Nagaland
celebrates peace
Kohima:
This is the picture
of present day Nagaland, a state that is marching on the
path of progress and has reasons to celebrate. The cease-fire
between Central security forces and the National Socialist
Council of Nagaland (Khaplang faction) has been extended
for another year, a step commended by all sides involved.
The eagerness to continue the peace process is a step towards
ensuring and maintaining peace and stability in the region.
The extension of the ceasefire would help the Centre in
moving ahead towards a permanent solution to the vexed Naga
issue. Today people are not scared of stepping out of their
houses.
"The
negotiation is a part of the process and, you cannot have
negotiation when you have burnings all around. So, it is
very important that there is an atmosphere of peace in the
state. And then, there is a meaning to this peace. This
is what the government has been taking a stand on in the
past. So, it is important that the peace process should
continue and at the same time the element of fear amongst
people should go away," said local businessman Nungsang
Jamir. "Now, peace can be felt even in the interior areas
and remote villages where people do not know what is going
on. As it is, if you look at the stats, the crime rate in
the state has gone down in the last one year. So, even in
the interior areas peace is being felt and ceasefire is
having its effect," claimed V.V.Abu Metha, a local newspaper
editor.
The
NSCN (K) was formed on April 30, 1988, consequent to the
assassination attempt on Thuingaleng Muivah, its general
secretary. Its primary objective is the establishment of
a Greater Nagaland, comprising Nagaland and the Naga-dominated
areas of neighboring states and contiguous areas in Myanmar.
The outfit is active in the eastern part of Nagaland as
well as in the Tirap and Changlang districts of neighbouring
Arunachal Pradesh. "Nagas have made it clear that they want
peace and an honourable settlement after the Naga political
dialogue. This fact is known to the Government of India
and the undergrounds also know it. So whatever is happening,
is happening under tremendous pressure of the people also,"
claimed Deepak Dewan, the Executive Editor of the North
East Sun.
"After
all underground militants and activists are all sons of
the soil. Unlike Kashmir, you will not find mercenaries
from across the border fighting in Nagaland. They are all
Nagas, someone's nephew, someone's son. So, the thing is
that they are there and want their own future. They are
answerable to the people and so what the people want, they
have to go by that," he adds. In 1997, a cease-fire agreement
was successfully negotiated between the Indian Government
and the NSCN I-M group. The agreement has been renewed from
time to time with the top leaders regularly visiting New
Delhi for talks. With the announcement of the extension
of cease-fire with the Khaplang faction the cease-fire enters
its fourth consecutive year.
Army nurses relent on uniform (Go
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New
Delhi: The recalcitrant nurses of Army Medical Corps
today relented and accepted the new uniform introduced by
the authorities. The commissioning, which was scheduled
for last month, could not be held as the nurses refused
to accept the beige coloured uniforms. Until then the nurses
and officers had the same colour to their uniform, olive
green. But bowing to pressure from the officers, the authorities
decided to change the colour of the uniform of nursing officers
and a notification was issued by Adjutant General in February
this year, changing the new uniform to "dark beige safari
suit with full sleeves" instead of the olive green. While
the commissioning ceremony was cancelled in Chandigarh,
Lucknow and Delhi, the nursing officers in Kolkata came
in their new uniforms and were commissioned last month.
Ever since the Military Nursing Service was created in the
50s, there has been simmering discontent among other officers,
especially doctors, about nurses wearing similar uniforms
and having similar ranks. The commissioning was delayed
as the nurses obtained a stay order from the Lucknow bench
of the Allahabad high court on the introduction of the new
uniform, while the Army authorities claimed that they are
implementing an order of the Supreme Court. With the row
over, albeit with some resistance the new batch of Nursing
Officers were commissioned at a ceremony at the Army Hospital
in New Delhi.
Pak,
India may drop Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus plan (Go
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Islamabad:
The idea of starting the much awaited bus service between
Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,
and Srinagar, the summer capital of India-administered Kashmir,
is most likely to be dropped, as diplomatic efforts to remove
differences have failed so far. According to the Nation,
technical-level talks on the issue have been postponed twice
in the recent past, even as both Islamabad and New Delhi
have rejected the impression of differences having surfaced
over the issue. Well-placed sources told the paper that
both governments have almost decided to put this issue on
the backburner. They said despite hectic engagements on
the diplomatic front, Islamabad is adamant on its stance
of traveling between these two points with UN documents
whereas New Delhi favors the use of passports. "Both the
sides have also been unable to remove irritants as far as
this issue is concerned," a source said, adding that now
any breakthrough on the issue needed intervention from the
topmost offices of the two countries. Both the countries
had earlier agreed to start the bus service between Srinagar
and Muzaffarabad as a confidence building measure aimed
at lowering tension between the nuclear states.
No settlement without Kashmiri participation:
Kasuri (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri
has said that his country or government would not take any
decision that would compromise the interests of Kashmiris.
Interaction with a delegation of British Kashmiris who called
on him here, Kasuri was quoted by the News as saying that
unless the aspirations of the people of Kashmir were taken
into consideration, the international community would always
find it difficult to ensure a durable peace in South Asia.
He also expressed his appreciation for the effective and
meaningful role played by Kashmiris and the Pakistani community
in Britain in projecting the Kashmir cause. The delegation
expressed satisfaction of the Kashmiri community for the
bold stand taken by President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Foreign Minister Kasuri on
the Kashmir issue.
Pak to acquire four warships from China:
Navy chief (Go
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Karachi:
The Pakistan Navy will purchase four new warships from
China to meet its pending defense requirements, the Chief
of Naval Staff, Admiral Shahid Kareemullah, said on Friday.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of International Port and
Shipping Conference here, Admiral Kareemullah was quoted
by Online News as saying that talks with the Chinese government
and its naval authorities was in the final stages. The naval
chief informed that three-ton heavy warships would also
be equipped with helicopter facility. With increase in number
of ports, the responsibilities of Pakistan navy have also
been doubled, as Pak navy would also be responsible for
the protection of the Gwadar port in line with Karachi port,
he said. He said if Pak-India relations at diplomatic and
trade level improved then it would also lead towards improvement
in defense relations and this situation would enable the
two countries to conduct joint exercises.
Concern
over Bangla arms moving into India's north-east (Go
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Agartala:
The easy passage across the porous Indo-Bangladesh border
has facilitated the inflow of arms and weapons into India's
northeast, causing concern to the Indian authorities. This
concern has grown after the recent seizure of huge cache
of military grade weaopns in Chittagong. The feeling of
resentment against Bangladesh is increasing as the people
do not see the Bangladesh government taking any steps to
nab the culprits. "The fundamentalist groups of Bangladesh
were behind bringing these arms as the militants have close
connection with them.
There is a question about the role of the Bangladesh Government
because from what we read in newspapers one thing is clear
that the Bangladesh Government had not taken the matter
of arms as seriously as it should have been taken," said
Siddhu Raheman, the Secretary of the Bishalghar local committee,
Tripura."Though there is no proof, but it can be understood
from the fact that if such a big consignment of arms was
caught in that country which entered through a port, it
means that an arms mafia is very active in that nation.
Moreover, the port is a highly secured place and not covered
with dense forests. There are many secrets hidden under
it," claimed retired school headmaster Mohammad Kala Mia.
The total length of Indo-Bangladesh border is 4,096 km.
Bangladesh shares a 736 km long border area with Tripura
and a 400 km stretch of land with Mizoram. Meghalaya shares
198 km of border area wheras Assam's share is 263 km. And
West Bengal shares a 2203 km long border with Bangladesh.
Off late there have been reports of camps of various insurgent
groups on the Bangladeshi soil.
"There is allegation now after this pro-Pak government has
come into power. Either they know of it or they may not
know it, there is some inflow of Pakistani ISI or other
militant people. They may sponsor these terrorist against
India. They can't do anything against India in Kashmir now,
so they might have second front in Bangladesh. Whether our
government know that or they are ignorant about that..I
can't say because I am far away from it. But that's my suspicion...in
hill tract areas some activities are going on," Abdul Gaffar
Chauhary, a senior Bangladeshi journalist, said.
Ex-Bangla
President floats new political party (Go
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Dhaka:
Former Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury
on Saturday launched a new political party, 'Bikalpa Dhara
Bangladesh' (Alternative Stream Bangladesh) with an aim
to eliminate terrorism, corruption and poverty from the
country. Launching his party at a press conference here,
B Chowdhury who was forced out by the ruling Bangladesh
Nationalist Party from the presidency two years ago said
the country was now bleeding on account of corruption. "There
remains no future for a country if a ruling party becomes
corrupt," added the physician-turned politician.
