Category: NORTH EAST

• ASSAM
• MANIPUR
• MEGHALAYA
• MIZORAM
• NAGALAND
• ARUNACHAL PRADESH

More than 8,100 children of refugees from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur have been enrolled in Mizoram’s government schools, the state’s Education Minister Lalchhandama Ralte said on Wednesday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday assured the tribal leaders from Manipur that security will be further tightened in the hill and tribal areas of the northeastern state.

A massive rally was organised by the Naga tribals in Manipur on Wednesday demanding resolution of the decades-old Naga political issue based on the Framework Agreement, signed between the Central government and the NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015.

Sarma told reporters in Guwahati on Wednesday, “The roads have been transformed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure. The earlier bad road situation has changed. Now anybody can walk on good roads across the country.”

According to the police, based on a tip-off, a special team conducted an operation in Jamuhndal area and seized at least 660 grams of contrabands on Tuesday.

The Army on Wednesday said that some hostile elements have made desperate, repeated and failed attempts to question the role, intent and integrity of the central security forces, especially the Assam Rifles, working relentlessly in Manipur since the ethnic violence erupted on May 3.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday criticised the Congress, claiming the northeastern region was converted into a war-zone during the previous Congress-led regime. 

The chief of banned militant outfit United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I), Paresh Baruah, received an extraordinary offer from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday.

A police officer in Imphal said that Assam Rifles jawans, led by their officers, had last week blocked police vehicles on the Kwakta Gothol road while the police were going to undertake operations against militants.

Sarma said: "In October 1962, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed came to Assam and went to Tezpur. However, he left from there very quickly and literally fled away, anticipating a Chinese occupation in Tezpur. He did not have a chat with the local people... rather thought of securing himself.”

A meeting between Home Minister Amit Shah and leaders of Manipur's Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) was scheduled to take place on Tuesday but was not held as the Minister was busy with the Parliament session.

Even as there is no bar for the teachers of colleges to join the student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the sudden upsurge in the numbers of joiners that include a few college principals in Assam has sparked a row in the state. 

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has authorised the empanelment of the IPS officers to hold posts in the Centre at the level indicated against their names, according to the official notification.

Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh on Tuesday urged all MLAs, who have been demanding separate administrations for the tribals in the state, to attend the upcoming assembly session and discuss everything on the floor of the House and try to solve all issues together.

A police official said that heavy exchange of fire took place between the security forces and the armed attackers at Kwakta and Terakhongsangbi areas in Bishnupur district and at Mualngat, Gothol, Pholjang areas of Churachandpur district.

The Meira Paibi, an organisation of Meitei women, on Monday staged protests against Assam Rifles in five districts of the Manipur Valley, alleging that the para-military force had "unleashed atrocities" on the Meitei people.

The COCOMI said that the conflict can only be inferred to be pre-planned as tension started building up from April 27 after an open gym to be inaugurated by the Manipur Chief Minister was vandalised.

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will constitute a three-judge committee headed by Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to look into “humanitarian” issues like relief, rehabilitation, remedial, etc., in the violence-hit Manipur.

Leaders of Manipur's Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday to press for its demands, which include a separate state for the trinals.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday lauded the efforts of the Central government for taking the initiative to re-develop 32 railway stations in the state under the 'Amrit Bharat Station' initiative which was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. 

With two MLAs in the Manipur Assembly, the Kuki People's Alliance (KPA) on Sunday withdrew its support from the BJP-led Manipur government, headed by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.

Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of the Meitei community, on Sunday announced indefinite social boycott to the Manipur government in protest against state government’s delay in convening the assembly session.

As over three month long ethnic violence continued in Manipur, the Home Ministry has deployed 10 additional companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the northeastern state, an official said here on Sunday. 

Normal life was crippled in five valley districts of Manipur on Saturday as various Meitei organisations called a 24-hour-long shutdown demanding to convene an urgent session of the state Assembly to pass a resolution on the ethnic violence.

"The apprehended persons and the seized cannabis were handed over to Guwahati Police for carrying out investigation by registering a case under proper sections of law," an STF statement said.