

In view of the requirement of more police stations, the state cabinet in its meeting on September 9 last decided to open three more police stations, the sources said.

Necessary plans were being chalked out by the police department to equip these new police stations with modern weapons and uptodate information.

Chidambaram says Maoists seeking alliance with north-east insurgent groups

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EW DELHI - Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that Maoists are seeking an alliance with northeast insurgent groups.

Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day conference on internal security threats, Chidambaram said the Maoists have been sought alliances with secessionists and insurgentse also said that terrorist groups, including the LeT and the JeM, are persisting with their endeavours to launch terror attacks.

“The Communist Party of India-Maoist besides targeting inimical forces was laying a greater emphasis on targeting infrastructure like roads, bridges,” he added

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will address the conference on Tuesday. He will also present police medals for meritorious services.

The conference provides an interactive platform for senior police professionals and security administrators to freely discuss and debate diverse national security related issues, as also the various operational, infrastructural and welfare related problems faced by them.

Its deliberations would also include formulation and sharing of professional practices and processes in tackling challenges relating to crime control and law and order management.

The conference offers opportunities for generation and exchange of new ideas on capacity building for the police in respect of manpower, training, logistics and advanced technology.

The Intelligence Bureau organised the first ever conference of IGPs in India in 1920 and since then, these conferences have been held regularly at New Delhi in the post-independence period. The first conference was organised in 1950.

To begin with, it was a biennial event, but after 1973, it became an annual meeting for the Heads of Police Organisations in the States/Union Territories and of the Central Police Organisations. Director, Intelligence Bureau, is the ex-officio Chairman of the conference. (ANI)

Satyam Scam: CBI to file 2nd charge sheet soon

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ew Delhi
, Sep 14: The CBI will soon file a second charge sheet against Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju as it claimed to have unearthed more financial frauds which have caused loss to the shareholders.

Sources in the CBI said that Raju's confessional statement after the scam was an attempt by him to divulge only what he wanted to while keeping other alleged financial frauds under wraps.

The sources said, "The investigators had found some more clues of alleged financial frauds of siphoning off money from Satyam and re-routing it to other front companies floated by the accused."

The investigative agency on Apr 7, 2009 has filed a charge sheet against Raju and eight others under various of the Indian Penal Code for cheating and forgery.

The CBI had submitted 1,532 original documents of bank transactions and 65,000 pages of other documents which included the statements of 432 witnesses in the case along with the charge sheet.

Toxic alcohol kills 30 in India

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uthorities in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have suspended 13 officials after 30 people died from drinking toxic illegal alcohol.

Officials from excise department and policemen have been suspended for negligence, a press release said.

The deaths took place last week in several villages of the western district of Saharanpur.

Chief Minister Mayawati has ordered an inquiry and 34 people engaged in toxic alcohol trade have been arrested.

The BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi in Lucknow says most of the victims are poor people and daily wage-earners who cannot afford expensive liquor sold at official outlets.

Illegally brewed alcohol is readily found across India and is popular because it is cheap and said to be stronger than legal brews.

But it is often laced with chemicals and pesticides in an attempt to boost its strength and has often caused people to die.

In July, at least 107 people died in the western Gujarat state after drinking toxic illegal alcohol.

Last year, about 150 people died from drinking tainted alcohol in the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Love for soccer landed me in drug racket: Nigerian

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UWAHATI: The Nigerian national arrested with 500 gm of heroin on Saturday has told Customs sleuths that it was his love for the game of soccer
that landed him in a drug-trafficking racket.

On Sunday, Customs officials said the arrested footballer, Dike (30), revealed during interrogation that another Nigerian footballer Dania, who is based in Kolkata had promised him a berth at a local football club here if he carries the drugs to New Delhi.

"The youth said the drug was handed over to him by Dania two days ago with a promise to give him a berth at a local football club in Guwahati provied he takes the heroin safely to New Delhi. Dike also revealed that Dania was in the city at present. We have already launched a manhunt and are questioning him further," Customs department sources said.

Dike was arrested by officers of the Customs department from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport with heroin worth over a crore, hidden in buttons of a ladies garment. The Nigerian, suspected to be a drug smuggler, was arrested moments before he was to board a private airline to Delhi with the drugs.

On the other hand, the Nigerian footballer's arrest has also brought African footballers, playing for Northeast-based football clubs, under the Customs scanner. There are more than 15 African footballers playing for local football clubs in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Some are also playing at the ongoing Bordoloi Trophy Football tournament being held at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here.

Sources said Custom officials are likely to question officials of local football clubs as well as the African players playing for the Bordoloi trophy. "Most African players registered with local clubs are from Nigeria and a few from Ghana. They might provide some clues to the racket," sources said.

They also indicated that Nigerians are known to be experts in smuggling drugs. Hence, international drug smugglers active in the North-East might use them to smuggle out drugs from the region via the city. "We may question some players, if needed," sources said, declining to divulge further details in the interests of the probe.

Football clubs in the North-East have been recruiting African footballers particularly strikers for local tournaments like state A Division and the Bordoloi Trophy as they face a shortage of local strikers every football season. A sports organizer here said, "As good local footballers are moving out of the region to play in the country's elite football clubs, the clubs here have no option but to recruit African players. Besides, it's the new trend now."

193 DHD cadres deposit arms

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UWAHATI: In response to the September 15 deadline set by Union home minister P Chidambaram for DHD (J) cadres to deposit arms, 193 cadres of the
outfit came out from their hideouts on Sunday and handed over 61 weapons. On Thursday, 12 cadres of the outfit deposited weapons to police at Haflong.

The DHD (J) is responsible for unleashing a reign of terror in the district for six years during which more than 300 people have been killed. "This is the sign of a new dawn that promises a change in the trouble-torn North Cachar Hills district," said GOC (4 Corps) Lt-Gen K T Parnaik.

Among those who surrendered arms on Sunday include Daniel Dimasa, Daku Dimasa, David Dimasa and Nalo Dimasa.

The government has laid down new rules for militant outfits before it agrees to declare truce and hold peace talks. According to these rules, an outfit has to first abjure violence by depositing weapons and stay away from extortion by moving to designated camps. Only its top leadership will be allowed to sit for talks.

According to security sources, the DHD (J) has 350 cadres and all of them are expected to deposit arms in the next two to three days. They will move to designated camps after a formal surrender ceremony at Haflong later in the month in the presence of chief minister Tarun Gogoi.

The outfit has already split and the breakaway group led by James Dimasa claims to have 70 cadres and are still undecided on joining the peace proc-ess.

Additional director general (Special Branch) Khagen Sarmah hoped that that all the cadres of the outfit will come to Haflong and deposit weapons in the next two to three days.

Defence spokesman Col R Kalia said those who have deposited weapons have been kept in two temporary camps at Kapuchera and Jatinga. "After surrendering arms, they were taken to transit camps under heavy escort by troops of the Red Shield Division," he added.

Kalia said a multi-dimensional strategy is in place in NC Hills with strong presence of security forces and army and the efforts have been well coor-dinated by a control room set up under the aegis of brigade headquarters at Haflong.

UK help for N-E filmmakers

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UWAHATI: The United Kingdom has come forward to prop up filmmakers on environment in the North-East by extending fellowship
programme.

The British Council and Aaranyak a bio-diversity conservation group in the region have decided to launch "United Kingdom Environment Film Fellowship 2010 (UKEFF)" for the northeastern region here on September 14.

The UKEFF is awarded to environmental filmmakers to create 12 to 15 minute quality documentaries based on a particular theme. The theme for UKEFF 2010 is "Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas".

"This is for the first time Aaranyak and British Council are jointly going to launch the fellowship in the North-East. The purpose of the fellowship is to build capacity and encourage environment filmmakers. The films made by these filmmakers are important communication tools that create awareness and action among viewers on the impact and possible solutions to environmental problems," said Aaranyak secretary general Bibhab Kumar Talukdar. Fifteen Indian filmmakers have already been awarded the fellowship since 2005. "The North-East is one of the rich bio-diversity regions in the country. However, lot of activities like dams, urbanizations and lifestyle changes are taking place. The fellowship can provide opportunity to young filmmakers of the region to document the impact of climate change on the bio-diversity of the region," Aaranyak project officer Jayanta Kumar Pathak said.

During the two-day Wildscreen Festival here in February, nine environ-mental filmmakers from UK conducted training sessions for upcoming filmmakers of the region on diverse aspects of environment filmmaking and apprised them of issues like climate change.Some of the internationally acclaimed films like Can We Save Planet Earth?, Life In Cold Blood-Armoured Gaints, Earth: The Power of the Planet-Atmosphere, and Global Dimming were screened during the festival's Guwahati leg.

The key theme in majority of the films was climate change, its impact and the expediency to save the planet from the disaster.

'Govt not releasing funds for SC, STs'

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UWAHATI: Independent legislator Bhuban Pegu on Sunday said the state government is not releasing funds allotted for the development of SC
and STs.

Addressing the media on Sunday, Pegu said funds haven't been released by the state government on the ground of non-utilization before every annual budget.

Pegu said the state government has been hiding the Planning Commis-sion's modifications in implementing the Schedule Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) which clearly mention that the funds are "non-divertible" and "non-lapsable".

"Every year, the planning and development department is refusing to re-lease the minimum 40 per cent of the total allotted fund for the SC and STs, saying that it has lapsed for non-utilization in time," Pegu said.

He lambasted the state government for adopting anti-poor policies. "The SCs and STs are economically backward. Instead of taking measures for their uplift, the state government is denying them their share," Pegu added.

Kukis observe 'Black Day' to slam NSCN(I-M) excess

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MPHAL: The Kuki people observed "Black Day" across insurgency-hit Manipur on Sunday to mourn nearly 1,000 people of the community allegedly
killed by NSCN (IM) militants during ethnic clashes in the early Nineties.

In 1993, on this day, NSCN (IM) cadres massacred 87 Kukis, including women and children, at a remote Kuki village in Manipur's Tamenglong district. About 1,000 people were massacred and 350 villages burnt down during the four-year-long clashes which also left a number of the Nagas dead.

People of the tribe hoisted traditional shawls in their homes a ritual followed for the past 16 years to commemorate the dead. They also prayed for peace and reconciliation in the churches. "Today, we stopped all sorts of entertainment programmes and prayed for the departed souls. We also prayed for everlasting peace and communal harmony in the state," said T Haokip, a Kuki youth in the state capital.

The Kuki National Organization (KNO), an umbrella body of eleven Kuki militant outfits which are currently observing a ceasefire with the government, also paid homage to thousands killed in the 1993 riots.

"With deep sense of patriotism, the KNO pays its respectful homage and heartfelt condolence to all those killed, maimed, orphaned and widowed by the armed Limguards' under the command of the NSCN (IM) during the Nineties, particularly to those inhumanely butchered villagers of Zoupi and Yanglenphai," KNO said in a statement.

The organization added that this day of remembrance is occasionally solemnized as "Sahnit Ni" or "Selnit Ni" in Thadou-Kuki.

KNO also decried "the miscalculated programme of the Muivah led leadership, which has nothing to do with Naga nationalism of A Z Phizo and the much-talked about agenda of Naga integrity sans sovereignty."

Manipur on Sunday paid fitting respect to the four India Reserve Battalion (IRB) jawans who were killed in an ambush by Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) militants at Karong Chingjin in Imphal East on Saturday morning. But the outfit said the ambush was launched assuming that the convoy was that of Central security forces.

Amid a tearful scene , bodies of Kh Biky (22), his cousin brother Kh Amuchou (30), Kh Nando and Thuisinpao were brought to the state police memorial site at the premises of 1BN Manipur Rifles here on Sunday.

Led by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, police officials and bereaved family members paid floral tribute to the four jawans.

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