13 ISI agents arrested in Asom

Guwahati, June 22 (UNI): The Army today arrested 13 suspected ISI agents, four of whom were Hindus, in North Cachar district of Asom.

Defence sources said acting on specific intelligence inputs, the Army arrested the agents - most of whom hailed from Rajasthan - from different parts of the Haflong, the district headquarters.

The accused, identified as Lakshmi Narayan Sarma (Rajasthan), Md Islam (Rajasthan), Md Isan Sheikh (Rajasthan), Md Rekibuddin (Rajasthan), Abdul Khaleq (Karimganj, Asom), Mahabir Sarma (Rajasthan), Bajrang Sheikh (Rajasthan), Zakir Hussain (Karimganj), Abdul Salam (Karimganj), Naresh Sarma (Karimganj), Meijul Lashkar (Karimganj), Abdul Talukdar (Karimganj) and Surya Tantubau (Cachar, Asom), had been staying separately in rented houses. Phones and incriminating documents seized from their possession suggestED that they haD been maintaining links with fundamentalist elements in UAE, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

However no arms or ammunition were recovered from their possession.

The Army suspected the agents intended to establish links with the local militant outfits during their stay in the secluded hill district. The accused had been handed over to the police, and investigation was on to unearth their credentials. The agents, who had come to the state three months back, had been working in shops, hotels, electronic outlets and as tailors. Noting that the arrests have pointed to the growing network of fundamentalist elements in the state, defence sources hinted that the revelations of the accused could lead to more arrests.

RSS behind Asom blast: ULFA

Guwahati, June 14 (UNI): The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) today accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of engineering yesterday's blast at Hajo, about 50 km from here, which killed two people and injured 45 others. After having denied any hand in the blast at the heart of a market in Hajo, ULFA's 'military spokesperson' Raju Barua said in an emailed statement, ''The blast was carried out by the students wing of the RSS at the behest of Asom Public Works (APW) chief Abhijeet Sarma.'' ''ULFA has off and on apprised the people about the blue print made by the RSS to trigger communal and ethnic division among the Assamese people. For this purpose, the Hindu body has specially trained its activists,'' ULFA spokesperson stated.Slamming the APW, an anti-ULFA organisation campaigning against the outfit in Asom, Mr Barua said the APW has been engaged in a silent anti-Asom war. ULFA also claimed that a rebel Dibjyoti Kalita, who was killed in an encounter with police at Guwahati yesterday, and the three accused arrested by police at Hajo after the blast had no links with the outfit. Two people were killed yesterday when an IED, planted on a bicycle, exploded at the Buldudh market at Hajo at around 1220 hrs when the market was teeming with activities. Over 45 people, including several minors, were injured in the blast which occurred barely ten hours after Guwahati police gunned down a rebel, arrested another and seized a huge cache of arms in separate raids in the city.

Cancer claims 483 lives every year in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jun 7 : Mizoram has the highest incidence of cancer in the country with 483 people dying every year from the dreaded disease in the state since 2003.Around 1,079 new cancer cases are reported in the state annually, a senior doctor of Aizawl Civil Hospital said Wednesday quoting the population-based Cancer Registry records.Eric Zomawia, senior specialist in Pathology department of Aizawl Civil Hospital and the head of Regional Cancer Centre here, said that Mizoram has the highest incidence of cancer as per the records of the cancer registry in the country.Experts claimed that extensive use of tobacco, especially smoking by the Mizos caused most of the cancer cases.Meanwhile, the state government had mooted a project to establish Cancer Hospital at Zemabawk near here.The state government also had submitted a proposal to the Centre for establishment of an oncology wing in Lunglei Civil Hospital in South Mizoram.

Kingfisher now eyes growing NE market

New Delhi, Jun 7 : Close on the heels of its Air Deccan acquisition, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines will bid to partner the North Eastern Council (NEC), which is mulling a separate airline for the northeastern region with a private carrier. Other private carriers are likely to decide on bidding soon.Constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1971, the NEC is the nodal agency for economic and social development of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.Under the proposal, the private airline will provide not only aircraft and scheduled services but also maintenance and engineering support at airports in the region. NEC will provide financial support for these operations. According to sources, NEC has reserves of Rs 2,000 crore.“Our ATR fleet is prepared to fly provided we get approval,” a Kingfisher source said. Kingfisher has a fleet of 29 aircraft, of which eight are ATRs.At present, 11 destinations in the northeast are connected by eight operators, which operate 258 flights a week.However, a senior ministry official feels there is no need to start a separate airline for the region.Since traffic has more than doubled since 2000, fares have also registered a considerable decline.The government has also issued no objection certificates to Sky King Airlines to operate scheduled services and Surya Airlines to operate non-scheduled services in the region.