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NSCN (I-M) asks New Delhi to act fast

     Bangalore: Threatening to end the ongoing cease- fire, if no immediate progress was made in talks with the Centre, NSCN (I-M) general secretary Isaac Muivah has said that they had enough meetings with the government and now, New Delhi should act fast. "We have had enough talks with the representatives of the government of India and they cannot say that they don't understand the nature of the issue. Things have been made sufficiently clear to them and the significance of the step we have taken to come closer. So now it is for the government of India to make the response. Of course we know the difficulties that are being faced by the Government of India. The ball is now in their court," Muivah said. Muivah has been reiterating his group's demand for an independent homeland, Greater Nagaland, seeking unification of all Naga- dominated areas. "This is the finest opportunity for India and the Nagas. But dismissing the history of the Nagas, there will not be a solution. Nagas have their rights. One cannot simply dismiss it. These little facts are to be recognised and, of course, we also have to work out what is best for both India and the Nagas. It is a matter of necessity that Nagas and India should understand each other, depend on each other and work out what is best for them. So this is other policy to come closer and closer," Muivah said. The tough talk by Muivah has signalled that negotiations between the rebels and the Centre to arrive at a common solution has made a little headway so far. Muivah and the group's Chairman Isac Chisi Swu, who have been living in Thailand, have held several rounds of talks with representatives of the Government of India after they arrived last December from Thailand.

BSF soldier killed in BDR firing in Tripura (Go To Top)

     Lankamura (Tripura): One Border Security Force (BSF) officer was killed and three others seriously injured in unprovoked firing by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in the bordering village Lankamura on Saturday evening. Eyewitness said that one Ramdhan Pal of bordering villager Palpara was badly beaten up and kidnapped by the BDR from the Indian territory at around 3.30 in the afternoon while he was returning home with his cattle. The incident was reported immediately to the nearby border outpost (BOP) by the villagers and at once the company commander Assistant Commandant Jeevan Kumar with his party went to spot to enquire and conduct flag meeting with the BDR to sort out the confusion. However, as soon as the BSF team along with the villagers reached the spot BDR opened unprovoked firing on them. The firing continued for more then five hours till a flag meeting was conducted between the Mritunjoy Kumar, Commandant 131 battalion of BSF and Lt Col. Amir Azam Khan Sector Commandant Comilla, 7 BDR.

     Later in the night a search operation was conducted to find the missing BSF personnel and after an hours hunt an injured BSF constable K K Surinder was found in a paddy field with serious bullet injury in head. Immediately he was rushed to the GB hospital. After another half hours search the body of Assistant Commandant Jeevan Kumar was found lying in a drain by the side of pond, around 150 meter from the Indo-Bangla border inside Bangladesh. The body had burn mark of boots in the chest and also a bullet injury, however, the garment and the inner of the slain officer did not have any hole of entry of bullet, which according to the BSF proves that he (slain officer) was trapped by the BDR and after heavily torturing shot from point blank rang. Moreover, blood marks found in the ground from the Indian territory near the zero-line going towards spot where the slain officer lying with his hands above the head in surrender position clearly proves that the body was dragged to that spot inside Bangladesh after being shot inside Indian territory, said Mritunjoy Kumar, Commandant 131 battalion of BSF. He also added that the total incident was pre-planned by BDR. However, BDR claimed that the incident started after Indians had entered into Bangladesh with firearms and looted houses of the Hirarapur village under Akhawara police station in Brahmanbaria district, moreover, one ten year old girl died in the incident. It may be mentioned here that a three days DG level talk between BSF and BDR for better coordination between the border guards of the two nations had just concluded in Dhaka yesterday.

Confusion over release of all PPP workers (Go To Top)

     Lahore: Pakistani authorities have decided to set free all Pakistan People's Party (PPP) MPs and other leaders, who were detained earlier to prevent them from taking part in the rally planned to greet Asif Ali Zardari. Officials in Pakistan's Punjab province said that the decision to free the leaders was taken at a meeting chaired by Punjab Law Minister Raja Muhammad Basharat. "They are free to go home," the Dawn quoted Basharat as saying. PPP leaders are however alleging that workers are still behind bars and therefore it is absurd that the leaders are being freed while the workers are still kept imprisoned. "How can leaders go home when workers are still behind bars," the paper quoted PPP information secretary Naveed Chaudhry as saying, adding that only few of its leaders like Punjab President Qasim Zia, had been set free. Police officials on their part said that they have "to go through the lists of held workers," to confirm the release of PPP activists arrested from Lahore and other parts of Punjab.

Maoists gun down 10 in Nepal (Go To Top)

     Nawalparasi (Nepal): More than 200 armed Maoists gunned down 10 villagers in Nawalparasi district on Friday night. Those killed included a 14-year boy. All of them were accused by the Maoists of being involved with Maoist Retaliation Committees in Somani of Nawalparasi district. According to one pf the human rights activists who visited the spot with the Royal Nepal Army inspection team, the villagers are in a terrified state. The Director of INSEC, an HR organization, Vijay Gautam, who visited the site along with other HR activists, added that the Maoists, as told to him by the villagers, gunned down the victims considering them to be involved in Retaliation committee, but the dead ones are said to be the innocent ones.

Pak thrash India to wrap up series 4-2 (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Pakistan wrapped up the series 4-2 by defeating India at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium by 159 runs. Naved-ul-Hasan rana was declared the man of the series, while Shoaib Malik was declared the man of the match. Chasing a target of 304, the Indians were bowled out for a mere 144 in the 37th over. The hosts lost wickets at a regular interval, making the run chase impossible. Dhoni was the highest scorer for India, he scored 20 runs. Other contributors for India were Harbhajan Singh 20, Sehwag 21, Dravid 19, Agarkar 16 and Yuvraj Singh 13. Arshad Khan took three wickets, while Afridi took two wickets. Naved, Iftikhar and Razzaq shared one wicket each. Virender Sehwag was caught by Shahid Afridi in the first slip off the bowling Naveed-ul Hasan for 21 in the seventh over. Sachin Tendulkar was bowled on the first ball of the eighth over by Rao Iftekhar Anjum for 9.

     Earlier, Pakistan Captain Inzamam-ul Haq and Shoaib Malik cracked half centuries as Pakistan piled up a huge 303 for eight in their allotted 50 overs. Electing to bat, both Malik (72) and Inzamam (68) paced their innings brilliantly to steer the team to a healthy total. Pakistan, needing a win to clinch a remarkable come from behind series win, were set the tempo by a whirlwind 44 by Afridi and all the other top order batsmen came up with useful contributions to leave the home team with an asking rate of over six runs to level the six-match series. The Pakistani innings got off to a roaring start as Shahid Afridi plundered 22 runs in Ashish Nehra's first over, cloberring him for four boundaries and a huge six to leave the Indians in a daze. The in-form Afridi, who pulverised the Indians in the last match in Kanpur with a 46-ball 102, seemed to be in the same mood as he treated Nehra with disdain, starting his assault with three consecutive boundaries, then a six over long on and finished off the over with another boundary. But the hosts had better luck in the very next over when Zaheer Khan induced the left-handed Salman Butt (3) to edge an outswinger to Virender Sehwag in second slip who latched on to a diving catch. The early dismissal of Butt did not seem to have any effect on the rampaging Afridi who continued to attack the Indian bowlers on what appeared to be a good batting track. Indian bowlers Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar grabbed three wickets each, while Zaheer Khan claimed a single wicket. Off spinner Harbhajan Singh and left arm spinner Dinesh Mongia had no effect on the Pakistani batsmen and went wicketless.

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