Both AGP-BJP wants Guwahati seat

The main Opposition Asom Gana Parishad is finalising a pre poll pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The deal was finalised on Friday when AGP top guns now camping in New Delhi called on BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and discussed the groundwork in detail.Talking to Assam Times, senior AGP leaders said both the parties have started finalising the seat sharing formula for the same. The process for finalising seat sharing deal has yet to complete, they said adding that a few seats have yet to be finalised. According to information, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Tezpur, Barpeta will go to AGP while BJP will be fielding its candidates in Nagaon, Mangaldoi, Silchar, Karimganj. AGP is seeking Kaliabor and Guwahati while BJP is seeking Jorhat and Dhubri. Once the formula is finalised, the BJP and AGP central leadership will be meeting soon to approve it. source: assam times

Funds breathe life into bird paradise

Funds breathe life into bird paradise

June 18: Hundreds of bird-lovers who learnt to tell the heron from the cormorant at Son Beel will unanimously swear by one fact — the oxbow lake’s ability to remain breathtakingly beautiful despite all efforts by mankind to sully it.

With 27 exotic birds and 70 species of fish on its permanent residents’ list, the 13-km-long Son Beel is a tourism treasure trove that the administration never bothered to explore.
There is no infrastructure worth mention, even for the most frugal backpacker. No hotels, motels, or even an apology for a road.

And yet hundreds of tourists flock to the lake every winter to watch the seasonal birds build their nests on the trees surrounding the expanse of water.

That there are any trees left in the vicinity of the lake is a wonder. Timber sharks have stripped most of the green cover in the area and if the administration continues with its blind-eye syndrome, soon there won’t be any tree left for the birds to perch on.

Till 60 years ago, the lake was the breeding destination of shoals of hilsa that swam into Karimganj from the rivers in Bangladesh.

The hilsas are now gone, as are various other more commonly found fish, forcing the fishermen living along Son Beel’s bank to look for alternative occupations.According to an estimate made by a fish researcher, the water reservoir now has an annual output of 210 metric tonnes of fish as against 600 metric tonnes recorded in 1905.

After relentless rallying by environmentalists, the Son Beel may finally get a morsel of the government’s attention.

The Union ministry granted Rs 85 lakh three months ago for developing the lake as a tourist spot.

If the project goes as planned, Son Beel may soon figure on the global ornithologists’ must-visit destination list. Source" telegraph india

Jaipur blasts suspect apprehended from Karimganj in South Assam

Jaipur blasts suspect apprehended from Karimganj in South Assam

From Jyoti Lal Chowdhury in Silchar

With the arrest of a middle aged Bangladeshi national identified as Helal Ahmed in the district of Karimganj in South Assam recently by BSF in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur and the claim of the paramilitary forces and the police who grilled him about his being a sector commander of HuJI (Harkat- ul-Jihad-al-Islam) in Sylet, there is enough substance to lend credence to the reports of the intelligence agencies that the dreaded terrorist outfit is operating from its Dhaka base. He is believed to be one of the masterminds behind the Jaipur blasts. Investigation by the intelligence arms of the various agencies so far has established that he is a diehard terrorist. He used to frequent Barak Valley, different parts of Assam and across the country. A senior police officer of Barak Valley admitted that Helal Ahmed used to cross over from Bangladesh posing as a cleric, often leading a group of religious persons. The police official said he has been sent for narco-analyst test to SB headquarters at Guwahati and many more things are expected to come out about his identity. Intelligence reports have documents to prove that HuJI is based at 380, Khelgaon, Taltula, Dhaka with ever widening network in close nexus with ISI and other anti-national elements. The deadly bomb blasts in Mumbai, Delhi, Varanasi and Hyderabad brought out Bangladeshi connection with HuJI in sharp focus. Director General of Field Forces Intelligence of Bangladesh plays second fiddle to HuJI. Khwaja Ilyas, intelligence agencies say, is the present commander of the outfit whose modus-operandi is to rope in unemployed youths in Bangladesh and India for arms training in Karachi. The agencies have sounded alarm bell for cities and towns of Assam as well. Despite all the big talks of the border being fenced or brought under close watch, it is as easy as ever before to infiltrate or exfiltrate mainly through West Bengal and float or set up modules. These modules are formed with persons drawn from diverse professions, from a tailor to shop owner and engineer. Mobile numbers of some of them have been listed by the intelligence agencies, raising intriguing questions about their unhindered contacts. Suspect mosques and madrasas in sensitive border areas, about which BSF has given enough indication; provide leverage about a large consignment of arms brought in to an air force base near Dhaka by a Kuwaiti C-130 Aircraft which was received by the terrorist outfit in question under the supervision of the Director General of Field Forces Intelligence. HuJI rank and file receive training in Pakistan and Pak Occupied Kashmir. The outfit’s ever expanding base and influence is attributed to its flow of funds. Investigations reveal that a banned NGO of Kuwait Al Harmain linked with Al-Qaeda was the major funding agency for HuJI. Now its main source of funding is Al Farooq International Trust, headed by Amir Urf Maulana. In the Varanasi blasts, it was the Bangladeshis who did the spadework. Mastermind Wall Ullah, local commander of HuJI, was conduit for the three Bangladeshis identified as Bashir Uddin, Mustafez and Zakaria. After carrying out the blasts in the temple city, they safely slipped away and were reported to have left for their native country. Intelligence agencies are worried at the fragile security and long stretches of porous border in the Northeast. Even in the Hyderabad blasts, it were the Bangladeshis who provided a sort of emotional base for the terrorists to carry out the blasts. It is to be recalled that HuJI, a pan-Islamic outfit born out of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) has its cadres drawn from SIMI which provides local base in India and help with logistics. Most militants of the outfit are products of the Wahabi-Deobandi madrasas of Pakistan. Hundreds of cadres, trained in bomb making and armed insurgencies infiltrate the Indo-Bangladesh border for terror acts in India. It has global affiliations and is part of the Islamic front of Osama bin Laden.

No compromise on 5 seats: BJP

No compromise on 5 seats: BJP

By our Staff ReporterGUWAHATI, June 20: Asom BJP general secretary Nakul Baruah today said the party will field candidates in at least five seats — Guwahati, Nagaon, Mangaldai, Silchar and Karimganj — in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls if an AGP-BJP understanding becomes a reality, and if the proposed AGP-BJP understanding does not materialize, the national party may field candidates in 12 constituencies, barring Diphu and Haflong constituencies. Talking to newsmen in the city today, Baruah said the BJP will not compromise on the five seats.

Protest against price rise at Karimganj

Protest against price rise at Karimganj

From A Correspondent NILAMBAZAR, June 17 – Members of Karimganj district BJP unit burnt an effigy of former Education Minister Ripun Bora and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently at Karimganj town and shouted slogans against the State Government.Besides, the BJP workers observed blackday and protested against price rise of essential commodities, including LPG and fuel. On the otherhand, the AUDF and AGP burnt an effigy of the Union Petrolium Minister at different places of the district amidst sloganeering against price rise of LPG and POL items

‘Steps taken to complete border fencing work at Karimganj’

From Our Correspondent KARIMGANJ, June 14 – Karimganj town on Indo-Bangladesh border would be excluded beyond the border fencing is the reponsibilities of Central Government not the responsibility of the State Government. While speaking to media persons Bhumidhar Barman, Revenue Minister disclosed this fact at Karimganj. “AASU has created tremendous pressure on the State government for quick execution of the border fencing works”, said the Minister. He said, “State Government has already taken up all necessary steps to complete the construction works within the stipulated time. But there are some problems arising in construction of border fencing in Karimganj town”.According to the Indira-Mujib agreement both the countries would leave 150 metres of land beyond the border fencing. If Assam Government follows this agreement, then vast areas of the town will fall in ‘no-mans’ land. Daspatti, East bazar, Bepin Paul Road, Charbazar would fall in ‘no-mans land’. Barman informed that State Government has already communicated the matter to the Central Government. To construct border fencing in Karimganj town the centre will have to discuss the matter with the Bangladesh govern-ment. However, the State Government arranged strict security arrangement on Assam-Bangladesh border so that infiltration from Bangladesh could be checked, said Dr Barman. “All matters relating to International boundary will be taken up by the Central Government”, he said.

Source: assam tribune

ACKHSA re-constituted its central committee

Panel re-constituted : All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students Association (ACKHSA) recently re-constituted its central committee through a meeting held at Silchar Women College. Besides, the central committee, Cachar District Committee and Women Cell of ACKHSA were also formed. Rupam Nandi Purakayastha was re-elected as president, Slipa Bhura, Kazi Abu Bakkar Salim and Ratnadeep Adhikari as vice-presidents and Asit Deb Roy, Parvez Sultan Majumder and Rohan Yadav as general secretaries of ACKHSA Central Committee. Rathindra Das was elected as president of the Cachar unit while Taher Islam Talukdar, Jaideep Chakraborty and Kartick Kansa Banik were elected as general secretaries. Debapriya Mazumdar was elected as president of the women cell and Pinki Purkayastha, Neeta Acharyya and Namita Sinha were elected as general secretaries.

Night curfew along border

Night curfew along border
SANTANU GHOSH
Silchar, June 14: The Karimganj district administration has clamped a nine-hour curfew beginning 8pm along its 92-km stretch of Indo-Bangladesh border.

The order was issued by district magistrate B.N. Sarma yesterday afternoon to curb transborder movements of militants and smuggling of contrabands.

A government release issued last night stated that an embargo on movement of people with or without goods within a 1-km radius of the international border in Karimganj had also been declared, invoking Section 144 of the CrPC.

The stretch is a safe haven for militants from the Northeast who go to Bangladesh for advanced training in arms and return thereafter.

Official sources in the district headquarters town of Karimganj today said the measures had been taken on the basis of intelligence reports by central agencies and the state’s special branch.
Sources in the BSF said on an average, 15 infiltrators from Bangladesh are caught every month.
The curfew order also banned night plying of boats on the Indian side of the riverine stretch of the Kushiara, following intelligence inputs that infiltrators often use the waterways.

The order aims at bolstering the existing preventive measures adopted by the BSF and the customs to foil smuggling.

Areas under the jurisdiction of the Karimganj municipality will, however, remain out of the purview of the curfew order.

Sources said a restriction has been imposed on the movements of vehicles within a 1-km radius of border settlements such as Lakhibazar, Tillabazar, Churaibari, Kathaltali, Chandkhira and Adamtilla.