Saturday, Nov 20, 2004
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By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, NOV. 19. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, leaves tomorrow on a three-day trip to the North-East. An aide described the visit as a quest for peace and harmony in the region. Dr. Singh begins his journey in Imphal where he is scheduled to hand over the historic Kangla Fort back to the people of Manipur. Regarded as the "proud symbol of a proud people,'' the fort has so far remained in use of the Army.
Panel members finalised
On the eve of his trip, the Home Ministry has finalised the composition of a Committee constituted to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. It will be headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge and Chairman of the Law Commission of India. The members include the former Special Secretary (Home), P.P. Srivastava; the former Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt-General (retd.), V.R. Raghavan; jurist, S.P. Nakade; and journalist and social activist, Sanjoy Hazarika,who has spent many years trying to explain the region to the rest of India. The inclusion of Mr. Hazarika in the review panel, according to a senior official, would have been dubbed a "heresy'' a few years ago but now it represents the sincerity of the new thinking of the new Government. "We are willing to heed the demands from civil society if it helps restore peace and harmony,'' the official said.
Protest plan off
The All-Assam Students' Union (AASU) has called off its protest programme after it was announced that a tripartite review meeting with the Centre, the Assam Government and the AASU to take stock of the implementation of the Assam Accord would be held soon. The Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, made the announcement after consultation with Dr. Singh and the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil. The Centre reiterated that it was committed to the implementation of the Assam Accord in letter and in spirit. The State has been witnessing a prolonged agitation since July against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act that provides immunity to the security forces, following the killing of an unarmed 32-year-old woman, Thangjam Manorama Devi, by jawans of the Assam Rifles.
Army probe
In a bid to quell the unrest in Senapati district of Manipur on the eve of Dr. Singh's visit, the Army today ordered a court of inquiry into the killing of a retired teacher on Wednesday. In the latest case, men from a joint operations team of the Assam Rifles and Manipur Police killed Rengtuiwan Chiru, 75, the retired teacher, and injured his wife, Thangmuchim, in Manipur's Senapati district during a cordon-and-search operation. The Manipur Chief Minister, Ibobi Singh, has also ordered a parallel judicial probe. According to the Army version, the operation took place on "specific information'' about the presence of four or five militants in Bungte Chiru village under the Bishnupur police station. As soon as the joint team began blocking the exit points as a precursor to searching the village, the militants began escaping using some civilians as shields. This aspect could not be ascertained at that time because of darkness. The security forces fired four rounds, killing the retired teacher and injuring his wife. Dr. Singh will lay the foundation for a 97.9-km long Jiriban-Imphal Road (Tupul) new broad gauge line railway project at Jiribam. The new line, at an estimated cost of Rs. 727 crores, will terminate at Tupul, 25 km from Imphal. The line beyond Tupul is not technically feasible because of the high hill range.
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