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                     Vol.3, No.10 [*] March 6, 1998
                     ------------------------------
               
        However much I may sympathise with and admire worthy motives,
             I am an uncompromising opponent of violent methods
                     even to serve the noblest of causes.

                           - Mahatma Gandhi
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1  HOME MINISTRY DEFENDS ITS ROLE IN ASSAM		   [AT:6-MAR-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   The Union Ministry of Home Affairs  strongly  defended  its  role  in
   Assam  claiming  that adequate deployment of paramilitary forces were
   made in the State during the elections.  In a press conference in New
   Delhi on March 5, the Union Home Secretary,  B.P.Singh,  denying  the
   charge  levelled against the ministry by the AGP Government, revealed
   that 176 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed in the  State
   in addition  to  14 companies of territorial Army.  In comparison, in
   1996 only 180 companies were deployed, he added.  He said that  there
   was no violence in the poll day in Assam and Tripura.
   
   Mr Singh express his astonishment at the charges made against him  by
   the  AGP  which  had alleged that the Ministry did not deploy central
   forces to help the Congress party indirectly. `The remark  must  have
   been  made in a party conclave to put the blame on somebody else,' he
   said, referring to Assam Chief Minister, P.K.Mahanta.
   
   Mr  Singh  also revealed that poll percentage in Assam was in fact 62
   percent and not around 50 percent as projected earlier.  According to
   an estimate by the ministry, at least eight persons lost their  lives
   compared  to  17  in  1996  and, there were only 23 incidents of poll
   violence compared to 34 in the last election in Assam.

2  BJP TO BE BACKED BY AASU IN ASSEMBLY POLLS		    [S:6-MAR-98]
   ------------------------------------------
   
   The  AASU will rally behind the BJP in next Assembly elections in the
   State if the party displays sincerity in solving the basic issues  of
   the  State,  namely,  scrapping  of  the IM(DT) Act, preparation of a
   correct voters list, detection and  deportation  of  foreigners  etc,
   without  destabilizing  the  age-old friendship and brotherhood among
   the Hindus and Muslims of Assam, AASU  president  Sarbananda  Sonowal
   told `The Sentinel' in Guwahati on March 5.
   
   Mr Sonowal said the elections had proved conclusively that the people
   will  reject any party or formation which betrayed their trust in the
   earlier election. He said, the AASU had given a call to the people of
   Assam to teach the AGP and its allies a lesson in the  elections  and
   thanked the people for having done precisely that.
   
   Mr Sonowal said, the `Axom Unnati Xabha', which  was  mooted  at  the
   AASU  convention  as a non-political platform, would, however, have a
   political face.  Branches of the proposed Xabha will soon  be  opened
   in each  of  the  126 Assembly constituencies of Assam.  He said that
   the BJP secured more votes than the AGP is a proof enough of the fact
   that people of Assam had supported BJP.  If  the  BJP  undertook  all
   efforts  to  solve the basic issues of Assam, there was no reason why
   the people of Assam should not support the party, he added.
   

3  CONGRESS DEMANDS PR, BRIGU WANTS MAHANTA OUT	       [AT+S:5+6-MAR-98]
   --------------------------------------------
   
   The APCC(I) president, Mr Tarun  Gogoi  demanded  imposition  of  the
   Presidents  Rule  and  holding  of fresh elections in Assam. The APCC
   also challenged the Chief Minister to prove the  allegations  of  the
   ULFA-Congress  nexus  before the polls. Addressing a press conference
   in Guwahati on March 4,  Mr  Gogoi  pointed  out  that  in  the  1991
   elections also the AGP fared badly but at that time there was no call
   by the ULFA to boycott the polls.
   
   Meanwhile,  dissident  AGP leader Bhrigu Kumar Phukan said the future
   of the AGP was  at  stake  today  because  of  the  various  acts  of
   omissions  and  commissions  committed by the leader of the party and
   the Government and said, he should now own up full responsibility for
   the debacle and resign gracefully.  In a statement, Mr  Phukan  said,
   the  party  and  the  Government  under Mr P.K.Mahanta had failed the
   people and the party should start a serious reassessment.
   

4  SANSUMA LAYS DOWN CONDITION FOR SUPPORT		   [AT:6-MAR-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   Former president of  the  All  Bodo  Students  union  (ABSU)  Sansuma
   Khunggur  Bwiswmutiary,  who  has been elected to the Parliament from
   the Kokrajhar constituency as an ABSU-backed  Independent  candidate,
   said  that he is ready to extend support from outside to any party or
   group at the Centre, who is ready  to  support  the  demand  for  the
   creation  of  a separate state of Bodoland and to take positive steps
   in this regard.
   

5  COMMISSIONER TO CM OFFICE GOES ON LEAVE		    [S:6-MAR-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   The Commissioner and Secretary to Chief Minister's office, Mr C.K.Das
   went on a month's leave on March 5, at the end of which he is  likely
   to  go  on  deputation  to  New  Delhi,  official sources said. Chief
   Secretary V.S.Jafa had also sought a month's leave along with Mr Das,
   the Chief Minister refused to grant him leave. The developments  came
   in  the  wake  of  severe criticism of his functioning by a number of
   Ministers.
   

6  BANGLA SC REJECTS BHRC'S PETITION ON CHETIA	          [PTI:5-MAR-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   Bangladesh Supreme Court rejected a provisional petition filed by the
   Bangladesh Human Rights Commission  (BHRC)  seeking  a  stay  on  the
   extradition of  ULFA  leader Anup Chetia to India.  The rights' group
   lawyer, Akhtar Hamid, said he had decided not to go  ahead  with  the
   petition after an assurance to the court by Attorney General K.S.Nabi
   that  there  was  no  programme  of the Government as yet on Chetia's
   handing over.
   

7  PSO KILLED BY ARMY MISTAKENLY			    [S:6-MAR-98]
   -----------------------------
   
   A personal security officer,  Arbhala  Makka,  of  the  Subdivisional
   Police  Officer  (SDPO)  of  Udalguri,  Mr  M.Sharma,  was shot at by
   Armymen mistaking him for a rebel ultra near the  Assam  Oil  Company
   depot at  Tangla  at  around 11:30 am on March 5.  Arbhala, 25, later
   succumbed to his injuries on way to hospital.  According  to  reports
   acting   on   specific   information   of   a   money   deal  between
   representatives of a militant outfit and a public sector company, the
   Armymen were lying in wait in the site when the SDPO along  with  his
   two PSOs  in  plain  clothes arrived on the spot.  The Armymen seeing
   Arbhala carrying a weapon under his shawl,  which  slipped  from  his
   shoulder, mistook him for an ultra and fired at him.

______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
Compiled from newspaper and agency reports for private circulation only.
      [S=Sentinel, AT=Assam Tribune, Agencies = UNI, PTI, PIB]
              http://www.cyberspace.org/~mozz/aol.html  
             http://www.assam.org/assam/news/index.html
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