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                     Vol.3, No.15  [*] March 27, 1998
                     --------------------------------

           The weapon of my crusade is g-a-a-n -- `gaan' (song),
                            not gun -- g-u-n. 

                          - Bhupen Hazarika
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  DEV, DRUPAD CONTEST FOR RAJYA SABHA TODAY		   [S:27-MAR-98]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   The elections for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam on March 27 is
   likely  to  witness  a  keen  tussle  for the second seat between CPI
   nominee Drupad Borgohain and Congress nominee Santosh Mohan Dev.  The
   AGP candidate for  the  first  preference  votes,  Dr  Arun  Sharma's
   victory is  certain.    The election assumed a critical turn when the
   five-member ASDC group announced its support  for  Mr  Borgohain  and
   six-member  PDF group announcing that its members will vote according
   to their `conscience'.  The UMF, which has two members, will also opt
   for `conscience vote'.  The two Rajya Sabha seats became vacant after
   Mr Tarun Gogoi and Mr Moni Kumar Subba, of the Congress, were elected
   to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded elections.

2  ENCOUNTER AT JORHAT, ULFA COMMANDER KILLED	        [AT+S:26-MAR-98]
   ------------------------------------------
   
   A hard-core ULFA militant, identified as `commander' of the  outfit's
   Dhansiri  local  unit  and  a  resident  of  Natun  Mati  of Mariani,
   Simantajyoti Bora alias Rubul Sangmai alias Budhwa, was killed in  an
   encounter  with  the police in the heart of the town near K.B.Road at
   Jorhat at 7 am on March 25.  A CRPF DSP S.K.Singh and a Assam  police
   sub-inspector, Manik Goswami were injured in the encounter.
   
   Acting on a tip-off, a CRPF team along with Assam police cordoned off
   the house of one S.K.Paul, where two ULFA militants were hiding.   As
   the  team approached the house, the militants opened fire and injured
   the two policemen and tried to escape.  The  police  retaliated,  and
   shot  dead  Simanta  who  tried  to escape through a pond filled with
   water hyacinth. 
   
   The  police  said,  the  militants used Chinese-made pistols and they
   recovered several 7.65 mm ammunition from the slain militant, a diary
   containing  telephone  numbers  and  some  incriminating   documents.
   Police,  however,  could  not  recover  the firearm used by the slain
   militant.  Police made elaborate checking of  vehicles  and  cordoned
   off  vast  areas  of  the  town  till afternoon looking for the other
   militant who escaped.  The slain militant was highly trained and  was
   involved in several cases of extortion and killings, police said.
   
   [ AOL adds:  According to sources,  S.K.Paul  is  reported  to  be  a
   homeopathic  doctor and owned other businesses in town -- a rich man.
   The militants came in bicycles to the  house  for  some  discussions.
   When the police surrounded the house, the militants managed to snatch
   away a carbine from a policeman.  While one militant used the carbine
   to  keep the police at bay, the other managed to break a portion of a
   boundary wall to make his escape good.    The  escaped  militant  was
   injured in the leg.]
   

3  EIGHT INJURED IN GRENADE BLAST AT KOKRAJHAR	          [AT:27-MAR-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   Eight people including a woman were injured, four of  them  seriously
   in  a  hand-grenade explosion inside a cloth store in the busy market
   area of Kokrajhar town at around 10:55 am on March 26.  The  incident
   took  place  when  two  National  Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)
   militants tried to extort money from the store when a grenade slipped
   from the hand of one of the militants and  exploded  injuring  people
   nearby.  Later, Army managed to apprehend one of the militants, Thane
   Basumatary from a hospital.  (The Sentinel reported that the powerful
   grenade  was  hurled  into the store while AIR local news report said
   that the grenade exploded accidently.  - Mozz).
   

4  FIVE ULFA ULTRAS, ONE ARMY OFFICER KILLED	        [S+AT:27-MAR-98]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   Five  ULFA ultras and a non-commissioned Army officer were killed and
   eight other people were injured in an  encounter  with  the  Army  at
   Pakhihaga, about  32 km from Gossaigaon on March 26.  Following a tip
   off, Army moved into the village and in the  ensuing  encounter  five
   militants were shot dead.  The Army officer who was seriously injured
   in the  shoot-out succumbed to his injuries in a hospital later.  The
   bodies of the slain ultras were handed over to  the  police.    Three
   AK-47 rifles and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered by the
   Army.  Some of the ultras belonging to the group managed to escape.
   

5  HSLC, AHM EXAMS FROM TODAY				   [S:27-MAR-98]
   --------------------------
  
   The  High  School  Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Assam High Madrassa
   (AHM) examinations, 1998 will commence from  March  27  with  171,224
   candidates, 93,267 of them male and 77,957 female, appearing from 613
   centres  in  the State. The highest 1,428 candidates will appear from
   the Tezpur centre and lowest 72 from  Dalonghat.  This  will  be  the
   first  batch  of  registered  candidates under the Board of Secondary
   Education, Assam (SEBA), and Computer Science will be a new  elective
   subject this year for the first time.
   
   Meanwhile,  sixteen  HSLC  candidates  of  Railway High School, North
   Lakhimpur and their guardians  demonstrated  at  the  office  of  the
   Deputy  Commissioner  to  protest the negligence of the headmaster of
   the school.  They alleged that  the  headmaster  failed  to  get  the
   students  registered under the SEBA according to the new rules of the
   board.  Owing to non-registration, the students were not issued admit
   cards to appear for the examinations.
   

6  AWARD FOR `THE SENTINEL' EDITOR			 [UNI:26-MAR-98]
   -------------------------------
  
   The  1997  B.D.Goenka  Award  for  excellence  in  journalism will be
   conferred on Mr D.N.Bezbaruah, Editor of `The Sentinel' of  Guwahati.
   Mr  Bezbarua  has been selected for fearlessly defending the unity of
   India and his consistent condemnation of  secessionist  demands,  all
   the while standing up to serious terrorist threats. The selection was
   made  by  an independent jury headed by eminent jurist Nani Palkiwala
   and comprising  Justice  B.Lentin,  N.S.Jagannathan,  M.V.Kamath  and
   T.J.S.George.  The award, comprising a trophy and Rs.100,000, will be
   presented to him at a public function later this year.
   

7  NEWS FROM THE AOL ARCHIVES (DECEMBER 12, 1997)
   ----------------------------------------------
       
    8  ASTROLOGER PREDICTS BJP GOVT AT CENTRE	      [AT:12-DEC-97]
       --------------------------------------
       Noted astrologer and editor of the Prak-Jyotish  Panjika,  Mr
       Jogen  Das  does  not see any change in the present political
       scenario in Assam as per planetary indications.  ..........
       
       In a signed statement, Mr Das further predicted that  in  the
       ensuing  Lok  Sabha  polls,  the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
       together with other alliance partners is likely to  form  the
       next government at Delhi.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________