Guwahati: December 6: Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS) condemns the brutal and senseless murder of innocent Naga wage earners and their protesting allies by the Indian armed forces. Even as our region prepares for the season of peace and festivities, special forces of the Indian army ambushed and killed young Naga men returning home to their village from working on the coal mines in the Mon district. News reports say that they were in a pick-up truck and singing songs, as they were happy to return home for the weekend on 4 December 2021. The army ambushed them between Lower Tiru, where they had gone to work in the mines, and Oking, where they lived. As per reports in the local media, six innocent Naga men died instantly, and two more succumbed to their injuries. Subsequently, the Indian armed forces opened fire on villagers from Oking and its neighbouring areas, who were searching for their murdered kin. The death toll now stands at 16 (sixteen), as per media reports.
This event is a reminder of the generational trauma that people of the Northeast, including the Nagas, continue to be subjected to. The Naga people were supposed to be safer following a ceasefire agreed upon by Naga armed opposition groups and the government of India in 1997. Instead, they have continued to suffer under threats made against them by the Indian security forces, who hide behind the grotesque law called Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958. The tragic loss of lives on 4 December 2021in Mon district, Nagaland, was a prime example of impunity that comes with AFSPA. Special forces units were emboldened by decades of immunity offered to them by this draconian law, so they saw no need to inform civilian authorities or even their paramilitary counterparts of the ambush of the innocent villagers.
In the meantime, this heinous action has elicited condemnation from every quarter, including India’s Home Minister, the Chief Minister, and Deputy Chief Minister of Nagaland. The government of Nagaland has constituted a 5-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the massacre of innocent miners and their protesting kin. We welcome the elected representatives' effort and wish to sound a cautionary note about the fate of other investigations and commissions of inquiry following excesses committed by the armed forces against civilians in Northeast India. The Justice KN Saikia Committee report on extrajudicial executions in Assam and the Justice Upendra Singh Committee report on the killing of Thangjam Manorama has not been acted upon and have yet been acted upon to see the light of day. We cannot allow that to happen now.
MASS, therefore, makes the following demands as we stand in solidarity with our grieving Naga comrades:
The Government of India must repeal AFSPA immediately and without any prevarication.
There should be an impartial inquiry conducted by a sitting judge.
The guilty army personnel must be tried for premeditated murder in a court of law. Their names and designations should be made public, and the Indian armed forces should dismiss them from service to face the law as common citizens.
Families of the dead and injured must receive maximum compensation.
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Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma announced the decision on Wednesday, saying the state government reviewed the prevailing law-and-order situation in the Garo Hills region before deciding to defer the polls.
The unrest erupted during the nomination process in Chibinang in West Garo Hills, where clashes broke out between groups supporting and opposing the participation of non-tribal candidates in the GHADC elections. Two persons were killed...
The Meghalaya High Court has set aside a controversial notification that made possession of a Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate mandatory for candidates contesting the upcoming elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
Delivering the judgment on March 10, Justice H. S. Thangkhiew ruled that the February 17, 2026 notification issued by the GHADC Executive Committee lacked legal authority and did not follow the procedure required under the Assam and Meghalaya Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Councils) Rules, 1951.
The court observed that the notification effectively barred non-tribal voters and candidates from participating in the council elections...
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The tensions stem from a controversial notification requiring candidates contesting the council elections to possess valid Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate documentation. The rule has effectively prevented many non-tribal residents—particularly Bengali-speaking Muslims living in the plains belt areas such as...
North East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a grassroots development organisation based in Jorhat working with people’s struggles and community development initiatives, observed International Women’s Day at Chumoni Chapori village under the Jhanjimukh area in Jorhat district on Sunday, bringing together local women, community leaders and youth to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women in society.
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A significant milestone for literature from Northeast India has been marked with the publication of The Yellow Metaphor, a collection of poems by Assamese poet Jiban Narah, now released by Penguin Random House India.
The book is a translated anthology of Narah’s poetry and is considered a rare achievement for the region. It is reportedly the first translated poetry collection by a single poet from Northeast India to be published by Penguin, and among only a handful of works in a regional Indian language to receive such recognition from the global publishing house.
The Yellow Metaphor brings together 99 selected poems written over a span of 33 years, reflecting Narah’s long poetic...
Sivasagar, March 6: A meeting of organisations associated with the religious and intellectual affairs of the Tai-Ahom community was held on Thursday (March 5) at the public auditorium of Bakata Parijat Panchayat in Sivasagar district. The meeting was chaired by Jibeshwar Mohan Deva, founding principal of Tingkhang College.
Several prominent personalities attended the meeting, including Manaranjan Baruah, president of the Mohan-Deodhai-Bailung Sanmilan; Vidya Phukan, president of the Mohan-Deodhai-Bailung Pandit Parishad; former president of Phra-Lung-Moung Assam Golap Gohain; secretary Pranjal Mohan; noted Tai cultural researcher Kamal Jyoti Mohan; Tai-Ahom scholar Nripen Mohan;...
Guwahati, Feb 28: The Assam government’s decision to seek a 5 per cent stake in Oil India Limited (OIL) has triggered discussion on the State’s long-term approach to the oil and gas sector in the Northeast.
The proposal, under which Assam has sought a minority share in OIL — where the Government of India holds 56 per cent — will be examined by the Centre, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the State is extending full cooperation to oil sector companies and urged that shares be allocated to Assam to support smoother functioning and stronger coordination.
Reacting to the development, Shantikam Hazarika — former Chairman of...
New Delhi, March 1: Concerns have been raised over the national HPV vaccination campaign launched on February 28, 2026, with a citizen questioning its scientific basis, operational preparedness, and public health prioritisation.
In a public statement, Donthi N. Reddy said that not a single state has published baseline data on cervical cancer incidence or HPV prevalence prior to the rollout. Without such baseline indicators, he argued, outcomes cannot be measured, and without measurable outcomes, the reported annual expenditure of ₹1,300 crore cannot be properly evaluated.
The campaign involves administration of the HPV vaccine Gardasil-4 to 14-year-old girls across the country, aiming...
North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a grassroots civil society organisation based in Jorhat, Assam, participated in the 13th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) from 24–27 February, 2026, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.
Tirtha Prasad Saikia, Director of NEADS, represented the organisation at the Forum. He also participated in his capacity as the Constituency Focal Point for People Affected by Conflicts and Disasters and as a Regional Coordinating Committee Member of the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM).
During...
The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Wednesday submitted a detailed “Chargesheet 2026” against the BJP-led Assam government, symbolically placing it before what it termed the “People’s Court of Assam.” The chargesheet targets the government headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, covering the period from May 10, 2021 to February 18, 2026.
In a press briefing in Guwahati, APCC leaders alleged large-scale corruption, economic mismanagement, constitutional violations, and failure to protect the rights of indigenous communities. The document lists 20 major charges, including the alleged operation of a “syndicate raj,” accumulation of illegal wealth, rising public debt, and...
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