At least four persons were killed and over 50 injured when police opened fire to control a mob of protestors led by All Assam Minority Students' Union that went on a rampage in Barpeta town and inside the deputy commissioner's office beating people, damaging and burning down vehicles on Wednesday.
The Central government-appointed interlocutor for facilitating peace talks with the banned United Liberation Front of Assam P C Haldar, the former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, arrived in Guwahati for a three-day visit on Wednesday.
The Assam police killed a hardcore militant of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam and arrested another militant in two separate operations in eastern Assam on Tuesday.
A timely detection by an alert roadside ice-cream vendor helped cops to save a crowded locality in the main business hub in Guwahati city on Thursday night from the impact of a powerful bomb blast triggered by suspected militants from the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland.
General secretary of Naga rebel group Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), Thuingaleng Muivah left Nagaland for New Delhi on Thursday to participate in the next round of peace talks with the centre after staying over two months in the troubled North Eastern hill state.
Narmada Bachao Movement leader Medha Patkar led a massive protest rally in Guwahati on Wednesday demanding shelving of dam projects in ecologically fragile and tectonically highly sensitive Northeastern region especially in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in order to safeguard interests of masses in the region.
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan called upon the Central government to initiate steps to hold unconditional talks with the militant outfits in the North East, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, for the sake of peace and development of the region. "The government must open dialogue with the militant outfits, including the ULFA, at the earliest, without setting any pre-condition," Bardhan told the media in Guwahati.
Thousands of people paid their last respects to the six Central Reserve Police Force jawans from Assam on Thursday who were killed along with 21 other colleagues in Narayanpur district of Chhattishgarh by Maoists rebels two days ago.
Deviating from his earlier stand on the release of top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom from jail to facilitate talks with the outfit, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would have the final say in the matter.
Truckers in Manipur are not willing to hit the troubled NH 39 that connects border town of Moreh and Imphal to Assam valley through Dimapur in Nagaland, even after agitating Naga groups in Manipur the All Naga Students' Association of Manipur and the United Naga Council -- have lifted the 67-days-long blockade of the highway from Friday evening.
Former chief of the Intelligence Bureau P C Haldar will be the interlocutor between the government and the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam if a peace process is initiated with the outfit, given the positive signals emanating from its ranks.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Tuesday expressed interest to meet intellectuals and civil society leaders in Assam who have organised a state-level convention to mount pressure on the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to come forward for talks with the government.
An important tiger habitat in Assam faces the serious threat of encroachment from suspected illegal migrants from Bangladesh who have swarmed numerous sand bars (locally called char) in the Brahmaputra river.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday claimed that top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom who are either in captivity or out on bail were willing to hold talks with the government and had sent "feelers" to him in this regard.
The banned United Liberation Front of Assam on Friday demanded release of its top leaders from jail to do the spadework to hold talks with the government, and clarified that it had never stated in any point of time that talks could be held without commander-in-chief Paresh Barua.
The Assam government on Wednesday in principle decided to take the initiative to initiate dialogue with top leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam, even without the participation of the outfit's commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, who is yet to be arrested."The Assam Cabinet, in a meeting held today, in principle decided to initiate dialogue with the ULFA, whose top leaders are now in jail," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told media personnel.
Notwithstanding the recent arrest of several top insurgent leaders from various groups in Assam, there will be no let-up on the counter-insurgency operation in Assam till insurgents give up arms and join the political process, said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Prakash Karat raised alarm over upsurge of 'Hindu fundamentalists' in the country as it was aimed at triggering communal polarization in the country and posed a grave threat to national unity.
The Meghalaya government has decided to seek a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the firing incident at Langpih, when two people from the state were killed during clashes with the Assam police last Friday.The police resorted to firing following clashes between Khasi villagers and Nepali settlers in a local market. Meanwhile, the Meghalaya police is setting up a border outpost at Langpih, which is a disputed area between Meghalaya and Assam.
At least two persons were killed and 16 others including were injured when the Assam Police opened fired to control a group clash that had broken between two communities at the weekly market in Langpih near the Assam - Meghalaya border in Kamrup district of Assam on Friday afternoon.
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