REGIONAL
The Morung Express
Thursday 23 October 2008
India wants to seal border with Myanmar escaped across a largely unguarded border to their camps in neighbouring Myanmar, police said. Manipur shares a long porous border with Myanmar of around 370 km and security officials want the entire stretch to be barbedwired to stop smuggling of weapons and explosives. Ringed by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, India’s northeast is home to more than 200 tribes and has been racked by separatist revolts since India gained independence from Britain in 1947. “We want the centre (federal government) to fence the border, we cannot let them (PREPAK) escape after the incident,” Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh told Reuters on Wednesday. The rebel
group wants to throw non-Manipuris out of the state and demands statehood, which India says is not possible. About 700 armed PREPAK rebels have carried out regular attacks in the state, including firing a shell at the chief minister’s fortified home last month. “It definitely is a cause for concern at a time when violence in other parts of the region seems to be declining,” C. Uday Bhaskar, a strategic analyst said. In Imphal, police cordoned off the blast site, near a commando training facility and forensic experts were examining pieces of metal to find out what caused the powerful blast. “Our plan is to fence the border and step up foot pa-
National language losing craze in Northeast NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 22 (AGENCIES): The national language is gradually losing its craze in the north-eastern states if the trend of students studying in Hindi medium in CBSE affiliated schools there is any indication. The number of students appearing for the Class X examination in Hindi medium conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has constantly declined in the last three years. In 2006, the number of students appearing for Class X in Hindi medium in the eight states was 1,675 which declined to 1,485 the next year and again plummeted to 1,161 this year, Minister of State for HRD M A A Fatmi informed the Lok Sabha. Except Assam, the number of students in Hindi medium in other states remain negligible.
In Mizoram, there were 18 students in Hindi medium in 2006 which came down to 15 and seven in 2007 and this year respectively. The major languages used as the medium of instructions in education in these states include English, Assamese, Bodo, Bengali, Garo, Khasi, Mizo, Angami, Ao, Konyak, Lotha, Sema, Kokbarak. The government has taken a slew of measures to promote Hindi in these states, the minister said. The steps include providing financial assistance to voluntary organisations for propagation and development of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, which include northeastern states. The government is also providing financial assistance for appointment and training of Hindi teachers in nonHindi speaking states, he said.
Mizoram police encroach Tripura territory AGARTALA, OCTOBER 22 (UNI): Taking a serious note over alleged encroachment of north Tripura’s Chakmapara by Mizoram Armed Police (MAP), Tripura DGP Pranay Sahay today asked the occupiers to leave as early as possible. The SDPO (Kanchanpur), after conducting an inquiry, found that the MAP had occupied Tripura’s territory at Chakmapara under Vangmun police station, Sahay said. ‘’What they have done is totally illegal’’ Sahay said. He said the Superintendent of Police (north Tripura) has already requested his Mizoram counterpart to withdraw policemen at the earliest. Alarmed by the encroachment, the state government has decided to erect a drop gate at Chakmapara to ensure dominance of state police. This will also ensure prevention of rampant timber smuggling from Tripura to Mizoram through the inter-state porous border, sources in the forest department said.
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trolling along the border, otherwise it will be difficult to control the situation,” a senior intelligence officer said from Imphal. India says around 3,000 rebels, live and train in the camps inside the jungles of Kabaw Valley of Myanmar’s Sagaing Division. “We know where militants have their camps across the border, but we can’t go inside Myanmar chasing them,” said a senior military commander who requested not to be named. India has a pact with Myanmar to share intelligence, but officials said it was not enough to stop the insurgency. Militant groups accuse New Delhi of plundering the region’s mineral Family members mourn the death of those killed in yesterday’s blast in Imphal on October 22 The explosion killed at and forest resources but in- least Seventeen (17) people and injured several others in the brutal blast at Raigailong near Manipur police commando complex in Imphal East, Manipur. (UB Photos) vesting little in return.
Assam seek peace and harmony Army ‘no’ to ULFA’s safe passage GUWAHATI, OCTOBER 22 (ANI): The recent violence in Udalguri and Darrang districts of north Assam has left local residents of the region, devastated. The victims of the communal riot appeal all to restore peace and harmony to let the normal life resume. Lamenting the ugly turn of the event, Bodos and Muslims, among whom the riot took place, doesnt deny the hand of local militants behind the communal violence. “We left our homes, cattle, sheep and cows. All our belongings are destroyed. We feel helpless. It’s all darkness now. What more can we say? said a riot-hit person. Analysts here believe that all communities should work together to develop the BODO area. Located in northern part of the state, Udalguri and Darrang districts of Assam havent witnessed the clash for the first time. Earlier in the year, 15 people lost their lives, when two communities got into conflict to establish their supremacy over the land. Many people here are still clueless, how the violence broke out in the first place between the two communities, which left more than fifty dead and hundred others injured. The timely
intervention by the state government prevented the violence from spreading to the neighbouring districts. “We want peace. Let the Government bring back peace. Let us live in peace. I wish that chaos and confusion will soon end and may peace prevail in the state,” said another riot-hit man. More than 2,00,000 people become homeless in backdrop of the clash, of whom many have taken shelter in the government relief camps. To restore the feeling of security among the masses, state government has recruited nearly 8,000 police personnel in the two riot districts of the region. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gagoi recently said: “Both groups are eying to grab the land. I am not saying this group or that group, but there is a very small section of people. Vast majority (of people) have been living together, they are not fighting. Very small section is taking the advantage, they are eying on the land. Their motive is to grab the land. These are miscreant of both groups. And definitely, we will see the interest of everybody.” However, local analysts believe that besides security there is an urgent need to re-
store confidence and sense of togetherness among communities to bring in lasting peace in the region. Bibhu Prasad Routray, a faculty at the Institute For Conflict Management in New Delhi, said: “Both parties should sit together and prepare a mutual agreement and check what kind of friction do they exactly have. The points of differences should be discovered. The dialogue has to be facilitated and it has to be done by the state government. There are organizations at both the front. The Bodos have their number of organizations, there are number of organizations on the Muslim side as well. So, they must sit together. Contrary to some of the reports in the media the clashes are not between the Bodos and illegal Bangladeshis settled there. Analysts describe the conflict as a war between the Bodos and Muslims to get more territory. With the establishment of the Bodo Territorial Council, people were hoping for a phase of economic development in the resource rich region. But unfortunately as analysts say there are some miscreants, who don’t want the region to take the path of the progress.
GUWAHATI, OCTOBER 22 (UNI): The Army today denied that it had agreed to Dispur’s idea of offering safe passage to ULFA militants to facilitate their return to the mainstream. Army spokesman of 4 Corps, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said they had no role in taking any decision with regard to the safe passage. ‘’That is not the Army’s job. Our brief is simple and that is to eliminate insurgency from Assam,’’ he said. Kalia from 4 corps headquarters at Tezpur informed that the Army had no such plans and neither was it interested in entering into state level policy making level of counter insurgency operations. His denial came following reports that the Assam government was interested in offering safe passage to those ULFA cadres who wanted to join the mainstream. The ULFA’s main strike force ‘A’ and ‘C’ company of the ‘28th battalion’ had come forward and there were reports that ‘B’ compan, holed up inside Mayanmar was also interested in coming back. The report had said Dis-
pur was likely to approach the Governor for his approval. But the army today categorically denied any role in the decision. New Delhi had earlier rejected a demand made by the ‘B’ company for disbanding the Unified Command as a precondition for its joining the pro-peace group Early this month, Dispur had rejected a proposal by the pro-peace ‘A’ and ‘C’ companies to withdraw the army from Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts. But the government had been keen on the idea of offering safe passage to militants since it was convinced that a truce with ‘B’ company will virtually ‘finish off ’ ULFA, as it was the only fighting arm of the outfit in Upper Assam. The cadres of the ‘B’ company had initially shown willingness to come along with their counterparts in ‘A’ and ‘C’ companies, but fled after a series of strikes by the army killed several militants in Upper Assam. Most of them were now taking shelter in the NSCN (Khaplang)’s camps in Myanmar.
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GUWAHATI, OCTOBER 22 (REUTERS): India needs to seal its border with Myanmar to stop separatist rebels carrying out regular attacks in the northeast, officials said on Wednesday, a day after a powerful blast killed 17 people in Manipur. Police said a bomb on a bicycle blew up in Imphal, the state capital, late on Tuesday. At least 40 people were wounded in the attack that police believe was revenge for security forces killing at least eight rebels last month. Police suspect the separatist People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) in Manipur, a state which has suffered separatist and tribal insurgencies for the past 60 years in the troubled northeast region. The rebels
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