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                         Vol.4, No.49 [*] August 2, 1999
                         -------------------------------

                  A man has made great progress in cunning
                 when he does not seem too clever to others.
                              - La Bruyere
   -------------------------------------------------------------------

1  FOUR ISI AGENTS HELD AT GUWAHATI, POLICE TIGHT-LIPPED  [S:2-AUG-99]
   -----------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  Guwahati city police arrested four agents of  the  Inter
   Services  Intelligence from Hotel Eden at Paltan Bazaar in Guwahati
   at 4 pm on July  31.    The  identity  of  the  arrested  were  not
   disclosed as  yet.    The  police  recovered 3,000 dollars and some
   Bangladeshi taka from their possession.  A special police team have
   reached Guwahati on August 1 to interrogate them.
   
   A senior police official, who did not want to be named,  said  that
   the four came from New Delhi, and had close contacts with ISI bases
   in Bangladesh  and Pakistan.  Police suspect that their mission was
   to increase the ISI stranglehold in the region and  disrupt  normal
   activities in view of the Independence Day and Lok Sabha elections.
   More arrests are likely to be made with clues extracted from them.
   
2  SOME MADRASSAS HELP SEPARATIST FORCES: ARMY          [PTI:1-AUG-99]
   -------------------------------------------
   RANGIYA:  Some Madrassa schools (centre for Islamic study)  in  the
   State  are helping the growth of separatist forces with the help of
   ISI, GOC of the 21 Mountain  Division,  Major  General  B.P.Bopanna
   told newsmen at Rangiya on July 31.
   
   There  are  numerous  such schools in Nalbari and Barpeta districts
   and in the Barak Valley.  The possibility of many militants  taking
   shelter in those schools could not be ruled out, he said.  The Army
   had  taken  serious  note  of  it in view of large-scale Bangladesh
   infiltrators in the  Northeast,  Mr  Bopanna  heading  the  unified
   command operation in the strategic lower Assam area said.
   
3  MYSTERY SHROUDS SURRENDER OF ULFA ACTIVISTS            [S:1-AUG-99]
   -------------------------------------------
   SIBSAGAR:  The silence and secrecy maintained by the Army till  the
   last moment of the surrender of 22 ULFA ultras at an Army camp near
   Sibsagar on July 30, has not only raised many an eyebrow  but  also
   rolled down a veil of mystery around the surrender episode.
   
   The  civil administration and police of the district were also kept
   in the dark about the surrender, and this, in responsible  circles,
   has not  been  considered  as  a  good augury.  Even the concept of
   unified command operation envisages  a  coordinated  and  concerted
   approach among civil and police authorities and the Army.
   
4  ACCIDENTAL FIRING FROM ARMY AK-47 RIFLE CREATES PANIC  [S:2-AUG-99]
   -----------------------------------------------------
   SIBSAGAR:  Accidental  firing  by an Army jawan at about 2:45 pm on
   August 1 in front of the Natya  Mandir  at  Sibsagar  town  created
   panic  in  the area. According to reports, due to the negligence on
   the part of the jawan, a round of bullets was accidently fired from
   his AK-47 rifle. A family of Army personnel and others present near
   the scene had a providential escape.
   
5  WWF MOVE AGAINST FOREST DEPARTMENT ON ARSAC REPORT    [S:31-JUL-99]
   --------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  The Northeast regional office of the World Wide Fund for
   Nature  (WWF)  is  seriously  contemplating to move the Ministry of
   Environment and Forest and its country office in New Delhi over the
   Assam Forest departments's  `sinister  attempts'  to  hush  up  the
   recent  findings  of  the  land-cover  mapping  of the two elephant
   reserves, carried out  by  the  Assam  Remote  Sensing  Application
   Centre (ARSAC) as part of Project Elephant.  [See AOL of 30-Jul-99]

6  POLICE SUB-INSPECTOR TERRORIZING PUBLIC               [S:27-JUL-99]
   ---------------------------------------
   NAGAON:   The  newly-posted  town Sub-Inspector in the Nagaon Sadar
   police station has become the terror of the town,  terrorizing  the
   public for  no  apparent  reason.  While police in the district and
   elsewhere in the State  has  been  trying  to  build  up  a  mutual
   police-public relation, the Sub-Inspector has resorted to harassing
   the public with total disregard to the law abiding public.
   
   The traders in the  Dhakaipatty  observed  a  `bandh'  on  July  22
   protesting  against  the  arrest of three traders without any valid
   reason.  The  local  political  circle  of  the  ruling  Asom  Gana
   Parishad  (AGP)  has  approached the local MLA Girindra Kumar Barua
   and the Chief Minister to transfer the police officer elsewhere.
   
7  TENSION PREVAILS AT LALMATI OVER GRAZING LAND         [S:29-JUL-99]
   ---------------------------------------------
   DHUBRI: Tension prevails in Lalmati area again over the  possession
   of  a  plot  of  high  land  between the Bodos and Muslims. Trouble
   started between the two communities in  June  this  year  over  the
   right to use that plot of land, and it spread to other areas of the
   district leading to a big unrest.
   
   At that time some Bodo youths wanted the plot  for  tea  plantation
   but  the  local  Muslims  wanted  it  as a grazing ground for their
   cattle.  One month later, when the refugees  started  coming  back,
   the  Bodo  youths  again  demanded  the land for tea plantation and
   started working on it. 
   
   Arguments   followed  between  the  two  parties,  and  before  the
   situation  took  a  turn  for  the  worse,  the   Dhubri   district
   authorities promulgated section 144 of the Indian Penal Code in the
   area   prohibiting  both  the  parties  from  utilizing  the  land.
   Permanent police pickets were also posted on July 25.

8  BRAHMAPUTRA CARGO SERVICE FROM TEZPUR BEGINS          [S:31-JUL-99]
   --------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   The  Inland  Water Transport Department has started the
   first commercial cargo service from Tezpur to Panikheti in Guwahati
   from July 30.  Cargo services would soon start from Bishwanath ghat
   and Nagarbera to Guwahati. 
   
   The feasibility of introducing more such service from various parts
   of the State are under study.  Director of IWTD,  Mr  N.C.Das  said
   that India and Bangladesh governments have, in principle, signed an
   agreement  during  its  last  meeting on June 28 to introduce cargo
   services from Assam to Bangladesh.
   
9  ENVOY TO ANGOLA UPEN BRAHMA MEETS CHIEF MINISTER      [S:31-JUL-99]
   ------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  India's Envoy to Angola Upen Brahma met the Assam  Chief
   Minister  at Janata Bhawan in Dispur on July 30 and exchanged views
   on different social and cultural aspects of the State.   Mr  Brahma
   assured  the chief minister of all help in establishing a centre of
   the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in the State.  Mr  Brahma
   was earlier the senior deputy director of ICCR.

______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
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