Tackling insurgency in NE a good experience
Tackling insurgency in the North-East had been a good lesson for the Army in the management of conflict situations said chief of staff, Eastern Command Lt. Gen. Satish Chopra. The unified command worked out very well and militancy has been contained, he added.

Arunachal Congress (M) recognised
Arunachal Assembly Speaker Chowna Mein has recognised the newly formed Arunachal Congress (M), led by former home minister Mukut Mithi. Also, two more ministers resigned from the Geong Apang ministry.

Mizoram Youth Congress plans prayers
Mizoram Youth Congress recently condemned attacks on Christians and said it would organise a mass payer, to which leaders of all Church bodies of the State would be invited, to express solidarity with the ''persecuted Christians''

Meghalaya BJP flays attacks on minorities
Meghalaya BJP unit chief H.A. Roy Kharphuli has said the paty was against atrocities on minorities, but denounced forced conversions. The Centre should firmly deal with the communal forces who have raised their ''ugly heads'', he said.

Call for new social order
Saying the socially backward groups were getting restive, Mizoram Governor A. Padmanabhan recently emphasised the need for a new social order based on liberty, equality and fraternity, if the democracy was to be saved.

Railway jobs for ex-ULFA men
Railways have allotted 40 vacancies for the rehabilitation of former ULFA militants. Four cops GOC Lt. Gen. N.C. Vij has said ex-militants seeking jobs would be resettled as promised.

SDF expels Lucksom's
The central working committee of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front ratified the decision of the legislature party to expel former deputy chief minister P.T. Lucksom.

NSCN (K) denies meeting with Mahanta
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) has dismissed as ''totally concocted'' reports in a section of the Press that a meeting had been held between CM P.K. Mahanta and its representatives last December.

SI's death: Tripura Cong. leader queries CM
Senior Congress leader and ex-CM Sudhirranjan Majumder has demanded a statement from Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who also holds the Home portfolio, on the ''mysterious'' death of a sub-inspector, Rupshankar Reang.

Manipur govt. employees end strike
The month-long strike, launched by Manipur Govt. employees, ended recently after an agreement was reached between the state government and the representatives of the employees.

Centre approves inclusion of Sikkim in NEC
The Centre has formally included Sikkim in the North Eastern Council with the Union Cabinet approving a decision to this effect recently, an official release said recently. The decision has also been conveyed to Sikkim, it added.

Cong. wants Manipur govt. to resign
Opposition Congress in Manipur has demanded immediate resignation of the one-year-old United Legislature Front ministry headed by CM Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh, charging that the government has ''failed in all respects''.

Ultras held
Four National Liberation Front of Tripura militants were arrested recently.

Ten killed in road accident
Ten people were killed and as many injured when a Border Road Task Force vehicle carrying them overturned at Maram Road in Senapati district.

Red Cross to trace missing people
The Red cross has decided to launch its tracer service in the North-East region.
The North-East is reported to have the highest incidence of missing persons.Joint secretary of Indian Red Cross Society Subhas Gupta who was recently in Guwahati to attend a workshop on tracing said the international body has decided to come to the North-East to relieve the affected families of their mental agony."We are planning to concentrate in the North-East, because we find a number of peculiar problems in the region," he said.

Army conducts tour for children
45 children of the North-East are now touring New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. An educational tour for the children from interior parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam is being organised by the Army's 4 Corps. The idea behind this trip is to foster the spirit of national integration. There are 31 boys and 14 girls in the team. Many of them has ventured out of the region for the first time.

Army probe into Manipur eve-teasing
An Army court of enquiry has been ordered to probe the Toubul village incident in Manipur where a jawan had allegedly misbehaved with a 14-year-old local girl.The incident took place on January 9, when 32 Rashtriya Rifles personnel were on a foot petrol in Toubul village. The jawan had allegedly entered the girl's house and misbehaved with her. While the villagers had alleged that the jawan tried to rape the girl, the Army contended that it was a case of eve-teasing.

Dilip Agarwala killed
Unidentified gunmen killed Dilip Agarwala, nephew of one of the doyens of Assamese culture, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala at his residence in the Central Assam town of Tezpur. His bullet-riddled body was recovered from a well.
The late Agarwala had contested the Lok Sabha from the Tezpur constituency in 1991.

Six killed in ethnic violence
Three Bodos and as many Adivasis were killed in ethnic violence in Kokrajhar district recently.
According to police, a large Adivasi mob, armed with bows and arrows raided Dhardhara village and dragged out sleeping villagers. Three Bodos, including two women died on the spot. Those killed were identified as Champa Narzary, Phukan Basumatary and Sukla Islary. In retaliation of this incident, the Bodos also killed three Adivasis.

Hotelier shot
Unidentified persons shot dead restaurant owner Lawrence A. Sangma at his residence at Rynjah in Meghalaya.L. A. Sangma was fired upon with automatic weapons from a vehicle parked in front of his house. He was taken to Shillong Civil Hospital where he was declared dead.Police suspect that a local militant outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council is behind the killing. The late Sangma's restaurant, Rechei, had been under surveillance following reports that ULFA militants visited it occasionally.

Bodo militants kills seven
Suspected NDFB militants shot dead seven people, including two women and injured one seriously.
The militants fired from automatic weapons indiscriminately at Naptipara Chauba village. Five people were killed in that incident. The militants killed the villagers for not paying the money as per extortion notices served on them earlier. Two brothers were killed in a separate incident at Laichingaon.