Shillong Blast : 4 hurt as crude bomb hurled at Police Bazar shop
January 3, 2006

Shillong : Prevailing peace in downtown Shillong was shattered in the beginning of the New Year when a crude bomb exploded at a shop in Police Bazar injuring four persons on Tuesday night. An unidentified miscreant lobbed a crude explosive device at Babla's Shoppe, below Hotel Centre Point, at around 9 p.m., according to police.

The injured are identified as Babla Mordani (owner of the shop), Sankar Deb (manger of the shop) and two other employees -- Akil Ghosh and Prasanta Bora. Bora's condition is stated to be critical while the other three sustained minor injuries. All the four are undergoing treatment at Nazareth Hospital.

According to eyewitnesses, two young boys came in a motorbike and one of them hurled the crude bomb at the shop. The incident took place when the owner was trying to open the shutter from inside. Though the unhurt employees chased the miscreants, it was in vain.

"We heard a loud explosion and then saw some persons groaning and asking for help inside the shop," said some residents of he area.

The incident came as a shock to the police as well as to the business community of the city as there were peaceful celebrations on December 31and January 1 in the area. If the intention was to create terror, the criminals should have made such attempt on December 31 night when there was a massive gathering at Police Bazar, said a senior police officer.

Police are examining all aspects including "business rivalry and militants' involvement" behind the crime.

East Khasi Hills SP Mr Mawthoh said that this was an isolated case and urged the people not to panic. Meghalaya DGP Mr WR Marbaniang said that police were looking into all aspects to find out who were behind the crime and their motives. The splinters of the bomb were recovered from the site by the Meghalaya bomb disposal squad.

Snails, rats wreak havoc in Mizoram
December 9, 2006

Mizoram: Tribal villagers in the northeastern state of Mizoram are faced with an unusual problem - millions of snails feasting on their crops.

Several villages in the Tlabung sub-division in southern Mizoram have witnessed large scale devastation of vegetables by giant snails, forcing authorities to order killing of the gastropods, officials Saturday said.

‘We are taking the matter seriously after reports of snails in large numbers destroying vast tracts of green vegetables cultivated by farmers,’ James Lalsiamliana, Mizoram’s plant protection officer, told IANS.

A team of agriculture experts visited the area after the bizarre phenomenon was witnessed during the past 10 days.

‘Community leaders are organising mass killing of snails in the area to prevent further loss of their produce. We have asked the locals to clean the surroundings and destroy the snails as it has a tendency to multiply rapidly,’ the official said. Snails generally breed in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments.

The attack by the snails comes at a time when several villages in the state have reported large-scale raids by swarms of rats on paddy crops, fuelling fears of a famine in this mountainous state of little under one million people.

‘Rats in their thousands went berserk destroying almost all the ripe paddy in at least 20 villages in three districts before it could be harvested in October and early November,’ said Lalsiamliana, who is also head of Mizoram’s Rodent Control Cell.

Mizoram Agriculture Minister H. Rammawi said reports of rats destroying farmlands follows vast forests of bamboo bursting into flower in many parts of the state.

‘Gregarious bamboo flowering is taking place in many parts of the state. This bizarre phenomenon signals an impending catastrophe or a famine,’ the minister said.

The Mizoram government had already sounded an alert saying a famine is going to hit the state next year. ‘The rare phenomenon of bamboo flowering is a cyclical one and occurs every 48-years and so 2007 is the year when a famine is going to hit the state,’ Rammawi said.

According to tribal legends, when bamboo flowers, famine, death and destruction follow. Behind the superstition lies some scientific truth, as blooming bamboo triggers an invasion of rats which proceed to eat away food supplies.

Rats multiply at a very rapid pace after eating protein-rich seeds that appears soon after bamboo flowering.

Bamboo grows wildly in 6,000 sq km of Mizoram’s total geographical area of 21,000 sq km with the state, bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar, harvesting 40 percent of India’s 80-million-tonne annual bamboo crop.

In 1958-59, a famine in the state of Mizoram resulted in the death of at least 100 people, besides heavy loss to human property and crops.

The famine, locally known as Mautam, broke out after the state witnessed the rare phenomenon of bamboo flowering and an increase in rodent population. Historical accounts say Mizoram recorded a famine in 1862 and again in 1911 after the state witnessed similar bamboo flowerings.

Separatist insurgencies in the northeast first started after the Mautam famine in 1958-59, with the legendary guerrilla leader Laldenga forming the Mizo Famine Front, which finally led to the formation of the Mizo National Front, one of India’s most organised rebel armies.

The MNF waged a 20-year-long bush war against the Indian state for secession before signing a peace accord with New Delhi in 1986. The MNF is now a regional political party that heads the government in Mizoram led by former guerrilla leader Zoramthanga.

Apang rules out Chakma compromise
August 11, 2006

Guwahati: Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang today made it clear that his government would not back the Centre’s move to grant citizenship to Chakma refugees settled in the state.

“We cannot compromise on the issue,” he told a press conference here, meaning that his government would not process the citizenship applications of the Chakmas for inclusion in the revised electoral rolls.

New Delhi had forwarded a set of citizenship applications to the state government for processing. But the Mukut Mithi government had refused to process the applications, saying that any move to grant citizenship status to the Chakmas would create serious trouble in the state.

The long-drawn Chakma refugee problem in the state took a new turn following an Election Commission directive to include the names of Chakmas born in India in the revised electoral rolls. This had sparked angry protests in Arunachal Pradesh.

Apang, however, did not envisage the possibility of any stand-off between his United Democratic Front coalition — which is a part of the National Democratic Alliance — and the Centre on the issue. “I think they (the Centre) will understand our position,” he said.

On the recent intrusion by the Chinese army in Arunachal Pradesh, Apang suggested that there should be more frequent exchange of information between the state and central intelligence agencies.

He also wanted the state to be given more responsibility in border management.

“They (New Delhi) should take us into confidence. The state government should be made a party in managing the border,” he added.

On the presence of NSCN camps in Tirap and Changlang districts, he said the issue was blown out of proportion.

Repatriation of 33,000 tribal refugees to Mizoram uncertain
Dec 25, 2006

Agartala, Dec 24 - The process of repatriation of 33,000 Reang tribal refugees from Tripura to Mizoram hangs in balance even after New Delhi's request to the Mizoram government to resolve the ethnic crisis.

'We have requested the National Human Rights Commission - to take up the matter with both the central and the Mizoram governments to settle the sensitive ethnic issue,' said Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum - president Elvis Chorkhy.

The Reang or Bru tribal refugees have been sheltered in six north Tripura camps for the past nine years following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos in Mizoram.

'The inmates are asking how long they would remain refugees in their own country,' Chorkhy told IANS.

The Mizoram government and the militant Bru National Liberation Front - had last year signed an agreement to solve the decade-old ethnic crisis, leading to the surrender before the Mizoram government of about 1,040 militants belonging to the BNLF and Bru Liberation front of Mizoram -.

Both the rebel outfits had been fighting for an autonomous council for the Reang refugees. The surrendered militants had submitted a memorandum to the Mizoram government seeking proper economic rehabilitation of the refugees.

'The Mizoram government had earlier insisted that the repatriation of Reang tribal refugees would not begin until Bru militancy was wiped out completely,' Chorkhy said.

'Due to the long stay of the tribal refugees since October 1997, Tripura is facing serious socio-economic problems,' Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said, while the central government has so far spent about Rs.900 million for their upkeep.

'The Mizoram government had earlier insisted that the repatriation of Reang tribal refugees would not begin until Bru militancy was wiped out completely,' Chorkhy said.

124 appeals filed before EC

December 31, 2006

Dhaka: A total of 124 appeals from the candidates, who had lost their eligibility to vie in the next general election due to cancellation of their nomination papers for different reasons including loan default, have been filed before the Election Commission (EC) until last day (Saturday) of three-day appeal submission period.
The EC will start hearing on the appeals from today (Sunday) and continue until January 2 next year, EC sources said.
Following the cancellation of 264 nomination papers of the candidates by the returning officers (ROs) across the country, 124 of them appealed till Sunday to the EC so that they could be declared eligible for contesting in the next election, scheduled to be held on January 22.
Earlier until the last day of nomination paper submission on January 26, a total of 4146 paper were submitted by the aspirants across the country to vie in the 300 constituencies. The ROs after scrutiny the papers declared 3882 eligible for the election and the rest 264 non-eligible for their different faults including loan disputes. Out of the 264 scrapped nomination papers, 194 were cancelled on the ground that the applicants are loan defaulters.
Among the candidates who appealed to the EC till Saturday, former President and Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad from Dhaka-5, Rangpur-5, Lalmonirhat-3, Sylhet-3 and Habiganj-3 , ex-FBCCI President Yusuf Abdullah Haroon from Comilla-3, former BNP lawmaker Maj (retd) Akhtaruzzaman from Kishoreganj-2, JP (Ershad) General Secretary Ruhul Amin Hawlader's wife Nasrin Jahan Ratna from Barisal-6, former BNP MP Shafiqur Rahman Kiroon from Shariyatpur-3, ex-Student leader Golam Farooq Ovi from Barisal-2, Laxmi Prashad Chakma from Rangamati, BNP leader SM Akram from Narayanganj-5 and Lovely Akhter from Dinajpur-6 and BNP leader Mohammad Ali from Narayanganj-4 are the high profile candidates.
According to EC, HM Ershad Friday appealed to the EC against cancellation of his five nomination papers praying eligibility as candidate for the next parliament poll.
The commission is likely to start hearing for Ershad's appeal on the first day (Sunday) of three-day hearing period, from December 31 to January 2. After the hearing Ershad will be informed whether he will be eligible to contest in the next poll, EC sources said.
Yusuf Abdullah Haroon from Comilla-3 has appealed before the EC on Thursday. His nomination was rejected by the RO due the charge that he is a loan defaulter.
Besides, Golam Faruque Ovi also filed an appeal with the EC Friday, challenging the validity of the RO's decision to reject his nomination paper for Barisal-2 constituency for his being a bank loan defaulter.
A high official of the EC said that although the hearing period is December 31 to January 2, but the hearing might be closed on the Eid day (January 1). He, however, said that if the EC fails to complete at least half of the hearings of 114 appeals on the first day (Sunday) then it would also be continued on the Eid day.

Chittagong Hill Tracts: Fewer Minorities in Bangladesh Elections

January 3, 2007

Bandarban: Of the women, the two 'begums', as the Western media calls former Prime Ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, are themselves contesting five and four seats respectively. Zia's mother Tayaba Majumder is a candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headed by her daughter.

Of Bangladesh's 147 million people, 83 percent are Muslims and 16 percent Hindus. The other minorities, among them Christians and Buddhists, add up to one percent.

Minority rights activists and political leaders have criticised the major political alliances for not giving due representation to power and to minorities.

Maj Gen (retd) C.R. Dutta, a veteran of the 1971 liberation war and one of the three presidents of the Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, called the situation 'disgraceful'.

'We are aggrieved. We constitute 25 million people. The parties could have easily accommodated minority candidates in 25 percent of the constituencies,' the New Age quoted him as saying.

'Now we need to think in a different way as both the (Hasina-led) Awami League and BNP seem to be indifferent to our causes,' he said.

Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said: 'I am not at all surprised that the political parties have nominated only a few candidates from minority communities.'

The BNP has nominated four Hindus and a Buddhist.

But BNP's poll partner Jamaat-e-Islami is trying to replace the only Buddhist nominee, Sachin Pru Jeri, in the Buddhist-tribal dominated Bandarban in Chittagong Hill Tracts, with its own nominee.

The Awami League, with a traditional tag of being 'pro-minorities', has a slightly better record, having nominated nine Hindus and two Buddhists.

With no other option, the Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad has for the first time fielded its own candidates. Its 17 candidates include 10 Hindus, six Buddhists and one Christian.

Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, a joint secretary general of BNP, said: 'The political culture has changed. In most cases, the major parties select candidates who are wealthy and have the potential to win.

'The irony is that the political parties field a minority person only when they do not find an aspirant from the majority Muslim community having a fair chance to win a seat.'

Asim Kumar Ukil, an Awami League central leader, said: 'It is unfortunate. I hope the political leadership will uphold democratic values by nominating more eligible candidates from the minority communities.'

Chittagong Hill Tracts: UN to provide $ 266.05 Millions for Bangladesh
Dhaka, Sept. 9 (PTI):
With greater emphasis on democratic governance and poverty alleviation, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed an agreement to support 's efforts to meet development challenges over the next five years.
The agreement-Country Programme Action Plan 2006-2010 (CPAP) - will provide $ 266.05 million to to fund projects in five priority areas- economic growth and poverty alleviation, sustainable environment and energy management, reduction of social and economic vulnerability, gender equality and the advancement of women and democratic governance and human rights, an official spokesman said yesterday.
Over 63 million people in still live below the poverty line, under the constant threat of natural and man-made disasters while the uncertain impact of globalisation and an increasingly competitive international trade environment impedes higher growth rates.
Challenges in governance remain as persistent constraints to development. 's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper finds that governance has justifiably emerged as the most critical of issues at the interface of democracy and development.
The initiatives will facilitate confidence building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and develop infrastructure for better governance in the region. Support will be provided to enhance skills for high quality police operations and investigations.
UNDP will also contribute to the development of umbrella programmatic initiatives as well as separate projects to address the impact of climate change, land and water management issues, biotechnology potentials, energy issues and management of ecologically critical areas.