Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Villagers protest firing by NDFB militants, toll rises to 12

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ngry residents on Monday went on a rampage setting ablaze houses and blocking roads to protest the indiscriminate firing by NDFB insurgents in their village in Assam's Sonitpur district that left 12 people dead.

The villagers of Balchung Dimajuli dispersed only after the police used batons. Senior police and civil officials were camping at the spot.

Eleven bodies were found from the spot and a child succumbed to injuries early this morning at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.

A high-level team of three senior ministers-- Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Cultural Affairs Minister Bharat Narah - along with Director-General of Police Shankar Barua has rushed to the district to review the situation.

Officials said the militants had attacked the villagers as they refused to pay the extortion demands.

The villagers comprising mostly Assamese, Nepalese and Adivasis had recently decided in a meeting not to accede to the extortion demands, which could have possibly triggered the attack.

Indo-Bangla boundary talks begin in Shillon

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aintenance and construction of boundary pillars will be among the key issues to be discussed during the 129th Indo-Bangla Boundary Conference which began in Shillong on Monday.

"The conference would review the works (of boundary pillar) done in 2008-09 and draw up the programme to be taken up in next year, Director of Bangladesh survey department Rafiqul Islam said before the start of the conference.

The meet would review the maintenance of the pillars and lay emphasis on quality of pillars to be erected in 2009-10.

Commissioner of Division PW Ingty is leading the Meghalaya side, sources said adding the conference would also look into various aspects of the boundary dispute between the neighbouring countries.

Meghalaya shares about 443 km international border with Bangladesh. Non-erection of boundary pillars in vast stretches of the porous border has reportedly created confusion among villagers on the Indian side. There were also reports about encroachment by miscreants from Bangladesh along the border.

BSF sources said the miscreants often damage pillars, remove the iron plates in them and also erase the numbers, ostensibly to abet encroachment.

Erection and maintenance of the even numbered pillars is done by the Indian side, while the odd numbered ones by Bangladesh, the sources said.

Centre rushes forces to Assam, toll 14

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he Centre rushed additional paramilitary forces to Assam on Monday to assist the state administration after last night's massacre by the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) militants as the toll rose to 14.

Five of the injured in the attack on Balichung Dimajuli village in Sonitpur district succumbed to their injures on Monday while bodies of Duleswar Pradhan, a school teacher of Diring Primary School, and Manju Devi an AASHA worker, were found, officials said.

Union Home Ministry sources said in Delhi that acceding to the request by the Assam government, CRPF personnel have been dispatched to Sonitpur district, but their exact number was not known immediately.

Assam DGP Shankar Barua was attacked by protesters armed with bows and arrows when he was returning to Tezpur after reviewing the situation with ministers, the sources said.

Three persons were injured when the DGP's security guards fired on the protesters, the sources said.

The injured were admitted to the Tezpur civil hospital.

Barua's pilot car was partially damaged in stone throwing, they said.

Chidambaram voices concern over NE insurgency

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oicing concern over leaders of various insurgent groups in the northeast taking shelter in neighbouring countries, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday that they must be "exposed".

"Many of those leading the insurgency are hiding in Myanmar and Bangladesh and they must be exposed," he said, talking about the problem gripping several states in the northeast.

Delivering the 4th Nani Palkhiwala memorial lecture, the minister said government was already engaged in talks with a faction of Naga rebels and hoped peace would be restored in Nagaland.

Chidambaram said some rebels of Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel faction), active in North Cachar Hills of Assam, had recently surrendered to join the mainstream and hoped other groups in the restive region would emulate them.

Talking about the threat of Naxalism, Chidambaram deplored that a section of the civil society romanticised left extremism. "This is a sad fact that a section of civil society romanticises the naxalite movement."

Asking the naxalite leaders to join political mainstream, he said if Maoists in Nepal could take part in elections what stopped their Indian counterparts from becoming an active participant in democracy.

Rahul Gandhi to visit Tripura today

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ICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi would pay a day's visit to Tripura on Tuesday to attend two youth workshops in the state, party sources said on Monday.

Gandhi would fly in here from Itanagar on Wednesday and then go by helicopter to Manughat in North Tripura district to attend a party youth workshop.

He would fly back here to attend another workshop. He is likely to fly to Kolkata in the evening.
Police said arrangements for Gandhi's security have been made with the Special Protection Group personnel having already arrived in Agartala.

Three killed, ten injured in Mizoram landslide

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hree persons, including a five-year-old girl, were killed and ten others injured when a massive landslide triggered by rains swept away a building at Chhinga Veng locality here, police said.

Besides a five-year-old girl, her grandmother and a 23-year-old woman were also killed when the building, occupied by four families, collapsed and swept away by the landslide, they said.

The injured were admitted to a hospital where their condition was described as stable by doctors.

Cong, TC locked in bitter fight in Arunachal

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wo allies of the UPA -- Congress and the Trinamool Congress -- are at loggerheads in poll-bound Arunachal Pradesh.

TC, contesting the October 13 assembly elections for the first time in the state, is trying hard to give a tough fight to the ruling Congress which has all 60 seats in the outgoing House.

Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu today accused the TC of creating confusion by claiming that the party had the blessings of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"The Trinamool Congress is creating confusion in the minds of voters by claiming that it has the blessings of Sonia Gandhi," Khandu alleged.

He also ruled out the possibility of allying with either the Trinamool Congress or the NCP and said the Congress, contesting all the 60 seats, would secure 45 to 50 seats and form the government without the help of any other party.

Trinamool leader and Union minister of state for Urban Development Saugata Roy, on the other hand, claimed that the Congress would not be able to form the government on its own and would have to take the help of his party.

He also accused the Congress government in the state of being corrupt.

"During Congress rule crores of rupees were given to the state government by the Centre, but the corrupt Congress government misused the funds," Roy alleged.

Assam shuts down in mourning

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OKRAJHAR/TINSUKIA: Life stood still in both lower and upper Assam on Tuesday to mourn the 12 lives lost to militants' bullets. A statewide bandh
was called by All Assam Gorkha Students Union (Aagsu) and All Tea Tribes Students Association (Attsa) in protest against the mass murder by rebels of NDFB's anti-talks faction at Bhimajuli in Sonitpur district on Sunday.

National Highway 31(C), running through lower Assam, wore a deserted look with the strike affecting the movement of vehicles to neighbouring Bhutan. Long-distance travellers to Bhutan and West Bengal suffered, too, as many vehicles were stranded for hours on the highway. Later, some vehicles plied under cover of security convoys. However, train services were not affected. The bandh had no effect in Guwahati.

Shopkeepers downed their shutters in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri districts. Government offices and banks in Kokrajhar and Gossaigaon were also shut down even as no major untoward incident was reported.

In Tinsukia, after a spate of early morning violence like forcibly shutting down of shops and breaking of windshields of a few vehicles life was paralyzed. Barring a few schools and government offices, all shops, offices, banks and other business establishments remained closed. There was hardly any traffic in Tinsukia town.

In other parts of Tinsukia district, like Margherita, Digboi, Doomdooma, Makum and Bordubi, there were reports of sporadic clashes. Police detained over 50 picketeers from different parts of the district.

In Dibrugarh, the response to the bandh was partial. Several shops, offices, schools, and even banks, remained open.

Aagsu president Dil Bahadur Limbu and secretary Tharka Adhikari condemned the killings and termed the incident a cowardly act. The two Gorkha leaders demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. Attsa general secretary Pallab Lochan Das said the murders were a result of a total failure of the Congress government. "Even after 48 hours since the cold-blooded murders, not a single culprit has been held. The common man is not safe in the rule of Congress," he added.

Ulfa pro-talks leader Mrinal Hazarika also condemned the killing of innocent civilians by the Ranjan Daimary-led NDFB group and termed it "inhuman". He said, "We cannot tolerate such incidents and demand strict action by the government against the militants who are behind the attack."

Man saved from rods of death

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UWAHATI: For about two hours, Kamal Kalita remained suspended in mid-air, speared by three iron rods that had pierced his abdomen and passed
through his liver, stomach and lung. His cries for help were muffled by the pre-dawn darkness. When a rescue team finally brought the 22-year-old construction worker to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here, even doctors were shocked.

"Not always do we receive cases like Kalita's. While one rod passed through his liver, stomach, diaphragm and left lung touching the heart, the other two penetrated through his abdominal cavity, damaging the intestines. Had the rod hit his heart or any major blood vessel directly, it would have been difficult to save him," said A J Rai Baruah, assistant professor of the cardiothoracic surgery department of GMCH.

It was in the early hours of September 17, the day of Vishwakarma Puja, that Kalita slipped from the roof of a two-storeyed building and fell straight onto the three iron rods protruding from a nearby wall in the city's Sixmile area. Since it was still dark, his cries for help went unheard for a long time. Eventually, his neighbour heard him and rushed out for help. On contacting the Emergency 108, a service team reached the spot and transported Kalita to GMCH with the rods still attached to him.

Baruah and L C Choudhury jointly led the team which included fellow doctors S K Jain, Deepak Choudhury, Keshav Kumar, P Saikia, J Padun and T Rajkhowa. They performed a complicated, three hour-long surgery which miraculously saved Kalita's life.

"I stood struck to the rods for more than one and a half hours. I feel lucky to have survived. Though I had some problems after the operation, I feel much better now and can eat and walk around slowly," said Kalita, almost fit to return home.

Since the rescue team did not try to extract the rods before bringing him to hospital did a world of good. "Had anybody tried to pull out the rods before bringing him to hospital, excessive bleeding in the wounded areas would have proved fatal. In any case, the patient was in a state of shock when the rescur team brought him in. Fortunately, efforts of our medical team, together with Kalita's will to survive, have ensured his speedy recovery. His condition is stable now and we will discharge him in a few days," said Deepak Choudhury.

L C Choudhury, professor of surgery department of GMCH, also said Kalita was out of danger. "Despite the rods causing serious damage to some of his vital organs, Kalita is recuperating well. He will also face no serious complications in future and will be able to regain his strength and resume normal activities in a year's time," he said.

Give SC, ST youths more space in politics: Rahul

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GARTALA/ITANAGAR: Rahul Gandhi, who visited Tripura on Tuesday to take stock of the party's position in the Communist-ruled state, spoke of the
need to include more ST and SC youths in the political process.

Earlier in the day, the AICC general secretary had failed to visit election-bound Arunachal Pradesh because of inclement weather.

"We must give ST and SC youths enough space in the democratic process," Rahul told reporters. PCC president Samir Ranjan Barman and Opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath were also present.

Before the press conference, Rahul attended a meeting at Manu, a tribal village in Dhalai district. "It's not that tribals aren't politically aware. Due to poverty and other factors, it's difficult for ST, SC and Dalits across the country to take part in the political process," said Rahul.

He added that tapping the potential of SC & ST youths was essential for the ongoing process of strengthening the democratic spirit of Youth Congress.

Rahul was critical of "caste"-based politics dogging Uttar Pradesh. "UP is a victim of short-sighted politics. The state could not prosper to the desired level because of caste-based politics," the young leader said. He added that equal representation of all sections of people was absent in Uttar Pradesh.

"In UP, if someone is not rich he or she can't participate in politics," said Rahul. He added that the entire country is virtually divided between the rich and poor.

On his frequent visit to UP, Rahul said, "I have a job to do there. It has nothing to do with Mayawatiji or Mulayam Singhji." He added that his initiatives to revitalize the Youth Congress across the country has got a tremendous response.

Tripura, along with Jharkhand, will be the sixth and seventh states where election to the Youth Congress would be conducted after Punjab, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu.

Rahul admitted that the Youth Congress was relatively weak in Tripura, but expressed hope that it would have a strong base to fight the Left Front soon. Asked about reports of frequent Chinese incursions, the young leader said he supports what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said on the issue. In the evening, he held a closed-door meeting with Youth Congress members selected from all Assembly constituencies.

Rahul, who was scheduled to address two election rallies in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday, could not turn up because of inclement weather.

He reached Lilabari in Assam's North Lakhimpur district in the morning and waited for nearly two hours before cancelling his tour to the border state as the weather was not permissible for a chopper ride, Congress sources said. He was supposed to address an election rally at Indira Gandhi Park in Itanagar and another at Yachuli before leaving for Tripura.

Thousands of party supporters were seen waiting at the venue since the morning despite the inclement weather to have a glimpse of the Congress' youth icon.

Chief minister Dorjee Khandu, Union minister of state for water resources Vincent H Pala, Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Takam Sanjoy and Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Nabam Tuki adressed the Indira Gandhi Park rally, exhorting people to vote Congress back to power in Arunachal.

Army deployed at Bhimajuli as massacre toll touches 12

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HIMAJULI (SONITPUR): Army personnel were deployed at Bhimajuli and its neighbouring areas on Monday following Sunday's massacre of 12 people by
militants belonging to the anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) led by Ranjan Daimary.

Nine others were injured when the Bodo militants fired indiscriminately at the people of Bhimajuli along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary at Biswanath Chariali, nearly 400 km east of Guwahati on the northern banks of the Brahmaputra.

On Monday, the toll rose to 12 with an eight-year-old girl succumbing to her injuries at Gauhati Medical College Hosiptal.

Defence spokesman Col R Kalia said the civil administration sought the army's help to control the situation and prevent any retaliatory attack. Troops of the army's 4 Corps staged a flag march in areas under Balichang outpost the centre of recent terror strikes by NDFB militants.

Early on Monday morning, hundreds of people from villages neighbouring Bhimajuli made an abortive bid to storm the Balichang police outpost in protest against the police administration's "failure" to ensure adequate security arrangements and contain militancy. Sonitpur Police, along with CRPF and Assam Police batallion personnel, managed to stop the irate villagers from attacking the outpost. However, hundreds of villagers burnt a couple of thatched houses at a Bodo village, five km north of Bhimajuli.

SP (Sonitpur) Surendra Kumar, who has been camping in the area since Sunday evening, said police's priority was to deescalate tension in the area. "We are carrying out raids. A Bodo village on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border has been searched. Some miscreants set a few huts on fire, but the situation is under control now," the officer added.

Several villages in this remote area have been targeted by NDFB for extorting money. Though an SSB camp has been set up at Mohotolipathar nearby, people feel it's not enough to protect the villages numbering up to 15. Villagers said NDFB militants dropped leaflets at several places three days ago, threatening to wipe out Bhimajuli village. "It was a pre-planned attack," said a group of Adivasi youths in unison.

The killing of innocent villagers at Bhimajuli was unexpected as security forces, police and intelligence agencies were apprehending that the outfit would trigger blasts in Guwahati or some other major town of the state to mark the first year of the October 30 serial blasts. Last week, Guwahati Police went on record saying that NDFB bombers have entered the city and were staying in rented houses to carry out attacks.

A day after the massacre, the 35 km stretch from sub-division headquarters of Biswanath Chariali to Bhimajuli, looked terror-stricken with roadside shops remaining closed and groups of young men huddled at every corner. Closer to Bhimajuli, hordes of Adivasi young men were seen armed with bows, arrows and other sharp weapons while youths of the dominant Nepali community were marching with khukris tucked inside their shirts.

It was not just the men. Women, too, were marching towards Bhimajuli while children and the old stayed indoors. No one on the road was willing to talk. At the entrance to Bhimjuli, a group of non-Bodo youths was politely frisking a black bag that a Bodo woman was carrying.

At Bhimajuli, the bloodstains of villagers killed in Sunday's mayhem have dried up but the smell of terror was still fresh. Holes in walls of the houses and empty cases of AK47-series rifles bear testimony to the horror the villagers went through. From every household, the wails of women were loud and clear. With tension running high, the district administration was forced to cancel the visit of three ministers to the area.

NSCN(I-M) rebels kill six comrades in B'desh

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GARTALA: BSF has nabbed four NSCN(I-M) militants who crossed over to India after killing six of their comrades in a fierce gunbattle at one of
their camps in Bangladesh.

"Along with a Bengali cook, the militants were apprehended in North Tripura on Sunday. They admitted to killing six of their comrades at the outfit's Nonacherri camp in Moulabibazar, Sylhet, on Saturday night," DIG BSF A K Singh said here on Monday. The camp is located about nine km from the Satlang border outpost along the Indo-Bangla frontier.

The four claimed that the encounter was result of a showdown which happened after they tried in vain to convince the camp commander to surrender.

The apprehended militants were identified as Khomwng (21), a resident of Joliki in Nagaland, Nzau Chima (23), also of Nagaland, Kumar (24) and Sandai (21) of Sagang and Rukhumbi respectively in Manipur. They were escaping along with Ranjit Pal (25), the cook from Panisagar in North Tripura. The border guards found five AK-series rifles and a huge cache of ammunition on them.

"Technically speaking, the militants were apprehended and did not surrender. The BSF personnel manning the border spotted the rebels and asked them to stop. It was only after the militants stopped that our men rounded them up and disarmed them. But it's true that they were coming to surrender before authorities," Singh said.

During interrogation, the NSCN militants told BSF personnel that they were hiding in the Nonacherri camp since 2004. Sources said Ranjit, who is a resident of Ramnagar village in Panisagar, used to sell "paan" in the Khashiapunji area, not very far from the Nonacherri camp. Later, he got in touch with the Naga militants and used to cook food for them. Incidentally, it was Ranjit who was leading the four NSCN(I-M) militants to India in an apparent bid to surrender.

"We will produce the rebels before a court seeking police remand. If the court grants our plea, police and intelligence officials will interrogate them," said a police officer from North Tripura.

Sources said Nagaland Police has been informed about the incident and its officials will soon come to Tripura, interrogate the four rebels and take them in transit remand.

Three years ago, seven NSCN (I-M) militants had surrendered to the BSF in North Tripura district.