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                         Vol.4, No.42 [*] July 12, 1999
                         ------------------------------

                           Non-violence is a flop.
                     The only bigger flop is violence.
                               - Joan Baez
   -------------------------------------------------------------------

1  CENTRE READYING TO DELIVER FINAL BLOW TO EXTREMISTS  [S:11-JUL-99]
   ---------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   The  highlight of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's
   visit to Assam on July  9  was  the  threat  he  held  out  to  the
   extremist  outfits  of  the  Northeast that the Government of India
   will no longer tolerate their violent campaign and that it was high
   time they come back to the mainstream. 
   
   He made it clear, albeit without saying it in so many words in  the
   public  meeting  at  Numaligarh  that the Government will take firm
   steps to finish off terrorism in  the  region  and  roll  back  all
   threats  to  internal  security  of  the  country  posed  by  their
   senseless violence.  
   
   A  senior  official  accompanying the Prime Minister disclosed that
   while the Centre has been sincerely trying to  bring  the  ULFA  to
   negotiation with the help of the Assam Government, it has also kept
   ready appropriate plans to disarm the outfit.  No sooner the Kargil
   war  ends than the Centre will shift its focus to the Northeast and
   attend to the problems of internal security which have grown really
   very serious, the official said.
   
2  WE WON'T BE COWED DOWN BY THREATS: ULFA               [S:11-JUL-99]
   ---------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  The ULFA charged the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
   of attempting to intimidate the `seven sisters'  of  the  Northeast
   into  submission  and said, that the demand for unconditional talks
   made by Mr Vajpayee at Numaligarh on July 9  tantamount  to  asking
   the `revolutionaries' to surrender.
   
   In  a  statement  issued  by  its publicity wing, the ULFA said its
   preconditions for the talks with  the  `colonial  Government'  have
   already been spelt out in unambiguous terms and that it had nothing
   new to say about it.
   
   The  demand for Assam's `independence' is a crucial political issue
   which cannot  be  swept  under  the  carpet  through  bullying  and
   military muscle-flexing.    Nor such intimidatory tone and tenor is
   desirable from a regime which claims itself to be a democracy,  the
   statement said and asked the Government to accept its preconditions
   for the talks if it is `really sincere' in the talks.
   
3  TWO KILLED IN POLICE FIRING, PROBE ORDERED            [S:12-JUL-99]
   ------------------------------------------
   SIBSAGAR:  Two persons -- Deven Mirdha and Shankar Mirdha  --  were
   killed  on  the  spot  when police resorted to firing to control an
   unruly mob of about 800 supporters of the Assam Tea Tribes Students
   Association (ATTSA) and the Assam  Cha  Mazdoor  Sangha  (ACMS)  at
   Naharbari Tea Estate under Simaluguri police station in Sibsagar at
   11 am  on July 10.  The District Magistrate, Sibsagar has ordered a
   magisterial inquiry into the incident and the police firing.
   
   According  to  reports,  the  ATTSA  and ACMS activists, armed with
   lethal weapons attacked the workers  of  the  tea  estate  for  not
   participating in the strike called jointly by the two organizations
   on July 6.  When police from Simaluguri and Nazira reached the spot
   to  control the mob, the mob attacked the policemen and injured the
   officer-in-charge of the  Simaluguri  police  station,  the  circle
   inspector  of  Nazira  police  station  and  five constables, which
   compelled the police to open fire. 
   
4  POLICEMAN'S WIFE TORTURED BY NAGAON POLICE            [S:10-JUL-99]
   ------------------------------------------
   NAGAON:   The  wife  of  a police officer, Ms Ila Bora, arrested by
   police on July 8, and produced before the Judicial court on July 10
   has been ordered to be admitted to hospital.  The court  criticized
   the   police   for  torturing  the  woman  and  demanded  necessary
   clarification on the matter by July 12.
   
5  DRDA STAFF'S CONCERN OVER KIDNAPPING                  [S:10-JUL-99]
   ------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  The meeting of the officers and staff  of  the  District
   Rural  Development Agency (DRDA), Kokrajhar and block officers held
   at DRDA office on July 9 expressed grave concern over the incidents
   of kidnapping of Mr Dipak Kumar Chakravarty, accountant of the DRDA
   office and another person -- Mr Gautam Ghose from Nalbari, about  1
   km from  the Kokrajhar police station, on July 8.  The meeting also
   resolved to abstain from attending offices until both the kidnapped
   persons are released by the kidnappers without any preconditions.
   
6  MALIGAON BOY TOPS HSLC EXAMINATION 1999              
   ---------------------------------------
   GOLAGHAT:  Mujjamil Hussain of  Railway  Higher  Secondary  School,
   Maligaon  in  Guwahati  topped  the High School Leaving Certificate
   Examination, 1999 of the State Board of Secondary Education.    The
   results were declared at 11 am today simultaneously at all district
   and sub-divisonal  headquarters  of Assam.  The pass percentage was
   32.13 out of a total number of 168,482 candidates who appeared  for
   the examination this year.
   
   Other position holders in  the  top  10  are:   2. Satyakam  Dutta,
   Dhemaji  Town  HS  School,  Dhemaji;  3. Hemangajit  Dutta,   North
   Lakhimpur Govt HS School; 4. Nilam Jyoti Sharma, Dibrugarh  Boys HS
   School; 5. Aslamuddin Ahmed, Bamundongra HS School, Habidongra; and
   Bandita Deka, Disneyland High  School, Guwahati;  6. Pankaj  Lochan
   Sharma, Amranga Barihat HS School, Amranga; 7. Amarjyoti Deka, Govt
   HS School Mangaldoi; 8. Prabir  Chakravarty,  New  Gauhati  Railway
   Colony High School, Guwahati; 9. Abinash Borah, Govt Boys HS School
   Jorhat and Abinash Hazarika St.Mary's High School, Naharkatia;  10.
   Firoz  Ahmed,  Morigaon  HS  &  MP  School,  Morigaon and Pranamita
   Kalita, Holy Child School, Guwahati.
   
______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
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