GUWAHATI, Oct 4: A man may die but his ideals remain forever to inspire others. This truth has been brought home by eight dedicated youth from Majuli, who have taken up the work initiated by AVARD-NE chief Sanjay Ghosh for uplift of downtrodden people of the flood-ravaged island but were left half done following his brutal assassination by ULFA militants.

With active support from Sumita Ghosh, the wife of the slain NGO leader, these eight youths have formed a voluntary organisation called Rural Economy Development Society (REDS) with the objective of creating an awareness among the islanders about their problems and how to tackle them. Now Sumita is an adviser of REDS.

Sumita, who was approached by a group of local youths during her last visit to the island on June 30, 1998 just one year after the killing of Sanjay Ghosh, has arranged a six month training on basic strategies of social development, methodology of working, and action planning at Urmul Trust of Rajasthan, one of the biggest NGOs of the country with which Sanjay Ghosh was actively involved. The training was arranged by Sumita, who has taken keen interest in helping the youth to complete the half-done work of her husband.

The training and a real life experience of the fruits of the work taken up by AVARD-NE in the largest river island have given them a new-found confidence to undertake a series of development and awareness activities through REDS.

Following the foodsteps of Sanjay, the NGO has formed 18 self-help groups (SHG) among local Mising and other backward womenfolk on an experimental basis. The members of these SHGs have been trained on the basics of micro-credit and the habit of savings while undertaking income generation programme like weaving and bamboo craft. These 18 SHGs have been able to build up a strong fund of Rs 30,000 within a very short period which has encouraged many more women to come forward, said Pradip Das, Secretary member of the organisation.

To supplement the efforts of the womenfolk in their income generation activities, REDS has also brought in fashion designers from far off places in Rajasthan to impart training to the womenfolk belonging to both Mising and non-Mising backward community on the requirement of textile market outside the State. A three month workshop is going on from September at Kamalabari.

In this workshop, training is being imparted to the women as to which colour, design and motifs have more demand in the national markets and how to improve the quality of indigenous weaving designs of the island to capture the textile markets outside the State.

In the handloom and weaving training centre of the REDS at Kamalabari, beautiful garments like mekhela sador, salowar-kamiz of eri, dopattas of raw silk, fashionable bags, bedcovers, cushion covers, jackets are being produced in large numbers for textile market in Delhi.

"Various organisations like Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Ratan Tata Trust have come forward for financial assistance in our humble effort. Till now we have received Rs 1,38,000 as one time grant from Ratan Tata Trust and Rs 5,70,000 from Rajiv Gandhi Foundation of which Rs 3,00,000 has been provided as a revolving fund. We have also contacted SAHAY for financial help for our future course of activities of child and old age development programmes", said enthusiastic Dipankar Das who has developed his skill in bamboo-craft.

SILCHAR, Oct 7: Construction work for upgradation of the 198-km-long Silchar-Lumding metre gauge railway track into a broad gauge line has been jeopardised by a syndicate which has links with a section of surrendered Ulfa (Sulfa) activists. This syndicate is allegedly trying to manipulate the contracts for the Rs 648-crore project in the favour of a particular contractor.

Top officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway at Maligaon today confirmed that the syndicate was pulling strings to block submission of tenders for contracts by all contractors, except a chosen one, through force. The chosen contractor would then quote the lowest bid in order to bag the contracts. Sources alleged that the syndicate corners 10 per cent of the amount that is bid in the contracts by the firm.

The sources alleged the hand of the "powerful syndicate" was visible at the Northeast Frontier Railway (construction) offices at Lumding and Maligaon, where the submission of the contracts is being manipulated.

Such manipulative practices allegedly reached their peak when tenders were floated in separate groups for a Rs 10-crore earth-cutting project for gauge conversion in the 22-km Chandranathpur-Ditakcherra section of the track.

The sources revealed that the Northeast Frontier Railway (construction) authorities were forced to postpone the date of opening of tenders twice recently -- the first one scheduled on August 30 and the second on September 15. The new date for the opening of the tenders has been fixed on Tuesday. To bring about transparency in the tender process and end such malpractices, the Northeast Frontier Railway (construction) has allowed contractors to submit the tenders at the railway offices in Calcutta, Alipurduar and New Jalpaiguri.

The local contractors are peeved with the coercive pressure being mounted by the syndicate on them to prevent them from submitting the tenders. Local BJP legislator Bimalangshu Roy said he had drawn the attention of the Union minister of state for railways Digvijay Singh to such malpractices by the syndicate.

The current delays in the finalisation of the contracts caused by the manipulations of the syndicate will stymie the pace of construction work for conversion of the track, the deadline for which has been set in early 2006.

Northeast Frontier Railway (construction) deputy chief engineer Ajay Kumar said construction work is now proceeding apace in three sections comprising 90 km of the total 200-km track of the proposed 6.81-metre-wide broad gauge line between here and Lumding.

KOKRAJHAR, Oct 8: Despite sporadic incidents of violence, the confidence level of the common people of the trouble-torn Kokrajhar district has been improving with each passing day and it was heartening to see thousands of people thronging the Durga Puja pandals till late at night.

Brigadier Sukhdev Singh of the Army brigade posted in Kokrajhar for counter-insurgency operations in four lower Assam districts -- Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara, told The Assam Tribune that the overall law-and-order situation in Kokrajhar was under control but at the same time, he admitted that the situation become a bit tense in certain areas because of difference between rival Bodo groups.

Giving an account of the counter-insurgency operations, Brig Singh said that the main aim of the security forces was to bring back the misguided youths to the mainstream. He revealed that in the past eight months, about 30 militants were killed and more than 80 others were arrested by the security forces in the districts of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon. He pointed out that the leaders of the militants outfits -- United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) -- did not want solution to the problem as they were leading a lavish life, while the lower-level cadres were being treated more like labourers. Most of the lower-level cadres of the militant outfits were tired of such treatment, but they are not in a position to come out openly, he added.

Brig Singh said that at the moment, the NDFB did not have a strong mass base in Kokrajhar district, but the outfit adopted hit-and-run tactics in the northern part of Kokrajhar district bordering Bhutan, where they have their camps. He said that it was difficult to ascertain the exact number of militants of the NDFB staying in the Bhutan camps, but the number should not be more than a thousand. The Army Brigadier, however, said that though the relations between the Army and the local people have improved considerably, Bodos are a close-knit society and they are not coming forward to the provide information about the movement of militants in the areas in the northern side of Kokrajhar district. The NDFB has also started recruiting youths from other communities and militants belonging to the Hajong community were also apprehended by the security forces.

Extortion has become a major problem as the militants belonging to the NDFB have resorted to large-scale extortion in the northern part of Kokrajhar in recent months. Brig Singh said that the militants even did not spare the fourth grade employees of the State Government and the petty businessmen. He said that even the Sub-divisional Officer of Bijni in Bongaigaon district received an extortion note from the militants. He said that the Adivashi people, who go to the forests to collect firewood, which is the only means of livelihood for them, are paying money to the NDFB and those who refuse to pay are being targeted by the militants. Recently the Army nabbed the commander in charge of extortions of the NDFB and recovered an amount of Rs 56,000 from his possession. During questioning the militant admitted before the security forces that on the previous day he had sent an amount of Rs four lakhs to the high command.

Reacting to reports that the Army wanted to take over the security of the Manas National Park, Brig Singh said that no such move is on the cards at this moment. He said that the Army can only launch specific operations in the National Park and in fact in recent past, the Army launched several successful operations against the militants belonging to the ULFA in the National Park.

Brig Singh said that the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) were abiding by the ceasefire agreement and the Army was holding regular meetings with the leaders of the outfit to complete the modalities of the ceasefire and to collect the list of their cadres. He said that the police also issued identity cards to the BLT cadres to remove misunderstandings.

Efforts are also on by the Army to remove misunderstandings between the Bodo and Adivashi communities in the district, which witnessed ethnic clashes in 1996. Brig Singh said the Army, in a bid to removing the misunderstandings, organised football matches between teams of the Bodo and Adivashi communities. He admitted that the relief camps can become the breeding grounds of trouble as it is very easy for the trouble-mongers to incite the people living in camps. He said that the Army has adopted some of the camps and taught the inmates about maintaining hygiene and distributed cloths, blankets, pressure-cookers, etc, to the inmates to maintain close ties with them and to prevent recurrence of any trouble. "It is up to the State Government to rehabilitate the people living in the camps and the Army can do very little about it. Our only aim is to prevent recurrence of any ethnic violence in the district," he added.

The Guwahati City Police deserves kudos from all peace-loving citizens of Assam for having busted a den of international gunrunners in Shillong on Tuesday, which is expected to seriously affect the activities of the various militant outfits operating in the State. This will also undoubtedly help the police to get more details about the modus operandi of this and other gangs and their conduits, who are operating in the north-eastern region in service of the extremists, apart from further boosting the morale of Assam policemen in their operations against the extremists. It is true that it is not for the first time that the police has busted a gunrunner racket. But what is remarkable about the instant case is that it was the City Police which took the initiative of undertaking the operation in another State by drawing up an appropriate plan. Normally, it is the police of the State concerned who takes the lead in such matters while taking along policemen from another State on whose tip-off such operations may be undertaken. The other aspect is that it is perhaps for the first time that a gang supplying arms from various foreign countries has been nabbed.

While the police, paramilitary forces and the Army need to follow it up with more raids in gunrunner dens elsewhere in the North-east and secure as much information on their modus operandi, the government needs to focus on the fact that for much of the extremist violence it is the surfeit of clandestine weapons which is to blame. Obviously cutting off supplies of arms and ammunition should be the prime area of concern for the government and the security agencies engaged in counter-insurgency operations. Unfortunately, not much has been achieved so far in this area, as the extremists continue to get their required quotas of the arms. In fact, this is an area where sharing of Intelligence and the need to coordinate the operational strategy and tactics among the police and security agencies of various States should be given top priority. It is only in the recent years that a coordinated approach has been evolved after the years of the law-enforcing agencies having worked on their own and seeking to take the entire credit for any success in the operations by themselves. There can be no question about the fact, which is palpable even to the layman that arms and ammunition, and sophisticated ones at that, (it was for the first time that an American-make M-16 assault rifle was recovered in Tuesday's raid in Shillong) would be pumped into the north-eastern region in the days to come if one were not to see the ISI designs for the region. A pertinent point which is intricately linked to the issue is that clandestine gunrunning requires transaction of huge amounts of hard cash, which cannot change hands unless there is a flourishing trade in drugs along the international borders and such other illegal trade and commercial activities which rake in easy money to the operators. Obviously, the job requires a comprehensive strategy involving not just the Intelligence and security agencies, but also all other agencies which are involved in detecting other illegal and criminal activities like drug-trafficking. The problem gets more intricate when the operatives work in different locations under difficult terrain. Nabbing a drug pusher here or a gunrunner there is certainly not going to help check the menace. That way, the governments of the north-eastern region, which is adjacent to the notorious "Golden Triangle" and is open to several routes for the gunrunner gangs, need to evolve a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to achieve the objective.

DIBRUGARH, Oct 13: The Neurology department of the Assam Medical College (AMC) is hurtling towards extinction, with the State Government transferring the lone associate professor, Dr Narayan Upadhyaya, from here to the Gauhati Medical College (GMC).

This super-speciality was being managed by Dr Upadhyaya as a one-man department since the last ten years. In this period, the Government ignored repeated pleas to appoint supporting staff like registrars and junior professors to make the department more purposeful. Though in the earlier days this super specialty was part of the general medicine department, with rapid advances in medical sciences, neuroscience came out on its own as a life saving department.

With the transfer of Dr Upadhyaya, the department here is doomed to close down, atleast until his replacement is announced. Dr Kalyan Kumar Gogoi, local MLA, said "this is the gift of the AGP Government for Dibrugarh on the eve of the party's 15th anniversary." The local MP Paban Sing Ghatowar, today told this correspondent that he is "very disturbed" by the news and assured to take up the matter with the Government. Caught unawares, local AGP leaders too have expressed surprise at the move, while refusing to comment further on the matter.

Incidentally, the multinational tea company, Goodricke (then Stuart Holl India Limited) had in 1993 expressed a desire to donate an amount of Rs 1.63 crore to build up infrastructure for an integrated Neurosciences department within the Assam Medical College. In the last seven years, this amount has not been released as the State Government has been dithering on the matter. The State Health Department once suggested to the company that the amount be allowed to be utilised at the Gauhati Medical College. Of course, this suggestion was rejected by the company, saying it wants the department here to benefit the patients of upper Assam and its adjoining areas.

The next year, the then Health Minister, Dr Bhumidhar Barman came here to lay the foundation stone of the complex. This is where the project stands today, a lone foundation stone near the opthalmology department. The integrated neurosciences department was to be a complete unit with both neurology and neurosurgery and a post graduate super specialty faculty. While Goodricke was to bear the cost of the infrastructure, the recurring expenditure will have to be met by the State Government.

GUWAHATI, Oct 13: Even as certain quarters in the State are at work to stymie the long overdue panchayat polls once again, the process initiated by the Government and the State Election Commission in their bid to hold the election has already taken a heavy toll on school children all over the State.

While it is still uncertain whether the polls could be held by the November end deadline set by the Census Authority in view of the latest High Court order related to boundary of Missing Autonomous Council area, the process has thrown the academic calender in the State into disarray much to the annoyance of these school children who have been forced burn the midnight oil with preponed annual examination schedule.

In view of the 'ensuing panchayat polls,' the State Government recently directed all the schools to hold annual examination by November 15. Usually the academic session begins at mid-January and ends by the end of December.

In the wake of Government directive, the schools have been forced to take special measures to cover the syllabi in full and hold unit tests which put enormous pressure on the students and invariably on their guardians.

Instead of holding one unit test per week, the school authorities have been forced to hold two such tests for the last three to four weeks. The Principal of the city-based Don Bosco School, Father Kuriala has told that teachers of the school have been made to take extra classes to cover the syllabus before the annual examination slated to begin on November 3.

He said, "the students are having very bad days because of rescheduling of the annual examination with a very short notice. The Government should not have taken a hasty decision to change the academic calender and thereby spare the students of the agony."

"But most of the time, adults' interest gets priority over the interest of the children in State like ours." Rued a peeved guardian whose two children are hard pressed to cope with the changed examination schedule.

Another guardian, Sri S Sarma said "it seems no political party wants the panchayat election to be held. Then why our children have been subjected to such agony?" That is way of life here. Innocent people suffer when politicians play their games to hoodwink the masses.

Barring a few well equipped schools in the State, the rest will not be able to cover the entire syllabus before the examination are held. But who cares.

Children from affluent families have been forced by the circumstances to take up crash course on certain topics under guidance of private tutors. Students of most of the city based schools will hardly have a breather before sitting for the annual examination as their unit tests will continue till the last days before the final examination.

It may be mentioned that although the Chief Minister of the State had announced the Government's firm intention to hold panchayat election, and the Assam State Election Commission announced a schedule in this regard, the process has been forced in the balance by a High Court directive which asked the Government to decide on the boundary of Missing Autonomous Council before holding the polls after hearing a petition filed by an Executive Member of the tribal council, Vidya Doley.

GUWAHATI, Oct 13: An ambitious project, to set up 23 common facilitation centres (CFCs) in the North-east to process cane and bamboo, has run into rough weather. Machinery, imported from Taiwan and costing up to Rs 35 lakh each, for three initial centres have been found unsuitable to meet the requirements of the artisans. The aim of the project was to bring about a qualitative change in the handicraft products in the region by enabling better finish. This was to be done by using cane and bamboo processed in the CFCs. This, it was felt, would enable products from this region to create a niche for itself in the international market where quality is the key "mantra". The CFCs would also have saved time and labour for artisans who, otherwise, have to spend time looking for raw materials in forests.

GUWAHATI, Oct 14: The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) is considered to be the most dangerous of the insurgent outfits active in Assam at this moment as it is apprehended that the outfit may try to let loose a reign of terror to regain lost ground, police sources said.

Police sources told this correspondent that the recent threat by the NDFB to target Railways proved that the outfit is quite desperate to hit out. Sources pointed out that the outfit is being isolated from the Bodo masses and they are trying to disturb the peace process and the ongoing talks between the Government of India and the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT). It may be mentioned here that the ongoing peace talks received overwhelming response from different Bodo organisations and the All Bodo Studentsf Union (ABSU) suspended its agitation, as an agitation at this moment might create misunderstanding and affect the peace talks.

Sources said that peace in the Bodo dominated areas of Assam would remain a distant dream till the NDFB is controlled. However, at the initial stages of the counter-insurgency operations in Assam, the operations were mostly directed against the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) as the ULFA was considered to be a bigger political threat. Only of late, with the ULFA lying low, the NDFB came into prominence and in the past one month or so, at least 40 NDFB militants were killed in encounters with the police and security forces in different parts of the State.

Army sources disclosed here today that during the period from September 13 to October 14, at least 20 NDFB militants were killed by the Army in encounterfs in different parts of the State. Sources said that a number of sophisticated weapons including two AK-56 rifles, two 7.62 Dragnov Snipper Rifles, one Chinese rifle, one 7.62 assault rifle, one carbine, seven pistols and a large number of ammunition were recovered fromthe NDFB militants. Four hardcore NDFB militants also surrendered at Titaguri along with arms and ammunition.

Police sources said that despite suffering setbacks, the overall strength of the NDFB has not diminished to a great extent as only the lower-level cadres of the outfit are being killed, while, the top leadership are intact. Very few of the top leaders of the outfit have surrendered, sources pointed out. Though the security forces do not have information about the total number of cadres of the NDFB, sources said that outfit must have at least 500 trained cadres in the camps in Bhutan.

Though the security forces are yet to get clear-cut evidence of the NDFBfs links with foreign agents, it is suspected that the outfit has links with the Pakistani Inter

Services Intelligence (ISI) as the outfit used Pakistani ignition devices to trigger off two major blasts early this year, while, the outfit is maintaining bases in Bangladesh.

The influence of the Church on the NDFB was also evident because of some of the actions of the outfit, sources pointed out.

PATHSALA, Oct: 14: Along with other parts of the State, hundred of hectares of sali paddy crops are destroyed by white disease in the Sarthebari revenue circle. Earlier the two consequitive floods destroyed the newly planted paddy fields. After the flood the peasants were demanding for supply of seedlings, but no response came from the authority, they collected privately from different places. Many peasants could not replant seedlings, because they did not have them. After the flood, while the paddy fields were green, at that time the white disease started attacking the paddy fields. The paddy fields have become white, some of the peasants tried spraying pesticides, but without any effect. The agriculture extension officers, gramsevaks at Sarthebari could not give effective measures to stop further detrioration of paddy fields.

GUWAHATI, Oct 15: City Police today busted an NSCN (I-M) extortion racket operating from the city for quite long time. The drive against the racket has brought to light some significant aspects of the involvement of some city-based inter-state transporters with the NSCN (I-M), said Additional Superintendent of City Police Prasanta Kumar Dutta.

Sri Dutta, who has been conducting the drive against the racket, said that the NSCN (I-M) had been collecting its toll from the city-based transporters carrying cargo to and from Nagaland and Manipur at the rate of Rs 1,300 per trip, through its city-based agents.

The receipts against the payments are issued in the name of Dimapur Goods Transport Association of Dimapur Circular Road. This firm is a camouflaged banner of the NSCN (I-M) and trucks entering Nagaland or Manipur are to produce the receipt of advance payments made to the NSCN fund to ensure peaceful entry and exit from their Naglanad and Manipur castigation where the NSCN (I-M) grit is at work.

One Mangy Singh (35) works as the NSCN (I-M) agent for the purpose and he had appointed one Ashok Kumar, a BE in Electronics from Imphal and prestently owner of a Beltola-based transport firm here, to act as the mediator.

Mangy Singh and Ashok Kumar have so far roped in several transporters' firms in the city like Ma Ambika Roadlines, Manoj Roadlines, Champat Dalal, Binod Dalal and Sushil Transport, among others, in the 'business'.

Army officials about 25 days-back, came to know of the existence of this racket and warned the city-based transporters not to get themselves involved in any such extortion deal. But, instead of responding positively to the Army's forbiddance, the transporters took recourse to a chakka bandh alleging atrocities by the Army.

For the last about 20 days these transporters are on strike and they have been claiming that the strike is a country-wide one. This proves beyond any doubt the connivance of these transporters with the NSCN (I-M), said Sri Dutta.

Ashok Kumar has been picked up and a receipt book of the Dimapur Goods Transport Association, containing 25 leaves, has been recovered from him.

Besides, one Kanu Singh who has been working for Manipur Road Carriers, has also been picked up. Manipur Road Carriers operating from Athgaon area in the city and owned by B A S Shekhawat, is also involved in the game, Sri Dutta said.

NALBARI, Oct 15: "While thousands of my colleagues are begging in bus stands, railway stations, in front of temples and other public places to eke out their living, I am working hard to earn it."

Meet Sri Khanindra Nath Deka (30) of Bhalukdava village in Barpeta district, who has overcome his physical disabilities (he cannot stand, walk and speak as a normal person), to become a source of inspiration for others, and is currently working as a bus conductor to sustain his four-member family. Khanin also provides all kinds of educational facilities to his only sister Mitali who is studying in class VII.

Khanin, popularly known as "Barpetia" among the regular passengers of the Hajo-Nalbari-Barpeta road was not a physically-handicapped person before that ill-fated day of June 10, 1990, when he fell a victim to insurgency. It needs no mention here that the financial position of Khanin's family was not very sound which compelled him to give up studies (he was a class IX student then) and join a public bus "Samrat" (AS-15-0069) as a handiman. The bus was owned by Bilash Bharali of Barpeta. The bus used to run regularly from Barpeta to Guwahati via the Hajo-Nalbari road. On that ill-fated day of June 10, 1990, as the over-crowding bus was returning from Guwahati, a powerful blast at Barndi village destroyed the bus killing 41 passengers, 27 of whom died on the spot. Deva Bharali, son of the bus-owner, immediately rushed a seriously-injured Khanin to Guwahati Medical College Hospital in an unconscious state. After undergoing treatment for a period of four months and nine days, Khanin, who had not been totally cured, was referred to a Patna hospital for surgical operations. Then his father Bhagawati Nath Deka sold his plot of seven bighas of land for his treatment and admitted him at a nursing home in Patna where a few major surgical operations were performed on him. Although Khanin got his life back, tragedy struck him as he was declared totally unfit for all types of hard work.

The real struggle in Khanin's life began after he had returned home from Patna. Despite the fact that doctors had restricted him from carrying on any hard work, finding no other option, he had to serve the then Nalbari SP Jiban Singh as a house boy. In 1992, he came into contact with Umesh Talukdar, a bus-owner of Morowa village and was soon back to his old job of a handiman.

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Judging by the current status of the Centre's dialogues with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issak-Muivah) over extension of the ceasefire outside the State and a key militant leader's overtures to Pakistan's ISI, uncertainty has dawned upon the three-year-old peace talks.

The Centre, which began formal negotiations with the group in 1997, is perturbed over NSCN (I-M) leader Thuingaleng Muivah's "continued nexus" with ISI, reports about which surfaced earlier this year. Muivah, according to official sources, is said to have visited Karachi in January and held discussions with ISI's commandeer Lt Gen Usmani, who oversees the intelligence agency's covert operation in the North-east.

The NSCN (I-M) general secretary was apprehended by Thai police at Bangkok on arrival from Karachi on a "fake" passport. He was recently released by a Thai court on bail. According to sources, government is now analysing certain reports suggesting that Muivah's passport, visa and air tickets were arranged by one 'Pak Agency', a Bangkok-based tourist operator run by one Rafique Khan.

Interestingly, Centre's pessimism about the fate of the talks is readily shared by the Nagaland government as well.

Taking a cue from the Naga rebel leaders' continued attack on the government charging it with not being 'sincere' to resolve the five-decade-old Naga problem, Nagaland Chief and cadre strength during the ceasefire period or visiting Pakistan reflect sincerity" on part of the NSCN (I-M) leaders.

The talks with NSCN (I-M) started during the PV Narasimha Rao regime and continued under both the United Front governments. During I K Gujral's stint as the Prime Minister, Centre announced a ceasfire for three months from August 1997 and periodically extended.

Officials are now keeping their fingers crossed over the prospect of the ongoing talks following the militant group's charge that the Vajpayee government had "deliberately backtracked" on the original condition of ceasefire.

In a recent television interview in Bangkok after his release, Muivah said, "three years after its declaration, the government is now raising the question that ceasefire does not include Naga-inhabited areas except the so-called Nagaland State. This is a new line, that was not our understanding."

"So deliberate backtracking is there," he had charged.

Apparently referring to the government's move to broadbase the scope of dialogue by including other Naga militant groups, Muivah also said, "If you say that you will talk to us, then you have to honour it. Apart from that, if you take initiative to talk with anyone else we will not be party to that."

In fact the issue of extension of ceasefire outside Nagaland and including NSCN (Khaplang) in the peace parleys has caught the government on a wrong footing, with the BJP leadership facing problems in enlisting support of the governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh for extending the ceasefire.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee himself recently convened a meeting of Chief Ministers of these States where the proposal was vehemently opposed, mainly by Assam.

The government, especially Home Minister LK Advani, also wants to doubly ensure that the gamut of talks be extended beyond one group.