Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Army foils another Rajdhani blast: Dibrugarh, Dec. 25: A group of Adivasi militants that arrived in Tinsukia on Tuesday morning to carry out another blast on the Rajdhani Express was arrested by the army from a tea garden. Akash Tirkey alias Daniel Ekka, an area commander, Dhoni Oraon, Chandan Bhumij, Thomas Kerketta and Samanan Tanti alias Raju Tanti -- all members of the Adivasi National Liberation Army -- reached Dimapur by train on Monday night. They got off at Naharkatia station, walked the whole night and reached the tea estate near Tinsukia town on Tuesday morning. Three .38 revolvers, 30 rounds of ammunition, an improvised explosive device and some letterheads of the outfit were found on them. Troops of 2 Bihar Regiment, who arrested the five, later handed them over to the police. “The group was instructed by a senior leader of the outfit, Prem Kawar, who is the district commander in Karbi Anglong, to carry out another blast on the Rajdhani Express, for which they were carryi...

Trains escape date with disaster Guwahati, Dec. 21: The Adivasi militant group responsible for the explosion that killed five Rajdhani Express passengers a week ago would have spilt more blood on the tracks on Thursday evening had a railway patrol team not spoiled its plans in the nick of time. A routine inspection revealed that 10 girders and roller bearings were missing from a rail bridge over the Doyang in Golaghat district half an hour before the Mariani-Guwahati special passenger train was to pass by. The patrol party immediately alerted the nearest railway offices -- the bridge is between Jamguri and Bhilgaon railway stations under Lumding division -- and all trains scheduled to ply on that route were either suspended or halted. The Guwahati-bound Jan Shatabdi Express had crossed that portion of the track barely an hour earlier. Police said the Adivasi National Liberation Army was most likely behind the sabotage attempt. The same group triggered the blast on the Dibrugarh-bound R...

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...

Horror in Dimapur hospital Dimapur, Dec. 13: For the four injured passengers of the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express, the nightmare had just begun. The horror of surviving the blast on the Rajdhani Express continued to haunt them at the Dimapur district hospital where they were admitted. They could never have thought that after the physical and mental agony of the blast, they would have to suffer at the hands of doctors and railway personnel at the hospital. The four were left waiting for nearly four hours before any doctor attended to them. Though critically injured, they had to tide over their pain with simple dressing and painkillers offered by the nurses. Adding insult to their injury, the railway officials who accompanied them from Chongajan to Dimapur, forcibly took away the blankets provided to them at Chongajan, saying that these had to be deposited at Lumding. Eyewitnesses said the personnel even tried to remove the blanket from Laxman Shah, who had suffered compound fractures on ...

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...