Security forces have also been deployed at various places in view of the agitation launched yesterday by 32 organisations spearheading the month-long stir to press for lifting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
For the first time in the three-week-long agitation, police opened fire on agitators in Imphal East and West districts.
General Officer in Command of the strategically located XV Corps Lt Gen B S Raju said the Summary of Evidence has been completed but refused to give away any details of the outcome.
'It is my sincere desire to find credible ways and means... while protecting the interests of national security and safeguarding the fundamental human rights of our citizens,' he said.\n\n
A mother of two girls, Arambam Robita Leima said she would launch her fast-unto-death against AFSPA.
The Centre is willing to review the controversial Armed Forces Special Power Act, he told them.
Manorama was reportedly picked up from her house on July 10 by Assam Rifles jawans and her body was found hours later with bullet wounds.
The iconic activist has said that she won't go home till the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is repealed.
The meeting took place at the Raj Bhawan after Dr Singh expressed his desire to meet the women, official sources said.
'We shouldn't allow it to become a rallying point for others in the region against the army.'
Not a single bus or truck bound for other states has plied since the blockade began, sources said.
The SIT has been constituted and has been directed to complete the probe within a month, Shah said.
The home ministry said the entire Assam, besides bordering areas of Meghalaya, have been declared 'disturbed' under the AFSPA for three months with effect from May 3.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the recent statement by Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde wherein he had said that 'the state government would be taken on board over the revocation of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Manipur assembly election results and merged it with the 2014 Lok sabha election result to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
The case relates to the July 18, 2020 encounter at Amshipora in which three youths of Rajouri district -- Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar -- were killed and branded as terrorists.
Exploiting the killings to ratchet up the tension in the region and harden negotiating positions with the central government serves nobody, least of all the people of Nagaland. The peace process must not be stalled because of this incident or distracted by calls to repeal the AFSPA, argues Vivek Gumaste.
Breaking their silence after four days of a shoot-out in which 13 of their village youth died in firing by Para commandos, the Oting Citizens Office, representing Oting village in Nagaland's remote Mon district on Wednesday rubbished official claims and asserted security forces had tried to hide the dead bodies and dress them in fatigues in a bid to pass them off as militants after a botched up ambush.
Demand for repeal of the act found echoes in the nation's Parliament with National People's Party (NPP) MP Agatha Sangma, a former Minister in the United Progressive Alliance government, terming the act as 'the elephant in the room which (needs to) be addressed' and seeking the 'draconian' Act be repealed.
The name of her party "People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance" was announced at the Johnstone Higher Secondary School in Imphal.
This Act was imposed in the state on February 16, 1997 following spurt of violence by the ultras.
Now, the chief minister is under pressure to make good his promise after the December 4 incident in Nagaland's Mon, where 14 people were killedAFSPA has eclipsed all other achievements of the Biren Singh government.
Relatives of the three youths, belonging to Dhar Sakri village in Kotranka of Rajouri area in Poonch, had lodged a written missing persons report in the local police station after they lost contact with them on July 17. The three were working as labourers in apple and walnut orchards in Amshipura.
The army has been left to do justice to itself for crimes it is accused of committing against civilians. As a force inside the government, obviously it will want that there be no intrusion into what they do, points out Aakar Patel.
The apex court in its verdict delivered on July 8 last year had given the state police liberty to probe the role of armed forces in alleged encounter cases in areas where the AFSPA is in force.
Asked whether the three men were indeed labourers, as claimed by their families, and not involved in terrorist activities, the J-K Police said it is a matter of further investigation. On July 18, the Army had claimed three terrorists were killed in Amshipura village in the higher reaches of south Kashmir's Shopian.
Activist Irom Chanu Sharmila, who has been on fast for the past 12 years demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, from Manipur, has been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.
Sharmila will contest from Thoubal seat, convenor of her party People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance Erendro Leichonbam, said.
Families of two civilians killed in the Hyderpora encounter in Srinagar held a protest here on Wednesday, demanding justice for the victims and the return of their bodies.
Six ULFA anti-talk insurgents were apprehended with arms and ammunition by a joint Army and Meghalaya police team in Meghalaya along Assam border, a defence officer said in Guwahati on Wednesday.
The Centre on Thursday welcomed the Tripura government's decision to lift Armed Forces Special Powers Act saying there was no need for the state government to take the consent of the central government while taking the move.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is squandering an opportunity to find a solution for Kashmir," former Research and Analysis Wing chief A S Dulat said.
The resolution said that any changes to the status of Jammu and Kashmir must be made with the direct consultation of the Kashmiri people, who must play a central role in the determination of their future.
Shah said that the people of the country will decide about the principal opposition party to BJP in the 2024 polls and they have not given this label to any party.
Naga splinter groups impatient with stalled talks as well as rebel Manipuri groups who have a stake in disrupting upcoming elections to the state assembly, are believed to be regrouping in the borderlands of China's Yunnan province and Myanmar, taking advantage of the turmoil in the latter by using it as a transit corridor.
'NSCN-IM leader Muivah warns that the NSCN-IM has come very close to an honourable solution to the peace process with the Government of India, but if it does not materialise, then the Nagas will go away so far that it would be difficult to bring them back to the negotiating table easily,' note Sandeep Pandey and Meera Sanghamitra.
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