INCIDENT

2010

• February 1: Over 40 guns are looted by a mob from an arms shop in Arunachal Pradesh and a student was injured during a clash between students and a CRPF patrol. According to police, a CRPF personnel on patrol duty had an altercation with a group of tribal students and this snowballed into a clash with both sides exchanging fire last evening. Forty-one Smooth Bore Breech Loading guns were looted by the mob from an arms shop at Daporizo, headquarters of Upper Subansiri district, during the clash.

• February 2: “India is strengthening security set-up in Arunachal Pradesh to enhance its deterrent capability but there was no question of militarisation of the North-eastern state”, Defence Minister A K Antony. “...We are strengthening our security set-up in all areas including Arunachal Pradesh because it is a part of India ... integral part of India,” Antony told.

• March 31: Twelve NSCN cadres including a woman cadre, surrender before 19 Assam Rifles at Khonsa in Tirap district.

• April 11: Arunachal Pradesh sounds a maximum security alert following reports that cadres of an influential Myanmarese guerrilla group have infiltrated into the region to create a safe-corridor for Northeast India’s separatist groups to set up bases in China. Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Tako Dabi tells the media that there were definite intelligence inputs about ethnic guerrillas of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) from adjoining Myanmar infiltrating into the State’s Changlang district in recent weeks. “It could be possible that the KIA rebels are here to forge links with various militant groups active in the Northeast and then help create a corridor through Myanmar to set up bases in China,” the Home Minister said. The KIA is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar and stretching up to Yunnan province in China. The KIA formed in 1961 in response to a military coup in Myanmar led by General Ne Win, who attempted to consolidate Myanmarese control over regions on the periphery of the state which were home to various ethnic groups. Originally the KIA fought for independence, but now the official KIO policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Myanmar. The Home Minister said the KIA controls large part of northern Myanmar - a region where up to a half-a-dozen Indian separatist groups from the restive Northeast have well entrenched bases under KIA’s direct patronage. The Home Minister said two of Assam’s main militant groups, the NDFB and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), besides two other influential separatist groups from adjoining Nagaland — the Isak-Muivah faction and the SS Khaplang group of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland — have presence in Arunachal Pradesh.

• May 15: There is no trace of high-ranking Maharashtra forest officer Vijay S Bardekar who was allegedly kidnapped by suspected Bodo militants in Arunachal Pradesh, where he was on a vacation, a minister said. "Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is in regular touch with his counterparts in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. So far we have no information on the whereabouts of the missing officer," Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said. He said efforts are being made by the state governments and security agencies of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to track down Bardekar, who was allegedly kidnapped on May 10. Bardekar, in his early 50s, is an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer of the 1984 batch and is currently posted as joint director (administration) in the Social Forestry Directorate in Pune.

• May 24: A Chinese national, who infiltrated into Arunachal Pradesh from across the border, is arrested by the police suspecting him to be a spy and remanded him in custody at Tezu police station. Sleuths from the RAW, SIB and Army intelligence have come to interrogate him. Identified as Guan Liang (28), the Chinese national was arrested by local police on May 18 at 28th Mile, a few km from Tezu, headquarters of Lohit district. The Chinese was reportedly on his way to Sadiya in Assam when he was arrested. DSP Manik Gogoi said that Liang had been arrested under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act for travelling without any passport and valid documents. “Though Liang is a Chinese (Han), he speaks fluent English. Besides, he knows map reading,” said Gogoi, and added: “He is highly suspected to be a Chinese spy.” Talking to The Sentinel at the Tezu police station, a tired-looking Guan, however, denied that he was a Chinese spy. He claimed that he escaped from his hometown because he did not agree to the policies of the Chinese Government. Stating himself as a strong supporter of Linzhao, he urged this correspondent to go through the history of Linzhao (1932-1968).

• May 25: Keeping up with the relentless drive against the undergrounds operating in Tirap in Arunachal Pradesh 19 Assam Rifles and the district police apprehend 3 hardcore cadres of NSCN (IM) and four OGWs in a daring operation in Khonsa. The apprehended cadres include SS Sgt Maj Athot; the area commander of Khonsa. His interrogation led to another search operation and two hardcore overground workers were apprehended. Roshanlal Meena, a local businessman, was the major conduit for the cadres as he collected tax on behalf of NSCN (IM). A large number of mobile phones were recovered from the cadres and the OGWs including Roshanlal Meena.
• May 25: Guan Liang, the Chinese national who is under Tezu police station seeks political asylum from the Indian government. The 28-year-old Chinese, who was arrested yesterday suspecting to be a Chinese spy, does not want to go back to China fearing persecution.

• May 28: The NDFB militant Khageswar Basumtary alias Rahul Brahma, accused of involvement in an explosion in Guwahati in 2008, is handed over to a joint team of CBI and Assam Police by the Arunachal Pradesh police. The six-member team came to the Lower Subansiri district headquarter to take custody of the 25-year-old militant, who allegedly parked an explosive-laden car at Panbazar in Guwahati. The blast killed eight persons and injured 30 others on October 30, 2008. Basumatary, along with his wife were arrested at Ziro on May 27.

• March 31: Twelve NSCN cadres including a woman cadre, surrender before 19 Assam Rifles at Khonsa in Tirap district.

• April 11: Reports say that cadres of an influential Myanmarese guerrilla group have infiltrated into the region to create a safe-corridor for Northeast India’s separatist groups to set up bases in China. Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Tako Dabi tells the media that there were definite intelligence inputs about ethnic guerrillas of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) from adjoining Myanmar infiltrating into the State’s Changlang district in recent weeks. “It could be possible that the KIA rebels are here to forge links with various militant groups active in the Northeast and then help create a corridor through Myanmar to set up bases in China,” the Home Minister said.

• May 24: A Chinese national, who infiltrated into Arunachal Pradesh from across the border, is arrested by the police suspecting him to be a spy and remanded him in custody at Tezu police station. Sleuths from the RAW, SIB and Army intelligence have come to interrogate him. Identified as Guan Liang (28), the Chinese national was arrested by local police on May 18 at 28th Mile, a few km from Tezu, headquarters of Lohit district. The Chinese was reportedly on his way to Sadiya in Assam when he was arrested. DSP Manik Gogoi said that Liang had been arrested under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act for travelling without any passport and valid documents.

• May 25: 19 Assam Rifles and the district police apprehend 3 hardcore cadres of NSCN (IM) and four OGWs in a daring operation in Khonsa. The apprehended cadres include SS Sgt Maj Athot; the area commander of Khonsa. His interrogation led to another search operation and two hardcore overground workers were apprehended. Roshanlal Meena, a local businessman, was the major conduit for the cadres as he collected tax on behalf of NSCN (IM).

• May 25: Guan Liang, the Chinese national who is under Tezu police station seeks political asylum from the Indian government. The 28-year-old Chinese, who was arrested yesterday suspecting to be a Chinese spy, does not want to go back to China fearing persecution.

• May 28: The NDFB militant Khageswar Basumtary alias Rahul Brahma, accused of involvement in an explosion in Guwahati in 2008, is handed over to a joint team of CBI and Assam Police by the Arunachal Pradesh police. The six-member team came to the Lower Subansiri district headquarter to take custody of the 25-year-old militant, who allegedly parked an explosive-laden car at Panbazar in Guwahati. Basumatary, along with his wife were arrested at Ziro on May 27.

• August 2: Thirty-seven militants of different outfits surrender before the 25 Sector units of Assam Rifles of the Dah Division in Tirap in Arunachal Pradesh. The cadres – 23 from NSCN (K), 7 from NSCN (IM) and 7 from ANLA – surrender with 21 pistols, one M-16 assault rifle, one .22 Chinese rifle, one 9mm carbine, one revolver, seven grenades and 5 SBBL guns, a press release stated.

• August 9: At least 30 people are injured in an ambush laid by Chakma refugees at Diyun as they were returning after attending a claims and objection hearing pertaining to entry of refugees in the Electoral rolls. Allegedly, several Chakmas waiting on the road between Diyun and Namsai attacked the two buses in which the local residents were traveling.

• August 9: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) declares a 12-hours state wide bandh in its first phase of protest on August 15, the Independence Day. It has demanded immediate deportation of the refugees or else threatened to go on an indefinite protest all over the state until the refugees are deported.

• August 22: The Centre initiates steps for augmenting security measures along the international border with China and additional troops are being moved into the bordering areas, while, a battalion of the Arunachal Scouts has also been sanctioned. Talking to The Assam Tribune, Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, Sanjoy Takam said that he, along with Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu met Prime Minister and the Defence Minister recently and discussed the situation on the ground. He said that the Government of India has sanctioned two additional divisions of the Army to be deployed in Arunachal Pradesh for improving vigil along the international border with China. One division of the Army consists of around 10,000 to 12,000 personnel.

• August 23: Indefinite economic blockade against Arunachal Pradesh enforced by the Naharkotiya regional unit of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and 11 other organizations at Joypore-Deomali Road in Dibrugarh district enters the third day.

• August 23: The Dibrugarh district unit of Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) enforces an economic blockade at Joypore Tiniali in protest against the reported diktat from NSCN militants that all Assamese living in Arunachal Pradesh should leave Tirap district within 48 hours. However, there is no official confirmation of the diktat of the militant group.
  
  

2009

• Aug 7: Twenty-eight militants of various outfits surrender before the Assam Rifles at Lekhapani near Khonsa in Arunachal Pradesh. The surrendered militants include 9 ULFA cadres, 8 AANLA cadres, 3 NSCN-IM, 6 NSCN-K and 2 NSCN-U cadres.
  
• September 21: According to sources, security forces in Arunachal Pradesh are planning a massive anti-insurgency operation to free Tirap district from the clutches of the two NSCN factions.
  
• September 21: Twenty eight militants of different militant groups surrender at the Assam Rifles Battalions headquarters at Khonsa.

• October 12: Suspected NSCN (IM) militants abduct 16 Congress activists from Tirap district.

• October 15: Security forces and civil administration in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh nabbed two hardcore NSCN cadres on the Arunachal Pradesh polling day on Tuesday. The 19 Assam Rifles had already arrested five active cadres and four overground workers of the NSCN in the last month, as part of the proactive approach to ensure free and secure environment in the district in the run-up to the Assembly polls in that State.

• October 19: A delegation from Arunachal Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, meets Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at New Delhi and categorically places its objections to the reported dam proposed by the Chinese on the Tsangpo river, known as Brahmaputra in India, before the Prime Minister and called upon the Union Government to take up the matter seriously with Beijing. Though the delegation said it did not mind a Run-of-the-River project on the Brahmaputra, it expressed serious concerns on the reported dam construction that would divert the entire river to drier regions of China.

• October 20: China formally clarifies to India that it is not building a dam over the Brahmaputra river on its side, according to Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu. "The prime minister assured us that there was no dam being constructed over the Brahmaputra by China. In fact, Beijing had formally communicated this to the Indian government," Khandu said on telephone from New Delhi.
• October 20: Arrest of five youths by West Siang district police. Thearrest exposes the sinister designs of NSCN (IM) to rejuvenate the almost dead National Liberation Council of Taniland (NLCT) by supplying arms to trained youths from Arunachal Pradesh. Highly placed sources informed The Sentinel Arunachal that one of the arrested youths in the manhunt at Aalo, Tayum Ruti, is a trained ultra of the erstwhile NLCT. He underwent a rigorous training of 3 months 26 days at Mnt Glit in Nagaland, about 40 kms from Dimapur, under the NSCN (IM) and passed out in January this year.