There has been more than a two-fold increase in rape and dowry cases in Assam during last six years, according to data compiled and tabled before the Assam Assembly by the state home department.
The legislators of the opposition parties led by Asom Gana Pasrishad stormed the well of the House shouting slogans against the government for 'engineering the murder of state Communist Party of India leader Manoj Deka' after the Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai reserved his ruling on an adjournment motion moved by the leader of the opposition Chandra Mohan Patowary (AGP).
The Assam government will have a crack Special Task Force soon to carry out specific operations against insurgents as initiatives for the same has been started after getting approval from the state's finance department. The force is being launched in the style and format of the Greyhound Battalion in Andhra Pradesh and is expected to be made operational within two months.
The influential All Assam Students Union on Wednesday said that the peace initiative launched by the pro-talks leaders of the ULFA'a 28 th battalion raised hopes for a solution, provided the top brass of the United Liberation Front of Asom and the Indian government respond to it by holding a direct and unconditional political dialogue to solve the insurgency issue.
Police sources said that over 3000 people gathered at the community hall in Kakopathar to hear the pro-talks ULFA leaders Mrinal Hazarika, Jiten Dutta and Joon Sonowal who have been on a mission to mobilise public opinion in favour of unconditional peace talks between the ULFA leadership and the Indian government to restore peace in Assam.
Sensing the frustration gripping a section of members of People's Consultative Group (PCG) over the stalled peace process between the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Centre, ULFA chairman Arabina Rajkhowa said that the outfit wouldn't object to any of the PCG members leaving the group according to their wish.
Deka received serious injuries in the back of his head after Police Constable Rafiqul Islam, a PSO of the Officer In-Charge of Marigaon police station Kamal Chandra Bora, roughed him up on the evening of Tuesday when the CPI leader was returning home from the local market.
As the banned outfit is showing belligerence by striking with vengeance in the wake of 'A' and 'C' companies of its 28th battalion declaring unilateral truce with government India forces, security agencies apprehend retaliatory attacks on the vulnerable Hindi-speaking population in eastern Assam areas. Patrolling has been intensified in eastern Assam areas that have sizeable population of Hindi-speaking people.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday called upon the fugitive commander in chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom Paresh Baruah to come out of the clutches of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence and other forces inimical to India and hold talks with the government of India instead of engineering killings of innocent people in Assam.
Five persons, including three women, were killed and 75 others injured when the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam struck with vengeance by triggering an explosion at the weekly market at Kumarikata in Baksa district of Assam bordering Bhutan hills at around 1.20 pm on Sunday. The bomb was planted on a bicycle.
The All India Congress Committee has asked the party's ministers and legislators in Assam to declare their personal assets before Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.Veerappa Moily, the Congress leader in charge of Assam, told mediapersons that though there was no provision in the Constitution to make it mandatory for ministers and Members of Legislative Assembly to declare their assets, all party ministers and legislators in Assam would have to do so before Tarun Gogoi.
The Assam government has hailed the decision of the 'A' and 'C' companies of the 28 th battalion of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to call a unilateral truce. The 28th battalion is considered the most potent force of the banned ULFA.
Altogether 58 militants, including 52 from the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and six from two Naga rebels groups, gave up arms before the Army in two separate surrender ceremonies on Tuesday.
The Assam police on Sunday arrested one of the key negotiators of the ULFA-nominated People's Consultative Group (PCG), Hiranya Saikia under the provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention (UAP) Act, serving a lethal blow to the now dormant peace initiative.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the PCG must make its stand clear on the issue of sovereignty. "The government wants to know the views of the PCG whether they are in favour of a sovereign Assam. If it is, what is the point in talking about holding discussions and allowing things to prolong?"
Devastating floods in north Assam districts of North Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Sonitpur have so far taken lives of 17 flood-hit, besides causing misery to over eight lakh people.
Landslides triggered by incessant rains killed at least 15 people, including seven women and four children, across Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday. The rain also disrupted telecommunication and road links between capital Itanagar and rest of the state.Reports of casualties, if any, in other parts of the state couldn't be confirmed because of the breakdown of communication system. Itanagar witnessed a major power cut after the landslides, which also affected the water supply.
Even as the Indo-US nuclear deal is gathering dust on the backburner because of stiff opposition from the Left parties, Congress president and chairperson of United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi on Friday underlined the importance of nuclear energy for the country at this juncture.
Protesting adivasis will hit the streets of Assam on Friday to highlight their grievances before United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi during her day-long visit to Guwahati. Sonia will be addressing a farmers' rally to be organised by the ruling Congress party, besides attending an award presentation ceremony organised by Assam government in the afternoon.
Three ULFA militants were killed and a female cadre of the outfit was arrested by the security forces in two separate operations in Assam. The security forces also recovered substantial amount of arms and ammunition from slain militants in both the incidents.
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