Ramthar Ni being observed in Mizoram

The Presbyterian Church, the largest church denomination in Mizoram today observed 'Ramthar Ni', the anniversary of the arrival of Rev. D E Jones, the Welsh missionary who established the Presbyterian Church in Mizoram.

Rev. Jones, known to the Mizos as 'Zosaphluia' or the older missionary was sent by the Welsh Presbyterian Church to establish the Presbyterian Church and landed in Mizoram soil on August 31, 1897.

Earlier, two pioneer missionaries - Rev. J H Lorraine and Rev. F W Savidge landed in Mizoram, then known as the Lushai country on January 11, 1894 while the fist missionary to land in the Lushai country was Rev. William Williams, who reached Aizawl from Syhlet (now in Bangladesh) in 1891.

'Ramthar Ni' has been observed by the Presbyterian Church since 1972 and the day is regarded as the day when the church was established in Mizoram.

Prayer and worship services were held in all the local Presbyterian Churches across the state today.

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Mizoram sisters’ ‘rape’, murder: Police search for 18-year-old suspect

The bloodied bodies of the two girls were found around 8 pm Friday near their tin-roofed home in a corner of the village about 80 kms from state capital Aizawl.

Chhingchhip, Aug 31 : A manhunt was launched to arrest an 18-year-old youth suspected to have murdered and possibly raped two sisters — aged three and six — in the Mizoram village of Chhingchhip, said a police officer on Saturday.

The bloodied bodies of the two girls were found around 8 pm on Friday near their tin-roofed home in the village, about 80 km from state capital Aizawl.

J Lalnunmawia, a member of the village council, said near the younger girl’s body villagers found a bag that had the elder sister’s school books, clothes and a blood-stained white t-shirt.

“We took the t-shirt to a few young men in the village and they all said it belonged to Lalchhuantluanga,” he added.

According to him, Lalchhuantluanga is known to be a drug-user — mostly he sniffed glue — and has been caught stealing money several times before. He said some villagers also saw him around the time they were searching for the girls. Later, he disappeared with both villagers and police now searching for him as the prime suspect.

On Friday, the victim’s parents were at their farm near the Tuikum river and the sisters were supposed to visit their maternal uncle’s home nearby, where they never showed up. The 17-year-old sister of the victims was supposed to accompany them there. But instead she had gone to the farm to collect some fresh vegetables, said the girls’ 45-year-old father.

The neighbours said they had last seen the duo playing with their friends in a field around 10 am on Friday.

READ MORE - Mizoram sisters’ ‘rape’, murder: Police search for 18-year-old suspect

No Bru tribal individual turn up for identification

Not a single Bru turned up before the Mizoram officials at the Hazacherra relief camp in North Tripura on the second day today for identification and subsequent repatriation to Mizoram, Mamit district Additional DC Lalbiaksangi said.

Lalbiaksangi said Identification officials from Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei were camping at Hazacherra camp to conduct verification of bona-fide residents of Mizoram since Saturday last.

The identification process began yesterday at the relief camp, the last of the six camps, where efforts would be made to repatriate 3,544 Bru families from six relief camps in Tripura.

The repatriation process under the Road Map-IV for Bru Repatriation, prepared by the state home department and approved by the Supreme Court commenced from July 2 last.

However, no Bru had come forward till date for identification and no one has so far returned to Mizoram even as identification process and repatriation efforts were made at Kaskau, Asapara, Hamsapara, Khakchangpara and Naisingpara relief camps as per schedule of the Road Map.

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ZNP demands another Minister’s scalp

AIZAWL, Aug 25  - Close on the heels of Mizoram Health Minister Lal Thanzara submitting his resignation, Opposition Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) has demanded that Social Welfare Minister PC Lalthanliana should also step down.

ZNP vice president K Liantlinga alleged that a food company, owned by Thanzara, had supplied Rs 22.35-crore worth protein biscuits to Social Welfare department during 2008-2009 to 2014-2015.

Liantlinga said that the Health Minister, earlier a Parliamentary Secretary during 2008-2013 having assisted Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, filed affidavits during elections in 2008 and 2013 that he was the owner of the said food product company at Zuangtui, Aizawl.

The ZNP leader demanded that Lalthanliana should also step down as both were fit to be disqualified as legislators in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

When contacted, Lalthanliana said, “There is no reason for me to resign because the contracts were awarded to the firms by the State purchase advisory body.”

READ MORE - ZNP demands another Minister’s scalp

Dampa Tiger Reserve case: Gauhati HC asks Mizoram Chief Secy to appear before it as state failed to respond

The order comes after Mizo govt failed to respond to a petition for the dismantling of 500 sq kms of Dampa Tiger Reserve and compensation for more than 500 families evicted from within it's boundaries almost 30 years ago.

Aizawl : The Gauhati High Court has ordered Mizoram’s Chief Secretary to appear before it in person on September 1.

The order comes after the state government failed to respond to a petition asking for, in effect, for the dismantling of 500 sq kms of Dampa Tiger Reserve and compensation for more than 500 families evicted from within it’s boundaries almost 30 years ago.

According to Lalramtiama, lawyer for the petitioners PRISM (an Aizawl-based NGO), GHC Chief Justice Sreedhar Rao on Monday asked the Mizoram Chief Secretary to appear before it in person after the state did not file responses through their lawyers after given them several chances.

Lalramtiama said PRISM has asked for the “restoration” of the Dampa Tiger Reserve because it was illegally notified in 1985 after an earlier notification had been quashed by a court.

His clients have asked for the latter notification to be withdrawn and set aside, he said, while demanding compensation for more than 500 families from almost a score villages within the reserve who were evicted without any relief or rehabilitation measures.

READ MORE - Dampa Tiger Reserve case: Gauhati HC asks Mizoram Chief Secy to appear before it as state failed to respond

Man gets 13 years in prison for repeatedly raping, physically abusing 12-year-old daughter

As the girl neared puberty, she was repeatedly raped and physically abused by her father. A local court on Friday sentenced a 38-year-old man to 13 years rigorous imprisonment for raping his 12-year-old daughter repeatedly over a year and cutting off her right forefinger.

The man, a native of Vairengte village in northern Mizoram, was accused by the girl’s school teacher of committing the crimes and police subsequently arrested him following the teacher’s complaints.

The convicted rapist and his wife had separated when the girl was a small child, and the wife had been looking after their child. When she was seven years old, however, the man asked that he start taking care of the girl and his ex-wife agreed.

However, as the girl neared puberty, she was repeatedly raped and physically abused by her father.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Lalbiakzama convicted the man to 10 years for the rape and three years for the physical abuse. The judge, however, showed leniency because of the man’s ill-health.

READ MORE - Man gets 13 years in prison for repeatedly raping, physically abusing 12-year-old daughter

Mizoram minister’s resignation: MNF’s youth wing ups stakes in running battle with Congress

They have also used CM Lal Thanhawla's own public pronouncements to question if he filed correct campaign expenditure claims to the Election Commission for the 2013 state-wide polls.

The youth wing of the opposition Mizo National Front, or MNYF, has upped the stakes in a running battle with the state Congress leadership over Lal Thanzara’s resignation as Minister of State and MLA over a conflict of interest issue. They have also used CM Lal Thanhawla’s own public pronouncements to question if he filed correct campaign expenditure claims to the Election Commission for the 2013 state-wide polls.

In Wednesday’s press conference to defend his younger brother Lal Thanzara, the CM had taken a shot at MNYF president K Vanlalvena saying he had approached Lal Thanhawla for money to sabotage the MNF’s chances at Hrangturzo, one of two constituencies Lal Thanhawla won from in the November 2013 elections.

“I know certain things. In the last state elections, the former MNYF president had told K Vanlalvena he would get a party ticket in Hrangturzo. But since it turned out that he did not, K Vanlalvena came to me with one of our district-level secretaries and said he would campaign for me while still being part of the MNF. Later on he asked me for some money and I gave him some,” Lal Thanhawla had said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, K Vanlalvena called this a lie, recalling the CM had in April also brought up the topic where he said he gave the current MNYF president Rs 2 lakhs during the election campaign.

“Candidates in the 2013 elections were allowed an expenditure of Rs 8 lakhs each. Lal Thanhawla has already submitted expenditure claims to the ECI, and if he has not mentioned this money he supposedly gave me, then that means he breached election laws. I am now announcing this to the people of Mizoram and the ECI,” K Vanlalvena said, alleging it also shows Lal Thanhawla has been “buying electoral victory.”

Rejecting the Congress claim that he stepped down to clear the way for an investigation and that this showed his innocence, the MNYF has also called Lal Thanzara’s resignation as Minister of State and MLA as the only way out for him.

The opposition charged he would anyway have been forced out of office by higher authorities because of the media expose by Scroll.in and RTI documents that respectively showed he owned a huge amount of shares in a company the CM gave crores worth of business to and that a family business had been supplying more than Rs 22 crores worth of wares to the state government even as he held important government positions.

Meanwhile, state Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana said he did not unduly favour HP Food Products, the company owned by Lal Thanzara’s family, and that the company had for years been supplying high-protein biscuits to the government for distribution as part of anganwadi midday meals even before the Congress came to power.

He said HP Food Products has for long been a means of livelihood for the former Minister and MLA, and that its business with the government is not borne of any special bias for it. The MNF youth has however said supplying to the government became a “crime” once Lal Thanzara became part of the government.
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19-year-old girl, sole witness to murder of a family of five, testifies before trial court

Lalzemawii was working as a domestic help at the home of Sangliansiama when the murders that stunned Mizoram.

A 19-year-old girl, who became the only person to have seen and survived the January 9 murders of five members of a family, including a kindergarten student, testified before a packed trial court in Aizawl on Friday.

Lalzemawii was working as a domestic help at the home of Sangliansiama when the murders that stunned Mizoram, which has one of the lowest murder rates in the country (less than two score murders take place in the state on an average each year), were committed.

The 19-year-old told the court on Friday the accused Laltlanchhuaha, a father of two, came to their home around 7.30 pm that winter’s night with a black rucksack police have said he carried a knife, the alleged murder weapon, in and asked for Sangliansiama.

“I was cleaning the floor at the time,” she said, adding the accused stood in the kitchen with his helmet on and had a hand inside the bag. Pi Khualthangi, Sangliansiam’s wife, was also in the kitchen at the time, she says, saying they told the accused the head of the family was in bed.

He came out soon afterward and the accused asked him why he slept so early, and that he replied he was feeling cold. The duo then sat on a chair and the accused took out some kind of catalogue and appeared to try to sell him something, the witness said, adding she said Sangliansiama told him he did not have money.

She and Khualthangi were called into the bedroom by another woman named Vanlalchhungi, Sangliansiama’s sister, to watch a news report about a local murder police had cracked earlier that day.

They were watching the program when they heard a loud sound. Lalzemawii immediately ran out to the kitchen followed by the two middle-aged women. “I saw Laltlanchhuaha pulling out a knife that had gone into my master’s right side, near the abdomen. My master fell to the floor. I kicked Laltlanchhuaha and he stumbled. I turned my attention to my fallen master, but Laltlanchhuaha charged at me with the knife. I pushed the kitchen table against him and I ran into an adjoining bathroom and locked it from inside,” she said.

“From there I heard the groans of the two women. I then heard Isaac (Sangliansiam’s six-year-old son) calling ‘Father, father!’ and then he fell silent. Then I heard Samuel (the family’s teenaged relative who was staying with them at the time) saying ‘What? What is it?’ and he also became silent,” she continued.

“The scuffle subsided after that, and the accused tried to open the bathroom door but he could not. A little later I opened the door slightly to take a peek, and I saw him pacing about the room,” she said.

She then heard commotion from the street below and she put on her cellphone light and waved it from the bathroom’s ventilation to hear someone exclaiming, “There’s someone still alive!”

A few minutes later, she said, some people came to get her from her hiding place and she was taken to the neighbour’s.

Laltlanchhuaha, 37, is accused of killing the five members of the family and has been charged with their murders. Police and hundreds of locals had a stand-off for several hours afterward as a mob demanded he be handed over to them.

Soon after his arrest, Laltlanchhuaha told a judicial magistrate he committed the murders in a fit of rage because Sangliansiama owed him money for his work as a carpenter in the house. Relatives and neighbours have said he did not work at their house. Laltlanchhuaha has subsequently denied before the trial court that he committed the murders.

READ MORE - 19-year-old girl, sole witness to murder of a family of five, testifies before trial court

Tripura, Mizoram ready to implement food security act

Agartala/Aizawl Aug 24 : The Tripura and Mizoram governments have almost computerised their Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), official sources in the two states said.

"We will start implementing the food security act from next month. Our necessary preparation are almost completed," Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told IANS.

He said: "The Tripura government has been demanding universalisation of PDS and distribution of 14 essential items to people through the PDS."

Mizoram Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister John Rotluangliana said in Aizawl that the state government would start implementing the NFSA from October.

"Over 95 percent of the 960,000 ration cards in Tripura have been already digitised. The remaining computerisation works and setting up of call centres are now under process," state Principal Secretary (food and civil supplies) S.K. Rakesh told reporters.

He said: "With the completion of the remaining work, the NFSA will be implemented in Tripura from September as per the state government's decision."

The official said that creating infrastructure, and necessary computerisation of entire TPDS, cost around Rs.11 crore, with the central government providing 90 percent of the expenses.

In Mizoram, so far, over 98 percent of the total 241,272 ration cards have been digitised.

Mizoram minister John Rotluangliana said: "Around 706,000 of the state's more than 10 lakh people will be covered by the food security scheme. This included around 1.36 lakh most poor people under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme."

The minister said that for people left out from the food security scheme, the state government would make arrangement to give rice at cheaper price.

The union government had asked all states and union territories to implement the NFSA from September. But, according to a central government report, the NFSA has been implemented by only 13 states and two union territories.

Most northeastern states are yet to complete the computerisation of the entire TPDS and setting up call centres, both mandatory to implement the Act.

Under the NFSA, which came into force on July 5, 2013, each eligible person would get 5 kg food grain a month at Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Re.1 per kg for coarse cereals through the state governments.

The NFSA entitles up to 75 percent of the rural population and up to 50 percent of the urban population to receive food grain at subsidised prices.

The NFSA was passed by parliament when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was in power at the Centre. The deadline for implementing the same has been extended thrice.

READ MORE - Tripura, Mizoram ready to implement food security act

Mizoram villages inundated

Aizawl, Aug 21 : Hundreds of people have been forced to abandon their homes as flood waters entered eight villages and a portion of a town of Lunglei district. The Khawthlangtluipui river along the Mizoram-Bangladesh border is in spate due to incessant rains for the last three days.

Though no loss of life was reported, around 100 houses were submerged and the whole market of Tlabung town was now under water. The flood victims took shelter in community halls and in the homes of their relatives, officials said.

READ MORE - Mizoram villages inundated

Mizoram Congress leaders defend Lal Thanzara, praise his decision to resign as MoS, MLA

The party leadership also hinted Lal Thanzara will contest a bye-election for the seat he has vacated, Aizawl North 3, saying the party will decide when it comes time to choose a candidate.
  
Aizawl, Aug 20 : Mizoram Congress leaders led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla on Wednesday sought to defend party leader Lal Thanzara following his resignation as a Minister of State and an MLA over conflict of interest charges.

The party leadership, which included Cabinet Ministers Zodintluanga and Lalrinmawia Ralte besides former finance minister Liansailova, said at a press conference Lal Thanzara’s relinquishing of posts on Tuesday should serve as an example to other politicians who refuse to step down in the face of serious impropriety charges, including those from the BJP-led central government.

Condemning PM Modi and the BJP leadership for refusing to respond to charges against Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, the state Congress leaders said Lal Thanzara has on the contrary resigned so that any investigation against him would be open and free, and that this pointed to his innocence.

“Holding shares is not a crime,” CM Lal Thanhawla said as he defended his younger brother Lal Thanzara, who claims he did not know he held 4.76 lakh equity shares in Sunshine Overseas, a Delhi-based company, and denied he received any remuneration from the company.

A report by Scroll, an on-line news portal, recently exposed that Sunshine’s business with the Mizoram PWD (headed by the CM) more than trebled to Rs 24.16 crores during the three years (2009-2012) Lal Thanzara held the company’s shares.

Asked whether he or his brother would, in the light of Lal Thanzara’s claims that he was allotted shares without his knowledge, take action against the company for what would then likely be fraudulent share allotment processes, Lal Thanhawla replied he had earlier also allotted shares by another company without his knowledge and that he got them to take the shares back once he found out.

The CM meanwhile praised Sunshine Overseas saying the company has worked several road contracts on a “voluntary” basis because tenders floated for these found no takers.

The party leadership also hinted Lal Thanzara will contest a bye-election for the seat he has vacated, Aizawl North 3, saying the party will decide when it comes time to choose a candidate.

Lal Thanhawla, whose resignation opposition party Mizo National Front has also demanded, also defended Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana saying his decision to buy more than Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits for anganwadi children over seven years from a company owned by the family of Lal Thanzara, his party colleague and fellow-legislator, was guided by the state’s Purchase Advisory Board.

The Zoram Nationalist Party has released replies to an RTI query by party spokesman Rothuama Sailo that shows H P Food Products supplied over Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits to the Social Welfare Department for distribution to anganwadi centres across the state.

Lal Thanhawla and his party colleagues said the company’s owner is not Lal Thanzara but his son, and that the company is anyway the only company manufacturing high-protein biscuits in the state.

Congress leaders led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla on Wednesday sought to defend party leader Lal Thanzara following his resignation as a Minister of State and an MLA over conflict of interest charges.

The party leadership, which included Cabinet Ministers Zodintluanga and Lalrinmawia Ralte besides former Finance Minister Liansailova, said at a press conference Lal Thanzara’s relinquishing of posts on Tuesday should serve as an example to other politicians who refuse to step down in the face of serious impropriety charges, including those from the BJP-led central government.

Condemning PM Modi and the BJP leadership for refusing to respond to charges against Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, the state Congress leaders said Lal Thanzara has on the contrary resigned so that any investigation against him would be open and free, and that this pointed to his innocence.

“Holding shares is not a crime,” CM Lal Thanhawla said as he defended his younger brother Lal Thanzara, who claims he did not know he held 4.76 lakh equity shares in Sunshine Overseas, a Delhi-based company, and denied he received any
remuneration from the company.

A report by Scroll, an on-line news portal, recently exposed that Sunshine’s business with the Mizoram PWD (headed by the CM) more than trebled to Rs 24.16 crores during the three years (2009-2012) Lal Thanzara held the company’s shares.

Asked whether he or his brother would, in the light of Lal Thanzara’s claims that he was allotted shares without his knowledge, take action against the company for what would then likely be fraudulent share allotment processes, Lal Thanhawla replied he had earlier also allotted shares by another company without his knowledge and that he got them to take the shares back once he found out.

The CM meanwhile praised Sunshine Overseas saying the company has worked several road contracts on a “voluntary” basis because tenders floated for these found no takers.

The party leadership also hinted Lal Thanzara will contest a bye-election for the seat he has vacated, Aizawl North 3, saying the party will decide when it comes time to choose a candidate.

Lal Thanhawla, whose resignation opposition party Mizo National Front has also demanded, also defended Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana saying his decision to buy more than Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits for anganwadi children over seven years from a company owned by the family of Lal Thanzara, his party colleague and fellow-legislator, was guided by the state’s Purchase Advisory Board.

The Zoram Nationalist Party has released replies to an RTI query by party spokesman Rothuama Sailo that shows H P Food Products supplied over Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits to the Social Welfare Department for distribution to anganwadi centres across the state.

Lal Thanhawla and his party colleagues said the company’s owner is not Lal Thanzara but his son, and that the company is anyway the only company manufacturing high-protein biscuits in the state.
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READ MORE - Mizoram Congress leaders defend Lal Thanzara, praise his decision to resign as MoS, MLA

Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

AIZAWL, Aug 18 - Mizoram Minister of State for Public Works Lal Thanzara on Friday denied allegations by opposition parties that he received pecuniary benefits from a construction company working under the State Government.

Addressing party workers at the Congress Bhavan here, Lal Thanzara admitted that the Sunshine Overseas Company gave him shares without his knowledge.

“I learned about the shares only after the allegations made by the opposition and confirmed the fact after I asked the company executives,” the younger brother of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said, adding that he did not know about it earlier as he had never received any pecuniary benefit from the shares.

He also opined that having shares in a company by a Minister was not illegal or improper.

Opposition parties accused Lal Thanzara, who assisted his elder brother in Public Works portfolio, of giving undue favour to the Sunshine Overseas Company by awarding contract worth crores of rupees as he was holding a substantial amount of shares in the construction company.

READ MORE - Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

Trade with Myanmar, Bangladesh Soon: Mizoram CM

Aizawl, Aug 17 : Trade between Mizoram, Myanmar and Bangladesh would be launched soon as border infrastructures were almost ready, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said here on Saturday.

“The land customs station at Zokhawthar (in eastern Mizoram) was recently inaugurated by minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman. This will enhance border trade with Myanmar,” Lal Thanhawla said after unfurling the national flag at the Assam Rifles ground here.

The 69th Independence Day was celebrated across Mizoram, with numerous functions and programmes, including sports and cultural events.

Lal Thanhawla said: “Development of integrated check post at Kawrpuichhuah (in eastern Mizoram) is being constructed and this will facilitate the much awaited border trade with Bangladesh.”

The chief minister said that to stop “jhum cultivation” (slash and burn method of farming), the state government’s flagship programme, New Land Use Policy (NLUP) has made impressive progress and is well on the tract to realise the goals of achieving development in Mizoram.

“Under the NLUP, 90,139 beneficiaries have so far been assisted and assistance for another 44,861 beneficiaries will be started soon to start settled cultivation,” the chief minister said.

He said that after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UN Resident Coordinator and various UN Agencies, several countries have shown interest in joining hands with the government of Mizoram for development of forests, protection and maintenance of eco-system, support for livelihood activities and water and land management.

“An agreement for technical co-operation has been signed between FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), union Agriculture ministry and Mizoram government and US $ 496,000 (Rs 3.15 crores) has been received from the UN body,” he added.

READ MORE - Trade with Myanmar, Bangladesh Soon: Mizoram CM

Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

AIZAWL, Aug 17 - Mizoram Minister of State for Public Works Lal Thanzara on Friday denied allegations by opposition parties that he received pecuniary benefits from a construction company working under the State Government.

Addressing party workers at the Congress Bhavan here, Lal Thanzara admitted that the Sunshine Overseas Company gave him shares without his knowledge.

“I learned about the shares only after the allegations made by the opposition and confirmed the fact after I asked the company executives,” the younger brother of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said, adding that he did not know about it earlier as he had never received any pecuniary benefit from the shares.

He also opined that having shares in a company by a Minister was not illegal or improper.

Opposition parties accused Lal Thanzara, who assisted his elder brother in Public Works portfolio, of giving undue favour to the Sunshine Overseas Company by awarding contract worth crores of rupees as he was holding a substantial amount of shares in the construction company.

READ MORE - Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

Former Mizoram CM: NLFT wants me in talks with Centre

Aizawl, Aug 13 : Former Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga today said that the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) wanted him to be involved in the final round of talks between the outfit and the Centre.

The NLFT leadership submitted a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs that he and former Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) leader Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl should be included in the talks as interlocutors, Zoramthanga told PTI here.

"The copy of the letter was sent to me by the NLFT leaders, but I have not receive any communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs," the erstwhile Mizo National Front (MNF) underground leader said.

"I was involved in the parleys between the Centre and the NLFT in the beginning," he said, adding that he played a role in bringing the two parties to the negotiating table.

Zoramthanga has been instrumental in brokering peace deal between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) and was also involved in talks with ethnic Mizo groups in Manipur.

The former chief minister, however, said that his main role was to build mutual trust between the militant groups and the Centre and not involved in the actual parleys.

Years of hostilities between the government and the militant groups had created mistrust between the two parties which was an ice to be broken for successful talks, he added

READ MORE - Former Mizoram CM: NLFT wants me in talks with Centre

Myanmar national arrested for possession of drugs worth Rs 1.8 crore in Mizoram

The accused has been booked under the NDPS Act and related customs laws after he was arrested at a village on the Indo-Myanmar international border crossing.

Customs staff accompanied by Assam Rifles personnel late on Tuesday night seized 18,000 tablets of meth-amphetamine worth an estimated Rs 1.8 crores and arrested a 60-year-old Myanmar national.

Thangkhanpau, a resident of Tiddim township in Myanmar’s Chin State, has been booked under the NDPS Act and related customs laws after he was arrested at Zokhawthar village, on the Indo-Myanmar international border crossing at Mizoram’s Champhai district.

Myanmar, part of the Golden Triangle, is one of the largest producers of meth-amphetamine in the world. The drug, addiction to which has no known treatment, is mainly produced there by ethnic militias and drug cartels using raw material sourced largely from India.

READ MORE - Myanmar national arrested for possession of drugs worth Rs 1.8 crore in Mizoram

Mizoram: Court asks govt to file counter-affidavit in fraudulent land transfer case

The State EC’s present Secretary, H Darzika, is accused of fraudulently transferring ownership of about 80 acres of land to four persons without the knowledge of 17 original landowners.

The Aizawl Bench of the Guwahati High Court on Wednesday granted three weeks time to the Mizoram Government and the State Election Commission’s present Secretary, H Darzika, to file a counter-affidavit in a case alleging that Darzika in an earlier posting fraudulently transferred ownership of about 80 acres of land to four persons without the knowledge of 17 original landowners.

The four men allegedly later received compensation of Rs 21 crores as the land in question was acquired by the Union Home Ministry for the construction of a Border Security Force office.

According to the petitioners’ lawyer Lalremsanga, Darzika, as then Deputy Commissioner of Serchhip District, oversaw and signed on the “overnight” transfer of the land to four people even as signatures of witnesses to the transfer process were allegedly forged.

Lalremsanga said the 17 landowners knew their land was to be acquired for the project, but they had thought they would be given a total of Rs 70 lakhs or so for it. However, the ownership of their land was transferred to other people without their knowledge.

He added Darzika as the then DC was in charge of assessing both ownership as well as claims for compensation of the land marked for acquisition.

H Darzika did not respond to several calls for comment.

READ MORE - Mizoram: Court asks govt to file counter-affidavit in fraudulent land transfer case

Mizoram on alert after Serows found dead with exacerbated skin disease

Mizoram's forest department has been put on alert after the semi-decayed carcasses of at least 10 Serows, the state animal, were found with what appear to be exacerbated skin disease over the past five months in various regions of the state.

Mizoram’s forest department has been put on alert after the semi-decayed carcasses of at least 10 Serows, the state animal, were found with what appear to be exacerbated skin disease over the past five months in various regions of the state.

The Serow, a small antelope-like animal usually found alone (or in pairs during the mating season), is also a schedule-1 protected animal under the Wildlife Act.

Mizoram’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Lalramthanga said he has asked officials to investigate the findings with the help of veterinarians and also to appeal to the public to immediately report any further finds in future.

Chief Wildlife Warden Liandawla, meanwhile, said six semi-decayed carcasses have been found in the region near Ratu and Darlawn villages of north Mizoram this month, all with tell-tale signs of exacerbated skin diseases.

“One was in fact found alive but extremely weak after locals reported sighting it a little over a week ago. Officials with the help of a veterinarian tried to revive it but could not and it died shortly after it was recovered from a forest neat Sailutar villager,” Liandawla said, adding that specimen, a male, also oozed foam from it’s reproductive organs.

In April, forest officials had also found four Serow carcasses near Serhmun near Kawrthah town in western Mamit district with the same kinds of outward appearances.

Officials are also investigating reports that another Serow has been found in the same condition near Hmunpui village, not far from Lengpui airport just west of Aizawl city.

What has confounded officials is that the recovered carcases are always found in such a state that it is impossible for them to extract meaningful viscera and blood samples, the Wildlife Warden said.

A veterinary field assistant posted at Ratu village had been able to draw some samples from the Serow found alive near Sailutar village a week ago but lack of expertise in wildlife has been prevented them from making any definite diagnosis, he added.

READ MORE - Mizoram on alert after Serows found dead with exacerbated skin disease

Consul General of Italy visits Mizoram

AIZAWL, Aug 10 - Cesare Bieller, Consul General of Italy had landed in Lengpui Airport on Friday evening for a two-day visit to Mizoram. The Consul General was visiting this picturesque state of Mizoram for the first time. He has been in India for five years but had not the chance to visit this state, he informed Mizoram Governor Lt.Gen (Rtd.) Nirbhay Sharma while having a tete-a-tete with the latter at Raj Bhavan in Aizawl.

The Mizoram Governor apprised the visiting Consul General that Mizoram has a lot of things to learn from Italy like management and preservation of fruits grown in the state, vegetables and other products. Expressing hope to work together in this field, the Governor said that especially in horticulture Italy can play an important role for more production.

In the field of sports too, Mizoram which is a talent hub of footballers in India can be improved with the help of Italian govt by working together, Nirbhay Sharma said. Cesare Bieller informed the Governor that he would take steps for better cooperation between Italy and Mizoram. In order to build stronger ties with the northeastern states of India, Cesare Bieller has requested people to visit Italy and for which he could help them in procuring visa and other important documents.

As of now, very less people from this region had visited Italy, he said. After the two-day tour the Consul General of Italy Cesare Bieller left Mizoram for New Delhi today. During his stay, the Consul General of Italy also met govt official including Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla.

READ MORE - Consul General of Italy visits Mizoram

Myanmarese held in Mizoram with arms

Security forces have arrested a Myanmarese man in Mizoram along the international border and seized arms and ammunition from his possession, police said here on Sunday.

Chingsianpianga, 36, was arrested during a joint operation by Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles troopers at Hnahlan village in Champhai district on Friday night when he was smuggling the arms into India from Myanmar across the IB.

Two M-3 rifles, three loaded magazines and a huge cache of bullets have been seized from him, a police officer said.

The officer said Chingsianpianga was a resident of Darkhai village in Myanmar.

The arrested man told police that the arms were smuggled from Myanmar.

"The seized arms and ammunition were suspected to have been meant for Chakma rebels operating in Bangladesh," the officer said.

The Chakma rebels have been demanding sovereign status in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Mizoram shares a 510-km mountainous border with Myanmar. Assam Rifles troopers were posted along the 1,643-km India-Myanmar border along Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km) and Mizoram (510 km).

Mizoram also shares an unfenced 318-km international border with Bangladesh.

READ MORE - Myanmarese held in Mizoram with arms

76-year-old arrested with drugs worth Rs 33.6 lakhs

F Sangthanga is the father of a woman named Janet who was caught last week with a small consignment of about 2000 tablets.

Mizoram Police on Thursday arrested a 76 year old man with 1.98 lakh methamphetamine precursor tablets valued at about Rs 33.6 lakhs in Aizawl.

Police said neighbourhood authorities saw F Sangthanga moving some bags around on Thursday morning and grew suspicious, eventually reporting him to the Special Narcotics Police.

F Sangthanga is the father of a woman named Janet, a single mother of four kids who had eluded Crime Investigation Department sleuths last week in Aizawl but who later turned herself in to police almost 200 kms away at Champhai town on Tuesday with 50 kgs of the precursor drugs, formally known as pseudoephedrine.

The CID men had caught his daughter last week with a small consignment of about 2000 tablets but could not get her to tell where she kept the rest of the precursor drugs even after detailed interrogation, a senior investigator said, adding he suspects the stash recovered from her father was likely that.

Police in Champhai meanwhile said they have sent samples to forensics and results are not in yet and so could not determine whether the consignment Janet turned herself in with is real or fake.

Pseudoephedrine is the one of the main pharmaceutical preparations used to manufacture methamphetamine or meth, a party drug considered one of the most dangerous and addictive narcotics in the world and which is manufactured on a large scale by some ethnic armies and drug cartels in Myanmar.

READ MORE - 76-year-old arrested with drugs worth Rs 33.6 lakhs

Mizoram CM appeals to PM Modi to rush aid to flood-affected Myanmar

CM Lal Thanhawla has also volunteered Mizoram as the base for possible air-dropping operations. Chief Minister of Mizoram Pu Lal Thanhawla. (Source: PTI/File) Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has appealed to PM Narendra Modi to rush aid to flood-affected Myanmar, where around 50 people have died and more than 2 lakhs are affected by extreme weather due to Cyclone Komen.
Lal Thanhawla has also volunteered Mizoram as the base for possible air-dropping operations, which he says might be needed since many western regions of Myanmar remain cut off by road due to landslides and floodwaters.

Pointing out that Myanmar’s western regions is “home to a number of ethnic Mizo tribes with whom we still have very close cultural ties,” the CM added that civil society groups in Mizoram are mustering aid through donations and charity events.
Besides groups of local musicians, local media and various political parties, the church and community-based organisations have appealed for donations to aid victims of the natural calamity and planning for concerts to genrate money to send to ethnic Zo communities in Myanmar. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/world/asia/mizoram-cm-appeals-to-pm-modi-to-rush-aid-to-flood-affected-myanmar/#sthash.5mH60hcD.dpuf

READ MORE - Mizoram CM appeals to PM Modi to rush aid to flood-affected Myanmar

Former Mizoram CM happy over Naga peace accord

Aizawl, Aug 5 : Former Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who brokered the peace deal between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M), today expressed happiness over the signing of the historic Naga Peace Accord.

Zoramthanga told PTI that he was yet to learn the terms of the accord, but was happy that peace would prevail in the trouble-torn Nagaland.

"One 'General' of the NSCN(IM) had conveyed the gratitude of the Naga people to me as I was involved in the peace deal and successful in breaking the impasse between the Centre and the outfit," Zoramthanga said, adding the 'General' had also thanked him on behalf of Th Muivah and Isaak Chishi Swu.

The former underground Mizo National Front (MNF) leader, who was involved in the 20-year-long peace talks with the Centre culminating in the signing of the Mizo accord in 1986, said he was very happy that the Centre and the NSCN(IM) could find an amicable solution to the vexed Naga problem.

Zoramthanga, during his tenure as chief minister of Mizoram, had met the NSCN(IM) leaders in Bangkok several times which resulted in the resumption of the Naga peace talks.

He was also involved in the peace initiatives between the Myanmar government and the insurgent groups in that country.

READ MORE - Former Mizoram CM happy over Naga peace accord

Student killed in police firing, mob ransack houses in Mizoram

A 20-year-old student was today allegedly killed during a clash in Chawngte town between police and Mizoram Chakma Students Union (MCSU) members in which houses of many politicians were ransacked and several vehicles damaged.

MCSU members allegedly attacked the Chawngte Police Station in the headquarters of Chakma Autonomous District Council (CDAC) where student leaders were detained, prompting police to fire in the air in which Agosh Chakma, a student of class XI, was killed after being hit in the head by a bullet, police said.

The MCSU was protesting alleged fraudulent recruitment of 101 employees by the CADC in January last and demanded sacking the employees by organising a bandh in Chawngte.

After Agosh, a member of the union, was killed, an irate mob ransacked and damaged 19 houses belonging to politicians, including the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the CADC, Executive Members and elected members of the ADC.

Two vehicles were torched while another 19 vehicles were damaged by the mob, police said, adding, several people including, three policemen and two employees of the CADC, were injured.

The situation is under control, after the agitating student leaders and the CADC leaders held talks, in which the CADC agreed to give Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the family of the dead student, a senior police officer said.

They also decided to sack all the 101 recruited employees and conduct fresh recruitment, the official said.

READ MORE - Student killed in police firing, mob ransack houses in Mizoram

Murder over mobile; man gets life term

Victim was attacked 22 times by a chopper

: A man has been awarded life imprisonment for murdering his colleague in 2013, who was working with him at the bungalow allotted to the then Mizoram Chief Secretary.

The court awarded the jail term to 27-year-old Vikram Chhetri, a native of Mizoram, for murdering Puia, who was working as a driver at the bungalow at Ansari Road in Daryaganj, with a chopper.

The court was told that the victim was attacked by the chopper 22 times.

According to police, the motive behind the murder was a quarrel that took place between Vikram, who was working as a cook, and Puia over a mobile internet package and a beer bottle.

“Taking into account the circumstances, I am of the considered opinion that the prosecution has been able to prove that the deceased was murdered by the accused with the chopper in the servant quarter of Bungalow No.115, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi,” said Additional Sessions Judge Atul Kumar Garg.

“These evidence are very crucial in this case because of motive. There was a quarrel between Vikram and Puia over the beer bottle,” the judge said, adding that strong motive for the offence had been established from the events.

The court awarded the life term to Vikram saying the case has not been covered in the ‘rarest of rare’ category that warranted the death penalty.

According to the prosecution, Vikram murdered Puia around 2.30 am on June 30, 2013, and then fled the spot. He was arrested from Guwahati.

Police said that on the night of the incident, Puia was angry with Vikram as the latter had allegedly exhausted his mobile internet package and mobile phone balance without his permission.

It was said that Vikram also consumed Puia’s beer, which was followed by a quarrel.

The duo was reportedly pacified by other employees. The next morning, Puia was found murdered while Vikram was absconding.

Police also said that the government bungalow was allotted to L. Tochhong, the then Chief Secretary of Mizoram.

During the trial, Vikram claimed that he was innocent.

He claimed that he was asked by the nephew of the chief secretary to leave the house, after which he left for Guwahati. — PTI

Police said the motive behind the murder was a quarrel that took place between the convict and deceased

READ MORE - Murder over mobile; man gets life term

Indefinite NH blockade

AIZAWL, Aug 3  - An indefinite road block on National Highway has been called by villagers of Maubawk in Saiha district under the aegis of Maubawk, Joint Action Committee (JAC) in protest against the government’s decision to close down rice godown at Maubawk.

The JAC decided to stage indefinite road blockade at Maubawk Zero point on National Highway 54 – Saiha to Aizawl and Saiha to Tuipang from August 5, 2015. The decision was taken in protest against the government’s decision to close down 5 godowns in 4 district of Mizoram.

The Department of Food and Civil Supply, Mizoram had on July 22 issued an order to close down 5 godowns at Maubawk, Lallen, Mimbung, Hortoki and Saipum as part of measure to abate financial crisis. The decision for closure of godowns came as measure to lessen government expenditure on transportation.

READ MORE - Indefinite NH blockade

Three killed in road mishap

Three persons were killed and two others injured when a vehicle in which they were travelling rolled down into a deep gorge near Sekhum in Lunglei district of Mizoram today.

The Guwahati-bound vehicle coming from Saiha town was carrying 11 people, police officials said, adding that the total number of injured was yet to be known. The two injured persons were rushed to the Primary Health Centre at nearby Haulawng village. The cause of the accident was not yet known, they said.

READ MORE - Three killed in road mishap