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12/05/2009: "IM cadre assaulted, left unconscious Newmai News Network"

IM cadre assaulted, left unconscious Newmai News Network

Dimapur, December 04 2009: One NSCN-IM 'lieutenant' has been tortured and left unconscious by the cadres of NSCN-K (Unification group) in Nagaland two days ago.

Informing this to the media today, NSCN-IM publicity cell said that NSCN-IM 'lieutenant' Ch.

Robert of Samjiuram was waylaid by seven NSCN-K cadres on December 2 at a place between Kevi B.village and Sukhuvi Army Training Centre under Peren district of Nagaland and tortured him.

After beating up black and blue the NSCN-IM cadre was left unconscious.

The NSCN-IM also alleged that Rs 4500, a mobile phone of Ch Robert along with an 'emergency lamp' have also been robbed off by the NSCN-K cadres.

The incident was reported to have taken place at 8 pm.

Ch Robert was coming in an auto rickshaw.

The driver of the vehicle was also not been spared by the NSCN-K cadres, according to the NSCN-IM statement.

"The crime was understood to have committed with the knowledge of their higher-ups (Unification group) who indulged and ignored to talk with Lieut.Robert over phone only saying this is your own luck," alleged the NSCN-IM.

"The NSCN/GPRN vehemently condemns and views this with serious concern as a disturbing development and as an effort to butcher the hard-earned peace and cessation of hostilities among all factions" cautioned the NSCN-IM statement.
Naga soldiers taken ill after election duty Manoj Prasad Indian ExpressSilang Thu lies sprawled on a blanket in the ward. “I have headache and feel like vomiting,” he mumbles. Thu is among the 25 jawans of the Nagaland Armed Force, who were admitted to the dengue ward of the state-run RIMS hospital here on Thursday night after complaining of fever, headache and vomiting.
For the past month, these Naga soldiers were deputed in the Tamar (ST) constituency on poll duty. They were successful in their mission as the polls held there on December 2 passed off peacefully. But Tamar, apart from being infested with Maoists, is a malaria prone belt dotted with green hills and forest where there is no potable water.
“We had heard that this area was the den of Maoists. We did not see them anywhere. But the schools where we were lodged, were full of mosquitoes. There was no potable water. We used to drink water from the hand pump after boiling it, but this did not help,” complained Thu.
Although their test reports are not ready, most of them are suspected to be down with malaria. “Most of them had shivering, fever and headache, a clear symptom of malaria. Some may have viral fever, typhoid and jaundice,” RIMS’ medicine ward physician Dr J K Mitra said.
“There were many who were down with fever in the schools-turned-barracks, in the forest in the state. They are yet to be brought and admitted here,” said Isato Mu, another soldier admitted at RIMS.
“They found it difficult to adapt to the climate of Jharkhand. Since nobody cared to provide them a dossier of do’s and dont’s before deploying them in this state, they are suffering,” said a senior IPS officer.
ULFA military chief rejects peace offer. Nagaland Page Subir Bhaumik


Kolkata, December 4: The military wing chief of the leading separatist group in India's Northeastern state of Assam have rejected Delhi's offers for negotiations, unless they were revised to include discussions on "Assam's sovereignty".
Paresh Barua, who heads the military wing of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) told the BBC from an undisclosed location over phone on Friday that he will not be a party to any negotiations that does not include in its agenda the issue of "Assam's sovereignty."
"More than ten thousands of our boys and girls have died fighting for Assam's sovereignty, so how can I dishonour them by giving up that demand which is central to whatever ULFA has done since it was born," said Paresh Barua.
The ULFA was formed in April 1979 to fight for Assam's independence from India.
Barua, who is said to somewhere in Southeast Asia, was reacting to media reports that the Indian government is preparing to start negotiations with the ULFA's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa .
Rajkhowa was nabbed in Dhaka by Bangladesh authorities and was handed over to Indian authorities at the border town of Dawki in the Northeastern state of Meghalaya on Friday. His family and bodyguard Raju Borah were among those handed over.
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that his government would start negotiations with the ULFA if the rebel group abjured violence and gave up their demand for sovereignty of Assam.
"The ULFA is in disarray… we expect the ULFA will make a political statement soon ... a positive statement," Chidambaram said in the Parliament .
"But that is not acceptable to me. Any other leader is at liberty to start talks with India but I will not be a party to such negotiations unless Delhi agrees to discuss the issue of sovereignty," Barua told the BBC.
Barua has found support from the ULFA leaders now in jail in Assam.
"There cannot be any negotiation without Paresh Barua. Our chairman has no power under the ULFA's constitution to start talks," said the ULFA's former "publicity secretary" Mithinga Daimary while he was appearing in court .
That was echoed by the group's former vice-chairman Pradeep Gogoi and the ULFA's former "cultural affairs" secretary Pranati Deka.
"We have total consensus on the issue of Assam's sovereignity. That must be included in the agenda for discussion," said Pranati Deka, while appearing in court.
All the senior leaders of the ULFA now in a Guwahati jail have supported Daimary and Deka in that there cannot be talks without Paresh Barua.
"Actually there is no difference between Barua and Rajkhowa on this issue but India is forcing Rajkhowa to start negotiations under huge pressure.
Such negotiations will fail because none in the ULFA will accept them," Pranati Deka said, as she was led off to the Guwahati jail from the court.
But Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said there would be negotiations with or without Paresh Barua.
"There were talks in Nagaland without their great separatist leader Phizo joining it , so why can't there be talks in Assam without Paresh Barua," Gogoi told a news conference.
"We need to start the peace initiative and hope Paresh Barua will join it at some point," Gogoi said.
But when Rajkhowa took the initiative to start negotiations with India in 1992, he had to back off in the face of stiff opposition from Paresh Barua whose writ runs over the guerillas of the ULFA.
In 2006, Barua approved negotiations with Delhi through a mediation committee made up of Assamese intellectuals sympathetic to it but the talks failed because the ULFA did not agree to declare an unilateral ceasefire.
The ULFA is under huge pressure since the Awami League assumed power in Bangladesh earlier this year and started a massive crackdown against all Indian separatists and Islamic radicals based in its territory.
Many such leaders and activists have been nabbed and quietly handed over to India in the last few weeks as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina prepares to visit Delhi this month for bilateral negotiations with India.

Men who broke the Ulfa code - ‘Well-planned’ operation brings about surrender of outfit chairman and deputy commander-in-chief A STAFF REPORTER The Telegraph
Guwahati, Dec. 4: A “well-planned and well-coordinated operation” shrouded in secrecy brought about the turn of events that reached a high today with the surrender of Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua at the Dawki border outpost in Meghalaya.
Highly placed sources in Dispur named three critical cogs in the wheel of the central plan to get the Ulfa to smoke the peace pipe — G.M. Srivastava, the recently appointed security adviser to the chief minister, additional DGP Khagen Sarma (special branch) and principal secretary (home and political) S.C. Das. The trio had recently tasted success by bringing the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) to the mainstream.
Srivastava, a former DGP, is known for his contacts within and outside the country and enjoys the backing of home minister P. Chidambaram and chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Sarma is known for his experience in handling intelligence inputs and negotiating ability with insurgent groups in the state. Das is very quick on the uptake and can take decisions on the spot, a quality only not many in the state bureaucracy are blessed with, they added.
“Overall, there is Assam DGP Shankar Barua and chief secretary P.C. Sharma. But the trio is mostly working on ensuring that not only Ulfa but other insurgencies, too, are resolved peacefully and amicably. They also enjoy the backing of the political bosses. The police, home department and the CMO are working as a well-knit team,” a source said.
The entire operation involves the Union home ministry, external affairs ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office and Dispur.
Things started moving with the Centre adopting a zero tolerance policy — as enunciated by Chidambaram — towards insurgency after the Mumbai terror attack and the appointment of G.K. Pillai, an experienced Northeast hand, as Union home secretary. Pillai, as then joint secretary in the home ministry looking after the Northeast, had been a key backroom player in the early negotiations with the NSCN (I-M).
In its move to neutralise Northeast militant outfits, particularly the Ulfa, the Centre started with diplomatic initiatives after the “pro-India” Sheikh Hasina regime took charge in Bangladesh. The move to get militant leaders operating out of that country to India paid dividends with the “push back” of Ulfa finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika and foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury.
The Centre also put pressure on the NSCN factions not to give “too much leeway” to the Assam groups.
Netting senior Ulfa leaders is part of the plan to help allow the outfit to hold its general council meeting in India. The council, according to Ulfa leaders incarcerated here, has the final say in matters such as holding talks.
The state government “complemented” the Centre’s efforts by launching coordinated and intensified counter-insurgency operations under the Unified Command, choking funds flow to the outfit, encouraging surrender and ceasefire, ensuring proper rehabilitation and initiating development in known militant strongholds that picked up during the tenure of former home commissioner Rajiv Kumar Bora. More importantly, Dispur, like the Centre, was unambiguous in denouncing militancy and terrorism. The Congress-led government and the Congress party spoke the same language as far as insurgent groups were concerned.
The government also handled the “real” news about Rajkhowa with unprecedented zeal and cautiousness. “Secrecy is the hallmark of the ongoing mission to get the Ulfa to the talks table,” a senior state government official said.
“Earlier, attempts were scuttled by vested interests because different wings of the government spoke in different languages. We don’t want to repeat our mistakes,” a source said. “Going overboard with the catch or blowing one’s trumpet could backfire. Ulfa is no ordinary group. Public reaction can change any moment, particularly in the rural belt where there is still unemployment and the government’s delivery mechanism is less than satisfactory. It is, therefore, important to gauge the public mood and, even more important, manage it,” the source said.
‘ULFA ready for talks if sovereignty figures’ Eastern MirrorGUWAHATI, DEC 5 (PTI): ULFA's self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, who is known to be against talks, on Saturday said he had "full confidence" in chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa and the outfit was ready for a dialogue provided "sovereignty" for Assam was discussed.
There was no confusion in the minds of the ULFA cadres on talks as right from the grassroot level cadre to the chairman and advisor, all "were ready for it provided sovereignty for Assam was discussed," Barua said in an e-mail to North East Television.
Denying that there was a split in the ULFA, he said, "There is no split ... And we have full confidence on Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa."
He said "the question of difference of opinion does not arise and now it is up to the Indian government to show their sincerity by taking the process forward."
Barua dubbed the news regarding split in the ULFA as "conspiracy by the Indian government as a part of its divide and rule policy and misinformation campaign to create confusion among the people of Assam."
Barua said he and Rajkhowa had not surrendered, but been arrested following a "deep-rooted conspiracy of the Indian government".
"The Chairman and Barua can never forget nor ignore the sacrifices of the martyrs made during the last thirty years," he said.
‘No talks under handcuffs’
IANS adds: Arrested ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa Saturday said his outfit would not hold peace talks with the Indian government and claimed he had not "surrendered and would never surrender". He and his two aides were brought before a court here and remanded in 12 days police custody.
"There cannot be any peace talks with the government under handcuffs as prisoners cannot negotiate. I have not surrendered and would never surrender before the government," Rajkhowa told reporters while being taken to the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Guwahati.
Rajkhowa, 53, along with ULFA's deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, and the ULFA chairman's personal security guard Raja Bora were remanded in 12 days police custody by the court although the public prosecutor sought 14 days.
Raju Baruah also said he had not surrendered. "Let me be very clear that I have not surrendered," Baruah said as the three were being taken to a bus under heavy security escort.
The three militants were brought to the court in handcuffs.
There were slogans of "Rajkhowa zindabad" (long live Rajkhowa) as he was being taken inside the court.
Thousands of people waited at the court premises since early Saturday with the main thoroughfare blocked for the better part of the day.
"I have seen my brother and spoke to him after nearly 30 years. It was an emotional feeling and he said he did not surrender," Ajoy Rajkonwar, younger brother of the ULFA chairman, told IANS.
Earlier, the government claimed that Rajkhowa, his wife Kaveri and two children, Baruah, his wife and one child, Bora, and the wife of ULFA 'foreign secretary' Sasha Choudhury and their son, surrendered before the Border Security Force Friday at Dawki in the northeastern state of Meghalaya.
While Rajkhowa, Baruah, and Bora were later arrested on arrival in Guwahati, the family members were not charged and let off.
Rajkhowa's statement that he had not surrendered is significant as there were reports that all the ULFA members were actually arrested by Bangladesh Police earlier this week in that country and then handed over to Indian authorities who had later shown them as surrendered.
India and Bangladesh do not have an extradition treaty and no agreement of transferring sentenced prisoners.
Sasha Choudhury and ULFA's self-styled finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika were last month handed over by Bangladesh Police to Indian authorities and then later shown as arrested while trying to enter the country through the border along Tripura.
Rajkhowa and four others, including the outfit's self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, founded the ULFA in 1979. The group over the years has led a violent campaign for a separate sovereign state for the Assamese people.
It is said the ULFA was an offshoot of the anti-foreigners movement launched in 1979 by the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) - a violent agitation against illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.
Peaceniks eye major gains - Ulfa leader expects B company cadres to join group A STAFF REPORTER The Telegraph
Guwahati, Dec. 4: The surrender of Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has come as a big boost for its pro-talks group with the leadership expecting a large chunk of cadres of the B company of the outfit’s 28 battalion joining them very soon.
“Since a majority of the B company cadres are from Sivasagar district from where the chairman hails, it is just a matter of time that most of them will join us,” Jiten Dutta, a leader of the pro-talks group, told this correspondent yesterday.
He said of the nearly 120 cadres of the B company, more than 70 are from Sivasagar district, a few from Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts and the rest from Jorhat.
The battalion’s A and C companies declared a unilateral ceasefire in June last year. The B company of the most lethal battalion of the outfit, however, stayed back for “chairman Rajkhowa’s consent” before deciding to join the pro-talks group.
Dutta said he had no idea whether Rajkhowa would join the pro-talks group in holding discussions.
“We have been trying to meet foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury and finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika to hold a discussion but as both are in police custody, we are not being able to do so. We will meet them as soon as they are sent to judicial custody,” Dutta said.
Asked whether the self-styled commander-in-chief, Paresh Barua could come in the way of cadres of the B company joining the pro-talks group, Dutta said that the chairman had the ultimate say in the outfit. “We have great respect for the chairman. The cadres from Sivasagar district have an emotional connect with him and no one would dare to show disrespect to Rajkhowa,” the pro-talks leader said.
Sources said Rajkhowa was in touch with the leaders of the pro-talks group till very recently. “A leader of the pro-talks group has a big role to play in this entire Rajkhowa episode,” a home department official said.
We have not surrendered’, says ULFA chairman Staff Reporter Assam Tribune
GUWAHATI, Dec 5 – “We have not surrendered and will never do so.” These were the first words uttered by the ULFA chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, as the rebel leader was being produced at the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup. Raju Baruah, the deputy c-in-c also shouted the same words.

Rajkhowa also said that there could be “no talks with handcuffs,” and that release of the jailed leaders and a safe passage were a must for starting any talks with the Government of India.

Media persons had very little time to interact with the arrested leaders as they were quickly escorted to the court and then following the brief court proceedings huddled back immediately to the waiting vehicle.

Rajkhowa also refuted the official version of the ULFA leaders’ ‘surrender’, claiming before the court that they were picked up along with their family members by a joint team of Bangladeshi and Indian security forces in Bangladesh on December 4.

Mystery surrounded the detention of the ULFA leaders in Bangladesh, and the official version here had been that the rebel leaders surrendered to the BSF at Dawki on Friday morning following their detention in Bangladesh.

Ajay Rajkonwar, brother of Arabinda Rajkhowa, was allowed to meet the ULFA leader for a very brief period. Later, talking to media persons, Ajay Rajkonwar said that the ULFA leaders were open to an “honourable peace dialogue” based on the outfit’s terms and conditions.

Earlier on Friday, Arabinda Rajkhowa, along with nine others, including the outfit’s deputy C-in-C Raju Baruah were brought to the Assam Police’s Special Branch headquarters at Kahilipara under strict security cover. They were questioned by top security officials, including officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Centre urged to discuss dams issue with China
Spl Correspondent Assam Tribune
NEW DELHI, Dec 5 – Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodo Peoples’ Front (BPF) have called upon the Government of India to take up the issue of construction of dams in upper reaches of Brahmaputra river with the Government of China.

Supported by the Opposition members belonging to BJP and Samajvadi party, Biren Baishya raising the matter through a Special Mention in the Rajya Sabha claimed that Brahmaputra Valley civilization is under threat because of the reported move to divert the river. Not only Assam but entire North-east would be reduced to a desert, he claimed.

He stated that China has been constructing big dams at Tibet, as per reports of the National Remote Sensing agency. Referring to the Prime Minister’s statement at the ASEAN summit, he said they did not feel assured by China’s statement.

“We cannot forget the Chinese aggression,” he said.

“It is the duty of the Government of India to save the people of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and rest of the North-east, he said, urging the Centre to take the issue seriously.

Paresh Baruah in Kachin area of Myanmar' Press Trust of India New Delhi, The elusive 'commander-in-chief of ULFA Paresh Baruah is hiding in Myanmar's Kachin area, bordering China, and under the full grip of anti-India forces like Pakistan's ISI, a top government official said.
Baruah, who has been against holding any peace dialogue with the government, has fled from his hideout in Bangladesh some time ago.

"He is now in Kachin area of Myanmar," the official said.

Several militant outfits in the Northeast have training camps and bases in Kachin, which borders China's Yunnan province which Baruah visits regularly.

Asked about Baruah's opposition to talks with the government, the official said he was under full grip of forces inimical to India like ISI and some elements in China and works under their directions.