Category: NORTH EAST

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

The Assam Police seized narcotics worth at least Rs 25 crore in the international market and arrested five persons on charges of drug peddling, officials said on Friday.

Assam Rifles and other law enforcing agencies in separate operations on Thursday seized heroin and Burmese areca nuts worth around Rs 7 crore smuggled in from Myanmar, and arrested seven smugglers, officials said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday took an indirect jibe at previous governments in the state for not doing enough to educate the tea-garden community.

Responding to the complaint, Sarma tweeted, "We have examined the matter. It was found that the meter reading is correct and done in Esuvidha. However, it is a case of accumulated reading, as the consumer was under billed by meter reader named Dilip Rajkhowa."

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Gauhati Medical College and Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh have been given NMC's nod to run the MBBS courses with 170 and 156 seat intake respectively.

Although there has been no major incident of violence in Manipur in the past few days, three people were injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) placed in a vehicle exploded at Kwakta, Bishnupur district on Wednesday night.

Sarma, who is also the convenor of the NDA's northeast chapter NEDA (North-East Democratic Alliance), had visited Imphal on June 10 and held a series of meetings with his Manipur counterpart N. Biren Singh and various other organisations.

Intermittent firings between the rival militant outfits were also reported from two places in Manipur's Imphal East and Imphal West districts. However, there was no report of death or injury in these firing incidents.

Governors, Chief Ministers, senior security forces officers along with prominent personalities performed yoga across the Northeast region, except in violence-hit Manipur, to mark the 9th International Day of Yoga on Wednesday.

Opposition leaders in Assam said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is misleading the people with the claim that his Assembly constituency would no longer exist after the draft delimitation proposal was published by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Before the ethnic violence broke out on May 3, the Manipur government had decided to identify the Myanmar national who had earlier sought asylum in the state, and keep them at the designated detention centres.

A BJP youth leader has been arrested in Assam's Sivasagar for allegedly thrashing a couple because they did not attend a rally of the party's National President J.P. Nadda held in the district on June 18.

A delegation comprising ministers and MLAs from Manipur met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Monday, and demanded immediate withdrawal of Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with three Kuki militant outfits.

Defence sources said that armed miscreants resorted to unprovoked firing from Kanto Sabal towards the Chingmang village in Imphal West district during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, injuring a soldier.

According to a CBI officer, searches were conducted at 25 locations, including the accused's offices and residences across Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, and Haryana, after the FIR was filed recently.

Mobs in Manipur tried to vandalise state BJP President Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi's residence and torched the head office of Thongju Assembly constituency from where Power and Forest Minister Thongam Biswajit Singh was elected, police said on Saturday.

Gen Malik (retd), refferring to a tweet by Lt Gen L. Nishikanta Singh (retd), tweeted: "An extraordinarily sad call from a retired Lt Gen from Manipur. Law & order situation in Manipur needs urgent attention at the highest level."

A mob burnt down a warehouse near the Imphal palace grounds on Friday evening and then clashed with personnel of the Manipur's Rapid Action Force (RAF) when the security personnel tried to prevent them.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, whose house in Imphal was vandalised and set on fire by a mob, said that despite the presence of central forces, the law and order situation in Manipur has totally collapsed.

"10 per cent of total remaining MBBS seats after deduction of 15 per cent All India Quota, Central Pool, Northeastern council quota etc. will be reserved annually for NRI/NRI-sponsored students," he tweeted.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, whose house in Imphal was vandalised and set on fire by a mob, said on Friday that despite the presence of a huge number of central forces, the law and order situation in Manipur has totally failed.

According to police officials, a mob of 200 men and women attacked the Central Minister's residence late Thursday night. Singh, who is also the Minister of state for Education, is currently in Delhi.

A Manipuri youth body in Assam has claimed that the ruling Mizoram National Front (MNF), which is led by Chief Minister Zoramthanga, is attempting to split Manipur by helping the Kukis, who are engaged in violence amid clashes between groups that are causing bloodshed in the state of Manipur.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that the Guwahati railway station will be transformed into a next-generation station which will have all the state-of-the-art facilities.

In a fresh incident of violence, assailants burnt the official residence of Manipur's Industry Minister Nemcha Kipgen in the Lamphel area in Imphal West district late on Wednesday evening, officials said.