Security Tightened At Mizoram Airport

Aizawl, Jan 17 : Security has been beefed up at the Lengpui airport, the lone airport in the north eastern state of Mizoram, near here in view of Republic Day.

State aviation wing officials said that except for the passengers, no one was allowed inside the terminal building even at the departure lounge.

Except for the vehicles belonging to VVIPs and VIPs, no other vehicles were allowed to park and disembark in front of the departure and the arrival, officials said.

The measures would be lifted after the Republic Day functions were over, they added.

Mob Chase Assam Rifles Personnel

Imphal, Jan 17 : A mob in Jiribam chased a team of 22nd battalion Assam Rifles personnel coming to hand over an arrested person to Manipur Police who the local people claimed was an innocent civilian, police said today.

Police burst tear gas shells to disperse the mob. No injuries were reported during the incident. Enraged locals of Jiribam town near Assam, about 222 km west of here, chased Assam Rifles personnel in their vehicles while they were coming to hand over Moirangthem Bijen (40) whom they had picked up for questioning on Monday from Jiribam yesterday.

The mob stopped the vehicles and dragged out Bijen who was allegedly severely beaten up while in custody of the Assam Rifles personnel, official sources said.

The local people then turned on Assam Rifles personnel and became violent, sources said adding that police burst tear gas shells to disperse the mob but no one was injured.

Since the situation became tense, the additional deputy commissioner of Jiribam Y Iboyaima and additional  superintendent of police O Major rushed to the spot and held
talks with the local public leaders, official reports from Jiribam said adding that the enraged people were later dispersed by the police.

Shops and markets were closed for several hours yesterday due to the incident, reports said. Meanwhile, Bijen was taken to Jiribam government hospital where his condition remained serious, sources said.

Mizoram Wants Ceasefire With HPC-D Before Chalfilh Bypoll

Aizawl, Jan 16 : Close on the heels of Election Commission's announcement to hold by-election to the Chalfilh assembly constituency on February 23, the Mizoram government is pushing for early resumption of talks with the Manipur-based Hmar People's Convention - Democrats (HPC-D).

Officials said the Lal Thanhawla-led Congress government was keen on signing Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with the Hmar outfit within this month. "The government wanted expeditious resumption of the parleys initiated at Silchar in Assam on December 13 last year," an official said. He added that a large number of the Chalfilh electorate belonged to the Hmar community and would be highly influenced by the diktats of the HPC-D leadership.

A plethora of things have happened since the Mizoram government signed SoO with the Hmar militant group on November 11, 2010 in Aizawl. The 2010 SoO, which expired six months later, was never renewed and no effort was made to resume negotiations as both the parties were at loggerheads over some issue or the other.

The HPC-D's direction to all branches of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the most powerful organisation of the Mizos within the "Hmar-inhabited area" to dissolve themselves last year, was the last nail in the coffin of the rickety honeymoon-like relationship between the two parties.

State home minister R Lalzirliana made a big gamble and acted after the Hmar outfit targeted the YMA by arresting Lalropuia and Biaknunga, self-styled army chief and deputy army chief respectively of the militant outfit on June 10, 2012, from Silchar Airport, soon after he arrived from Imphal.

The state police again arrested H Zosangbera, the chairman of the outfit, who also boarded an aircraft in Imphal from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on July 17, 2012.

While the state administration might have felt proud, the drawbacks came when no candidate, irrespective of party affiliations, filed nomination for the elections to the village councils in the 15 villages dominated by the Hmar community adjoining Manipur state.

Despite repeated postponement of the last date of filing nomination and even the date of the polls, the state election commission was forced to permanently postpone the local body elections in October last year as no one, including the ruling Congress local leaders, came forward to contest the polls.

Was it the fear of bullets that the people of the area ditched the ballots or is it that the militant outfit has the mandate of people to the extent that everyone obeyed the "appeal" of HPC-D. The answer will be out after the bypoll results are declared on February 28. The government insisted that the HPC-D, which signed SoO with the security forces in Manipur under the supervision of the ministry of home affairs, violated the terms and conditions of the pact. "The Hmar militants moved around with arms while the condition of the SoO required them to deposit arms and stay in designated camps," alleged Lalzirliana.

The HPC-D, meanwhile, accused the state government of arresting its top leaders knowing fully well that they (the leaders) were leaving Manipur to initiate negotiations with both the Centre and the Mizoram government.

It is yet to be seen whether the ruling Congress would soften its stand eyeing not only the bypoll, but also the general assembly elections to be held by the end of the year and whether it would be too late to for Congress to regain the support of the Hmar community which it had during the 2008 assembly polls.

Final Electoral Roll Published in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jan 16 : There are 6,80,255 voters in Mizoram, according to the final electoral roll of 2013 published here today after completion of the summary revision of the voters' lists.

The state has more women voters at 3,46,172 while male voters number 3,34,083.

The joint chief electoral officer H T Lalengmawia told PTI that the coming by-polls to the Chalfilh assembly seat would be held based on the new voters' lists.

The Chalfilh by-election is scheduled to be held on February 23 where an electorate of 17,237 including 183 service voters would decide the fates of the candidates.

Rape, Murder On The Rise in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jan 16 : Even though Mizoram recorded a comparative less number of cases registered against criminal offences during last year as compared to 2011, cases of rape and murder were on the rise.

According to police records, a total of 2117 IPC and non-IPC cases were registered in 2012 compared to the previous year’s 2238 cases. These were cases registered in northern range, including Aizawl, Champhai, Serchhip, Mamit and Kolasib districts.

Crime reports from Saiha, Lawngtlai and Lunglei districts, which fall under southern range, are not available.

While IPC cases increased by 34, which accounted for 2.28 per cent of the total IPC cases, non-IPC cases fell by 115 (20.61 per cent), resulting in an overall decrease in crime rate.

However, major crimes like rape and murder were still on the rise at 33.15 per cent and 18.18 per cent respectively. Theft and burglary cases decreased by 6.47 per cent and 1.09 per cent respectively, the sources said.

Mizoram Chalfilh Assembly Byelection on Feb 23

Aizawl, Jan 15 : Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer K Riachho on Monday said that the state election department was ready to hold the by-polls to the Chalfilh assembly seat on February 23 and the summary revision of rolls would be published tomorrow.

Addressing a press conference here, Riachho said that provisional electorate of the Chalfilh assembly seat was 10,754.

The security situation in the constituency, dominated by the Hmar community, and by and large controlled by the Hmar People's Convention-Democrats, would be assessed by the state home department, he said.

He said that the election model code of conduct was in place from Friday, the day the Election Commission of India announced the elections.

The Chalfilh seat was lying vacant after the demise of Parliamentary Secretary Chawngtinthanga of the ruling Congress on September 16 last year.

13 Die in Mizoram Due To Drug Overdose

Aizawl, Jan 14 : At least 13 people, mostly youths and high school students, have died due to suspected drug overdose in less than a month in this Mizoram capital, officials said Monday.

"Most of the people were brought unconscious with symptoms of drug overdose to the hospital where many of them died. Thirteen people have died in the civil hospital since Dec 20, 2012," Aizawl Civil Hospital's Emergency department medical officer Jeremy Pachuau told reporters.

"Some of the people were cured by administering antidotes while some died as their treatment started too late," the official added.

Pachuau said that in the preliminary study seemed most of the cases were due to consumption of cough syrup spiked with grape wine which could produce dangerous chemical reactions.

Cough syrup, which contained high dose of codeine and other drugs, is frequently used as an intoxicant among young people in the northeast.

Mizoram Drug Abuse Concerns CM

By Zodin Sanga

Aizawl, Juna 11 : Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla on Wednesday voiced concern over a sudden spurt in teen deaths due to suspected drug overdose during the Christmas and New Year festival.

Quoting hospital records, Lal Thanhawla said at least 10 teenagers between the age of 16 to 21 have died from December 20 to January 8.

“On December 20, a 19-year-old girl at Electric Veng died while she was asleep. The cause of her unexpected death was declared to be heart attack,” he said. On December 22, an 18-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy died under similar circumstances later in the night, he said.

A number of teens were brought to the Aizawl civil hospital in comatose conditions during the past few weeks. “In one such case, a 13-year-old girl was brought to the hospital with heroin overdose symptoms. The girl regained consciousness after getting drug overdose treatment. The doctors were puzzled as the girl did not show any sign of drug dependency,” Lal Thanhawla said.

This prompted Lal Thanhawla to call a press conference at his office on Wednesday afternoon. “How we should fight this social menace is a matter of great concern. The government is taking all possible steps to curb the social evil,” he said.

According to Dr Jeremy V Pachuau of Aizawl civil hospital, addiction to cough syrups and other over-the-counter drugs has suddenly caught the fancy of adolescents in Aizawl.

The most commonly abused cough syrups, as per the doctor, are Coscopin D, Respira D, Norvent D, Instaryl D and Ascoril D, which contain dextramorphan hydromobide and chlorpheniramine malaete.

“Side effects include feelings of depression and sadness, dilated pupils, dissociation – trouble differentiating between what is real and what are hallucinations, panic attacks, psychotic episodes – particularly severe after prolonged over consumption of cough syrup,” the doctor said. “It is more dangerous when taken with grape wine,” he added.

According to the doctor, many teens in Aizawl have also abused pacitane and cataspa, in a desperate attempt to get light skin. This, he said, was cause by the craze over the light-skinned Korean celebrities. “Prolong use of these drugs make them pale that make them believe that they get lighter complexion. This is more common among girls,” the doctor said.

The doctor said that many drug stores in Aizawl, which have restricted licences  sold these drugs, which are prohibited without doctor prescription.

During the press conference, Lal Thanhawla also stressed the need for more stringent inspection on the drug stores who are selling restricted drugs. He also raised concern over Mizoram being used by across the border drug smugglers as a route to ferry party drugs like pseudoephedrine.

“Pseudoephedrine tablets are mainly smuggled from Delhi. I wonder how the drugs could go undetected in high-security airport like Delhi Airport. This is a matter of concern that needs to be discussed with the Central government,” he said.

Pseudoephedrine tablets worth crores of rupees were seized at Lengpui Airport in Aizawl during 2012. Lal Thanhawla said after repeated hauls, the drug smugglers have now resorted to couriers to ferry the drugs.