Results and trends from recent bypolls across eight assembly seats in India show wins for MNF in Mizoram, BJP in Jammu and Kashmir, and Congress leading in Telangana and Rajasthan.
Mizoram government reiterates its opposition to the Centre's plan to fence the India-Myanmar border and scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR), citing ethnic ties and concerns for refugees.
A delegation of a Meitei civil society group from Manipur has conveyed its concerns to the Centre over an incident where the state's name written on a bus windshield was covered with white paper. The group, Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), expressed its commitment to peace and its willingness to cooperate in efforts to restore normalcy. They also raised concerns over the growing threats posed by narco-terrorism, cross border illegal immigration, and widespread illegal opium cultivation in the state.
Wing Commander Pratap Marathe's story is one of dedication, bravery, and humour, a shining example of the spirit of the Indian Air Force. Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd) salutes Wing Commander Marathe who passed into the ages last week.
The agreement was reached between the warring sides at a meeting held at a CRPF facility in adjoining Assam's Cachar on Thursday. The meeting was moderated by Jiribam district administration, Assam Rifles and CRPF personnel, officials said.
The autopsy report of the 31-year-old tribal woman, who was killed in Manipur's violence-hit Jiribam district on November 7, revealed that she was subjected to third-degree torture and suffered 99 per cent burns.
An abandoned house in Lalpani village was torched by armed men on Friday night, they said.
One person was shot dead in his sleep while four others were killed in subsequent exchange of fire between armed men of two warring communities, a police officer said.
The Manipur government has accused Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma of stoking hatred and division through "unwarranted comments" and called on him to display "better statesmanship" by being a "good neighbour". In a statement, the Manipur government alleged that Lalduhoma's comments were part of a "greater agenda" to carve out a Kuki-Chin Christian nation from contiguous areas of Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh. It also warned against any attempt to "push" illegal Kuki-Chin immigrants from Mizoram into Manipur for land grabbing and the creation of a "Greater Mizoram." The Mizoram government could not be reached immediately for comment.
Chief Minister Zoramthanga, deputy CM Tawnluia, ministers, and MLAs of the state cutting across party lines took part in the massive protest rally in Aizawl.
It said there is anger among Mizo youths, who are deeply anguished over the "barbaric and atrocious act of Meiteis" against Zo or Kuki ethnic people in Manipur.
Just a day after an agreement was signed between Hmar and Meitei representatives to restore peace in ethnic violence-hit Jiribam district of Manipur, the apex body of the Hmar community said that the pact stood 'null and void'.
'I thought that the days of firing between two police forces (belonging to states of the Union of India) were over.'
A poster boy of Congress in Mizoram, four-time Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla is a stalwart in the state politics and has been in and out of power for the past three decades.
During the meeting, it was decided to hold consultations on a wider scale so as to arrive at a common political agenda with other groups, it said.
'Can they (the Union government) provide security to every tribal in the valley? This is impossible now.'
Zoramthanga said people fleeing from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur feel safe in Mizoram which is ruled by his party.
Aizawl has been cut off from the rest of the country due to a landslide on National Highway 6 at Hunthar.
The video of the burning man was shot on May 4, the same day when two women were paraded naked by a mob, the footage of which sparked nationwide outrage after it surfaced in July. The ethnic strife in Manipur began on May 3.
At 79, Zoramthanga is working to rebuild his image as the people's CM.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, accompanied by four of his cabinet ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party state president Sarada Devi, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Sunday, state minister and government spokesperson Sapam Ranjan Singh told PTI.
'Meiteis started feeling insecure stating that the illegal immigrant population is growing in the valley, and that the majority community would become a minority.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday directed strict action against the perpetrators of violence in Manipur and assured the state complete support from the Centre in ensuring lasting peace.
The bandh, called by Barak Democratic Front and supported by political outfits including opposition AIUDF and social organisations, was "total" and there was no report of any untoward incident from any district, another official said.
The incident took place in Khoijumantabi village late on Saturday night when the 'village volunteers' were guarding the area in a makeshift bunker, a police officer said.
Unless the anarchy in Manipur is brought under control quickly, we are sowing the seeds of a flare up in the entire North East and the end of our dream of checking China in South East Asia, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
There are three things you never do in a small North East state: Undermine local leaders, divide and rule, push homogenisation, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Manipur is critical to India's Look East policy.' 'It's a strategic state. In the Second World War, the Japanese entered Manipur through Burma.' 'China can use the same direction to approach India.'
The present happenings in Manipur are the wages of continued neglect, and not so benign at that, of a vital region and its people. Had we lavished on the North East even a fraction of the care and resources we do on Kashmir, things would not have come to this pass, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
'The State uses identity politics as part of divide and rule; the militant groups too use identity politics and civil society groups are also divided along ethnic groups.'
Kerala's Tirur betel leaf, Tawlhlohpuan and Mizo Puanchei from Mizoram, and Palani Panchamirtham, a temple 'prasadam' from Tamil Nadu have been awarded Geographical Indication tag.
The lawlessness because of the fake picture spread like jungle fire and was one of the reasons for the state government to shut down the Internet on May 3, the officials said.
The chief minister's statement came in the backdrop of tension between the two Northeastern states following alleged encroachment of land in Cachar district by the people of Mizoram.
Tiny state of Mizoram is called an island of peace in the disturbed Northeast. It is a landlocked hilly state spread over 21,087 square kilometer inhabited by over 10.9 lakh people who mostly follow the same religion, Christianity, and of whom 91.85 % are recorded as literate.
While Mizoram alleged that personnel of the Assam police fired on its civilians injuring one, the neighbouring state claimed that the men in uniform only returned the fire after miscreants from the other side of the border sprayed bullets on them.
Veteran Congress leader Lalthanhawla will take oath as the new chief minister of Mizoram on Thursday after leading the party to a landslide victory against the rival Mizo National Front (MNF) in the Assembly elections.
The Congress today stormed to power in Mizoram bagging two-third majority with 28 seats in the 40-member assembly.
The Assam-Mizoram violence is an outcome of BJP trying too hard to 'integrate' distinct northeastern states, explains Shekhar Gupta.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the chief ministers of Assam and Mizoram, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Zoramthanga respectively, and urged them to ensure peace along the disputed border and find an amicable settlement.
Mizo National Front, a constituent of the BJP-led NEDA said he was completely against the BJP as far as the ideology and other things are concerned.
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