Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Assam mulls ban on Adivasi outfit: Guwahati, Dec 15: Assam government is contemplating on banning the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) that hit the headlines following its recent strikes, including the Rajdhani Express blast at Sungajan in Golaghat district on Thursday. Talking to newspersons here on Saturday, state government spokesman and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government is considering to declare the ANLA a banned outfit. He said the police and intelligence agencies have details of the cadre strength and training camps of the outfit, and it may be banned very soon. The outfit, formed by tea plantation workers, has been demanding better facilities and more rights for its community which migrated to Assam form Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orrisa, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal during the British Raj. It also wants the inclusion of the Adivasis in the Scheduled Tribe list. ANLA ‘commander’ David Tirkey operates from Jharkhand, as was stated by the outfit’s ‘deputy...

ANLA graduates to bloodspill: Guwahati, Dec. 13: A bomb in a Rajdhani Express coach, five deaths and suddenly, the minnows among rebel outfits of the region have graduated to the headline-grabbing militant face of the Adivasis’ demand for Scheduled Tribe status. The Adivasi National Liberation Army, which the police are almost convinced is behind the Wednesday night’s Rajdhani blast -- has just come of age. From minor extortion sprees and abductions, the outfit has learnt how to spill blood. Officials here said they suspected the group had triggered the blast, possibly with help from another outfit, but refused to confirm its role. “Prima facie evidence suggest the involvement of ANLA, since the area where the blast occurred has a sizeable Adivasi population and the outfit had carried out a similar blast on the railway tracks few days back just some distance away from last night’s incident,” the officer in-charge of Sarupathar police station, Rohindra Changmai, said. Formed in 2004, al...

Five killed, nine injured: Guwahati, Dec 13: Suspected Adivasi insurgents exploded a powerful bomb in the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express, killing five passengers and injuring nine in Assam's Golaghat district on Thursday. The blast took place in a compartment attached to the luggage van of the Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi Rajdhani Express, two km ahead of Sungajan (Chungajan) railway station at 1.06 am, North-East Frontier Railway CPRO Trikal Rabha said. Five passengers died on the spot and the four critically injured were admitted to a hospital at Dimapur in neighbouring Nagaland. The five others who received minor injuries were discharged after first aid. The dead were identified as S P Prasad (24), A K Jha (30), Laxman Rai (20), Sudama Rai (45), Dineshwar Prasad (19). The critically injured are Amarnath Singh, Tapas Rai, Laxman Jha and Pradip Choudhury. The 30 other passengers in the compartment were accommodated in the three-tier AC compartment of the train that continued with its o...