Northeast

Personnel of the special task force (STF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) shot at and injured nine students, including a girl, during the Durga Puja celebration in Roing town of Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday. The injured were rushed to Roing Hospital where the condition of all was said to be critical. Most of the injured were rushed to Dibrugarh hospital later that night. The forces first entered the puja premises and roughed up the students. Later, the youngsters were chased around...

They had three sons. They were not rich, but “were quite contented”. In the mid-1950s, her husband responded to the Naga movement and joined the Naga army. He rose through the ranks to become an important officer. His wife and children stayed behind in the village to fend for themselves by labouring in their fields. The Indian army kept constant surveillance and often raided the house hoping to capture him. She lived through constant fear and harassment. After several years in the Naga army, the...

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had fled Nagaland in May 1994 in the face of stiff opposition from both the people and militants. The oil exploration giant returned to the state a few years ago to resume operations, since a semblance of peace had apparently returned in the backdrop of the ongoing ceasefire between the insurgents and the Indian government. In March 1994, ONGC was served with an ultimatum by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) (NSCN-IM) demanding a...

It made for a wonderful keepsake photo opportunity when leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) visited New Delhi for preliminary tripartite peace talks in August. There were smiles all around, and word was that peace was soon going to return to Assam. Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends as of now. If you go beyond the headlines and hark a little into the past, you will find that things will progressively appear worse. That would be because there are many talking points...

This tiny hamlet is a birdwatcher’s paradise. It’s also an ornithologist’s nightmare. For, Jatinga remains a place where birds are supposed to commit suicide. Jatinga village, inhabited primarily by members of the Jaintia tribe, on the foothills of the Barail Range in the Northeast Indian state of Assam is a halting place for many birds. This mysterious phenomenon which has had ornithologists from the world over fumbling for answers is known to locals as a suspected mass suicide committed by...

This has taken a long time – but would be more than welcome for people of the Northeast. The government has announced that it will set up separate High Courts for each of the Northeast states. Setting up of separate High Courts would be subject to creation of necessary infrastructural facilities by the respective state governments. Announcing this in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Salman Khursheed, Union Minister for Law and Justice, said that at present the governments of Manipur, Meghalaya and...

Speech of Isak Chishi Swu, Yaruiwo (President) of the Government of the People's Republic of Nagalim (GPRN) on the occasion of the 65th Naga Independence Day celebrations, August 14, 2011. My dear Naga people, Six decades ago on this historic day, the 14th of August 1947, the Naga people took a historic decision to remain as an independent nation and subsequently held a plebiscite in 1951 in affirmation of that decision. Since then the conflict started between the Indian Armed Forces and the...

When you speak of the Northeast, the noun or verb that comes to your mind is ‘neglect’. This word has been used so often to explain the state of underdevelopment in the region that you cannot even called it a clichéd vindication. But when you resurrect the debate in the light of the present Union government being the most corrupt ever and Manmohan Singh unabashedly defending its actions all through, you will know why this man chose not to vote in the elections to the Assam legislative assembly...

You can trust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to foment trouble anywhere. You can trust the Hindutva party to communalise any situation. It can create a Hindu-Muslim situation out of nothing. And that's the last thing that Northeast needs at this time. The comments of Vijay Goel, the party's in-charge of political affairs in Assam, ought to be seen in this light. Goel, who led a delegation of party leaders and MPs from Assam to the Election Commission Monday, wants to see Bangladeshi Muslims as...

In less than a week, as many as three ceasefire agreements have been extended in the Northeast. Technically, these are not called ceasefires; they are dubbed Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreements. Without going into the semantical or technical differences between the two, we know there's one thing that ought to be at the core of these agreements — to bring about peace and stability. On December 29, came an official statement saying that the SoO Agreement with the Dima Halam Daogah (Nunisa)...