Two
Nepal Maoists held in Siliguri
Siliguri:
The Siliguri police have arrested at least two suspected
Nepalese Maoists. The police claimed that those arrested
would divulge useful information regarding supply of arms
and ammunition to the Maoists. The arrests were made from
Shivmandir in the Matigara police station of Darjeeling
district. The duo had come to Siliguri to buy improvised
rifles. ASP R. Rajsekaran said it is a "big catch" as they
will be able to provide useful information on the source
of the supply of arms. "Today we were successful in arresting
the two. They are Lalit kumar Subba and Padam Kilkothe.
They will be remanded and hopefully we will be able to arrest
those who are involved in supplying arms to the Maoists,"
he said. Subba is supposed to be the organisation's area
commander from the Terathung district and looked after the
organisation's operations close to the border. Kilkothe
hails from Taplejung district of Nepal. Police were on the
lookout for Subba, who was allegedly involved in smuggling
arms from India to Nepal. They had learnt about Subba after
the arrest in September of two other Maoist activists -
Debi Prasad Acharya and Pravin Limboo, also from the Matigara
area.
Counter
insurgency operations stepped up in Manipur (Go
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Imphal:
Security forces in manipur have begun a fresh offensive
against the rebels in the northeast. The intensified operations
are aimed at eradicating militancy and restoring peace and
development in the state. The offensive against militants
in Manipur coincided with a breakthrough in the dialogue
between the Apunba Lup, which claims to be a representative
body of the Manipuris for peace and against the special
act in operation and New Delhi on the other hand. The stepping
up of counter-insurgency operations in the areas bordering
Myanmar less than a month after Delhi signed an agreement
with the military junta of Mynamar for co-operation on security
issues. The Indian security forces were asked to put on
hold all operations till India was assured by Myanmar that
it would not allow militants, mainly those of the People's
Liberation Army (PLO), to cross the border. All the operations
now are conducted under the unified command structure, which
consists of all the security forces operating in the state.
The fresh move has started showing positive results in the
state.
Manipur DGP A.K. Prashar said: "The security forces are
in perfect co-ordination with one another in the state and
within the state what all needs to be done that's already
been done. As you may be aware we already have a unified
command in the state chaired by the Chief Minister of the
state. So we have been able to achieve that level of co-ordination
over a period of time now. We have a concerted effort to
launch joint operations and we have achieved good result."
There are around 20 odd militant outfits operating in the
state. Security sources claim that several militant camps
had been busted since the operation in the border villages
of Churachandpur district got under way recently. Some of
the militant groups have strong presence in the border districts
of the state. Four army brigades and several units of the
police, Assam Rifles, BSF, CRPF, Manipur Rifles and India
Reserve Battalion are presently engaged in the ongoing operation
in the border as well as other parts of the state.
Prithvi
Theatre Festival begins (Go
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New
Delhi: The annual Prithvi Theatre festival began in
the Capital last night. Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor inaugurated
the festival of the country's oldest theatre Prithvi. The
festival will stage 23 productions, including classics such
"Charan Das Chor" and the controversial "Ponga Pandit".
The highlight this year, however, is the Italian production
by Marco Luly- Commedia dell'arte galore. The only international
production of the festival this year, the play is a collage
of humour and slapstick with its characters crossing the
language barriers to address various issues. The festival
also includes a light comedy Chhabi by actor- director Dinesh
Thakur. The film explores contemporary work culture defined
by quick success, name and fame through short cuts.
Shashi
Kapoor's Sanjana, the brain behind the festival, demanded
more government and corporate support for the nation's theatre
artists. She said it was high time the community stopped
fretting about poor funds and instead began marketing itself
as a reliable, profit-making enterprise. "My dream is to
actually create some kind of a white paper to present to
the government with a group of theatre people. It's enough,
we complain endlessly but we have to stop cribbing now and
get active and look at sustainability and understand how
we can develop on the long term, financially. It's critical,"
said Sanjana. The 200-seat theatre was initially built to
develop a professional, primarily Hindi, theatre, but post
1991 Prithvi has stepped up its role as a catalyst in developing
a serious theatre culture in India. Established by Sanjana's
Australian born mother Jennifer in November 1978, it is
known for experimentation with unique combinations of Shakespearean
and Hindi traditions and began the festivals in 1983 to
celebrate its fifth anniversary. Theatre is amongst India's
most ancient form of recreation, finding mention in mythological
epics and scriptures. But over the years it has been marginalised
to just tribal and folk plays and lost out in the money-making
urban sectors to the more popular films and television.
53
persons die in China plane crash (Go
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Beijing: Around 53 people died in China today as a passenger
plane crashed a few minutes later after taking off. The
ill-fated plane crashed into a frozen lake in Inner Mongolia.
The 53 people, including the crew, died instantly, reports
said. The Bombardier CRJ200, operated by two pilots, had
taken off from Baotou, nearly 600 km from Beijing, en route
to Shanghai. Quoting eyewitnesses, news agency reports said
that the plane caught fire and it soon turned into a huge
fireball. Meanwhile, rescue workers and fire fighters were
busy clearing the debris and recovering the dead bodies.
Proteas
thwart India spin attack, are at 459 for 7 (Go
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Kanpur:
Andrew Hall's career best 163 enabled South Africa to
remain in a commanding position at the end of Day 2 of the
first Test match against India held in Kanpur. The right-handed
batsman gave a remarkable display of patience and concentration
to crack a record-breaking maiden century. The visitors
were comfortably placed at 459 for seven. Debutant Zander
de Bruyn also made it a memorable Test for himself as he
mixed caution with aggression to score a 206-ball 83, which
included six fours and three sixes, on a slow track at the
Green Park stadium. At the stumps Shaun Pollock was batting
on 31 and wicket-keeper batsman Thami Tsolekile at five.
Meanwhile, Anil Kumble completed a yet another haul of five
wickets. He had taken all the four wickets that fell yesterday.
