
A midnight movement near India’s porous Bangladesh frontier turned into a major border-security interception with BSF detaining 25 Bangladeshi nationals along with an Indian cross-border trafficker near Lohaganj–Panchnagar under South Dinajpur District of West Bengal. The group was intercepted in the early hours of 6 October while allegedly attempting to cross back into Bangladesh’s Thakurgaon …

There is something profoundly revealing about an armed movement documenting itself. For years, insurgent organisations depended on secrecy. Today, the smartphone has changed the equation. Fighters can become influencers, camps can become content and footage intended for an audience of sympathisers can leave behind a remarkably detailed digital trail. That trail now warrants serious scrutiny …

The detention of seven suspected Kuki militants, including a church leader, by personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force’s CoBRA unit near Chawangkining village in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on 19th September was followed by violent protests, road blockades and demands for their immediate release. From Protest to Coercion: How Violence Paralyzed NH-2 The seven detainees …

The proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur is being presented as a means of identifying citizens and addressing concerns over undocumented migration. But identifying citizens is only one part of the challenge. The greater question is whether the government can create a register that is legally defensible, administratively credible and trusted by communities …
Continue reading "Manipur’s NRC : Building a Register That Can Withstand History, Law and Conflict"

Two conferences organised by SEAN Publications in Chattogram and Dhaka brought together an unsettling mix of international preachers and Bangladeshi Islamist hardliners on 21st and 22nd August. SEAN Publication itself describes its seminar programme as part of an effort to build a “well-structured society” and a “welfare-oriented Islamic nation.” Its official programme lists Seminar 5 …

A six-hour-long Dawah Conference was held at the Engineers’ Institute in Chattogram of Bangladesh on 26th July with the stated aim of increasing coordination and spreading Islamic awareness across the Indian subcontinent. Among its most prominent participants was Maulana Khalilur Rahman Sajjad Nomani, spokesperson and senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law …

The 7th August letter from N. Ashok Kumar, Chairman of the Joint Monitoring Group, the tripartite mechanism responsible for supervising and enforcing the ground rules of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement, finally delivers a stern written warning to Kuki terrorist groups operating under the arrangement that is available on public domain. The message acknowledges …

Bangladeshi authorities are holding Indian farmer Dipankar Gope after he was dragged across the international border on 7th August. His release has been linked to the demand that India free Tamiz Uddin, a Bangladeshi national believed to have links with a cross border smuggling network, who was detained by the BSF after entering India by …

Muslim Preacher Md Abdullah of Mymensingh, Bangladesh, who has a following of over 1,84,000 on Facebook alone, has repeatedly used social media to express his intention to enter India, pursue large-scale conversion of Hindus in the Siliguri-Darjeeling region and establish well-entrenched networks with Muslims in Assam and Tripura. His profile : https://www.facebook.com/people/MD-Abdullah-20/61556257768571/ In a social …

In matters of border security, words do not remain words for long. Once amplified by foreign media, activist narratives can shape international perceptions, influence diplomatic discourse and undermine confidence in a nation’s sovereign right to enforce its laws. It is in this context that the recent statements made by the Kolkata-based Association for Protection of …