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04/06/2009: "Playing political gimmick out of Naga issue is risky gamble NSCN-IM Nagarealm.com"

Playing political gimmick out of Naga issue is risky gamble NSCN-IM Nagarealm.com

Dimapur, APR04 [NNN] : The NSCN-IM has reacted to the public speech of Rahul Gandhi at Churachandpur in Manipur on April 2 regarding the issue of the territorial integrity of Manipur.
The outfit stated that election time comes and the Manipur's territorial integrity issue is again the poll plank of the Congress in Manipur. It is however, to be taken note that election poll plank should not be mixed up with the ground reality of the Indo-Naga political issue, the NSCN-IM added. "Anything under the sky will be exploited to the hilt during the election.

This time round it is already seen that Congress campaigner Rahul Gandhi, sent from Delhi is making an emotive issue of Manipur's territorial integrity. In the context of the Rahul Gandhi's campaign in Manipur it will be interesting to get some comments from the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on the Congress high command's statement that Nagas and their land will not be allowed to live together," ridiculed the NSCN-IM.

"Because the NPCC has also been talking about pushing forward the Indo-Naga political talks for the earliest solution. What Naga political and solution is the NPCC talking about when their leaders are shouting at the roof top that north eastern boundaries will not be changed ?, " asked the NSCN-IM while adding, "There is no beating about the bush. Either the NPCC contradict their high commands statement or they have another interpretation. But playing political gimmick out of Naga issue will turn out to be risky gamble for any party".
AR role in Tirap questioned morungexpress
Dimapur, April 6 (MExN): The NSCN (IM) today said Assam’s ULFA, Manipur’s MPA (Manipur People’s Army) Nagaland’s “K-group” and Kachin’s KIA (Kachin’s Independent Army) have been “creating nuisance’ in Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh. A note from the MIP today alleged that on April 3, a combined force of the militant groups met in Japwa village “but AR was a mute spectator” while the next day the groups were “seen moving in Chanu village with AR behind them as their guardian angels.” In a latest development, the MIP note stated, around 100 cadres of “K-group, MPA, ULFA and KIA were moving towards Chasa village near Khonsa”. Claming to have “sensing the motive of their movement in such big number”, the NSCN (IM) attacked them in the early morning at around 3 AM. The fight lasted “for nearly 10 hours when the firing stop at around 3 pm”, it stated. Three “of their cadres were killed on the spot and many were injured” the MIP stated. The NSCN (IM) expressed ‘astonishment’ that the Assam Rifles “stood solidly behind these terrorist groups, standing in the way of NSCN and not giving them free movement”.
Sangma predicts downfall of Congress morungexpress

7-UP: NCP chief PA Sangma and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio share in making a solidarity stand with candidates of the Loka Sabha and state by-polls, in Dimapur. (Pradeep Pareek/Photo)

Jalukie/Dimapur | April 6 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) national general secretary and former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma, whom chief minister Neiphiu Rio endearingly addressed as the “political face” of the North East, today predicted the downfall of the Congress party by saying the country would witness a change of guard at the Centre after the 15th Lok Sabha election. “After May 16, India will change. After this election there will be no more Congress ministry in Delhi,” the diminutive politician from Meghalaya and co-founder of NCP thundered at both the election rallies he addressed in Jalukie and Dimapur.
In his inimitable style which endeared him to the public, the former Speaker also said like-minded political parties of the North East states, including regional parties, would be a force to reckon with after the general election as these MPs would have the bargaining power once they are united.
“Without us (North East MPs), nobody would be able to form the government in Delhi and Congress should understand this,” Sangma said. He disclosed that he and Rio and other political leaders of the region were in the “right direction” and hammering out ways and means that Delhi takes notice of the North East.
Stressing on the need for North East MPs to be united, he said the NE MPs Forum was formed ‘because without a common front, the Centre would never give attention to individual MPs.’ He backed his argument with humorous anecdotes from his past.
Sangma said since 1977 when he was elected to Parliament, he had been making regular speeches, which appeared in the newspapers regularly. But ironically, the papers always carried photographs of his uncle Williamson Sangma in the accompanying reports. “But when he (Williamson) died, my photo came out in the papers instead of my uncle,” Sangma said, which evoked rounds of laughter from the crowd.
He further supplemented his argument by stating that Sharad Pawar’s NCP with only 8 MPs had three Union ministers, Paswan’s LJP with 3 MPs one minister and Mamata’s Trinamool with 6 MPs had two ministers in the UPA Government.
The veteran politician who was a former Congressman also recounted that way back in 1982 general election, he along with late Indira Gandhi had campaigned in Nagaland for the Congress party under the slogan “We’ll give you a new Nagaland.”
“But when SC Jamir was elected as the chief minister, there was no new Nagaland even after five, ten years of Congress rule in Nagaland. Thereafter, I didn’t come for twenty years out of shame since we could not keep our promise,” he added.
Then in 2004, the former Speaker said he came to Nagaland at the invitation of then chief minister who informed Sangma in Delhi that he had formed a NPF-led DAN Government.
“I told Rio you are a good, capable and honest man and I am willing to come to Nagaland and that you (Rio) will be able to fulfill what I couldn’t fulfill and what Jamir failed miserably,” Sangma said and added, “I am coming again because of Rio’s performance.”
Sangma also expressed happiness that his “old friend” former Nagaland Assembly Speaker Neiba Ndang who had toured with him extensively abroad had joined the NCP.
Reposing faith in the DAN coalition, the NCP leader said “DAN is a good team and united with understanding.”
In a lighter vein, Sangma also said the DAN consensus candidate CM Chang would have no problem in Parliament as his “white moustache” would prove to be an asset.
“If he (Chang) is elected, the Speaker will think he is from Bihar and he will be given chance to speak,” the former Speaker said, which evoked another round of applause from the crowd.
DAN candidate CM Chang in his address appealed to the voters to give him a chance to voice the aspirations of the Naga people in Parliament. He also assured that he would not do a Wangyuh “repeat” by going against the wishes of the popular government and Naga public.
Chief minister Neiphiu Rio, Rajya Sabha MP Khekiho Zhimomi, minister for Planning TR Zeliang, former Speaker and NCP leader Neiba Ndang, NPF candidate for Dimapur III by-polls Azheto Zhimomi, were among others who spoke at the rallies.
The rallies at Jalukie and Dimapur were chaired by President, NPF Peren division, Dennis Elung and Minister for Agriculture Dr. Chumben Murry respectively.

Morung Express News

Act on NC Hills violence, Tarun told

Dimapur, April 6 (MExN): Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi is told by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to take corrective and relief measures in backdrop of the DHD (J) perpetrated violence against Zeme Nagas in North Cachar Hills in Assam. In a letter addressed to “Tarunji”, Rio told his Assam counterpart that the Naga people have expressed anger and outrage for the violence they now see as a form of ethnic cleansing.
Rio sought the personal intervention of Tarun to mitigate the situation. Rio demanded that the “process is brought to a halt, and steps taken for the safe return and rehabilitation of those whose houses and properties have been destroyed in the targeted violence”. NC Hills in Assam has been reeling under violence and bloodshed perpetrated by the proscribed militant outfit DHD (Jewel) against Zeliangrongs since early March. A number of killings of Zeme Nagas were earlier reported and many injured. Villagers from nine villages have fled their homes into Manipur and Nagaland.
Neiphiu Rio said the violence in the NC Hills is ‘organized violence’ and targeted violence’ against indigenous Zeme Nagas by the DHD (J). This has resulted in the exodus of hundreds of Zeme Nagas into the Neighboring states of Manipur and Nagaland. “The Naga civil society have expressed their anger and outrage at this planned and systematic targeting of Zeme Nagas because they see it as a form of ethnic cleansing amounting to grave violation of human rights,” Rio stated.
Terror attack on eve of PM’s visit Three blasts bleed Assam, 7 killed PTI
GUWAHATI, Apr 6: At least seven people were killed and 61 others injured in two bomb blasts triggered by suspected ULFA militants in Maligaon area and Dhekiajuli on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Assam.
Another blast was trigerred at Mankachar in Dhubri district along Indo-Bangladesh border. Two persons were reportedly injured in the The dense smoke at the site of the powerful bomb blast
Assam DGP JM Srivastav said seven people were killed and 56 injured when a powerful bomb blast went off in Maligaon at around 2:00 pm (local time), sparking a fire that set ablaze two cars and 20 motorcycles and spread to a three-storey building housing the area police station.
Just hours later, five people were reportedly injured in the Dhekiajuli blast. According to reports, the bomb was planted in a cycle.
"This is the handiwork of ULFA boys ahead of the outfit's 'Raising Day'," he said, adding the militants used hi-tech explosives.
While six were killed on the blast site, one succumbed to injuries after jumping from an adjacent building which had caught fire.
The DGP said PM Manmohan
Singh will go ahead with his visit to the State on Tuesday during which he will address poll meetings in Dispur and Dibrugarh. "We have taken all precautions. The PM's programme remains unchanged," PMO sources said in New Delhi.
7 killed, 60 hurt as blasts hit State Staff Reporter Eastern Mirror
GUWAHATI, April 6 – Even after having substantial intelligence inputs about possibilities of terror attacks ahead of the ULFA’s raising day, Assam Police once again failed miserably to prevent subversive activities with as many as five blasts rocking the State and claiming at least seven lives leaving over 60 injured in the last 24 hours amidst ‘beefed up’ security arrangements in view of the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. The first blast took place in Karbi Anglong followed by two back-to-back explosions in city’s Maligaon area and Dhekiajuli under Sonitpur district. Earlier unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade at a construction camp at Garobasti in Udalguri district. None was injured in the blast.

The maximum damage was caused by the explosion in Maligaon which claimed at least six lives besides leaving over 50 people injured, four of them seriously.

The injured were rushed to Maligaon Railway Hospital, Sanjeevani Hospital, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. City Police, it may be mentioned, a couple of days back, had released photographs of two dreaded ULFA cadres -- Manohar Rajbongshi alias Son and Pradeep Kalita alias Deep -- who according to police had entered the city to create subversive activities before the banned outfit’s raising day on April 7.

However, City Police failed to nab the duo even after it claimed to have intensified its search operations in the last 48 hours. The bomb, suspected to be an improvised explosive device, was planted in a motorcycle, which went off around 1:30 this afternoon at the busy Maligaon area, barely a few metres away from the Jalukbari police station. More than 12 two-wheelers and a four-wheeler, which were parked along the road, were destroyed in the blast. Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Debojit Deori told The Assam Tribune that so far death of six persons has been confirmed. They are Moushumi Khanan (7), Jahanara Begum, Bhupen Kumar and Narayan Chandra Das, Nabin Boro, Shyam Boro. Asked why the police have failed to prevent the attack even after having access to specific information, Deori said, “Police has its limitations and in order to prevent such attacks from recurring, members of civil society and the district administration too will have to play their role in the right way.”

“We had specific information but people too had to be alert. It is not possible for the police to keep vigil on each and every corner of the city,” he reasoned.

“We are still not sure that the sabotage was caused by the two ULFA militants, photos of whom were released by us a couple of days back,” Deori said, adding that police is trying its level best to bring back normalcy in the area and the city.

Earlier, agitated public hurled empty bottles and even pelted stones on the police and even tried to cause damage to the fire-brigade, alleging tardy rescue work.

A section of media persons were also injured in the process. Meanwhile, Assam Governor SC Mathur and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi have vehemently condemned the blasts. A number of organisations and political parties including All Assam Students Union, North East Students’ Organization, AJYPC, All Assam Muttuck Yuva Chattra Sammilan, Asom Yuva Parishad, CPM, Gauhati High Court Bar Association, Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti, Sodou Asom Karmachari Parishad, CPI (ML) Liberation have condemn the blasts terming it as a barbaric act.

Our Correspondents add:

TEZPUR: Five persons were seriously injured when a powerful explosion took place near NK Enterprise located on the Civil Hospital Road of Dhekiajuli town in Sonitpur district around 3:45 pm today.
Police said that the bomb was planted on a bicycle.

The injured have been identified as Suman Dutta, Bipan Hemrom, Prabin Agarwalla, Prabhakar Das and Baljit Singh. They have been admitted to the Tezpur Base Hospital.

Following the incident, police and special security forces have been deployed in the district. UDALGURI: Unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade at a construction camp owned by Raju Agarwala of Dugarmal Construction Company at Garobasti under Udalguri police station.

The villagers informed that two unidentified motorcycle-borne miscreants opened fire at the camp and hurled a grenade though it did not explode. Police later recovered the grenade. The construction company had undertaken an irrigation project worth Rs 5 crore under Dhansiri irrigation project at the site.

Security forces have intensified their operations in the area.

Serial Blast Hits Assam Agencies

Onlookers and police surround damaged bicycles and motorcycles at the site of a blast in Maligaon area in Guwahati on April 6. Police said a bomb exploded in a crowded market in Guwahati, killing at least seven people. Authorities suspect the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom to be behind the attack. (UB Photos)

Guwahati, April 6 (Agencies): Assam was rocked by four blasts on Monday in which seven people were killed and over sixty injured. The first blast occurred in Karbi Anglong, the second blast took place in Maligaon in Guwahati at around 2:00pm(local time), sparking a fire that set ablaze two cars and 20 motorcycles, the third blast took place in Dhekiajuli, the fourth blast occurred at Mankachar area in Dhubri district along Indo-Bangladesh border. Atleast seven people were killed and 61 others injured in two bomb blasts triggered by suspected ULFA militants in Maligaon area and Dhekiajuli on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Assam. Assam DGP J M Srivastav said seven people were killed and 56 injured when a powerful bomb blast went off in Maligaon at around 2:00pm(local time), sparking a fire that set ablaze two cars and 20 motorcycles and spread to a three-storey building housing the area police station. Just hours later, five people were reportedly injured in the Dhekiajuli blast. According to reports, the bomb was planted in a cycle. “This is the handiwork of ULFA boys ahead of the outfit’s ‘Raising Day’,” he said, adding the militants used hi-tech explosives. While six were killed on the blast site, one succumbed to injuries after jumping from an adjacent building which had caught fire.

Centre puts Assam on maximum alert

New Delhi, April 6 (PTI): Jolted by powerful blasts in Assam on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, the Union Home Ministry on Monday put the state on maximum alert and asked the administration to be extra vigilant. Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta told reporters that he was in constant touch with Chief Secretary P K Sarma, to whom he had written a few days ago suggesting tight security ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Gupta, who reviewed the security scenario in the Northeast last week, is likely to visit the region soon to have a first hand idea of the ground situation. He will also review counter-insurgency operations and steps taken along the international borders in the run up to the general elections.
Preliminary investigations indicated the hands of ULFA in the blasts as the banned outfit carried out such explosion in the past prior to its ‘Raising Day’, which falls on Tuesday and around the time of Republic Day and Independence Day to demand sovereignty. The blasts, including in Dhekiajuli, occurred just a day before the Prime Minister’s schedule visit to the state to address election meetings.
Sources said a bomb disposal and data collection team of the National Security Guard was rushed to Guwahati to assist the local authorities in the investigations. Monday’s incidents were the second in a week’s time after suspected ULFA activists carried out explosions on March 31 minutes before External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee was scheduled to address an election meeting.
While seeking a detailed report on Monday’s incidents, the Centre has asked state government to step up vigil at vulnerable points and increase security in vital installations. As an immediate measure, the state government has set up peace committees in market places, Gupta said. Sources said a close coordination has been maintained among Army, paramilitary and state police forces to flush out insurgents. Other senior officials of the Home Ministry were also in constant touch with the state government and assured all necessary assistance to find out the culprits involved in the explosion.

PM to visit Assam today

New Delhi, April 6 (PTI): Notwithstanding bomb blasts in Assam today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undertake a visit there tomorrow to address a public meeting, marking his entry into the campaign trail. Singh, who represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha, will address a public meeting in Dispur, PMO sources said. He will also address a public meeting in Dibrugarh, about 400 kms from Guwahati. At least seven people were killed and 61 others injured in two bomb blasts triggered by suspected ULFA militants in Maligaon area in Guwahati and Dhekiajuli near Tezpur. The programme had been firmed up some time back and it remains unchanged, the sources said. This is the first election meeting of Singh, who underwent a cardiac bypass surgery on January 24. Singh, who has been projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the party, is also visiting Uttarakhand this week for campaigning.

CM admits security lapse

New Delhi, April 6 (CNN-IBN): Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi admitted that there has been a security lapse in Assam. Announcing a red alert in the state after twin bomb blasts on Monday, Gogoi told CNN-IBN, “This is a matter of serious concern. Yes, there is a lapse. We have been providing security in the past. We have full confidence in the administration. Earlier also they (terrorists) have tried to create chaos before elections.”
“We have been containing terrorism in the past. The situation today is much better than earlier. We have been informed about insurgency and ULFA’s activities. We will take all precautions to prevent such incidents,” Gogoi added. However, the Chief Minister confirmed that the PM’s visit to Dibrugarh is still on. “The PM will be visiting Dibrugarh tomorrow. His other trip was cancelled because he could make it to only one place. It was not cancelled because of any disturbances in the state,” Gogoi said. “We want the people of Assam to extend full cooperation. Then we will be able to contain such attacks,” he added.

7 killed, 60 hurt as blasts hit State Staff Reporter Assam Tribune
GUWAHATI, April 6 – Even after having substantial intelligence inputs about possibilities of terror attacks ahead of the ULFA’s raising day, Assam Police once again failed miserably to prevent subversive activities with as many as five blasts rocking the State and claiming at least seven lives leaving over 60 injured in the last 24 hours amidst ‘beefed up’ security arrangements in view of the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. The first blast took place in Karbi Anglong followed by two back-to-back explosions in city’s Maligaon area and Dhekiajuli under Sonitpur district. Earlier unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade at a construction camp at Garobasti in Udalguri district. None was injured in the blast.

The maximum damage was caused by the explosion in Maligaon which claimed at least six lives besides leaving over 50 people injured, four of them seriously.

The injured were rushed to Maligaon Railway Hospital, Sanjeevani Hospital, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. City Police, it may be mentioned, a couple of days back, had released photographs of two dreaded ULFA cadres -- Manohar Rajbongshi alias Son and Pradeep Kalita alias Deep -- who according to police had entered the city to create subversive activities before the banned outfit’s raising day on April 7.

However, City Police failed to nab the duo even after it claimed to have intensified its search operations in the last 48 hours.

The bomb, suspected to be an improvised explosive device, was planted in a motorcycle, which went off around 1:30 this afternoon at the busy Maligaon area, barely a few metres away from the Jalukbari police station.

More than 12 two-wheelers and a four-wheeler, which were parked along the road, were destroyed in the blast.

Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Debojit Deori told The Assam Tribune that so far death of six persons has been confirmed.

They are Moushumi Khanan (7), Jahanara Begum, Bhupen Kumar and Narayan Chandra Das, Nabin Boro, Shyam Boro.

Asked why the police have failed to prevent the attack even after having access to specific information, Deori said, “Police has its limitations and in order to prevent such attacks from recurring, members of civil society and the district administration too will have to play their role in the right way.”

“We had specific information but people too had to be alert. It is not possible for the police to keep vigil on each and every corner of the city,” he reasoned.

“We are still not sure that the sabotage was caused by the two ULFA militants, photos of whom were released by us a couple of days back,” Deori said, adding that police is trying its level best to bring back normalcy in the area and the city.

Earlier, agitated public hurled empty bottles and even pelted stones on the police and even tried to cause damage to the fire-brigade, alleging tardy rescue work.

A section of media persons were also injured in the process.

Meanwhile, Assam Governor SC Mathur and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi have vehemently condemned the blasts.

A number of organisations and political parties including All Assam Students Union, North East Students’ Organization, AJYPC, All Assam Muttuck Yuva Chattra Sammilan, Asom Yuva Parishad, CPM, Gauhati High Court Bar Association, Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti, Sodou Asom Karmachari Parishad, CPI (ML) Liberation have condemn the blasts terming it as a barbaric act.

Our Correspondents add:

TEZPUR: Five persons were seriously injured when a powerful explosion took place near NK Enterprise located on the Civil Hospital Road of Dhekiajuli town in Sonitpur district around 3:45 pm today.

Police said that the bomb was planted on a bicycle. The injured have been identified as Suman Dutta, Bipan Hemrom, Prabin Agarwalla, Prabhakar Das and Baljit Singh. They have been admitted to the Tezpur Base Hospital. Following the incident, police and special security forces have been deployed in the district.

UDALGURI: Unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade at a construction camp owned by Raju Agarwala of Dugarmal Construction Company at Garobasti under Udalguri police station. The villagers informed that two unidentified motorcycle-borne miscreants opened fire at the camp and hurled a grenade though it did not explode. Police later recovered the grenade. The construction company had undertaken an irrigation project worth Rs 5 crore under Dhansiri irrigation project at the site.

Security forces have intensified their operations in the area. hatsingimari: One person was killed and a policeman was injured when unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade inside the Mankachar Police Station campus around 7 pm. The injured person has been rushed to the hospital.

UNLF says it may begin hitting unarmed security men in tit for tat retaliation The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, April 5: The UNLF in a press release today said that the two men killed, Cpl. Khwairakpam Kunja @ Konghouba son of Kh Chinglensana of Ithing Mamang Leikai and Cpl, Oinam Premjit @ Tondon son of O. Rajen, of Ningthoukhong Kha-Khunou, were capture and killed in a fake encounter by the 23 Assam Rifles and their lakeys, the Thoubal Police commandos. It said the two were picked up on the intervening night of April 3 and April 4 by the 23 Assam Rifles led by KCP guides they keep in their camp at Yaingangpokpi, from Nunggoi Huidrom near Sekta.

It said the informers who betrayed the two UNLF men are now known and would be punished. It added that the two had no weapons on their person when they were picked up and the press statement issued by the Thoubal District SP in the regard was concocted.

It also said since the security forces are killing unarmed cadres after capture, it may also begin hitting at unarmed security men even when they are not on combat duty, it said.

The release also lamented that informers who were also sons of the soil were betraying the lands freedom fighters, and one day they would cry for their crimes.

KYKL-UNLF remind people of its bans on certain activities The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, April 5: The joint coordinating committee of the KYKL-UNLF in a press statement today reminded the public of its warning issued on December 11, 2008, against certain activities it considers as detrimental to the long term interest of Manipur and reiterated its stand that it would leave no stone unturned to ensure the restrictions it placed are enforced in letter and spirit.
It said broadly there are four areas namely:
Any act aimed at sowing communal disharmony would be opposed; the rich cultural heritage of the state would not be allowed to be compromised whatsoever and all hurdles at nurturing this culture back to health would be removed; to ensure the constant influx of outsiders into the state, it would destroy any vehicle bringing in outsider settlers into the state. Moreover capital punishment would be awarded to the drivers of the vehicles and the outsider settlers would be singled out and deported from the spot; lastly, it would do everything to facilitate the discarding of the servile colonial mindset from amongst the population and in its place would inculcate a love for independent and dignified living, the release said.
To bring the policy into effect, the release further said all wasteful feasts, except in the case of religious occasions, thrown by the rich is hereby banned, it said.
Immoral binging and partying is also similarly banned by the two organisations, it said.
Distribution of extravagant and meaningless gifts and doles which is spoiling the work culture of the place is also banned it further said.
All found to be flouting these warnings openly or covertly would be awarded capital punishment without further warning it said.
The release appealed to the people to understand that these stern measures are being taken by the two parties with a view to arresting trend in the society introduced by the colonial system so that the society survives and thrives in the long run, it further said.

KIA’s second leader passed away by Salai Pi Pi Mizzima
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burmese cease-fire ethnic group, Kachin Independent Army (KIA)’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Brigadier Hpung Gan Zau Nan was died of Liver Cancer in it headquarter on Chino-Burma border.

An official from KIA, armed wing of Kachin Independent Organization (KIO) said in anonymity condition that Brigadier Hpung Gan Zau Nan was died in KIA’s Army hospital in Laiza in Kachin state at 10:10 AM on Monday.

“He was died of Liver Cancer this morning,” an official from KIA told Mizzima on Monday. When Mizzima asked KIA official on how much the death of their leader will impact on the course of it organization, he said, “It too early say anything on his death. We need to sit for meeting.”

Zau Nan was the former commander of Brigade 4 before he was being promoted to the present rank Deputy Commander-in-chief of Kachin Armed group, according to KIA official. Meanwhile, Speaking to Mizzima, Chino-Burma border based Burmese military observer Aung Kyaw Zaw said, Zau Nan was known for his moderate in nationalism and skill in public relation.

“He was well-verse in communicate with the comrades from senior and junior. Not like other he was also very moderate in nationalism,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw. “I think it was a great lost for KIA and KIO losing such a good person like him,” he added.

KIA formed in February 1961, fight for state independent. KIA reached a ceasefire agreement with the military regime in February 1994. The delegates of KIO also joined the regime’s 15 year long national convention that drafted national constitution endorsed last year. Moreover, Dr. Tuja, KIO Vice-chairman said, some civilian leaders of KIO, in the form of different party, are preparing to contest in the regime’s upcoming election slated in 2010.
India's betrayal of Burma's democratic aspirations Mizzima News
The Book Title: Rogue Agent: How India's Military Intelligence Betrayed the Burmese Resistance Author: Nandita Haksar Publisher and Year: New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2009 Price: Rs. 299 By: Subir Bhaumik
The post-colonial Indian state has proven to possess an unfortunate knack for turning friends into enemies. Personally, I cannot see how this serves the very national interests that the defenders of the Indian state seek to protect.
As a student of diplomacy and international relations and a close watcher of India's 'Look East Policy', I cannot figure out how Indian interests will best be served if Burma fails to evolve into a democracy and if India does not back the forces of democracy instead of hobnobbing with the xenophobic generals who control the Pagoda-studded nation.
I am happy that my good friend Nandita Haksar raises this point so effectively in her book Rogue Agent. When she says that "Indian support to the Burmese generals and betrayal of the pro-democracy movement has not served Indian interests," I could not agree more. In a seminar on India-Burma relations about six years back, I raised this point with some of the military generals who were attending the seminar in Delhi.
Among them was retired Lieutenant General Ravi Sawhney, the man who headed Indian military intelligence during the so-called 'Operation Leech' and who let the "rogue agent" Lieutenant Colonel Grewal, get away with perfidy, betrayal and plain murder.
In Rogue Agent, Haksar paints a vivid picture of the betrayal of Arakanese and Karen rebels from Burma, who trusted in India only to be betrayed by Grewal. Today, 34 of those betrayed still remain in India's penal system, over a decade after their wrongful arrest. Additionally, six of their leaders were killed in cold blood at the very onset of Grewal's vicious U-turn.
I had told Sawhney and his military friends -- "Sir, people like me and Nandita Haksar are fools, we talk of human rights. Forget us. You say you defend Indian national interests.
Now Sir, how are Indian national interests served when your agent betrays and kills some key foreign assets like the Arakanese rebels of NUPA (National Union Party of Arakan).
Because after 'Operation Leech', nobody, no foreign group, will ever believe India and will ever work for India." The generals had no answer, they just promised to "get back" to me. I am happy Haksar's book raises this key point.
Forget human rights. It is the passion for people like Haksar and some media people like me, but that's perhaps not relevant for the citizens of an emerging power like India, who sometimes argue that if the Chinese can be a big power without respecting human rights, why should India make so much noise about it.
But purely from India's national interest point of view, is it good to use a friendly foreign insurgent group like NUPA for a decade and then just allow a greedy, corrupt scoundrel like Grewal to betray and kill them and severely weaken them.
The answer is a resounding 'No.' Such a reversal of policy is how good friends are turned into deadly enemies. In this instance, an enemy who will refuse to give India the natural gas, off the Arakan coast, so coveted.
I have exposed Grewal before, in a Times of India article on the 15th of April 2001 and in multiple BBC stories. Haksar is right in saying that the assassinated Major Saw Tun stayed with me in Calcutta -- he even showed me a video of how the Arakanese rebel navy operates.
They would be our best bet against arms smugglers who attempt to import black market weaponry destined for insurgents in India's northeast. NUPA indeed gave the Indian army huge help in Operation Golden Bird. Veteran intelligence officers like B B Nandy and Rajinder Khanna understood the value of NUPA, which is why they cultivated them.
Grewal was perhaps a lone, greedy, cunning and avaricious anomaly in the Indian military intelligence system, fleecing the Arakanese, as Haksar recounts, of tens of thousands of dollars. Perhaps he even fooled Indian authorities into believing he was trapping gunrunners.
But nevertheless, the Indian military intelligence and the great Indian Army should have punished him once the truth was disclosed.
Military intelligence, when it now looks for sources amongst the Burmese, draws a complete blank because no Burmese believes them after 'Leech'.
So, in the end, a scoundrel like Grewal has severely damaged Indian interests. This analysis holds true unless, as Haksar subtly hints at, other army generals as well also made money from Grewal's foul deals.

Sadly, the media is full of army-controlled "media assets" which have provided stories supporting the official line on 'Operation Leech'. Military Intelligence got its top media asset to write a cover story in Outlook magazine, blaming George Fernandes for supporting Burmese gunrunning and justifying 'Operation Leech'.
And CNN-IBN's top investigative unit actually interviewed Grewal last year as "an expert on Northeast". What kind of an expert, I ask? These media people, for reasons known only to them, help rehabilitate a scoundrel like Grewal – man who violated all the basics of humanity and who damaged Indian national interests vis-à-vis Burma.
It is in fact he -- and not the poor Arakanese who trusted India so much that they would even stake their lives for India -- who deserves the punishment.
Grewal had his personal reasons to look good to all parties and make as much money as he could from the situation. But unless the Army metes out exemplary punishment to Grewal, it will only prompt future uniformed crooks that seek to undermine Indian interests and strike their own sweet deals.
I suppose this is the underlying purpose of Haksar's book. She is a patriot. She and I make money the hard way and we defend India by saying the truth. We believe in a truly democratic India -- and a truly democratic neighborhood with Burma included.
India, as we argue, cannot fall into the U.S. mold -- democracy at home and support for autocracy abroad. The Burmese generals have done nothing to stop the flow of deadly drugs into India, they have done nothing to check the flow of huge consignments of Chinese weapons traveling through Burma and, significantly, they have not given India the gas from the Arakan gas fields.
India's interests in Burma can only be served by a democratic regime and never by the generals, who will always serve Chinese interests first. So even as Haksar has exposed in greater detail the betrayal of the Burmese resistance by elements within Indian military intelligence, she has also built up a strong case for changing India's Burma policy.
Former Indian army commander Lieutenant General H R S Kalkat once advocated that India's Burma policy be left to the army. "We are soldiers, they (Burmese army) are soldiers, our blood is thicker than the blood of the bureaucrats and politicians," were his exact words. However, diplomacy and politics is too important a matter to be left to generals, a lesson India needs to realize before it misses the bus in Burma.