April 1-15, 2009

News Briefs Vol. 3 Issue No. 51

April 1-15, 2009

NDFB: Lift the ban imposed on us

The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) appealed to the tribunal set up by the Centre to lift the ban imposed on it as the outfit is under a ceasefire agreement with the government since 2005. The tribunal conducted its hearing recently. Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) set up the tribunal with Delhi High Court judge S. N Agarwala as its chairman to hear cases relating to ban imposed on various militant organizations.
According to NDFB counsel Nekibur Zaman, the Bodo outfit made it a point before the tribunal that at the time of its inception its demand was a sovereign “Boroland” that was not within the framework of the Indian Constitution, but after the signing of the ceasefire agreement with the government in 2005, it gave up its demand for sovereign “Boroland” and raised the fresh demand for an autonomous State that is well within the framework of the Constitution. “Since we have been raising a demand that is well within the framework of the Indian Constitution, and we abide by the rules and regulations set by the Central Government, why is the ban imposed on us not lifted yet?” the outfit questioned.

EC initiates action against Gogoi

Election Commission has directed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Asom to examine Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s trip details, including ho paid for his expenditure, and submit the report to it. The EC ordered the CEO to investigate details of expenditure incurred by Gogoi. A controversial CD handed over to the Election Commission by the Opposition parties of Asom shows Gogoi purportedly acknowledging before the media that he had accepted money for his party from the Kolkata-based tea lobby for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Gogoi was quoted as saying: “I don’t take money, I don’t bother about money. Yes, I do collect money from people, yes that I agree. I do collect donations from people. Yes, whether general, whether businessman, I do take. I need money for these elections.”

Two ATTF ultras surrender in Tripura

Two hardcore militants of the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have surrendered before the Border Security Force (BSF) at Ambassa in Dhalai district. They had decamped from Bangladesh camp and deposited eight rounds of AK-47, two Nokia mobile sets and Bangladesh currency of 883 taka, BSF officials informed.
The surrendered ultras were identified as Khudiram Debbarma (31) of Takarjala, near Agartala and Lokhendra Debbarma (29) of Kalayanpur in West Tripura. During interrogation, it was revealed that Khudiram had joined the ATTF in 1990 on being motivated by one Joyram Debbarma while Lokhendra joined militancy in 1999 on being motivated by of Capt Royal Debbarma, who was a surrendered militant. They underwent three months of training together in the 9th batch of 45 cadres in March 2001 at ATTF training camp Taraban under Panchari police station in Khagrachari of Bangladesh. Before surrendering, Khudiram was acting as camp commander of ATTF camp Dallubari, where about four ATTF cadres have been camping and was operating from the camp for collection of illegal subscription from bordering areas of Champahawar and Sidhai in Tripura, BSF sources said, adding that the chief instructor, Corporal Lokhendra was appointed as camp commander of ATTF camp Koilarmukh of Chittagong district in Bangladesh where at least 16 ATTF cadres have been still camping. Meanwhile, another hardcore ATTF extremist, identified as Charan Thung Malsum (25) of Takarjala, near Agartala surrendered on March 12, and escaped from Satchari ATTF camp with arms and ammunition, including one AK-56 rifle, three magazines, 74 rounds of AK series rifles, one wireless set and some Bangladeshi currencies.

Sikkim kid bags major role in Amol Palekar’s film

Local kid Yuden Zongtenpa, a talented six-year-old girl, has bagged a key role in Amol Palekar’s latest Bollywood venture set to promote the natural beauty of Sikkim on the global platform. Yuden, a student of the famed Gangtok-based public school Tashi Namgyal Academy (TNA), will star along with Rituparna Sengupta, who is the lead female actor, and Antara Mali in the yet to be named movie which has an emotional and intense storyline and is based on relationships. Rajat Kapoor is the male lead in the movie. The cast had earlier acted together in the award-winning Bengali film Anuranan. The untitled movie, panned as Sikkim’s entry into the global tourism map, is still kept under wraps for reasons best known to Palekar and the script is written by his wife Sandhya Gokhale. The movie will also be released in the English version. Rituparno, Anatara and Rajat Kapoor are already in Sikkim for the shoot. Yuden’s role is also a major one in the film and the storyline is expected to revolve around relationships.
The film will be entirely shot in Sikkim with the State’s scenic splendour and natural beauty having caught the attention of Palekar, who was here last month to scout for locales to shoot the film. Yuden, along with the cast, has already started shooting in West Sikkim and were at a locale in Kaluk recently. They were to shoot in other locales in West Sikkim like Shingshore, Pelling, Yuksom, Rinchepong before heading to other destinations in the other districts of the State.
Yuden, who is enormously talented, was selected from a lot of other aspiring child artistes who had auditioned when Palekar and his wife were here last month to spot local talents for the new production.

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