DHD-J shatters truce hopes

- CRPF patrol party ambushed, one jawan killed, four injured

Silchar, July 9: Militants of the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) today ambushed a CRPF patrol, killing a jawan and injuring four others near Maibong town, 50km north of the district headquarters town of Haflong at 8.30 this morning.

The group’s unilateral three-month-long ceasefire expired on June 25 but it had refrained from any violence since May, indicating that it might extend the truce.

The district police fear that the ambush might be a harbinger of more attacks.
The south Assam DIG of police, Y.K. Gautam, said the incident occurred when troops of the CRPF’s 189 battalion were returning to their camp at Maibong after a nightlong patrol. A convoy of CRPF cars was trailing the team.

The slain sepoy was identified as Dipak Mandal. Havildars D.K. Rai and V. Prashad and constables Nissar Ahmed Tanti and Gagandeep, who were injured in the attack, are being treated at a CRPF camp. They are likely to be shifted to Haflong civil hospital.

Police sources at Maibong said nearly a dozen rebels had laid a trap on a hill slope from where they fired with their AK-47 rifles. The CRPF troops were caught unawares but did not lose much time in retaliating.

It could not be confirmed if the DHD (Jewel) rebels suffered any casualties.
This is the first major ambush by the group after a spate of attacks on railwaymen, truckers and civilians in the second week of May. The security forces are also interpreting the attack as a reprisal after the BSF dismantled a DHD (Jewel) camp at Dimadau Yapoo hills between Haflong and Dihangmukh villages on Monday.

Today’s attack has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the resumption of the NF Railway services between Silchar and Lumding. Railway services between these two towns were shut down on May 15 after a spate of guerrilla upheavals in the district. Nearly a dozen persons were killed during the attacks.

The railway employees working on the metre gauge track in the hill section had vacated their quarters and workstations and taken shelter at Badarpur, Silchar, Haflong and Lumding.
In another incident, three DHD (J) linkmen were apprehended from Rangapahar under Dhansiri police outpost in the district today. A .32 pistol was found in their possession.

India wants road, rail and river routes through B’desh

KOLKATA, June 30: India wants Bangladesh to open up its road and river routes to facilitate better link between Kolkata, Myanmar and the Northeast.Inaugurating a conference of the SAARC-backed South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India would build a 60-km-road link with Myanmar and develop a port in that country.“There is an old road linking India and Myanmar through Chittagong (in Bangladesh). Why can’t it be restored? What is stopping us? There was also a river route between Kolkata and Guwahati via Bangladesh. Why can’t it be restored?” Mukherjee asked.Saying that the psychological barrier between India and Bangladesh had been broken in the recent past, Mukherjee laid more stress on people-to-people contact to take the bilateral relations forward.When a Bangladeshi journalist pointed out that “Maitree Express” was not finding passengers owing to the abnormal delay in customs and immigration clearance, Mukherjee said such problems would be sorted out soon. “We are also looking at possibilities of extending the train to Agartala.”Asked as to why the promised five lakh tonnes of rice from India as relief for “Sidr” had not reached the country, Mukherjee said that one lakh tonne had already been sent through Kolkata and Vizag ports.On the maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh, Mukherjee said that another round of meeting was to be held shortly. He expressed hope that a solution would be arrived at in that meeting. PTI

Kalka-Shimla railway may be included in World Heritage List

Majuli & Kalka-Shimla railway may be included in World Heritage List

21 Jun, 2008, 1001 hrs IST, PTI

NEW YORK: The Kalka-Shimla Railway and River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra river in Assam are among 47 sites worldwide which the United Nations will consider for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will hold a 9-day meeting in Quebec in Canada from July 2 to consider the nominations which include 13 natural sites and 34 cultural sites, including two that cross national boundaries. The nominating countries include five states that have no sites inscribed on the World Heritage List: Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu. UNESCO said the committee would also scrutinize the state of conservation of 30 sites that have been placed on the List of World Heritage in danger because of problems such as pollution, pillaging, the impact of natural disasters or poorly managed mass tourism. Those sites include the cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, which may be deleted from the World Heritage List if the 21-member committee determines that the building of a bridge in the heart of the landscape warrants the move. Currently there are 851 sites of "outstanding universal value" in 141 countries that have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, and each year sites are added after applications are first reviewed by either the International Council on Monuments and Sites or the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3150989.cms