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10/24/2008: "Business in Dimapur downs shutters in protest CJ: Dilip Sharma Merinews"

Business in Dimapur downs shutters in protest CJ: Dilip Sharma Merinews

Dimpaur businessmen have demanded adequate security to the business community in the form of additional security forces, construction of police barracks in the town and proper coordination among the district administration and the police..
, UNABLE TO bear the threats, intimidations, extortion, abduction and killing of businessmen in Dimapur, the business community has now decided to knock on the doors of the state Home Minister, Imkong L Imchen demanding more security in this commercial hub of Nagaland.

The business community has demanded adequate security to the business community in the form of additional security forces, construction of police barracks in the town and proper coordination among the district administration and the police. The Dimapur Chamber of Commerce said that if their demands are not fulfilled within a month, they would go for an indefinite closure of shops in Dimapur town.

Outraged by the killing of a businessman on Sunday, the entire business community in Dimapur rose up in protest and closed down all business establishments and even organized a protest march throughout the town.

Although the business community seemed to be divided on organizing the protest rally, a group of more than 1000 people managed to take out a rally in the town despite being told not to resort to such things by the Dimapur Chamber of Commerce, who were having a meeting with the district administration and the police.

The business community in Dimapur has witnessed at least 20 businessmen being kidnapped for ransom by unidentified armed miscreants in the recent past, but the recent kidnapping and brutal murder of Prasanjit Dhar, a resident of Lhumthi colony had enraged the entire community, who are hell-bent to go for an indefinite closure of business establishments. However, with the intervention of the Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Dimapur Business Owners Association, things were worked out with the police and district administration in the afternoon, which assured to look into the demands of the business community.

After a marathon meeting with the police department, the business community declared that they would be submitting a memorandum to state Home Minister, demanding that at least 10 companies of IRB should be deployed in Dimapur, especially in and around business establishments; creation of barracks within half-a-kilometre and that young administrative officers should assist the police.

The business community said that it would give one month’s time to the state government and if their demands were not met, they would go for an indefinite closure of business establishments in Dimapur till matters were solved.
Earlier, prominent businessmen including Kashito Yeptho, Ato Yepthomi, Basu Damani, Ashish, A Rehman and others expressed their concern over the recent happenings in Dimapur and allayed fears that if such a situation continues, businessmen would be compelled to leave Dimapur.

Kashito Yeptho, President of the Interim body of Dimapur Chamber of Commerce asked the police about the investigation process in the Prasanjit abduction and murder case. He also said that business community are afraid to entertain people at home also and will be compelled to leave Dimapur if the situation does not improve.

He also questioned whether the police was suffering from man power crisis or whether its intelligence wing was failing

A businessman from Lhumthi colony from where Prasanjit Dhar was abducted said that the colony had been peaceful earlier, but now miscreants have started targeting the residents. He also disclosed that the colony has many entry and exit points, therefore, a police outpost be created in the area.

Supplementing his suggestion, Ato Yepthomi said that at least one police booth should be established near Sewak-Women’s College area so that it would give a sense of security to the residents of Lhumthi colony. Some other members stated that there should be deployment of police along the Assam-Nagaland border, which is porous and gives easy excess to criminals from outside the state.
After listening to the businessman, SP Dimapur Liremo Lotha said that the police had left no stone unturned to solve the kidnapping case, but before they could reach any conclusion, the body of the victim was recovered from Lengri Tea Estate in Assam. He said that on October 16, Prasanjit Dhar was abducted at 7 a.m. but the information about his abduction was given to Sub-Urban Police Station only at 8.45 a.m. He said that after the information was received Dimapur police mobilized the IRB and police team and conducted search operations at suspected locations at Bor Lengri, Kashiram, Oriental Colony etc and such operations continued till October 18 evening. On October 19 they received information that the body of Prasanjit was found in Tea Estate in Karbi Anglong.

The SP said that police during their investigation had tried to trace the phone calls of the abductors, but since Aircel had no facility of immediate call tracking, they had to wait for response from the Mumbai headquarters. And when they received the call details they found that phone calls were made from Rangapahar and Duncan Bosti areas. The police conducted house-to-house searches in various colonies in these areas but could not get anything, he added.
'Historical' football match played by warring factions of Naga underground groups From ANI Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com
Kohima, Oct. 24: A special football match drew wide attraction here this week, as it was played to bring different Naga factional groups close to each other through a sporting event.
The match was an initiative of the Nagaland Civil Society, which used the game of football to bring the warring factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) together. The match enabled various Naga leaders of different factions to share a common platform for the first time and reconcile their differences.

The banners used by sports lovers during the match carried messages of peace and reconciliation which has eluded Nagas for decades.

Agreeing to the growing demand of the civil society of Nagaland, different factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland came together to herald a new era which has been missing from the Nagas society for long.

The factional leaders, who have been fighting each other for long, were seen breaking the ice of hostilities by releasing balloons of peace in the air. It looked like the foes had become friends on the field and their goal posts were nothing but peace and reconciliation.

Toshi Wungtung, President Eastern Naga Public Organisation (ENPO), Nagaland, said: "It is definitely a positive step. It is a longing of the people. And, I think this is a challenge for the national worker and the political parties of the Naga underground. It is definitely a positive step."

Rev Zhabu Terhuja, President of the Nagaland Christian Forum, said: "We generally believe that a football match alone can't bring the reconciliation, but certainly it's an event which conveys a message to the people that something is taking place, which has never taken before. We hope that through this some other programs can be initiated. I mean some other programmes can be developed and be taken to the different direction, so that the outcome of other program can be more satisfactory."

People of all age groups, belonging to different Naga tribes came together to witness the football match for a cause. The match was an indication of the changing times and the pressing desire of the people to end the factional killing and violence.

The enthusiasm and support of the people for this match reflected the general mood of the people who want a peaceful harmonious existence.

Akato Chophy, a member of one NSCN faction, said: "I feel great. I have seen smile on the faces of people here. I think that entire community of Nagas wants us to play these kinds of matches and come together. They will definitely be very happy, if we reconcile."

The match was termed as 'historic' by many and it hogged the headlines of local newspapers due to its significance. All felt that it was not important who won or lost the match, but the most important thing was who participated in it.

The Naga society in general eagerly await the day when mindless killings with come to an end and peace and normalcy will be allowed to flourish in this resource rich state. By Vibou Ganguly
Nagaland based designs set the ramp on fire Newstrack India ANI
Mumbai, Mumbai, Oct 24 (ANI): Generation Next designers showcased their creations on the fourth day of the Lakme Fashion Week here last evening. Ten new entrants called the GenNext displayed their creations.
One of the budding designers, Inchatsung Imchen's collection was inspired by the contrasting colours and sharp edges, straight out from the tribal outfit of the remote corners of the northeastern Nagaland state.
"The colours were predominantly black, white and red. I got all the fabric woven by weavers of Nagaland. There is so much symmetry and not many details on the textures of Nagaland fabric. There is some intricacy in the weaving patterns. I wanted to translate the textile fabric into something that is contemporary, that is urban and funky," said Imchen.
Wendell Rodrigues, a world-famous fashion designer from Goa, judged the collections.
"Each collection was so diverse that I can't pick anyone out though there are few clear winners who would compete even with other designers taking part in the fashion week. I would like to say that they have put a lot of effort, I kept telling them to change silhouette to give you shape and everyone worked on it really hard. There is something like 10-12 outfits, which I feel fit for the ramp. I am clearly very happy and wish them all as the future fashion designer stars of the country," he said.
Lakme Fashion Week involves events like media seminars, business-to-business meetings and a buyers' forum, apart from the regular shows. Around 75 designers are showcasing their collections in this season of the fashion week.
Prog for preserving cultural heritage Nagaland Post
KOHIMA, State government has initiated and launched Rural Youth Development Programme in order to preserve cultural heritage, traditional handicrafts and generate productive employment in the rural areas.
According to an official release the aims and objectives of the Rural Youth Development programmes are to manufacture cultural customs and crafts of different materials, organize cultural programmes both within and outside the village, sponsor players of the village to participate in games and sports in sub-divisional, districts, state, regional, national and international level, to finance the students going outside the state for higher education from the village and offer scholarships to merit students from the village.
The ‘Placement Bureau’ for guiding and setting with information on various formal employment opportunities available to youth to motivate favorable attendance identified as one of the important areas of functioning of the department of youth resources.
The main objectives of the Bureau is to enrich youth resources motivating and guiding the youth to develop and refine their skills, to guide and motivate the youth to develop attitude which are congenial for healthy development in society and to make the youth instrumental in bringing about social and economic progress.

Indian troops drinking too much AFP
NEW DELHI, October 24 (AFP): India’s million-plus army is consuming much more alcohol than permitted, causing huge financial losses to the state and raising suspicions of widespread black marketeering, a report said Thursday. Among the biggest culprits is the Indian army’s most prestigious hospital in New Delhi and a military spy unit attached to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office, the Midday evening newspaper said.
When contacted by AFP, defence ministry and army sources confirmed there was a serious problem. Indian soldiers are allowed a certain amount of heavily-subsidised liquor for personal consumption, but the report said the limit was being widely flouted. It said 43 army units had inflicted a loss of around 100 million rupees (at least two million dollars) on the government over the past 18 months, the paper said.
“We suspect some of it is finding its way into the civilian market and we are trying to plug it,” a colonel from the army’s Central Stores Department told AFP. A major-general was arrested in 2005 after he smuggled two truck-loads of liquor to the open market, where military alcohol can be sold for double the price soldiers pay. The army recently issued smart cards to its 1.23 million troopers keep tabs on consumption.
KLA claims Nagaland Post
DIMAPUR,(NPN):Kuki Liberation Army (KLO/KLA) has claimed responsibility for Thursday night’s bus fire tragedy at Lahorijan in which two passengers were charred to death and scores others injured. KLO/KLA information & publicity secretary Malsawn Kuki in a press release said the outfit’s “Eagle Claws Unit” set on fire the bus belonging to Imphal Airbus Travels as the Inter Bus Owner Association had refused to pay taxes. KLA said the outfit had taken the action as a “sign of warning to the Inter Bus Owner Associations in general and to the Airbus Travels Agency in particular. If they do not solve the deal at the earliest, they’ll face the same consequences.”

8 rebels gunned down - Imphal residents stage dharna against ‘immoral’ slur OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph
Imphal, Oct. 23: Two days after militants killed 17 people, including two IRB personnel by exploding a bomb, a combined team of police and Assam Rifles gunned down eight militants in three encounters in Imphal East district today.
The superintendent of police, Imphal East, Th. Radheshyam Singh, said a joint team of 39 Assam Rifles and Imphal East police killed three suspected cadres of the Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council-L. Khuman) and two suspected cadres of the Peoples United Liberation Front (Kazi Umar) at 6.30pm in the foothills of Heingang.
Two M-16 rifles, a carbine, a rifle, one 9mm pistol, a hand grenade, gelatine sticks, some explosive materials and incriminating documents were found at the sites. “From the incriminating documents recovered from them we suspect three of them belonged to KCP (Military Council-L. Khuman) while the two other are PULF (Kazi Umar). We found demand letters addressed to various personalities and institutes of the two groups,” Singh said.
Later tonight, two more militants were gunned down at Maharabi in Imphal West district around 7.30pm. One 9mm pistol and a hand grenade were found on them.
Earlier in the day, the neighbourhood of Ragailong village erupted with residents burning tyres along Minuthong Road and Stadium Road and staging a sit-in to protest against an outfit’s allegation that they were targeted because they encouraged immoral acts.
Protesters also blocked the road at Khurai in Imphal East from where a blast victim hailed. Leisungbam Devendra Singh died of his injuries at a private hospital shortly after 1pm today, taking the toll to 17.
“First they kill innocent people and then tarnish the image of the women of the area alleging that security forces indulged in immoral activities. This is rubbing salt to our wounds,” said Kambui Lunglu, secretary of the Ragailong Women’s Society.
“They should give proof of what they mean by immoral activities. The women of our locality have not done anything wrong. The charges are false,” said M. Muzaguilu, a woman councillor of Imphal Municipal Council. They slammed the outfit for targeting civilians. “We also strongly oppose gambling, but the police did not do anything. Had they (the militants) had the courage, they would have targeted the security personnel in the barracks and not civilians,” a resident said. The Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council) had claimed responsibility for the attack saying the target was security forces that were encouraging gambling. A police commando barracks and a transit camp of the Assam Rifles are located close to the blast site.
Senior police officers declined to comment on the outfit’s charges that jawans encouraged gambling and were engaged in immoral acts. Security for chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh was tightened after the three militant attacks. The police today put up barricades at five places on the road that runs along the office compound’s western wall.
State violence figures in Lok Sabha Spl correspondent Assam Tribune
NEW DELHI, Oct 24 – Finding himself in a tight spot after Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee referred his case to the Privilege Committee, Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmutiary today tendered his apology in the House, regretting his actions on Monday. Sansuma’s apology came even as CPI-M member, Basudev Acharya raising the issue of killing in Udalguri and Darrang districts described it as a fight for land. There is a dispute between Bodo and Muslims over land.

Government of Assam failed to do what they were supposed to do in spite of having prior information, the CPI-M MP said initiating a discussion under Rule 193 on recent violence in Orissa, Karnataka and other parts of the country.

“What is required today is concerted action,” Acharya said.

Meanwhile, describing the occurrence in the House as unfortunate, the BPF MP, whose daring act generated a lot of controversy, said he was just trying to explain the traumatic experience that the affected people went through in the aftermath of the violence that rocked the districts of Darrang and Udalguri on October 3 and 4.

He regretted that he went to the Well of the House without seeking permission of the Speaker. Whatever had happened was an unfortunate incident and I regret the same,” he said from a written statement. The Bodo MP had landed the Speaker in a spot, as the Left Parties strongly protested the suspension of AP Abdullahkutty on Wednesday. Drawing parallel between the two cases, the CPI-M questioned Chatterjee’s action of letting Bwiswmutiary go unpunished for displaying posters, stripping his jacket and taking off his shoes on the floor of the House.

Later, it was pointed out that the Speaker had on Tuesday itself referred the Kokrajhar MP to the privilege committee. Meanwhile, the BJP team that visited the affected areas of the two districts blamed the State Government for utter failure to protect the indigenous people. The report was formally submitted to BJP national president, Rajnath Singh by vice president of the Party, Jual Oram and Khiren Rijiju.

The BJP team had already stated that the prevailing situation in Assam, warranted imposition of President’s Rule. In its report it has held the Congress Government of failing to instil confidence among the affected populace. The BJP is now going to pressurise the Centre to force Assam Government to make public the list of people killed during the violence, with details of property damaged, number of cases registered and number of persons arrested so far. The team also reported that Pakistani flags were hosted in three places during the carnage.

Ethnic violence leading to polarization Staff reporter Assam tribune
GUWAHATI, Oct 24 – Discernable polarisation among the people is taking place with the indigenous and other local groups of people on the one hand and the immigrant Muslims on the other, in the Darrang and Udalguri areas. This is the observation made by the members of the goodwill mission of the faculty members of the Gauhati University (GU) Political Science Department, which visited some of the recent group clash affected areas and the relief camps of the two districts on October 17 and 22. The visit of the team was organised by the Peace and Conflict Studies programme of the Department.

The team also expressed the opinion that the issue of illegal migration should be addressed with due seriousness and with commitment so that something substantive could be done in resolving the issues of the nature. Otherwise, this issue will continue to breed discontent and conflict, the members of the team believe, said Dr Nani Gopal Mahanta, Co-ordinator of the Peace and Conflict Studies programme and Reader of the GU Political Science Department.

The Bodos and other ethnic groups of the two districts met by the team members of the GU goodwill mission, are by and large of the opinion that the recent incidents of clash was not the products of the conflict between the Muslims and non-Muslims.

The October 17 team of the GU faculty members included Professor Monirul Hussain, Prof Sandhya Goswami, Dr Alaka Sarma, Dr Nani Gopal Mahanta, Dr Akhil Ranjan Dutta and Dr Jayanta Kumar Sarma. Dilip Gogoi from Cotton College also joined the team.

The team on October 22 included Dr Nani Gopal Mahanta and Dr Akhil Ranjan Dutta.

The team members found that rumours played the role of catalyst in the clash affected areas. Both the Bodos and other non-immigrant communities had heard about the entry of around 40,000 immigrant Muslims from different other parts of the State, particularly from Hojai and Nagaon. Such rumours had made these people scared.

These people are yet to overcome this scare. They have also heard of hoisting of the Pakistani flags by the immigrants even though none of them are witness to such incidents.

Similarly, the immigrants have also heard about the killing of the people of their community in big number in Udalguri and other areas.

Though the people are eager for immediate reconciliation and peace, there are differences between the Bodos and the immigrants on the issue. While the immigrants are willing for immediate reconciliation and peace and invited the pleaded for the initiative and intervention of a third party, Bodos and other ethnic groups are sceptic about restoration of peace without addressing the issue of the security of their life and property.

Senior citizens threaten to violate curfew Correspondent Assam Tribune
UDALGURI, Oct 24 – The senior citizens of Udalguri town have threatened to violate the ongoing curfew right from October 25 next, if the district administration does not relax it upto 8 pm in the evening.

Talking to this correspondent, Sarat Basumatary, president of Greater Udalguri Development Committee said that the curfew should have been imposed in the riot hit areas but not in Udalguri town which has created unnecessary harassment to the working population of the town.

He also informed that the deputy commissioner of Udalguri district was also requested to this effect and was informed about the public decision. However, the deputy commissioner requested the organization to wait till October 25 saying that if no untoward incident happened by the date, a decision may be taken to this effect.
Human rights team visits Udalguri From our Correspondent Sentinel
UDALGURI, Oct 23: A two-member team of National Human Rights Organization has visited the strife-torn areas of Udalguri district today. The team has studied the plights of human rights in the area. It also visited Tangla area to have a field study of human rights. Several organizations met the team and submitted their memorandums.
The team observed that lingering in the relief camps is also a kind of violation of human rights. Citing the examples of the Gossaigaon area, the team said that the Saotal and Bodo people are still languishing in the relief camps which is a kind of violation of human rights. “Such situation should not arise in this region” , they suggested.
The team will submit its report to the chairman of National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi.
Alleged rape by CRPF jawans resented
From our Correspondent Sentinel
KOKRAJHAR, Oct 23: Many organizations strongly reacted against the rape of two indigenous women by CRPF jawans at Rowta in Udalguri district recently and demanded stern action against the erring CRPF personnel.
While speaking to The Sentinel, All Assam Tribal Sangha president Ranjit Borgoyary vehemently condemned the incident and expressed sorrow over the fact that the indigenous people who have fallen victims to the illegal Bangladeshis in Udalguri and Darrang districts, also become victims to the jawans who have been deployed for the security of lives and property in the violence-hit areas. He said the people have lost faith on the CRPF because they have also proved to be ugliest by nature by raping two innocent indigenous women. He stated the law and order situation is deteriorating due to the negligence on the part of both the Government and the security forces. He also demanded the rapist jawans to be given with exemplary punishment and victims to be compensated.
BPF women wing president Maloti Rani Narzary also condemned the rape on indigenous women with strongest term. She demanded the Government to control the situation with strong hands and dismissal of the rapist jawans from their services.
The ABSU, ABWWF and other organizations also condemned the incident and demanded immediate punishment to erring CRPF jawans.
Trade with China rising sharply by Mizzima News Chiang Mai – Burmese Prime Minister General Thein Sein has said trade with China has risen by sixty percent over the last three years, despite a campaign of stringent trade sanctions against the Southeast Asian country led by the United States.

For the 2007/2008 financial year, trade between China and Burma amounted to 2.4 billion dollars, accounting for almost 25 percent of Burma's total foreign trade. In 2005/2006, trade between China and Burma came to only 1.5 billion dollars.

Major Chinese investment is in the oil and gas, electricity, industrial and mining sectors.

Thein Sein, speaking at the China-ASEAN Economic and Investment Meeting held in Nanning, China, on the 22nd of this month, further said that Chinese investment in Burma accounts for the fourth largest sum of investment in the country.

In the aftermath of the Burmese junta's brutal crackdown on monk-led protests against government policies in September of last year, in which at least 31 people were killed, Washington and the European Union each renewed wide ranging sanctions against Burma.

ASEAN countries, as a whole, are the biggest investors in Burma.
Plan to choke arms supply indoadmin Sources: The Telegraph, India
Imphal, Grappling with almost weekly grenade attacks on VIP residences and realising that prevention is better than cure, security forces are thinking of the choking the arms supply from Myanmar.
Militants are hurling grenades — mostly of Chinese make — at residences of ministers and senior officials of government departments with impunity at regular intervals.
Intelligence sources said earlier, weapons were procured from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. But now all kinds of weapons, including Chinese-made grenades and AK-series assault rifles, are available across the border in Myanmar.
“Grenades and other weapons are available in Myanmar. Now they don’t have to go to the high seas and Cox’s Bazar,” an intelligence operative here said.
The sources said the weapons were brought in through the unmanned porous border.
The plan is to seal the Indo-Myanmar border by putting up a barbed-wire fence and deploying Assam Rifles in the foothills and beyond in the valley to check arms smuggling to Imphal and other parts of the state.
“As part of this very plan, Ibobi Singh has been putting pressure on the Centre to fence the 367.5km Manipur-Myanmar border instead of the 10km proposed by the Union home ministry,” a source said. Security forces deployed in Churachandpur, Ukhrul and Chandel, which share a border with Myanmar, have stepped up vigil along the routes connecting the borders and district headquarters.
The director-general of police, Yumnam Joykumar Singh, and other senior police officers had a lot of explaining to do to chief minister Ibobi Singh today after the Chinese hand grenade, which landed outside the compound wall of the chief minister’s office-cum-bungalow last night, damaged a car that was passing by.
Ibobi Singh was in New Delhi at the time of the explosion. Nobody was injured in the attack. The Cobra Task Force of the Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack. But police are clueless on how the cadres hurled the grenade.“We have certain suspects and we are investigating the case. Right now we are not arresting anyone,” Joykumar Singh said.
An unfazed but grim Ibobi Singh went about his scheduled programmes today, distributed machinery to farmers at subsidised rates at a function at Imphal polo ground but avoided the media.