Day: August 23, 2012

Guwahati, Aug 23 NNN: Indefinite curfew has been imposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) following the heightening tension hours after the arrest of Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) MLA Pradip Kumar Brahma in the wee hours of today. Brahma was arrested at around 1 am today on the charged of his role in the clashes in Kokrajhar district. The BPF legislator was then produced today in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Kokrajhar and then remanded for 14 days in judicial custody.
Situation became highly charged as the day advanced today as the news of Brahma spread through SMS and phones in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
As a pre-emptive measure, the administration clamped indefinite curfew in the BTC since this morning.
Reports said that Pradip Kumar Brahma was arrested from his house at Dotoma in BTC at around 1 am.
In protest against the arrest of the Bodo legislator, people came out in large number in BTC and started blocking trains in three places in Kokrajhar district. The BPF supporters demanded that Pradip Kumar Brahma should be released by 12 noon today.
Talking to reporters, Assam’s inspector general of police (IGP) in charge of law and order LR Visnoi said that curfew has been clamped as a measure to prevent further occurrence of untoward incidents. The police officer added that more forces have been rushed from the state capital to BTC this morning to contain the situation.
The Bodo legislator was questioned before he was produced before the CJM court by the police.
Officials said that seven cases of arson and firing have been registered against Pradip Kumar Brahma.
It can be noted that Kokrajhar district in Assam is the epicentre for the present problem pertaining to the people of North East India region and the Muslims.
The clashes between the Bodos and the immigrants Bangladeshi Muslims started in mid July which have already claimed 80 lives so far. A good number of vehicles have been torched and thousands of people have been displaced. Large number of people are being camped in relief camps set up by the government.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has been trying out so many things in order to restore normalcy in Assam.
Tarun Gogoi sough the help of newspaper editors today for restoring normalcy in the communal clashes affected areas of Assam particularly in Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts.
Meeting the editors, the chief minister of Assam requested the journalists to extend needed co-operation to the state government in restoring peace in Assam.Altogether 15 newspaper editors attended the meeting.
In Dhubri district, two persons were reportedly killed (yet to confirm officially) yesterday following firing by miscreants while in BTC, indefinite curfew has been imposed since this morning as tension became high following the arrest of a Bodo MLA.
Reports had said that around 1200 non Muslims had already fled from Dhubri district since the last few days fearing backlash.
Communities like Bengali Hindus and Koch-Rajbongshi comprised the maximum among the fleeing people from Assam’s western district of Dhubri.
Dhubri is an Assam district bordering Bangladesh where, of the total population Muslims comprise of 75%.
In districts such as Nagaon in central Assam and Karimganj and Hailakandi in southern Assam where Muslims are majority, the state government is in full gear to contain any untoward incident. Reports said adequate security has been already stationed in these districts.
It has been reported that nearly 3 lakh migrants had fled Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of western Assam ever since the clashes broke out in the middle of last month.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/assam-mla-held-curfew-imposed/

Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh has issued instructions to set up a board of officers that will be tasked with the responsibility of disbanding the clandestine military intelligence unit established by his predecessor General VK Singh.
The so-called ‘technical support division’ was controlled directly by General VK Singh, who had taken on the government over his age-related issue, a battle that he eventually lost in the Supreme Court.
It may be recalled that this outfit was set up with a funding of Rs 18 crore, and was given the responsibility of tapping the phones of top political leaders and bureaucrats. It has now been ordered to shut down.
General Bikram Singh has issued directions to probe the unit’s mandate, tasks executed by it and its financial records. A three-star general will head the clean-up act.
“The Army wants to fix responsibility before disbanding the unit. It’s surprising why a unit with no strategic relevance was reporting directly to the Army Chief,” a senior officer said.
General VK Singh retired on May 31, and before superannuating, had claimed he was born in 1951, contrary to official records that showed he was a year older. Post-retirement, he has continued to speak out against the government, even sharing the stage with Anna Hazare. It was alleged the snoop unit had illegally deployed two sets of mobile phone interception equipment.ANI

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/army-to-disband-v-k-singhs-snoops/