Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

PM announces task force for hill states: New Delhi: Endorsing the concern expressed by northeastern chief ministers over lack of development in the region, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has announced setting up of a special task force to study the specific problems of hill states, including those in the North-East. Addressing the Chief Ministers Conference on Internal Security here on Thursday, Dr Singh said development and security were critically interdependent and announced setting up of a task force to study the specific problems of hill states, including those in the North-East. "Hopefully, this will lead to an improvement in economic and security situation in these states," he said. Chief Ministers from the North-East had earlier cited lack of development as the primary reason for internal insecurity in the region and demanded massive funds from the Centre to overcome the problem. The problems of northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir are unique as these states su...

ISI threat looms large in Asom, NE: Gogoi New Delhi: The plans of ninety per cent of the operations conducted in Asom by terrorists were hatched in the neighbouring countries, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at the Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security at New Delhi on Thursday. “One of the most serious problems that Asom is faced with is the aid that various anti-national groups of the State receive from some inimical forces from across the porous international borders. Almost all such groups have training camps and safe havens in some of the neighbouring countries,” Gogoi said, and added that the threat from Islamic fundamentalists and agencies of Pakistan were being controlled from across the border. “The North-east has become a hub of espionage activities for agencies such as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan,” Gogoi said. Gogoi said the State Government has adopted a four-pronged strategy -— counter-intelligence and counter-insurgency operations, encourag...