Irom Sharmila rejects AAP offer to contest polls
Kolkata: Manipur’s ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Chanu Sharmila has rejected an offer from the Aam Aadmi Party to join politics and contest this year’s Lok Sabha elections. “She got an offer, but she is not interested in joining politics at all,” Sharmila’s brother Irom Singhajit told PTI from Imphal on FRiday. The offer was made to her recently through Just Peace Foundation, formed by supporters of Sharmila who has been on a hunger strike for the last 13 years demanding repeal of the “draconian” Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). “She doesn’t want to join any kind of political party, but she has said that she will continue to fight consistently and independently with the people and not with any political party,” Kshetrimayum Onil of the foundation said. A civil rights activist and poet, 41-year-old Sharmila’s non-violent resistance has become a nucleus for collective protest against AFSPA, which allows securitymen to even kill a person on suspicion without the fear of facing a trial in court. On November 2, 2000, an Assam Rifles battalion had allegedly killed 10 civilians at a village near Imphal. Three days later, Sharmila embarked on her fast, demanding revocation of the AFSPA. Hunger strike is seen as an attempt to commit suicide, a punishable offence, by the court and since then she has been kept under arrest at a special ward of Jawaharlal Nehru hospital in Imphal where she is forcibly nose-fed. Having shunned food and water all these years, she had recently refused to accept any award as well. (PTI)
655 youngsters donate blood on Valentine’s day
Aizawl: At least 655 people, mostly youngsters, donated blood on the occasion of the Valentine’s Day on Frday in Aizawl and southern town of Lunglei, Lalbiakthanga Pachuau, president of the Association for Voluntary Blood Donation of Mizoram (AVBDM) said. Pachuau said that mass blood donation camp called ‘Blood for your Valentine’ was organised by the AVBDM in Aizawl, Lunglei, other six district headquarters and big towns. He said that 522 people including 104 girls donated blood in Aizawl while 133 youths donated blood voluntarily in Lunglei. The number of blood donors in other district headquarters was yet to be received, he added. (PTI)
Endangered Geckos seized
Tezpur (Assam): Two endangered Tockay Geckos brought from Imphal have been seized from a vehicle in Tezpur. Acting on a tip off, the geckos were seized from a vehicle on the Kaliabhomora bridge under Tezpur police station on Friday night, police sources said. Two persons, Gaur Singh and Harun Rashid, were arrested. The Tockay Gecko, frequently traded for medicinal purposes, is the second largest Gecko species, attaining lengths of about 11–20 inches. (PTI)
Supreme Court verdict on Majithia Wage Board welcomed
Guwahati: The Assam Media Employees Federation (AAMEF) has welcomed the recent Supreme Court verdict upholding the constitutionality of the Majithia Wage Board for journalists and non-journalists. AAMEF president Hiten Mahanta and general secretary Keshab Kalita, in a statement, advocated for full implementation of the recommendations of the Majithia Wage Board in every media house in Assam. Extending gratitude to the Assam Tribune group of newspapers here for being the first in the country to implement the Wage Board recommendations, the AAMEF urged all media houses to follow suit. The AAMEF appealed the Assam government to take steps to get the Wage Board recommendations implemented by all newspaper houses in the state. (PTI)
73 grams of Heroin seized
Aizawl: Mizoram Excise and Narcotics department officials seized 73.500 grams of heroin from two places and arrested three persons. The Narcotics officials said that 45.500 grams of heroin was seized in Vaivakawn locality of Aizawl city and arrested Lalhmingliana (35) and Lalchawiliana (25), both residents of Aizawl in this connection. The Narcotics officials posted at the Mizoram-Myanmar border Champhai district seized 28 grams of heroin at Melbuk near Myanmar border this morning and arrested Hmingthansanga (42), a resident of the Mizoram-Myanmar border trade centre village Zokhawthar. The officials said that the contraband consignments were smuggled from Myanmar to be sold in Mizoram. The three accused were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985, they added. (PTI)