January 11th, 2015

C M Y K

www.morungexpress.com

The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. X ISSUE 9

“

www.morungexpress.com

Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will Modi kickstarts BJP’s poll campaign Asks voters to punish ‘anarchists’

Brangelina were ‘already married’ before secret ceremony!

[ PAGE 8]

Children’s Festival & Carnival concludes

C M Y K

Sunday, January 11, 2015 12 pages Rs. 4

”

– Jonathan Edwards

[ PAGE 2]

France works to avert new terror attacks, hunts suspect

India survive late collapse to draw final Test [ PAGE 12]

[ PAGE 9]

[ PAGE 11]

group justifies attempt Present imbroglio can be solved Kaito to ‘change leadership’ through voting in Assembly: nPf chief Kaito Aye meets Rajnath Singh Our Correspondent Kohima | January 10

Naga People’s Front (NPF) president Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu has supported Chief Minister TR Zeliang seeking intervention of Governor of Nagaland for summoning a special session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly for trial of strength in the wake of the political tussle in the State.

Dr. Shurhozelie said today that the present imbroglio can be resolved only through voting in the Assembly.

Saying that NPF does not want the confusion created by the internal affairs of the party legislators to prolong, he said Chief Minister TR Zeliang submitted his papers to the Governor yesterday requesting to hold a special session of the Assembly for ‘trial of strength.’

Addressing a press conference here this evening, Dr. Shurhozelie opined that once the special session is summoned the confusion hovering upon the people of the State would be cleared.

He said TR Zeliang will get absolute majority in the “floor test.”

“Some of the legislators within the dissident groups would also surely vote for the incumbent leader once in Assembly as they have been presently forced to remain within the dissident camp,” he said.

Dr. Liezietsu further expressed hope that the state Governor will use his best wisdom and take the right decision by summoning the special session of the Assembly.

He was hopeful that the Governor will not make a mistake and act as per the law of the land.

The NPF president further asserted that if the dissident groups had complaints they should have taken up the matter within the party or parliamentary forum.

He said G. Kaito Aye as leader NPF Legislature Party, Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu as Party Whip and Imkong L. Imchen as spokesperson was unauthorized, terming it as “only to create confusion” in the party.

Dr. Liezietsu said the present political imbroglio within the Party legislators is a “shameful act,” and a creation of the “ambitious legislators.”

When asked the head counts given in sections of local media

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

NPF suspends Noke Wangnao & Imkong Imchen Our Correspondent

Naga People’s Front (NPF) president Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu today suspended two more legislators from the primary and active membership of the NPF. PHE minister Noke Wangnao and MLA Imkong L Imchen have been suspended from the Party today for anti-party activities, said NPF president Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu, while addressing a press conference here this evening at the NPF Central Office.

In an order that was made available to the media, he stated that the two have, by their actions of associating themselves with detractors and deviators of the party’s goals and objectives of providing good and stable governance to the people of Nagaland, committed serious breach of discipline of the NPF as enshrined in the Constitution of the Party.

The NPF chief stated that they (Noke and Imkong L. Im-

chen) have been sabotaging the leadership of T R Zeliang, in whom the NPF party has pledged utmost confidence and trust to lead the government in the State and also have been conspiring to overawe and overthrow the legitimate government in the State.

Dr. Liezietsu said, he therefore suspended them from the primary and active membership of the NPF with immediate effect until further orders with no participatory or voting rights in all political/legislature party forums, except voting right on the floor of the Legislative Assembly in accordance with party whip.

With this, NPF has suspended three ministers, five Parliamentary Secretaries and one MLA from the Party.

It may be recalled that Noke, who had been holding the charge of Minister for PHE in the TR Zeliang Ministry had resigned from the portfolio on January 7 in support of the dissident

leader G Kaito Aye. G Kaito Aye and Kuzholuzo Azo Nienu along with five others were suspended by the NPF president on January 5 after they along with some other members of NPF openlyrebelledagainsttheincumbent Chief Minister TR Zeliang.

NPF president maintained that after election of then Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to the Lok Sabha in May 2014 polls, the current Chief Minister TR Zeliang was unanimously chosen to lead the State government and all members of the Party, as per the provisions of the Constitution of the NPF, ought to repose utmost trust in him for the continued success of the Party and the Government.

Meanwhile, the Kiphire Divisional Unit of the NPF has reaffirmed its solidarity and support to the President Dr. Shurhoelie Liezietsu and Secretary General K.G Kenye, and strongly resolved to abide by the Party high command.

wherein Kaito-led NPF legislator had 22 without 4 BJP MLAs while TR Zeliang had 15 legislators without one JD (U) MLA, the NPF chief dismissed it saying that their camp had 29 while the other (Kaito group) was with 19 only.

Dr. Shurhozelie explained that Kaito’s group taking three BJP MLAs was “illegal” because they were partner of DAN and he was the Chairman of it. “If the BJP decided to withdraw from DAN, they should first write to me and CM,” he stated and further explained that such official withdrawal to DAN had to be done by their party (BJP) president Dr Chuba Ao, who is the leader of their party.” Therefore the three BJP MLAs, Dr. TM Lotha, Imtilemba and Mhonlhumo Kikon’s camping with the dissident group was illegal and their action would attract even expulsion from their party, the NPF cautioned.

Therefore if these three BJP MLAs come to them, their number would be 29, while the strength of dissident group would reduce to 19, he added.

Acknowledging that the rebellious move had been there right after then Chief Minister

Neiphiu Rio vacated the seat on being elected to Lok Sabha, he said “we have been trying to make our legislators understand, and the Party is happy that many have been firm with the present leadership (TR Zeliang) but few others without having proper knowledge have joined the dissident group.”

He also alleged that the dissident group have hijacked some of the legislators while on their way to Kohima. Nonetheless, he said that after Rio’s election to Lok Sabha, a successor had to be elected for smooth transition of government. But, he alleged that Rio made a ‘strange proposal’ to make Noke as the CM but it was turned down by latter himself on health grounds.

Thereafter, he said names of Imkong L. Imchen, Kaito and TR Zeliang floated, but “I rejected Imkong’s name on the grounds of his pending charges while the two declared that they would go with the decision of the core group constituted by the President and subsequently majority of the legislators wanted TR Zeliang.”

On allegation put by dissident

groups on TR Zeliang’s leadership on Indo-Naga political issue, financial crisis and relationship with the Centre, NPF working president Huska Yepthomi said TR Zeliang is not a magician saying that the latter was sworn in as chief minister only in May, adding that how can he solve the Naga political problem in seven months time? He said the then chief minister Neiphiu Rio should rather be asked of his 11 years chief ministership on this issue.

On financial crisis, he said TR Zeliang should not be blamed saying that during his time he did not receive any money from the Centre. He said the deficit of Rs. 1234 crore was inherited from Rio’s time.

Yepthomi said the present government maintains good relationship with Centre for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Nagaland for Hornbill festival 2014.

He continued that if they (dissident group) want to change the government they should bring the same to the party forum and not through outside camping.

(With inputs from NEPS)

Kohima | January 10

Cautions govt officials against clearing files

Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The G Kaito Aye NPF Legislature Party spokesperson, Imkong L Imchen, has stated today that “even after sufficient time,” TR Zeliang has “failed to provide efficient administration and run the affairs of the State government in an effective manner.” Crisis and instability has become the “order of the day,” he alleged in a statement today. In other failures of the present leadership, financial mismanagement and corruption were pointed out.

The statement justified as one of the reasons for attempts to change the leadership, as “Blatant and random appointment of honorable elected Members as advisers and chairmen of various government agencies by deviating from the rules of executive business and making a mockery of government norms and also undermining the elected Members.”

The dissident team has noted that the disqualification of the BJP MLAs under Zeliang’s leadership has “antagonized” the BJP and the NDA Government and has “burned the bridges” that have been built between the NPF and the DAN Government with the NDA for the past ten years. “This animosity with the BJP and the NDA has adversely impacted the State in all areas,” it noted.

Imchen also accused the present leadership of having put the peace process “on the backburner” and that the “political stand of the NPF has changed.” He charged that “Wrong decisions and wrong policy with regard to the exploration of oil and natural resources has also adversely impacted the State especially the civil societies and the citizens of the State.”

“Incorporation of the NCP, which is not a pre-poll alliance of the DAN coalition into the DAN Ministry was done without the clearance of the DAN Coordination committee and done in arbitrary manner,” stated the

Morung Express news

Challenger for the Chief Minister of Nagaland’s post, NPF Legislator G Kaito Aye today met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi in order to ‘discuss the formation of a new arrangement in the State under his leadership.’

Accompanying Kaito at the meeting were Nagaland MPs Nephiu Rio (Lok Sabha) and Khekiho Zhimomi.

Confirming this, spokesperson for the NPF Legislature Party, Imkong L Imchen, expressed confidence that G Kaito Aye would overcome the present stalemate within the NPF party and replace TR Zeliang as the chief minister.

“I am absolutely positive and hopeful that Kaito will form the government,” Imchen told The Morung Express Saturday evening.

According to another source from Kaito’s camp, Home Minister Rajnath Singh reportedly ‘conveyed

his blessing over the proposed new arrangement for change of leadership’ at the meeting.

Singh is however learnt to have told the trio to also meet other central BJP leaders, including its president Amit Shah, in Delhi on Sunday, reportedly to discuss the same leadership issue.

When contacted over phone, Kaito declined to provide any information of the meeting. He said details of his meetings with the Central leader (s) in Delhi would only be disclosed later, adding that it was also not certain whether they would be able to return to Nagaland Sunday as scheduled.

Meanwhile, Imchen expressed optimism that Kaito would come back to Nagaland on Sunday with positive news.

When contacted, an NPF leader in the Kaito camp said they were keeping their “fingers crossed” on the outcome of the meetings with Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah.

press note. “Till date there has not been a single meeting of the DAN coordination committee and there has not been any cohesiveness within the DAN ever since the change of guard,” it informed, and that only after TR Zeliang “lost the support of the majority of the Members” was the DAN meeting called on January 9.

The Party went a step ahead and stated that it is “issuing a notice of information to the government machinery not to obey the order of the present government under TR Zeliang as it has become an unconstitutional government as it has lost the support and confidence of the majority.”

It ‘made clear’ to government servants and bureaucrats “not to clear files on the orders of the present government as it does not enjoy the support of the people any longer.” Further, it cautioned that “Any government official doing so would be responsible as responsibility would be fixed once a popular government takes over.”

“We immediately demand the State’s law enforc-

ing agencies under the Chief Secretary and the DGP to immediately release the honorable elected Members from the NPF President’s custody where they are being kept under forced confinement and under house arrest,” stated the press note.

The legislators of the camp “felt imperative that the President of the Party Dr. Shurhozelie should have taken a neutral stand and tried to pacify and mediate between the warring Legislators of the Party so that no division was allowed and instead should have taken the opportunity to further strengthen the party by bringing an amicable solution through reconciliation.” While this is said to have “violated the sanctity of the norms of a Democratic Party,” it accused the president of breaching party discipline.

Stating that TR Zeliang ‘campers’ have decided to take support of the Congress, Imchen maintained that this move is to “change the government and the composition of the DAN coalition which is a member of the NDA.”

Dimapur | January 10

Naga tree tomato amongst situation under control: Dc tuensang CM expresses concern over Tsg developments 10 NE products to get GI tag Morung Express news Dimapur | January 10

If you hear anything interesting,Wake me up!

BJP Nagaland State unit stands by G Kaito Aye; JD (U) Nagaland State unit expresses solidarity with TR Zeliang Reports on page 5 C M Y K

The Morung Express POLL QUESTIOn

naga Tree Tomatoes.

GuWahaTi, January 10 (Tnn): Ten horticulture Vote on www.morungexpress.com products from the northSMS your anSwer to 9862574165 east are set to get the muchcoveted geographical indiAre you optimistic that 2015 will be a better year cation (GI) tag by March this than 2014 for the Nagas? year. The tag will serve as incontrovertible proof of the items’ native origin. Items Yes no Others with the tag cannot be pro-

duced elsewhere.

GI tag is a certification which indicates the distinctiveness of a product’s origin at a particular geographical location and guarantees its quality. In India, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act,

1999, came into force on 15 September, 2003.

The items which will get the tag are Naga tree tomato, Arunachal orange, Sikkim large cardamom, Mizo chilli, Assam Karbi Anglong ginger, Tripura queen pineapple, Tezpur litchi, Khasi mandarin, Kachai lemon and Memong narang.

Assistant registrar of the Chennai-based Geographical Indications Registry, Chinnaraja G Naidu, said details of all 10 items have been published in its gazettes. The GI applications for these items were filed by the Guwahati-based North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited, Naidu added.

“We are hopeful that by March-end, the 10 items should get the GI mark. Of our target to nominate 20 items across the country for the GI label, 10 are from the northeast itself,” Naidu said here on Friday.

The Deputy Commissioner, Tuensang stated on Saturday that the tension arising out of the situation in Chendang Saddle is under control. Informing that the prohibitory order promulgated under section 144 of the CrPC is still being enforced, the DC said that the district administration has requisitioned adequate security personnel to maintain vigil in the affected area. At least ten platoons of the State police assisted by para-military personnel are camping in the area, the DC informed. On the situation in Tuensang, the DC said that it is calm.

Other sources from Tuensang said that there is a certain level of apprehension but the overall situation is normal. The sources said that evening to dawn (5:00pm-5:00am) curfew has been imposed in the district headquarters while normal life remained largely unaffected during day time.

Meanwhile, the Chang Khulei Setshang (CKS), in a

Kohima, January 10 (mExn): Chief Minister of Nagaland, TR Zeliang has expressed deep concern on the developments taking place in Tuensang district “on communal lines.”

In that, he has instructed the Administration to ensure that the situation is contained, besides directing senior Officers from the Administration and the Police to monitor the situation closely. The Chief Minister has also directed the State Police to ensure that adequate forces are deployed to prevent untoward incidents by miscreants wanting to take advantage of the situation. A press release from the

press release, informed that a joint coordination meeting of various communities and sector unions of Tuensang town was convened on January 10 to resolve the situation prevailing in Tuensang as a result of the reported ‘quit notice’ issued by the Yimchungru Public Coordination Committee.

The CKS, while condemning the reported ‘quit notice’, stated that the meeting jointly resolved that no citizen of Tuensang should pay heed to the ‘notice’ and all citizens of the town “will jointly handle

Chief Minister’s office also informed that he has expressed satisfaction at the close coordination that is being maintained between the Administration, Police and the Assam Rifles at Tuensang.

“Despite taking all possible steps on the part of the Government to prevent flare up of the situation,” felt the Chief Minister, “it is ultimately the people at large who have to be accommodative and restrained in their words and actions so as to restore peace in the District.” Zeliang appealed to all the concerned Tribal Organizations to sort out differences amicably and to maintain calm in the district.

the situation for maintaining peace and tranquillity.”

It was decided in the meeting that “untimely gathering and creating of nuisance in public... should be checked by all,” the CKS release said, while adding that the GBs of the respective sectors along with the civil society would check unlawful activities in and around Tuensang.

“Anybody taking law into their own hand should be booked as per the law…

Random closure of shop in Tuensang without proper order from appropriate au-

thority should not be permitted,” stated the release.

The Tuensang Village Citizen Union (TVCU), in a separate release stated that the denizens of Tuensang should not panic terming the ‘notice’ as the work of anti-social elements with selfish motive intent on creating fear psychosis and unwanted disturbances. It further appealed the business community of Tuensang town not to down shutters “without proper orders from the District Administration so as to facilitate normal daily activities.”

C M Y K

C M

2

Dimapur

Sunday

LocaL

11 January 2015

Children’s Festival & Carnival concludes

Y K

Our Correspondent

Mokokchung | January 10

C M Y K

Dave is a pastor in Taiwan and it’s his first visit to India.

He didn’t know that a place called Mokokchung existed in this world. “I am pretty pleased to see the work, preparation and participation of every individual in the festival. I am impressed by the people, the kids especially,their politeness and their openess” he remarked. Dave hopes to visit Mokokchung ten years from now and see the impact of the festival on the kids.

Alemla Apong, founder Children’s Evangelism Foundation, has been working with kids since 2000. They inspire and motivate her. “The children of this generation are fast to know and quick to learn.

Yet they are fragile, they can be broken very easily. I see enthusiasm, hungriness and openness in these children today. They are sensitive to the spirit,” she quoted. The Children Evangelism Foundation is a kids ministry, perhaps the only kids ministry in Mokokchung.

‘The carnival is a unique way to pull kids towards God and is a great encouragement for kids’, quot-

The pathetic condition of AsetkongTsüsanga road potholes were repaired by the Süngratsü villagers on January 09.

Around 2 kms crossing the village was repaired on that day. The Süngratsü Village Council initiated this noble gesture.

It may be noted that, AsetkongTsüsanga road is the lifeline for Kobulong Subdivision and some villages.

C M Y K

Lhousarovi Paul, PS to minister for social welfare & parliamentary affairs Kiyanilie Peseyie and others after unveiling monolith of the golden jubilee celebration of Rachii Youth Organization at Viswema on January 10. (Morung Photo) Our Correspondent Kohima | January 10

On attainment of 50 glorious years since its formation in 1965, the Rachü Youth Organization (RYO),Viswema celebrated its golden jubilee from January 9 to 10 at R. Khel, Viswema under the theme “ “Honour our Roots; Prepare our Future.”

The message of minister for social welfare and parliamentary affairs Kiyanilie Peseyie was read out

by Lhousarovi Paul, PS, as the latter could not made to the function as the chief guest. Peseyie in his mes-

sage dwelt about the competitive world and called upon the youth to stay away from the undesirable things in the society and pick up the right path to excel in their respective fields.

Stating youth are the asset and cream of the village, he maintained that the strength and good conduct of the youth will determine the prestige and prosperity of the village.

In this, Peseyie urged upon the youth to come forward and contribute towards the welfare and betterment of the villagers.

Chief host of the celebration

2nd Death Anniversary of our beloved father

Late Matsung Pongener

M Y K

We still miss you As the days and years pass We still miss you As the pain of grief softens We still miss you As new memories are made Beside your grave we often stand Our hearts are tired and sore But through the gloom There come the words “Not death, just gone before” Loving wife, children, in-laws & grand children

K. V. Pusa, former minister said that Rachii khel has population of around three thousand, having over 1000 matriculate and 500 graduate and above and around 80 officers at present.

Stating that jubilee is a time to forgive and forget the past misconduct if any, he called upon the people to take this jubilee as an opportune perform to increase the volume of friendship and oneness.

Er. Pupaho, PS to Er. Kropol Vitsu and urged upon the youth to concentrate on practical rather than tall talk on any issue.

He also lauded the RYO for its unity and loyalty in all respects and called upon them to continue to carry on such good legacy and pass to the younger generation to follow the suit.

Later, Zhovehu Lohe, ex- speaker Nagaland Legislative Assembly released a book on Naga traditional attires and ancestral tools, brought out by children of first RYO chairman Vihoto Sothu in his memory.

Earlier, welcome address was delivered by planning –cum-organizing committee convenor Khriipi Sothu. Vihosiinii Lcho, Vi-eyol Kweho & party, Mejokhriile Noswe & party and youth from Sabraba village performed folk songs.

The function was compered by Abei Theyo and Puvito Neikha and Vil Pusa as pianist. Vote of thanks was proposed by RYO president Kropo Neikha.

Meanwhile, Meyiekul Noswe has been elected as the new president of RYO for the tenure 2015-18.

Earlier, Er. Mezakrol Rhiitso, chief engineer (Rtd) I&FC graced the prelude programme as patron on January 9. Representatives from 23 NG0s from various parts of the state including Manipur graced the occasion.

Mon, January 10 (MExn): Konyak Baptist Bumeinok Bangjüm (KBBB) is in full preparation to host the 20th Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) Triennial Convention, which is scheduled to be held at Mission Centre, Mon from February 5 to 8, 2015.

A. Peihwang Wangsa, Convener, Media, Information & Publicity Committee in a press release informed that the Planning Committee under the leadership of Rev Dr

C M Y K

‘Children of this generation are like bullets, unstoppable and enthusiastic. It takes split seconds to break them and to build them’- Alemla Apong

Kids from the age group 4-9 yrs participating in the workshop session of the festival. (Photo courtesy: Taliakum Pongener)

ed Tainla Keitzar, a child teacher for eight years. A 24 year old young child teacher, Imkong, is all smiles to see his kids overly excited to meet ‘foreigners’ in their motherland and he is happy to see them responding so well to their practical teachings and preachings.

Imlisen, a nine year old, exclaims, ‘I am very proud

of myself. Am happy to be a part of the worship team, it’s my first time taking part in a carnival like this and I am thankful for the new friends I have met and I feel real good.’

The festival saw children being inspired and encouraged through worship and songs. They were also introduced to various ice break-

ing games and dramas.

There were tattoo parlors where the kids were painted with bible verses, nail and face paintings and balloon stalls. The children’s festival and carnival was organized

by Alemla Apong founder Children’s Evangelism Foundation in collaboration with King’s Kids International (YWAM).

Preparation for 20th NBCC triennial convention underway

Rachii Youth Org celebrates golden jubilee

C

The Morung Express

Pongsing as Convener and Chemyuh as Executive Secretary, KBBB had set up different sub-committees and they are fully engaged in various activities. The Convention Hall constructed by the local people with locally available materials designed

by Er. Chiong Konyak is on progress. The hall has a capacity to accommodate four thousand people at a time. Another milestone is seen in completion of the KBBB Guest House, which was dedicated on January

8 by the Executive Secretary in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner Mon Angau I Thou and the officials from the office of the DRDA, Mon. The Guest House is commendable to accommodate 100 persons with all required facilities.

All the Churches under the KBBB, Konyak public organizations, the government departments headed by the district administration, and the people of Mon district are in aware of and in full cooperation

with the Planning Committee in preparatory activities for the Convention.

The KBBB appeals all concerned to continue working and praying for the success of the program in favorable atmosphere. The Planning Committee also expected the NBCC officials and its constituent members (Church associations under the NBCC), as well as the invitees from abroad to support in prayer and participate in the forthcoming convention positively.

C M Y K

C M Y K

Participants and resource persons during the children ministry and children with special needs seminar, which was held in Dimapur from January 8 to 10 at Life Spring Corner, Khermahal. Oragnised by Ichtus Resource Center, Dimapur, in partnership with Sinai Ministry and Christ For the Nations Bible College, the resource persons included Dr. Norma Hedin, Julee Teeples, Jenny White and Brittany Harley. The same seminary will be held in Kohima from January 12 to 14 at Rengma Baptist Church.

Verification of WC and casual employees in Wokha

Wokha, January 10 (MExn): The monthly District Planning and Development Board meeting of Wokha district was held on January 9 at Deputy Commissioner’s Conference Hall, chaired by A. Robin Lotha DC and Vice Chairman DPDB Wokha.

DPRO, Wokha Wilfred Murry in a press release said the DC informed the house that identification and verification of work charged and casual employees would be held from January 14 to 21 and January 22 and 23 would be as reserved days for those who could not turn on the appointed day due to unavoidable circumstance.

All the HOD’s of the offices are to be present on the particular day. The employees are to present with their particulars with ID.

At the outset, the DC wished a happy new year to all the members present of the board and conveyed a prosperous year.

Reviewing the last meeting minutes concerning improvement and maintenance of Wokha – Doyang - Merapani road, the concern highlighted the department inability to the House. In this regard, the DC directed the department to prepare a detailed report and to be submitted. In the meantime, he also directed to the EE Wokha and Baghty that labourers be engaged in their particulars area before the monsoon falls.

The two new members Nchumbemo General Manager DIC and Atener Aier Superintendent of taxes were introduced to the House.

C M Y K

REgional

The Morung Express

Joint patrolling by BSF and BGB at Tripura border

AgArtAlA, JAnuAry 10 (PtI): India and Bangladesh today decided to conduct joint patrolling along the Indo-Bangla Border by BSF and BGB in Tripura to check cross-border movement of Indian insurgents.

The decision was taken during the two-day IndoBangla Deputy Commissioner level meeting which concluded here today.

A joint statement signed by both the sides stated that the Indian side raised issues about the presence of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in Chittagong Hill Tracts of the neighbouring country and about NLFT engaged in kidnapping and extortions in the bordering areas in India side.

Both sides then agreed for joint patrolling by BSF and BGB and Bangladesh security would swung into action if insurgents were

Indian Border Security Force soldiers patrol as a village girl drives a cow through a rice field at Champakgachh village, on the India-Bangladesh border, about 12 kilometers from Siliguri.

India and Bangladesh today decided to conduct joint patrolling along the Indo-Bangla Border by BSF and BGB in Tripura to check cross-border movement of Indian insurgents. India shares over 4,000 kilometers border with Bangladesh. (AP Photo File Photo)

found to be using their soil.

The Bangladesh side informed that instructions have been given to launch

Northeast Briefs

New Congress chief in Tripura

AgArtAlA, JAnuAry 10 (IAnS): Congress President Sonia Gandhi has appointed MLA Birjit Sinha as president of Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee to strengthen the party organisation in the Left-ruled state, a spokesman said Saturday. He succeeded Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl," state Congress spokesman Tapas Dey told IANS. Both Sinha and Hrangkhawl are Congress' sitting legislators. He said: "Tripura's royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman, 37 and Ashish Kumar Saha, 55, were appointed as working president. Saha was also the working president in the outgoing state committee." Dey, a former legislator, said the leadership has changed to boost the party organisation and work against the misgovernance of the Left Front government, which according to him, grossly failed to check corruption in the state. Debbarman said the party would work to induct more youths in politics.

'Clarify on pre-paid power meters' ItAnAgAr, JAnuAry 10 (PtI): The BJP in Arunachal Pradesh today demanded the state government to come out clear on the ongoing installation of pre-paid electric meters in the state capitals which has created confusion among the people. "The state government should clarify its stand through a white paper on the terms and conditions of the contract awarded to the company installing pre-paid meters and on the expenditure to be incurred in the entire process," party's Chief Spokesman R K Khrimey told reporters here. He said, the party was not against the new technology but wondered on the manner the state government hurriedly took the decision which was too early for a young state like Arunachal. Demanding for a immediate halt in the ongoing process, Khrimey said that the party would soon meet the governor seeking his intervention on the issue. The state power department has launched the pilot project in the state capital from November 10 last with a total cost of 85 crore. So far a total of 600 meters have been installed and the department is targeting to cover 3000 consumers by March next.

Rural artisans in Northeast get a platform to boost JOrHAt/ AgArtAlA, JAnuAry 10 (AnI): The north-east region (NER) is known for its rich arts and handicrafts. The artisans in the region are getting direct contact with the customers during the various fairs which help them to boost their business potential. Be it the Assam Mahotsav in Jorhat or Saras Fair in Agartaka, the fairs are providing a suitable platform to the artisans.

It's a win-win situation for artisans in Assam as they get to sell their products directly to customers.

The Assam Mahotsav in its 13th edition has attracted more than 100 crafts persons, self-help groups and artisans to exhibit their products under one roof.The mega event organized under the aegis of Intandem, displayed a variety of indigenous products like handloom items, canes and bamboo works and jewelry.

Prince Hazarika, a visitor here, said that it is a good platform for the local artisans."The local entrepreneurs are getting benefitted by this. The Assam Mahotsav is a good opportunity for them because usually they have to go outside to attend such fairs but here locally only they can showcase their products," he added.

Guleswar Borah, an artisan, said that such fairs benefit them a lot. "People from outside come here

and we interact with them.

Some people buy from me and I also give my card for my shop so they come and buy from there. So, this fair is very good opportunity for me," he added.

In Agartala city, the 10day long entrepreneur's exhibition 'Saras Mela' is showcasing the exquisite works by rural artisans from across the country and attracting large number of visitors.The fair being held at the International fair ground in Hapania is organized under the aegis of the Ministry of state rural development with an aim to facilitate greater exposure for rural artisans.

At least 300 artisans and crafts persons from 10 states displayed a variety of handmade products at the fair.

The entrepreneurs were glad to have got an opportunity to showcase their products at a bigger platform and were happy with the response from the customers.

Sankar nath, a participant, said that he participated in various fairs and made a good profit."Our products are doing good business," he added. Tapasi Roy, a visitor here, said that a variety of products are available at reasonable prices.

Regularly organizing such fairs is extremely beneficial for rural artisans who get a chance to showcase their handiworks to a wider market and make profit.

operation against Indian insurgents using the soil of Bangladesh for carrying out "subversive" activi-

ties in India. They also said that a decision to set up five more border outposts in the Chittagong Hill Tract

areas bordering Dhalai district of Tripura has been taken for better vigil and stop cross-border movement of insurgents.

District Administration and concerned agencies of both sides would take necessary steps to prevent trans-border crimes such as illegal trespassing, trafficking of women and children, smuggling of drugs and narcotics.

Both sides also decided to share information about dual citizenship of people and take necessary action against them.

The 30-member Bangladesh team led by District Magistrate of Feni Humayan Kabir Khanderkar comprising five district magistrates, representatives of police, paramilitary forces and border guards arrived here on Thursday last and left for their country through Akhaura check post today.

Sunday

11 January 2015

Dimapur

3

Militant involved in Assam attacks killed guwAHAtI, JAnuAry 10 (IAnS): A militant involved in the Dec 23 massacre in Assam's Kokrajhar district was Saturday gunned down by security forces, a day after police arrested seven Bodo insurgents including two involved in the killings.

The slain militant was identified as Jeblang alias Jagat Basumatary, the platoon commander of the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Kokrajhar district, Inspector General of Police (BTAD) L.R. Bishnoi said.

"As part of the intensified operation (against militants), a joint team of Assam Police and Sashastra Seema Bal today (Saturday) gunned down Jablang at a remote area near Serfanguri around 2 p.m.," he said. "Jeblang was involved in the killing of civilians in Pakriguri on Dec 23. He was

also involved in the killing of five Hindispeaking people in Kokrajhar district last year," Bishnoi said. Police recovered an AK56 rifle, 22 rounds of ammunition, two grenades and incriminating documents from his possession.

Another police official said Jablang was involved in the killing of 16-year-old Priya Basumatary in August last year. The girl was killed by militants in front of her parents and villagers after suspecting her of being a spy.

The NDFB had killed over 70 people in five locations across three districts Dec 23.

Police Friday arrested seven NDFB militants from Kokrajhar district and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition. Two of the arrested - Mithinga and Khurai - were involved in the killings in Kokrajhar Dec 23.

AP joins Assam’s flush-out operation ItAnAgAr, JAnuAry 10 (tnn): Arunachal Pradesh has joined Assam's unified command's combing operations, led by Army, to flush out militants of NDFB (Songbijit), who are believed to have sneaked into the jungles in the state from Sonitpur district in neighbouring Assam after triggering a slew of violence killing both Adivasis and Bodos.

"We are coordinating with the Army and Assam Police and putting in all efforts to drive them out of the state," Arunachal Pradesh DGP S Nithianandam said on Friday. IGP

(law and order) I D Shukla visited a few vulnerable areas along the inter-state boundary on Thursday to conduct a flush-out operation. The anti-insurgency operation, led by Shukla, is underway in Boguli, Deka, Kakoi and Borsetum reserve forest areas in state's Papum Pare district adjoining the Lilabari Airport in north Lakhimpur district of Assam.

The state police are strictly monitoring movements of the underground elements within the state territory following Army operations in Assam, the DGP said at the police headquarters here on Friday.

37-year-old man kills five people in Mizoram AIzAwl, JAnuAry 10 (PtI): Police today claimed to have solved the murder of five members of a family with the arrest of a 37-year-old man who lived in the same locality.

Early last night, Laltlanchhuaha of Republic Veng locality stabbed five people to death after entering their house in the same area, Aizawl Superintendent of Police C Laldina told PTI. "He demanded a large amount of money from the owner of the house, Sangliansiama (57) who gave the former Rs 1000.

Laltlanchhuaha stabbed him to death after the latter refused to give him more

money," the SP said, adding, the accused then went on killing other people in the house, including Isaac Lalrinnunga (5), son of Sangliansiama.

The victims included Sangliansiama's wife Khualthangi (57), his sister Vanlalchhungi and Samuel Lalrinchhana (14), a close relative living with them, he said.

The accused has been arrested by the police, the SP said, adding, the earlier reports had said the three to five people had committed the murder.

Sources close to the accused's family claimed that Laltlanchhuaha was in an A Mishing tribal woman smokes meat at a temporary stall during an ongoing ethnic food festival as part of festivities to inebriated condition while mark Bhogali Bihu festival in Gauhati on Saturday, January 10. Bhogali Bihu is the harvest festival of Assam state and is committing the crime. observed in January every year. (AP Photo)

Modi working on hidden agenda not for development: Congress guwAHAtI, JAnuAry 10 (PtI): Congress today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of working to fulfil the "hidden agenda of spreading religious fanaticism" instead of focusing on development of the country.

"In last seven months, no investment has come (to the country) and Modi has given broom to everyone and asked to clean India! Where are the jobs and the factories that he (Modi) had promised?" All India Congress Committee General Secretary C P Joshi said at a rally here.

The Modi government has stopped recruitment of the existing vacant posts, he said addressing the people gathered at the 'Pratarana Birodhi Samawesh' (rally against betrayal).

"Instead, Modi is working with a hidden agenda.

His MPs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sakshi Maharaj are spreading agenda of religious fanaticism. He (Modi) is remaining silent. If this is your (Mod i's) agenda, then tell people that development is not your agenda," Joshi said.

The senior Congress leader also alleged that BJP is bringing amendments to all the existing Acts to benefit the corporate sector.

Joshi also targeted Modi over the ceasefire violations by Pakistan, saying "Where is your 56 inch chest now when everyday Pakistan is firing and killing Indian people from across the border?"

He said the Prime Minister had promised before the last Lok Sabha elections that he would bring all blackmoney back to the country within 100 days of forming the government, but seven months have passed and "nothing has happened yet".

Joshi also accused BJP for attempting to take credit for all the development that India has made after being in

power for just seven months.

Joshi charged BJP with trying to damage the communal harmony of the country by playing "religious politics". The senior Congress leader alleged "a big danger" is lurking for parliamentary democracy.

Speaking at the event, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said BJP has

taken U-turn on all issues related to Assam after coming into power.

"Take any issue that BJP had promised to solve -- be it Bangladeshi immigrant issue, land swap deal with that country, big dam issue or prices of food items -- Modi and his government have made U-turns," he added.

ElitE HEaltHcarE training institutE Dhobinallah, near ICICI Bank, Dimapur – 797112 ADMISSION GOING ON COURSES 1. ANM 2. DMLT 3. Nursing Assistant Office Timing For detail Contact

DURATION 2 Yrs 2 Yrs 1 Yr : 8 AM – 12 Noon : 9856125245/9089660785

ELIGIBILITY 10th Passed 10th Passed 8th Passed

OFFicE OF tHE

naga PEOPlE's FrOnt cO-OrDinatiOn cOMMittEE, nagalanD

PRESS STATEMENT A joint meeting of NPF Central Office Bearers, CEC members, Divisional Unit Presidents, Assembly Constituencies Presidents and Senior NPF Leaders held its meeting at Dimapur on 10th January 2015, and unanimously adopted the following resolutions; ZION HOSPITAL & RESEARCH CENTRE UROLOGIST FOR CONSULTATION/OPERATION Dr. JOY N. CHAKRABORTY MS.DNB (Surgery), DNB (Urology), FRCS renowned Endourosurgeon from Guwahati will be available for consultation on 14th January 2015 (Wednesday).

Patients requiring Consultation/Operation for Urinary problems, Prostate, Kidney & Bladder Stone may contact the Reception for Registration.

CANCER SURGEON FOR CONSULTATION Dr. GANESH DAS MBBS, MS (PGIMER) Trained Cancer Surgeon from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai will be available for consultation on 17th January 2015(Saturday).

For Registration, please contact:  03862-231864, 227337,224117 For more information, visit our website: www.zhrc.in

BEFORE THE MARRIAGE OFFICER FAMILY COURT DIMAPUR, NAGALAND

Marriage Regd.No. 02/1/2015

Dated Dimapur, the 07/01/2015

NOTICE OF INTENDED MARRIAGE Thereby give notice Under Section 15 of the Special Marriage Act,1954,that a petition of intended marriage has been filed by Mr. Sanket Singhvi, aged about 25 years, S/o Shri Ranjit Kumar Singhvi, resident of H/No.100 Flat No 26 TCK Lotha Building, Circular Road AND Miss. Vikali Wotsa aged about 21 years, D/o Shri.Khehoshe Wotsa, Resident of H/No.52, Burma Camp, East Block Colony before this Court on 07th day of January 2015 and whereas 23-01-2015 has been fixed for solemnizing their Marriage. Objection if any are to be furnished on or before the aforementioned fixed date.

MARRIAGE OFFICER

1) The meeting extend full support and confidence in the decision of the NPF Legislators majority electing Mr. G. Kaito Aye as the leader of NPF legislature party.

2) The meeting expresses its strong resentment against the divisive action of Dr. Shurhozelie, NPF President who took autocratic and dictatorial action in suspending 7 NPF MLA's, the repercussion of which is leading to division of the party.

3) The Meeting Sincerely appeal to all NPF party rank and file to come out and extend their support to Mr. G. Kaito Aye who has been unanimously elected by majority NPF legislators so as to save the unity of NPF party and protect inner democracy within NPF. 4) The meeting expresses its regret against NPF President for failing in his responsibility to initiate any reconciliatory step within the party as the head/father of the party and remaining partisan to a particular group and working against the stand of majority.

The meeting was attended by 36 A/C Presidents, 6 Division Unit President, 145 Senior NPF Party leaders, including the Central Office Bearers, Women Wing and Youth Wing.

(T. SHUYA) Co-convenor

(NUZOTA SWURO) Convenor

4

Dimapur

businEss/public discoursE

Sunday 11 January 2015

The Morung Express

Armed for Spiritual Warfare Between the lines (NPF versus NPF)

I

n this conflict against the supernatural we need to be strong in the Lord. The enemy we are in conflict with has the power to trample over us if we go against Him alone without the Spirit of God. Believers need to be aware that we are in the enemy’s territory. Try however hard you may the enemy will make a mockery of you if you dare to stand against him without the weapons needed for spiritual warfare.

When a war is waged analysis of the enemy’s strongholds has to be made to determine the strategies needed to counteract them. A powerful enemy is what we are up against.

The enemy has the power to steal, kill and destroy.

But inspite of the power the enemy possess, the truth of the Word is what makes him fearful. However powerful he may be, he cannot undo the power that has been bestowed upon you through the blood of Christ Jesus. Its what we are in Christ that makes us a force

to reckon with.

Its clearly written in Romans 8:37 that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. What makes us powerful is not because of what we are but because of what God is. Knowing that we are more than conquerors, we have to be armed with whatever is needed to defeat our foes. To be victorious against the supernatural forces, we need to be armed with the weapons of spiritual warfare.

Paul exhorted the Ephesians to put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, they may be able to stand their ground… Ephesians 6:13… In the following verses he exhorted them to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled round their waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with their feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Further in verses 16 and17 he exhorted them to take up the shield of faith,

with which they can extinguish all the flaming arrows if the evil one. And to take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. In addition to this he exhorted them to pray in the spirit at all times.

What is noteworthy in the last exhortation is that he emphasized the art of praying in the Spirit. In spiritual warfare knowledge of the things of the spiritual is important.

For the Word states “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On ther contrary, they have divine powers to demolish stringholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3,4 These are the things which we are empowered with and these are the things which makes usa force to reckon with. The sword of the Spirit, the virtue of faith, the breastplate of rigtheousness and the helmet of salvation are the things

which makes us powerful.

We are not saved by deeds but by grace. Neither are we empowered because of who we are but because of what God is. The Word states in 1 John 4:4 that greater is He that is in you than the one who is in the world. These are the words of life given unto us so that we can live with it. It was made known to us that we may be empowered through the power of it. If we don’t know what we are vin Christ, we won’t know what our worth is.

These are the things we need to harm ourselves with because these are the days in which evil makes its presence felt. Falter not in these trying times for you shall be crowned with the crown of glory in due course of time. To arm ourselves with the weapons of spiritual warfare is what we are in need of. The power is given unto us. The authority is bestowed on us. The choice has been given unto us to confront the enemy with authencity or perish

Renault to launch sub-Rs.4 lakh car this year Chennai, January 10 (agenCies): Renault is set to launch an all-new hatchback in the sub-Rs.4 lakh segment this year as the French car maker intensifies its efforts to transform into a volume player in the Indian passenger ve-

hicle (PV) market.

The proposed small car will compete in the Maruti Alto segment. And, it will be the first product out of Renault-Nissan’s new vehicle platform CMF-A, a global platform meant to design and develop low-

budget cars for customers in India and other markets.

“It is a very wide platform in terms of diversity, and this will be a global car.

It will be sold in other countries also,” Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO and Managing Director, Renault India,

told The Hindu.

He said the company had not finalised the launch dates. But the first new launch of 2015 would be its 7-seater MPV (multipurpose vehicle) Lodgy, and the new hatch would come after that.

Govt permits dual-use of non-processing areas in SEZs new Delhi, January 10 (PTi): Aiming to revitalise SEZs, the government has permitted dual-use of non-processing areas in special economic zones, allowing developers to set up social infrastructure like schools, hospitals and hotels which can be accessed by people within and outside these conclaves.

As per a notification, the non-processing area in special economic zones (SEZs) has been divided into two parts.

The social or commercial infrastructure in one

part can be accessed by entities within SEZ as well as those outside these conclaves. The second part is exclusively for SEZ entities.

No exemption or concession would, however, be provided for creation of social or commercial infrastructure which would be used by entities within SEZ and outside.

"The customs duty, central excise duty, service tax, and such other central levies and tax benefits already availed of for creation of such infrastructure shall be refunded by the developer in full, without interest," it said.

It was a long-pending demand of the industry that the government permit use of social or commercial infrastructure for people outside such zones.

The notification further said the infrastructure, which will be used only

by SEZ entities, that "portion shall be bonded and physically segregated from the Domestic Tariff Area (outside these zones)". It said that this infrastructure would be eligible for exemptions, concessions and drawback but has to be approved by the Board of Ap-

proval. It also said that for housing purposes, the developer would not use more than 25 per cent of the nonprocessing areas. Similarly, for commercial infrastructure, they can use not more than 10 per cent of the area.

Open and circulation areas should not be less than 45 per cent of nonprocessing area.

Further, no sale would be permittedof"such dutypaid" dual use infrastructure in the non-processing area and only lease hold rights can devolve upon the users of transferees of such infrastructure.

for our own folly. What we are is, we are the sons and daughters of God with divine powers bestowed upon us. What we have to believe is that we are more than conquerors in Christ.

And what we have to accept is that we are made whole through the divine blood shed on our behalf.

And what we have to know is that we are empowered with the power of it. This is what we are and this is what spiritual warfare is all about. Be armed with the sword of the spirit that you will be victorious and bring glory and honour to the Father through it.

Ambrose. J. Chakre Founder President Ambrose Foundation in Christ Ministries Kohima

I

n the present political situation confronting the Nagas that has engulfed the entire state, one cannot help but ponder as to how and why the present precarious situation came into existence.

It has become crystal clear to all the Nagas that the issue is between the ruling party i.e. NPF wherein, a group of legislators have become dis-satisfied with their leader and so, want a change in leadership, well within the confines and boundaries of the NPF.As far as my limited knowledge of the NPF party constitution is concerned, the legislators have not chosen their leader (T R Zeliang in the present case) for a fixed period of time, but chosen as a leader for

as long as he enjoys the support of the majority of his party legislators. The issue could be solved very simply by applying a little bit of prudence/brain by those at the helm of affair.

Since the present tussle is within the NPF family, the party president, by virtue of being the head of the family, should not take sides when differences crop up among his children. Rather, he should invite all his children together and try to sort out the issues between them instead of confining himself with one side. If the newspaper reports are true, the dissident group has the majority of NPF legislators, but the president of the party has simply choosen to take side with

the minority group among his party which has further escalated the crisis with no solution in sight. India is a democratic country and so, all the elected representatives, whether at the state or central level have certain obligations to the constitution and the electorates which they have sworn to protect and uphold. It would therefore, be in the interest of the state that the party president invite all his legislators and thrash out a solution, lest the issue turns into constitution crisis. At the end of the day, we must remember that India is a democratic country and if the minority group prevails, grave injustice will be done to democracy.

Temjen Longkumer Duncan, Dimapur

Has the last "Christmas Season" been converted into the "Ides of March" by Kaito's faction of NPF MLAs? 1. The Christmas season is supposed to be a season of love and goodwill, a season of giving and self-sacrifice, as exemplified by our Lord Jesus Christ through his humble birth and renunciation of his heavenly glory. However, it is sad to note that the last Christmas season in Nagaland has been used by some of our legislators to hatch a plot against their own leader and fellow party legislators. To make it worse, the plot to overthrow Zeliang's government does not appear to be based on any differences on policies and principles, but purely by the desire to grab power, or to get more lucrative portfolios by the dissident groups. It may be recalled that only 7 months back, the DAN legislature party had unanimously elected T.R.Zeliang to be the Chief Minister, and accordingly he was sworn in by the Governor. During the last 7 months of his Chief Ministership, T.R.Zeliang does not appear to have deviated from any of the stated policies and objectives of DAN, nor has

he committed any blunder, nor exhibited signs of inefficiency or incompetence in running the Government. Further, it was only in September last year that the DAN Parliamentary Party had unanimously reiterated their faith and confidence in T.R.Zeliang's leadership. Their main allegation against T.R Zeliang that he does not have a good rapport with Narendra Modi and the Central Government is difficult to believe. The mere fact that Narendra Modi did not announce any financial relief or economic development package during his visit to Nagaland in last December should not be held against T.R.Zeliang.

Modi has not announced any similar financial or development package for any state he has visited after he became the Prime Minister, except some relief for severe natural calamities. The very fact that Modi came to attend the State Inauguration day-cum-Hornbill festival at the invitation of T.R.Zeliang should be taken as a positive sign of Modi's attitude towards

the State Government and its people. It may be recalled that during the 11 years Chief-Minister ship of Neiphiu Rio, the Prime Minister did not visit the State even once, in spite of several invitations by the CM. Did anybody even hold it against Neiphiu Rio, or accused him of not having a good rapport with the PM or the Central Government?

2. The whole episode reminds us of the plot against Julius Caesar, hatched by his own trusted colleagues in the Senate, as immortalised in Shakespeare's drama, "Julius Caesar". During the great Roman festival of the "Ides of March", Julius Caesar while attending a public function, was attacked and stabbed by those who wanted to grab his throne. The most ironic part of the attack was that his trusted Lieutenant, Brutus, was one of those who stabbed him from the back, prompting Caesar to remark "Et tu, Brute" (You, too, Brutus?), which has become one of the most famous quotes in history.

Like Caesar, T.R.Zeliang must be saying in his mind

the same words, although he may not like to utter it in public due to his decency.

Another striking similarity is that Caesar, after a series of military exploits as a brave Roman General, was crowned as the Emperor of Rome by the Senate only a few months before the conspirators, who were part of the Senate, struck him down. It may also be noted that the assassination of Caesar resulted in a Civil war, and considerably weakened the Roman Empire, ultimately leading to its downfall.

3. However, let us hope and pray that T.R.Zeliang will survive the most unfair stabbing wound, and he would eventually emerge as a stronger leader, and a more matured statesman for the greater good of the Nagas. I think, everybody will agree that the Nagas need today a good and decent leader, like T.R.Zeliang, who is generous and unselfish, who believes in consensus, who has a vision, and a courage to pursue his belief and convictions.

Kakshe Sema, Retd. Teacher, Dimapur, Nagaland.

Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

_

LEISURE

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”

SUDOKU Game Number # 3105

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3114

Answer Number # 3104

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474

Metro Hospital:

227930, 231081

Faith Hospital:

228846

Shamrock Hospital

228254

Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

Police Control Room

228400

Police Traffic Control

232106

East Police Station West Police Station

227607 232181

CIHSR (Referral Hospital)

242555/ 242533

Dimapur hospital

224041, 248011

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

Railway:

131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

W

O

R

The Power Pop Musical Genre BABYPIANO BABYXYLOPHONE BACKBEAT BACKMASKING BEACHBOYISH BEATLESQUE BRITPOP BUBBLEGUM CALLIOPE FRENCHHORN HARMONIES HEARTSANDFLOWERS HOOKY JANGLYGUITAR LOFI MELODIES NEWWAVE ORANGESANDLEMONS ORCHESTRATION POWERPOP PRODUCERCONCEPT PSYCHEDELIC QUIRKY STUDIOCUTS SUMMERTIME SUNANDMOON SUNSHINE TAMBOURINE TANGERINE THEMATICALBUMS TWEE YOUNGLOVESTORIES

D

K G H B T F C F R E N C H H O R N Y K N

Y S G E I H K O N A I P Y B A B J G O L

S

K T N A A F E L G F P S R T E Q X R V P

R U I C H R P M R A E O I X B E A Y P O

E

I D K H E V T J A I E U P T D N W P R M

U I S B C M N S N T G N G R G D R T T U

Q O A O M P I O A Y I E I E E O F A E G

T C M Y R E M T L N P C S H D W E D U E

A

K U K I O R L G R O D A A U S B O N Q L

N T C S A Z N O I E N F C L K N Z P S B

E S A H O A P L D D M E L C B V U E E B

R

W U B R J G L E L I R M A O P U L S L U

W N J V G A P E K C E B U I W U M V T B

C

A A L W C D M H O R H S V S F E U S A O

V N E N Y O U N G L O V E S T O R I E S

E D A D N F C T A N G E R I N E L S B F

H

O M A S M E N B A B Y X Y L O P H O N E

G O W Z P C I L E D E H C Y S P O X N F

N O I T A R T S E H C R O B R I T P O P

V N U Y K O O H E N I R U O B M A T W S

ACROSS 1. Plot of land 6. Breezed through 10. Aquatic plant 14. Indian prince 15. Prospector’s find 16. Tab 17. A long-legged S. American bird 18. Blockhead 19. Egg-shaped 20. Commit 22. Start over 23. Two times two 24. Small piano 26. Ritzy 30. Central 31. Pull 32. Competent 33. Being 35. Ascends 39. Vacationist 41. Confiscate 43. Seminal fluid 44. Droops 46. Wings 47. Explosive 49. Timid 50. Blaring 51. Disclose 54. Chick’s sound

56. Foliage 57. Excessively dramatic 63. “Do ___ others...”

64. Not soft 65. Habituate 66. Layer 67. If not 68. Phillips or thumb, for example 69. Leisure 70. Marsh plant 71. A dish of tomatoes and greens

DOWN 1. Snare 2. Anger 3. Not fully closed 4. Temporary living quarters 5. Stealer 6. Philanthropists 7. Fearful people 8. Modify 9. Hate 10. Native 11. Energize 12. Clearing 13. Bestow 21. Volumes 25. Happy cat sound 26. Taps

27. Double-reed woodwind 28. Skid row 29. Up to now 34. Very smart 36. Storage cylinder 37. Brother of Jacob 38. Outbuilding 40. Hotels 42. Heretofore (2 words) 45. Bad-mouth 48. Leash 51. Wash out with a solvent 52. Hospitality to strangers (Ancient Greece) 53. Anagram of “Paste” 55. Iron 58. Fit 59. Ancient Peruvian 60. Ringlet 61. District 62. Bawdy Ans to CrossWord 3113

Police Control Room: North Police Station: South Police Station: Fire Brigade: Naga Hospital: Oking Hospital: Bethel Nursing Home: Northeast Shuttles

STD CODE: 0370 100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202 08974997923

CHUMUKEDIMA: 03862 282777/101 (O) 9856158740 (OC)

MOKOKCHUNG: 0369 2226225/ 101 (O) 9436012949 (OC) PHEK: 8414853765 (O) 9862130954(OC) ZUNHEBOTO: 03867 280304/ 101 (O) 9856156876 (OC)

MON: 03869 251222/ 101 (O) 9436208480 (OC) KipHire: 8414853767 (O) 8974304572 (OC)

Toll free No. 1098 childline

Police Station 1:

DIMAPUR: 03862 232201/ 101 (O) 9436017479 (OC)

TUENSANG: 8414853766 (O) 8414853519

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

MOKOKCHUNG:

KOHIMA: 0370 2222952/ 101 (O) 9402003086 (OC)

WOKHA: 03860 242215/101 (O) 9862039399 (OC)

Chumukedima Fire 282777 Brigade Nikos Hospital and 232032, 231031 Research Centre

KOHIMA

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

2226241

Police Station 2 :

2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226373/2229343

TAHAMZAM (formerly Senapati) STD CODE: 03871 Police Station: Fire Brigade

CURRENCY EXCHANGE CURRENCY NOTES US Dollars Sterling Pound Hong Kong Dollar Australian Dollar Singapore Dollar Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen

222246 222491

BUY(Rs)

SELL(Rs)

63.25 95.82 8.14 51.12 47.25 53.59 53.10

63.69 96.91 8.23 51.85 47.82 54.24 53.74

Euro

75.08

75.91

Danish Krone

10.08

10.22

Norwegian Krone New Zealand Dollar Swedish Krona

8.17

8.26

48.61

49.36

7.95

8.03

LOCAL

The Morung Express

nBCC calls for calm Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has expressed concern and anguish over the situation prevailing in Tuensang. “The sensitive issues causing the tension are understood and respected for what they have meant to each side as well as for the serious damage they can cause if the tension goes out of control,” stated the NBCC in a press release.

Stating “violence begets violence and hate begets violence”, the release said that violence has never been an answer to any problem. “The modern world has ushered in ‘neighbourhood’ of nations and communities; but the evading reality is to strive for the ‘brotherhood’ of all people – which

JD (U) Nagaland president appeals Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The president of Janata Dal (U) Nagaland State unit, Mhonjan Lotha, has appealed to both Chang and Yimchunger communities to stay calm and desist from any violence and sort out their differences through negotiation in a true Christian manner. In a press release, Lotha also appealed to the DAN Political Affairs Committee to intervene and contain the present political crisis in the State.

is truly the challenge for our people today to sustain a viable future.”

NBCC therefore appealed to all parties for “dialogue to be allowed to play its steadying, constructive role; convinced that the genius and wisdom of the leaders involved in the

search on both sides of the conflict will find what the Almighty God will show to be right, best and lasting for all concerned.”

“NBCC, sustained by the prayers of all concerned, is giving active support to the attempt to defuse and answer the crisis.”

Sunday 11 January 2015

criminal act by outsiders in our land. The act itself is terrorism and Nagas do not practice or believe in terrorism.”

The statement appended by the union chairman, MY Ngullie and general secretary, Y Zhimomi further lauded the district administration and law enforcing agency for their prompt action in tackling

5

Jd(u) nagaland extends support to tR Zeliang

Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The Nagaland State unit of the Janata Dal (United) has extended its support to “DAN legitimate leader” TR Zeliang. It appealed to all legislators to “shake off their personal difference and give peace and progress a chance and save the common people in the State from chaotic political turmoil.”

This was decided in an executive meeting at the JD(U) party office in Dimapur on January 10. As per the resolution adopted, the leader of the state JD(U) legislative party, BS Nanglang, was directed to support Zeliang. This was informed in a press release from work-

ing president of JU(D) Nagaland, Rikhum Yimchunger, and its general secretary (adm) Elvis Yanthan.

“The solution of the present political crisis in the state lies with the NPF legislature,” stated the JD(U) Nagaland. Noting that the “ball is in the court of NPF party,” it urged NPF to “avoid any consequences out of this political mess...without wasting time NPF should correct themselves their own house in order and allow other alliance partner to play a constructive role for the benefit of the people in the state.”

JD(U) Nagaland also cautioned that “out of our own mistake Governor who has more concern about development and welfare of the state cannot

be blamed for any decision taken by him according to the constitutional provision of the land.”

It reiterated that “the need of the hour is not to counter charge each other but to take full advantage of the privilege as Nagaland being the only state in the northeast which is an alliance to NDA government at the centre since 2003.” The JD(U) Nagaland expressed “full confidence” in the Governor to “do justice to the people in the State” The JD(U) Nagaland further reminded that “role of the elected members is not only to look after their own constituency but the state as a whole in the progress of all angle and also in the participation of national interest for its integration and security of our country.”

GBs Union Dimapur (S) condemns DMK celebrates silver jubilee

Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The GBs Union Dimapur (Sadar) has condemned the blast which happened in Dimapur on January 5. Calling it “deliberate in nature to create disturbance and malign Naga people,” the GBs Union Dimapur (S) in a press statement said, “The patience of Naga people should not be taken for granted by such

Dimapur

the situation and requested the authorities concerned to beef up their intelligence network in order to “crack down on this sort of criminals conspiring to carry out grievous crimes against innocent citizens.”

Meanwhile, the citizens were reminded to cooperate with the authorities for their safety and to maintain peaceful atmosphere.

Social Awareness Drive marks NCYM convention Folk song presented during the silver jubilee celebration of Dapfhiitsumiapfii Mechii Krotho (DMK) on January 10.

Kohima, January to grace the occasion as of BRC pronounced the 10 (mExn): The Dapfhi- chief guest could not make invocation prayer. Kelitsumiapfii Mechii Krotho it to the programme and houphilie Kire exhorted (DMK) celebrated its his speech was read out by the gathering while vote of thanks was proposed by silver jubilee at D. Khel Kezhalelie Keretsu.

At the programme, Keneisenuo Khezhie. SpeGround, Kohima Village Kereilhouviii Kire and cial folksong was presenton January 10.

Khriehu Liezietsu, par- Kevireinuo Khezie pre- ed by Cultural Promotion liamentary secretary for sented the yearlong re- Society, D. Khel.

As part of the jubiYouth Resources & Sports, port and history of DMK. Neikiezoii Kire chaired lee celebration, a variety New & Renewable Energy Delegates of the 7th NCYM convention clean Local Ground, Kohima as part of the So(NRE) & Music Task Force the programme, Rev. show was held later in the cial Awareness Drive on January 10.

(MTF), who was supposed Khrieneilie Sachü, pastor evening.

Born a Muslim and Principal, NEISSR, DimaKohima, January 10 (mExn): The second brought up as an Imam, pur and former director day of the 7th Nagaland he faced a lot of persecu- NCYM led the solemn ‘Way Catholic Youth Movement tion and torture even at the of the Cross’ procession, (NCYM) convention began hands of his own family where all the delegates took mEluri, January 10 Acting President, Thom- the frontal organisation with a Social Awareness when he decided to accept part with candles.

In the evening ses- (mExn): The Pochury as Feedhu has requested heads to attend the sesDrive, which was flagged Jesus Christ, a press release off by V. Lucas Meyase, re- informed. Mario related sion, Quartet Competition Students’ Union will all the affiliated units to sion. Dr. Jutsütho Phoji, tired director, School Edu- how his mother fought to was held where one group hold its 55th general ses- send at least 10 delegates Senior Lecturer, SIRD cation and former director, keep his life over her own from each Parish took part. sion on January 23 at its during the session. The Kohima will grace the NCYM from Cathedral, Ko- even before he was born During the business ses- Headquarters in Meluri. President also requested session as the resource hima today. The delegates and promised total surren- sion, discussion was held A press note issued by all the senior leaders and person. divided in 6 groups went to der to Allah. “This love of his on NCYM resolutions and District Jail, Mental Hospi- mother and her promise of election of new office beartal, Naga Hospital, Orphan- total surrender to Allah in- ers was conducted.

Highlights for Sunage, Old Age Home and Lo- stilled in him the thirst to cal Ground and carried out know God and study the day’s programme will be: Ecumenical Meet at 7 am, cleanliness drive, distrib- different religions.”

Speaking on his con- which will be followed by uted food items and stationery, etc and also held in- viction in Jesus and Chris- the Jubilee Mass at 10 am. tianity, Mario noted that The main celebrant will be teractions.

Meanwhile, at the among all the religions, Most Rev. Dr. James ThopNCYM Silver Jubilee cel- Christianity was the only pil, Bishop of Kohima, Naebration at Mary Help one where “you are sure of galand and Chief Patron, of Christians Cathedral, forgiveness.” He added that NCYM. During the mass, Kohima, Mario Joseph, Christianity was the only the new NCYM office bearPreacher, Divine Retreat religion where one had a ers will be blessed by the Centre, Potta, Kerala in his helper - the Holy Spirit. Ma- Bishop. Felicitation protestimony stated, peace rio further asserted that the gramme of ex-office bearbegins with a smile. To at- only surety on earth was ers of the NCYM will be tain salvation, doing good death. However, there is a held where Francis Ngais not enough, Mario said life after that, he said, add- jokpa, Minister, Rural Dein a hall packed with more ing “what you sow here, velopment & Panchayati Raj, Economic & Statistics, than a thousand youth and you will reap there.”

Rev. Fr. CP Anto, Di- Govt. of Manipur will be the members from various corSome of the NPF central office bearers, CEC members, Divisional Unit presidents, asrector, Peace Channel and chief guest. ners of Nagaland.

Pochury Students’ Union 55th general session

BJP nagaland stands by kaito

Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The BJP Nagaland State unit has re-affirmed its support to “majority NPF group” led by G Kaito Aye. Following an emergency meeting held in Dimapur on January 10, BJP Nagaland State unit officebearersandlegislatorshavestatedthatBJPNagaland is “steadfastly united.” The statement was issued by president of BJP Nagaland, Dr. M Chuba Ao, and BJP MLA Dr. TM Lotha.

It further informed that the press statement issued by James Vihoshe, general secretary (adm.) was “without the authorization of the party to go to the print media and hence treated as null and void.” Henceforth, it stated, “all party official statements will be issued by and/or through the party spokespersons only.”

Dimapur police arrest two

Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): Dimapur police on January 9 arrested one habitual car lifter from Duncan Bosti here while he was trying to lift one Bolero Pick-Up truck at around 11:30 pm. An accomplice managed to flee taking advantage of the darkness, informed a press release issued by Addl. Superintendent of Police/PRO, Dimapur. The arrested accused identified as Surash Pradhan from Khatkhati, Assam has reportedly lifted several other vehicles from in and around Dimapur, according to the release. A case has been registered at Dimapur West Police Station for further investigation in this connection.

Meanwhile, Dimapur police also arrested one FGN/NNC cadre for collecting “illegal” tax near DMC Toll Tax, Burma Camp, Dimapur on January 9. The release informed that a cash amounting to Rs. 400/- and one Alto car bearing registration number NL-07C-9475 (red colour) were seized from the

possession of the arrested cadre identified as SS Captain Atobo Yepthomi (32). It was also informed that a preliminary examination upon the arrested cadre ascertained that, he was collecting annual tax from Manipur bound trailer/ truck. In this connection, a case has been registered at Dimapur East Police Station for further investigation.

One unidentified body recovered A body highly decomposed beyond recognition was recovered from near Sovima village, 5th Mile, Dimapur by Dimapur police personnel on January 10. Addl. Superintendent of Police/PRO, Dimapur informed in a press release that an inquest was conducted on the dead body, after which it was taken to Civil Hospital morgue for Post Mortem examination and identification. A U/D case has been registered at Diphupar Police Station for further investigation.

MEx FILE Liquor seized in Kohima Kohima, January 10 (mExn): The District Intelligence Branch of DEF Kohima intercepted two Maruti vans bearing registration numbers NL01H-6132 (Dark Blue) and NL-01H-7189 (Dark Blue) respectively at Zero Point, Chakhabama, Kohima around 7:00 am on January 10 and seized liquor from the possession of Kezevito Sachü (20) and Kelevi Yongo (20). The seized items consisted of 50 cases of IMFLs – 25 cases of MC Rum, 12 cases of MC Dowell Whiskey, 10 cases of Officer’s Choice (Blue) and 3 cases of Hayward’s Beer, informed Atu Zumvü, Sub-Divisional Police Officer & PRO, Kohima in a press release. The accused have been booked under NLTP Act at Khuzama PS, Kohima and remanded in police custody for further investigation. The release added that “reliable sources” had given information on January 10 around 5:00 am that some bootleggers were transporting IMFLs and proceeding towards Chakhabama side in Maruti vans.

One arms peddler apprehended

Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): Troops of 29 Assam Rifles under the aegis of Headquarters 6 Sector Assam Rifles apprehended one arms peddler at City Tower in Dimapur on January 9. The Assam Rifles personnel had launched an operation based on specific information about movement of an arms peddler in a sembly constituencies presidents and senior NPF leaders attend a joint meeting held car in City Tower area, a press release from PRO Assam Rifles informed. The accused identified as Sana Sharin Dimapur on January 10. ma (40), resident of Hojai, Assam was apprehended along with one point 22 pistol. He along with the recovered weapon was handed over to West Police Station, Dimapur, the release informed.

Changki StudentS’ union Conference cum sports meet ends ChangKi (moKoKChung), January 10 (mExn): The 3rd Changki Students’ Union (CSU) sports meet cum general conference concluded on Friday at Changki village with a valedictory function graced by K. Tiayanger Tzüdir, Director, Treasuries and Accounts, as the Guest of Honour.

The event, which commenced on January 7, included various outdoor and indoor sports activities, choral singing, paintLeaders and elders of Rongmei community pose for lens on the occasion of ‘Rongmei ing competition, etc. A contingent from Dimapur Day’ in Dimapur. All the Rongmeis in the North East observed the day on January 9.

was declared the over-all Champion, closely followed by the defending champions, the Changki Village Unit.

Tzüdir during his interactive speech remarked that “perhaps, Changki had excessive blessings in the past” and “took for granted God’s blessing” and therefore has become complacent and landed in trying times. But, drawing examples from the stories of the Israelites, he encouraged the gathering that “people who do not yield

to oppressions” eventually moves forward successfully against all odds.

He further reminded the youngsters that success only comes to people who can struggle by themselves without depending on others and since Changki is going through a “decisive yet uncertain period,” he encouraged the youngsters to be ready for any eventualities united.

Apart from the delegates, the valedictory function was attended by hundreds of parents from different towns.

CCSU condemns attack on ex-MLA’s residence Dimapur, January 10 (mExn): The Confederation of Chang Students' Union (CCSU) has condemned the act of hurling a grenade at the residence of Koma Imlong Chang, Ex-MLA from Tuensang Sadar-II on January 9, 2015 at 5th Mile, Dimapur. “The Chang Community as a whole expresses against for such a callous attempt to our leader,” stated a condemnation note issued by CCSU president, Imtichoba and general secretary, Chongshen Yanchu.

The CCSU further requested the Dimapur district administration and police to find out the culprit(s) at the earliest and book as per the provision of the law. The Confederation also appealed to all the right thinking individuals and organizations to come forward and condemn such “uncivilized, inhuman and ill intention act which is done to the innocent public leader without rhyme and valid reason in this civilized world.”

6

Review ‘Standby’ Kids: The case for the ‘Lesser’ Children Sunday

11 January 2015

www.morungexpress.com

EXPRESS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

I

n a football team, there are players earmarked to be on the bench as ‘standbys’ or ‘substitutes’ who will only get the chance to play if and only if some players in the first line up are injured or retired due to problems. However expert they may be as players, they may never get the chance to play, not only in a match but the entire season even! Sometimes, preference from the managerial team or coach can result in the formation of ‘substitutes’. And so at times, some players on the bench might sulk for not letting them play because they feel as capable and fit as the ones on the field.

Now, I’d like to take this analogy and match it with the nature of family in our social context (reflections are on the Naga 'Christian' society, in particular). Our family structure, if we critically assess it, is so much like the football team. I know this might even cause to raise eyebrows but allow me to make my arguments. Like the football team, there is occurrence of this kind of sidelining of children as if they are mere ‘standbys’ or ‘substitutes’ (pardon me if my words seems ‘too strong’) who might never get the chance to play as the ‘real’ child, and therefore the problematic presence of ‘preferences’ in the family itself! Some children feel less loved than others. And thereby, the development of some complexes in some children that made them think that they are somehow the ‘lesser’ children of the family.

There’s so much of irrationality that operates in the system that needs to be brought to the fore so that good reason takes its rightful place. What I’m about to suggest here is that we re-examine some attitudes that has taken a deep inroad into our society causing serious stumbling blocks for a better quality of life. There is a sense of unequal treatment in the family too, not necessarily in the form of ill-treatment through physical abuse but by being untreated or unattended to. I can identify two areas that lead to the constitution of what I call the ‘standby’ kids.

On the waiting list: Oftentimes, I’ve overheard parents saying that they need ‘more’ children ‘in case’ something happens to any of the children. This is more often heard when they have a single child or fewer children. In other words, what they really mean to say is that they want to keep some children as ‘standby’ children lest, God forbid, some tragedy, like death of a child, befalls on the family. And therefore, a cause of large families. While I’m not in any way against family with many children if the family really desires to have and provided they have the required resources to manage the family by providing descent livelihood to all its members, I’m of the opinion

The ‘girly’ matter: Another way to tackle over-sized family is to fight for an equal status of boys and girls, starting from within the family. I’m sure there won’t be debates here even if I put it bluntly that one major reason for unnecessary expansion of family is the ‘preference’ for boys over girls.

We’re still plagued by the mentality of ‘boys are boys’ like every patriarchal society. But this mentality is primarily due to the value labeled on the two sexes. Boys are considered the pride to the family, the one who will carry on the family bloodline, whereas, girls are treated as mere agents in serving the purpose of the male legacy. Many a time, there is also an unholy encouragement from the clansmen to increase its fold by saying “we’re from a small clan, we need to increase our numbers”.

To them I say: “Are we still waging clans’ war that we should treat our children as walls of defense?” This isn’t the time of taking pride in belonging to the biggest clan, village, tribe, etc. Since we live in a patriarchal setting, too little of this issue has been addressed. And unfortunately, there are lots of ‘educated’ ones who still chose to be silent on this subject though it is a clear form of in- Hope for the future: We’re a new generation. Gone are the stories that told equality. It should be taken as a subject of urgent need. us that we need to expand and populate the land. But look around what would the next generation after us feed Points to ponder before taking the plunge: In a society like ours where many families are still on? Now, we should be able to tell new stories; stories dependent on full time agricultural works, a thoughtful that will encompass hope for a healthy future. Should consideration on the size of family is crucial for econom- the old prejudices and biases still fill our imagination? ic reasons. Once upon a time, large families might have Change in our perspective is what we need to advocate. served a good purpose because, for good or bad, every- We’re now a dominantly Christian society, though we one would end up being farmers. More children means still find few pockets of people who haven’t turned to more hands, they said. But with the same logic, it is also Christianity. But if we look around, many decades of betrue that more children means more mouths to feed! Un- ing Christians seems to have done too little good. We’re like those days, now agriculture is not the only profes- still too stubbornly holding on to our old worldview as sion available, there are ample avenues to venture into, when we were non-Christians. I do not say that there is thanks to opportunities. And since education is a must no change at all; there are few visible ones. And someto find place in this modern time, our perspectives need times, I feel if we are even growing to build dividing walls to change. Bigger families tend to lack behind when it instead of breaking them down. Our old parochial understanding of the world should be ripped apart that we comes to provision of education to their children.

And the fallout of the dilemma faced by family with can see beyond our own little domain of the village walls.

KB Veio Pou disproportionate source of income is that there are unAsst. Professor, SBSC, University of Delhi avoidable preferences on who should go to school since

On Change

C

hange is the topic everyone seem to pick up these days, quite naturally as the sun picks up the moon. Now whether it qualifies as the latest trend in town is hard to decipher but if one looks around with an eye of observation; the topic is almost chocking our already loaded atmosphere canteens, cafe, bars, taxis, restaurants or any other conceivable rendezvous point where people meet, the most rewarding point of discussion is undoubtedly on Change- Undisputed so far, and with it comes the revelation that Change propagators are the most abundant profession mushrooming in our pretentious society lately. However, the terrible fact that a generous number of us are yet to realize that change will take place only when we change ourselves remains ever opaque.

Change will never occur by casting the direction of our index fingers towards our leaders; instead we must muster up enough courage to take responsibility for every minute misfortunes occurring to us as a result of our un-thoughtful actions and vehemently resolve to counter it by refreshing our thought perception- the most essential tool available for the fight. Following are some reflection points for everyone to either pick or drop it and see if we could really be the ‘Change’ that we all desperately dream and long of: 1. Change will happen when our evermounting educated unemployed youths endeavor to minimize our growing dependency on our extraordinarily burdened parents’- post for-

that there is a need to consider the family life in proportion to the economic viability of the family. Children are not like material things that you can discard one for the other. Expansion of family size for fear of lost of children ‘prematurely’ or for want of more ‘boys’ is only a matter of ruining the prospect of the family condition.

After all, we’re not the author of life. It’s all up to the One above, the Almighty, to decide who should live how long! But God has given each individual the intelligence to analyze each condition and make wise choices even in the matter of family planning.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

mal education and dart away in every direction for opportunities besides the conventional government jobs whose lone assurance is security.

Change will undoubtedly happen when parents cease to become ‘job beggars’ inspired by their heavy butted children’s and rather shoo them outside the comfort pasture to let them graze on their own in new fields as this contagious begging habit is prospectively depleting the providence gifted potentials prematurely in us.

Change will happen when every employee, especially those in the public sector start embracing 8 hours of daily work as a professional challenge and not as a punishment.

Change will happen when our top officials invest more on their fantastic personality to accumulate permanent respect and admiration than to bank on escorts and sirens which graciously returns in-genuine fleeing respects.

Change will happen when our spiritual leaders maintain the same level of passion and enthusiasm irrespective or where one is called even in the case of being denied some worldly facilities presumably available to those serving in cities and towns; for it is the same God that dwells in every placeknown or unknown.

Change will thrive when we project success in the prism of despair in-

the family cannot support every child and so the ‘not so bright’ ones gets left out. Though these kids considered ‘not so bright’ might be excelling in other activities, their talents are overlooked. It should also be seen here that the term ‘bright’ is qualified only with the bookish knowledge and hence, an additional sidelining of those that are talented in other fields. And it is possible that these ‘neglected’ children want to, at times, play the spoilsport! Perhaps, even some readers reading this article could relate to this because, if the truth be told, many are born into those conditions!

Agriculture or farming bear its fruit of hard labour in a year’s time, but education is not so. Education requires a long time investment in financial terms. Inability to find adequate financial support is one main reason for the high number of school and college drop outs, not because the concerned kids chose to but to make way for first born(s) to take the privilege. And at times, it’s sad to see meritorious students being compelled to give up studies because of family financial conditions. Our design of family leads to rise of various unwanted situations in our society. A family that is not able to meet the requirements or needs of the children only paves way for undesirable conditions of poverty, which in turn leads to inability to provide basic education and thereby encouraging a vicious cycle of an all round underdevelopment. One should know that developing a healthy human lifestyle is very essential in as much as we need cleaner environment and infrastructural development for our society.

stead of trying to secure the future through the improper channel with those in power, be it our parents or relatives.

7. Change will never elude us once we learn to respect a person more by his ideals and thoughts than by his outer appearance or possessions.

8. Change will boost once we cease to use our position to serve ourselves rather than others; for when Almighty bless us more than others, He seriously wants us to be a blessing to those lesser fortunate than us.

9. We can give ourselves a noble chance for Change only if we do away with the illusion that we can do something worthy only when we establish more unions and associations, for if that were to ever happen Nagaland would have been the greenest pasture in the country.

10. Change will take place eventually when we start feeling comfortable doing those menial jobs ourselves instead of silently patronizing a millionaire out of an illegal immigrant.

11. Change will take place if our freedom fighters stop intimidating us with those imported barrels which we definitely helped them procure in one way or the other with our sweat toiled earnings.

12. Change will happen only when we eradicate the practice of “Chai Pani” in all the effected offices.

13. Change will happen when government vehicles are exclusively utilized for official purpose only and not as the official family machine for all occasion.

14. Change will happen if Doctors and physicians give the same amount of attention to patients whether in Public hospitals or private clinics; for health issues do not get simpler within the walls of a government run hospitals.

15. Change will happen if we learn to spread our infectious love to others beyond our own tribe, clan or family.

16. Change will happen if we madly persist in educating our simple village folks that traveling in a lesser bumpy road and living in a 24x7 electricity fed home is more feasible than a few big meals or a few hundred notes taking temporary solace in the pocket during elections.

17. Change will happen if we resolve to give a fair chance to every child to enjoy the privileges of life; irrespective of their worldly standing. After all, the status of one’s family should neither ensure nor obstruct the path of one’s progress to life.

18. Change will happen if each employee is given a decent opportunity to walk up the ladder of success without sacrificing their integrity.

In conclusion, I humbly wish every reader to be the change in order to see the change and feel the change as you change yourself first.

Nyanbemo A.Tsopoe Lotha Change Initiatives, Wozhuro

Why I am the least bothered about the present crisis in the Nagaland state of India

T

Kaka D. Iralu

he reasons for my apathy and indifference are because of the following reasons:

1. This state of Nagaland was born at a time when 645 Naga villages were burnt to ashes by the Indian army and every family in Nagaland was mourning the deaths of over a hundred thousand Nagas who had perished in the holocaust. They died from starvation disease, rape, torture, murder and bullets and bombs from both the air as well as ground assaults. This happened when about 100,000 Indian soldiers invaded Nagaland from 1954-1960. (For details of Indian army deployment in this period, read “Uncovering the political lies that have covered Indo Naga politics from the 1940s to the present. Pp.27-32) 2. Despite this bloodbath, on the home front, the then valiant Naga army was able to resist and “hold the line”against this invasion force for 5 long years from March 25, 1955 to July 1960. In the international front, Phizo had miraculously found his way to London on June 12, 1960. His first press conference in London raised a furore as the world press came to know about what India was doing to Nagaland. At this point of human history, the whole world was weary of wars as the Second World

kota was sent to Jorhat on 24th July and 19 members of the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) were quickly flown to Delhi and the 16 Point proposals were submitted to Nehru on July 16, 1960. This was the same day that Phizo met the international press conference in London. The NPC was earlier mobilized and raised by S.M. Dutt, the then Deputy Director of the Indian Intelligence Bureau. B.N. Mullik in his book “My Years with Nehru” had disclosed that S.M. was the “originator” and “Chief architect” of the Naga people’s Convention. As stated

by Mullik, this Naga people’s Convention was raised in order to nullify the 1951 Naga Plebiscite which had been conducted under the leadership of the NNC. Therefore in order to nullify the all Naga political institution and its works by another all Naga tribal Council, the NPC was raised with the Indian army giving protection to all the delegate members in their first second and third conferences at Kohima, Ungma and Mokokchung . The Indian Government had co-drafted the 16 point Agreement with these Naga NPC collaborators so that an impression can be given to the world that Nagas had themselves asked for a state under the Indian Union. This Delhi saw, was the only escape route for India from facing an international charge of in3. Realizing that both Nerhu and In- vading Nagaland which had declared her dia could suffer a terrible embarrassment Independence one day prior to India on at the international level, an Indian Da- 14th August 1847.

War which had devastated the whole world ended in 1945. In this war weary climate, the whole world was looking to India-the biggest Democracy that had come into existence through none-violence. India’s spokesman Nehru was the “Darling” of not just Asia but even Europe and the West. People flocked to listen to him as he thundered “We want no forced marriages or forced unions. This great republic of India is a free, voluntary, friendly and affectionate union of the states of India.” Therefore, the Western world, scandalized by what Nehru was doing to the Nagas scheduled another world press conference for July 26, 1960 in London. Phizo was ready to present his booklet “The fate of the Naga people- An appeal to the world” in this Press Conference. In this book Phizo had documented all the non-violent diplomatic actions that the NNC had done to declare their position both to India and the world for 9 long years from 1946 to 1955.

Phizo had also compiled all the violent activities that India had done to the Nagas for the 5 long years from 1955 to 1960. His book ended with the plea that an international body should be immediately sent to Nagaland to verify his charges of India’s genocidal attempts against the Nagas.

4. Following the developments from July 26, 1960, on December 1, 1963 an Indian Nagaland state was finally inaugurated which had entrapped all Nagas under the Constitution of India for the past fifty one years (1963-2014).

End notes: As for the 99.9 Nagas who had voted for an Independent Nagaland and have also laid down thousands of their lives for that independent Nagaland, they had nothing to do with this treacherous betrayal of the 16 Point Agreement. As for me, the sooner this state disintegrates and disappears from right in front of our eyes, the better it will be for all future Nagas. Let India also withdraw all her financial assistance to Nagaland because this money has converted Naga Christians from worshipers of God to worshipers of Money.

The then Congress party of India that gave birth to this state of Nagaland had the obligation to feed this baby of their womb for all these years. However the present BJP party has no obligation whatsoever to keep feeding this illegitimate child of the Congress. Just let this illegitimate child (Indian state) starve to death- for that will be good for both India and the Naga people. As for a detailed account of all that I have challenged in this article, read “Uncovering the political lies that have covered Indo Naga history from the 1940’s to the present. It is available in all the major bookstalls in Kohima, Dimapur and Mokokchung.

Nagaland State in Multiple Crisis: Presidents’ Rule Imminent Dr. Walunir onstitutionally speaking, DAN still maintains majority in Nagaland Legislative Assembly with its leader, T. R. Zeliang, as Chief Minister. It is also not surprising to see the NPF’s desperate manoeuvring attempts to reconsider the suspension of its seven elected members in order to maintain its majority in the Legislative Assembly. No doubt, the ruling coalition can change leader (Chief Minister), which has to be resolved within the ruling party (DAN) and not in the Legislative Assembly floor or through intervention of the Governor or the Prime Minister. DAN has to take a consensus on leadership and simply submit the name to the Governor followed by a Swearing-in Ceremony of the new Chief Minister. A resenting group from within DAN meeting the Governor of Nagaland and the Prime Minister does not have any constitutional relevance.

Following the present crisis, if some MLAs of the ruling coalition (DAN) resign from party along with the suspended members, it may lose its majority in the Legislative Assembly after a test of strength of DAN in the floor of Legislative Assembly. The next permissible constitutional step of the Governor is to invite the opposition to stake claim to from new government and show majority in the floor of Assembly.

However, the present opposition party, Congress, with insignificant number of MLAs will not be able to do so. In that case of Hung Assembly, where no party is able to show majority to from government, the Legislative Assembly will be dissolved for a fresh election. Till such times, the Governor can propose to the Centre to impose President’s Rule on grounds of ‘Breakdown of Constitutional Machinery’.

There are also two other grounds on which President’s Rule can be imposed – Financial Crisis and Law and Order break down. The present debt of Nagaland Government has not been caused by non allocation of funds by the centre. It has been caused majorly by misappropriation of public funds and non-planned appointments - valid as well as illicit. Till public funds of developmental works remain ‘pocket money’ of ministers and bureaucrats (excepting few), public services will slacken; infrastructure will depreciate and labour force of the state will diminish. So long as jobs are ‘distributed’ by ministers, the government offices will be peopled majorly by unintelligent and unskilled workers. This financial mess and impending financial crisis cannot be solved by any of the existing leader or political party. Whether or not DAN government is able to sustain majority and change its Leader in the Legislative Assembly, the government of Nagaland is heading towards a financial breakdown and hence, financial emergency.

There is also a tendency of impending law and order break down in Nagaland. With restrained financial flow into the state and public agencies tightening its grip on illegal taxation, the Naga underground government and factions will start to ‘starve’ which will lead to extortion and other criminal activities. It is possible for our police force to manage and control criminals but so long as Nagaland political and Naga underground leaders maintain relationship, our police force and army will remain handicapped.

Nagaland has cultured certain discursive and corrupted practices over the decades. Nagaland requires a prolonged strenuous training and disciplining to mend its corrupt ways and emerge as a viable state. It can best be ensured through a minimum of 5 years Presidents’ Rule to streamline constitutional procedures; generate resources from within the state; exploit natural and human resources; nurture honesty and hard work and develop work culture.

C

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

FAITH LEAF

SunDAY

THE MORUNG EXPRESS 11 January 2015

www.morungexpress.com

A paradox: Joy in suffering Without the harsh north wind: There is a legend which originated in a small town in Germany. For a number of years the town experienced poor harvests. The townspeople prayed at the beginning of a New Year saying, "God, our harvests have been so poor and so scarce, for one year will you let us plan everything?"

God said, "All right, for one year."

They immediately set their plans for abundance into motion, and God complied with their every request.

Whenever they asked for rain, God sent rain. Whenever they asked for sun, God sent sun. The corn never grew higher, and the wheat had never been thicker. But when the harvest came, they discovered that the tall corn had no ears, and the thick wheat had no heads of grain.

"God, you have failed us!" they cried out. "We asked for sun, and you sent sun. We asked for rain, and you sent rain. But there is no crop."

"You never asked for the harsh north winds," answered God. "Without the harsh north winds, there is no pollination, and with no pollination, there is no crop.”

Why rejoice in suffering?

“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:3-5 NIV) To rejoice in suffering is a paradox. But for Christians suffering can be the reason for genuine joy because of what it can produce in us. Trials of life produce perseverance (i.e. determination and diligence), good Christian personality and reliable hope.

The actual conditions of life, especially for believers in the midst of a hostile society, are not easy or pleasant, but the knowledge of acceptance with God, of grace constantly supplied, and of the prospect of future glory enables believers to revel in the face of sufferings.

Suffering has value in that it produces perseverance or steadfast endurance. Believers do not take the pressure of tribulation passively by abjectly giving in to it; rather, they resist it, like Christ who endured the cross and thus triumphed over suffering. The Christian faith consists of glorying and rejoicing in the midst of suffering rather than to submit to it as an inevitable evil.

Just as our present access to God gives hope of sharing the divine glory, sufferings too produce character, and approved Christian character finds its ultimate resting place in the presence of God, not in a grave. By the teaching of suffering the Lord is fitting us for his eternal fellowship.

Human love may bring disappointment and frustration, but not the love of God. By the Holy Spirit the love of God poured out in our hearts. This speaks of the inexhaustible abundance of the supply of God's love through the Spirit. All the blessings found in Christ are mediated to God's people by the Spirit. In this passage we see the thought advanced from faith to hope and from hope to love.

God’s grace is all-sufficient: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness-

L

ouis Zamperini (1917–2014) was a miracle of a man. He truly lived— better, survived—one of the greatest stories ever written. Nonfiction stories are written, too, you know. “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16). Some stories wake us up and remind us of this mouth-stopping truth.

Louie’s life could only have been born in the mind and heart of God. A film opens today bringing Louie’s epic story to the big screen. It’s based on Laura Hillenbrand’s remarkable telling of Louie’s extraordinary story, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. Louie’s life is a Lord of the Rings trilogy born in the flesh of one strong but feeble man. The Coen brothers (writers), Angelina Jolie (producer and director) and everyone else involved should be applauded for taking on a life as excruciating and inspiring as Louie’s. It is a monumental task—one too large for life, much less for a full-length feature film.

I won’t offer any spoiler alerts, because I don’t believe this article will spoil anything for you—at least anything that’s not already suggested in the title (Unbroken: Survival. Resilience. Redemption.). In fact, having read Hillenbrand’s book, I consider this an anti-spoiler—like reading up on the history and landmarks of Washington D.C. before you spend a week there. I believe you’ll enjoy the film (and Louie) more knowing the full story, especially the pages not covered in Jolie’s 137 minutes.

Worse Than World War II Unbroken, the film, begins with the trouble-making son of Italian immigrants, chronicles his unlikely and meteoric rise to fame as an Olympian, displays some of the unspeakable horrors of war, and highlights the resilience and strength even weak men can have in the face of agonizing pain and unrelenting terror. What the film does will be intense and emotional enough to sober and inspire most of us. Violence, starvation and torture will even be too much for many.

After a plane crash into the ocean, Louie and two fellow soldiers were trapped on a raft for 47 days before they were captured by the Japanese. The Bird—the military officer who held and mercilessly tortured Louie—is rightly, if not inadequately, portrayed as an awful, sadistic villain and criminal. But there are worse horrors hidden in this edition of the story.

The movie simply doesn’t go low enough, and therefore cannot end high enough. If the worst things in life were war, torture and death, then the movie might have done Zamperini justice. Louie himself, though, would testify they are not.

There are worse evils and worse fates fac-

7

INSPIRATIONAL STORIES, MESSAGES, POEMS & SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES

Selie Visa

es, so that Christ's power may rest on me.That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”(2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV) The paradox of finding strength in weakness is seen in the life of Paul too. To keep him from becoming conceited there was given him a thorn in his flesh. Godhad given the "thorn" to Paul to achieve a beneficial purpose--the prevention of spiritual arrogance.

The efforts to identify Paul's "thorn" are legion. But paucity of information and the obscurity of Paul's language have frustrated all attempts to solve this problem.

As it is, countless believers have been helped by this reference to his "thorn" to cope with "thorns" of their own.

It is remarkable that Paul could regard his affliction as given by God and yet be "a messenger of Satan." This may support the view that the affliction was some type of physical malady, for a recurrent and tormenting illness could be considered "a messenger of Satan". Furthermore, a severe illness could bring Paul within the shadow of death or hinder the advance of the Gospel.

Be that as it may, behind all machinations of Satan, Paul discerned the all-encompassing providence of a God who perpetually created good out of evil.

The "thorn" proved so tormenting to Paul that on three separate occasions he begged the Lord to remove it. The answer to Paul's prayer did not take the form he had expected. The thorn remained, but so did his recollection of the divine reply. In the distress inflicted at various times by his ailment, God promised that Paul would never lack sufficient grace to overcome it. This grace of Christ was adequate for him precisely because divine power finds its full scope and strength only in human weakness--the greater the Christian's acknowledged weakness, the more evident Christ's enabling strength. The cross of Christ forms the supreme example of "power-in-weakness.”

With this spiritual lesson well learned, Paul affirmsthat he would prefer to boast about the sorts of things that exposed his weakness rather than to pray for the removal of the thorn. It was not, however, in the weaknesses themselves that Paul took delight but in the opportunity that such sufferings endured for Christ's sake afforded him for Christ's power to be effective in his life.

Weakness and Power: “For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet

by God's power we will live with him to serve you.” (2 Corinthians 13:4 NIV) The relationship between Christ and Paul with regard to the paradox of weakness and power is clarified.

Jesus Christ was crucified because of weakness; this weakness was not physical frailty or moral impotence, but the weakness of non-retaliation and the weakness of obedience to God. Christ's weakness in assuming the poverty of earthly existence and in humbling himself and becoming obedient even to death on a cross was, however, the most perfect evidence of strength. But that weakness of Christ is past. Now he lives a resurrection life sustained by God's power, the Spirit of holiness.

Weakness evidenced God’s power: “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Corinthians 11:30 NIV).

Both Paul and his opponents might boast. But Paul’s boasting was distinctive, since, paradoxically, he prided himself on evidences of his weakness that became evidences of God's surpassing power in supporting and delivering him.

The Spirit helps us: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26 NIV).

The word "weakness" is a general expression for the Christian's limitations while still in the human body. Paul had long before discovered his weakness and along with it the compensating factor of the power of God. He admits that we often do not know our real needs as God sees them, nor do we know the needs of others. Going deeper, we do not know the will of God respecting these things. In the last analysis, it is God's will that determines how our prayers will be answered.

Standing over against this severe limitation is the gladdening information that the Spirit helps us. The culmination of the Spirit's activity on our behalf is the declaration that he intercedes (intercessory prayer means prayer for others). Prayer activity on the part of believers goes on in the background and is overshadowed by the part played by the Spirit of God. Hope in the Lord's Love “In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” (Psalm 33:21 & 22 NIV) Regardless of circumstances, each generation of God's people witnesses the new acts of his love. He is their help and their shield. They trust in his holy name, with which they associate past acts of deliverance. Trust requires submission, a willingness to let God be God. The believing community looks expectantly to the Lord, who will work out his plans for the establishment of his kingdom and the renewal of the earth.

Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV).

Paul states the paradox of sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. The challenge is for this joyful outlook to be constant. From a human perspective there may be every reason not to be joyful in many circumstances, yet in Christ they are to be more and more joyful.

“Unbroken” Uncut Marshall Segal ing all of us—the darkness within each of had never really come home. In prison us and the darkness we therefore deserve. camp, he’d been beaten into dehumanized obedience to a world order in which Fairy Tale or Horror Film? the Bird was absolute sovereign, and it Those who don’t read the story will was under this world order that he still miss the reality that Louie was actually lived. The Bird had taken his dignity and a very broken man—horribly broken by left him feeling humiliated, ashamed and sin and then sweetly broken by God. powerless, and Louie believed that only Shortly after his feet landed back on the Bird could restore him, by suffering American soil, Louie went back with his and dying in the grip of his hands. A once family to his childhood home in Califorsingularly hopeful man now believed that nia. They enjoyed food and conversation, his only hope lay in murder. (365–366) unwrapping several years of unwrapped In another crazed nightmare, this Christmas gifts—everything seemed ugly insanity forced Louie on top of his peaceful, almost normal. Then his sister poor wife in the middle of the night, beatSylvia played a recording of Louie’s voice ing and strangling her. Weeks later, Cynthat had been broadcast over public rathia found him shaking their screaming dio during the war. “Take it off! Take it baby girl. She finally filed for divorce. off!” Louie fell into a violent, screaming convulsion—a scene that would sadly Better to Be Broken Everything changed in the fall of 1949. mark most of his next several years.

Like the immature, insecure boy be- Billy Graham emerged in the nation’s eye fore the Olympics, post-war Louie picked by holding a campaign in Los Angeles that fights over nothing, then drowned his drew tens of thousands of people—inemotional scars and nightmares with cluding one hurting and despairing wife endless alcohol and suffered the perva- and mother. Cynthia heard Graham’s gossive curse of POWs: post-traumatic stress pel, surrendered her heart to Jesus and indisorder. These men were anxious and formed Louie that she no longer wanted a depressed—30 percent more likely to divorce. Louie was relieved she had decidcommit suicide. Hillenbrand says, “They ed to stay, but skeptical and even offended carried unspeakable memories of torture by her conversion. and humiliation, and an acute sense of She pled and pled with him to attend vulnerability that attended the knowl- one of the meetings, but over and over he edge of how readily they could be dis- angrily refused. Eventually, she had to armed and dehumanized” (349). lie to get him to come along, and he did.

Louie did meet a pretty girl on the beach Graham preached: and two weeks later convinced the poor, “Darkness doesn’t hide the eyes of God. naïve Cynthia to marry him. They eloped God takes down your life from the time you a short time later to the absolute outrage were born to the time you die. … [He will] of her parents. It wasn’t long before Cyn- pull down the screen and shoot the movthia realized the tortured, drunken, unsafe ing picture of your life from the cradle to monster she had married. Not being able to the grave, and you are going to hear every convince him off of the bottle, she stopped thought that was going through your mind appearing with him in public, embarrassed every minute of the day, every second of by and even afraid of what he might do. the minute, and you’re going to hear the Louie Zamperini was horribly broken words you said. And your own words, and by sin, and then sweetly broken by God. your own thoughts, and your own deeds, are going to condemn you as you stand beThe Bottom of Brokenness Spiraling dangerously and hopelessly fore God on that day. And God is going to out of control—visited every night by his say, ‘Depart from me.’” (373) Louie was enraged, horrified that Japanese torturer—Louie came to the conclusion that the only path to freedom was this man would dare to accuse him like to kill the Bird. He began plotting a mission this, after all he had been through for to murder the man who had ruined his life this country, after all he had endured. I and now patrolled his nightmares. He wildly am a good man, he thought, I am a good and foolishly invested the family’s money in man(373). Graham continued: Here tonight, there’s a drowning man, dead ends, trying to scrape together enough to finance his murderous dream. Bloody a drowning woman, a drowning man, a vengeance against Mutsuhiro Watanbe had drowning boy, a drowning girl that is out lost in the sea of life. (373) become this broken hero’s only hope.

This sent Louie spinning, and he evenHillenbrand writes: No one could reach Louie, because he tually stormed out before Graham was

finished. But it would be the beginning of the end of Louie’s resilience. He had survived opposition before, but nothing like this. The next day, under the powerful preaching of the cross, Louie Zamperini was born again—rescued again.

In the end, Louie was broken after all, but not by the Bird. God has done what the Bird, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending his Son, Jesus Christ—and then a tall, blond-haired messenger named Billy Graham. God had painted yet another picture of his perfect patience, saving the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15–16)—the selfish, angry, violent, abusive, murderous and unforgiving alcoholic.

Hillenbrand describes Louie’s conversion: When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.

He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird had striven to make of him. In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away. That morning, he believed, he was a new creation. (376) Savor the Unseen Sequel The true climax of Louie Zamperini’s story is his second visit to Sugamo Prison. Standing inside the walls that had watched him suffer so badly, he now looked into the eyes of many of the very men who had inflicted the blows. For the first time since the war, he was seeing the faces of his pain and humiliation. How did he respond? Did he devolve into a seizure of violent screaming? Did he silently burn with fear and rage? No. “Louie was seized by childlike, giddy exuberance. In bewilderment, the men who had abused him watched him come to them, his hands extended, a radiant smile on his face” (373).

He later wrote a letter to the Bird: As a result of my prisoner of war experience under your unwarranted and unreasonable punishment, my post-war life became a nightmare. … But thanks to a confrontation with God through the evangelist Billy Graham, I committed my life to Christ. Love replaced the hate I had for you. (396–397) Forgiveness, not survival, was the victory laurel of Louie’s life.

So when you see the movie, and enjoy Louie stepping back into freedom, savor the steps he would take years later into true freedom—freedom from anger, depression, alcohol, fear, violence and revenge.

Freedom that would last through eternity.

Forgiveness, not survival, was the victory laurel of Louie Zamperini’s life.

Marshall Segal is executive assistant to John Piper, a recent graduate of Bethlehem Seminary in Minneapolis, and author of Single, Satisfied, and Sent: Mission for the Not-Yet Married.

Racial Reconciliation and the Gospel

How We Can Exorcize the Ghosts of the Past

I

Dr. Richard D. Land

t grieves me to witness the extent to which racial mistrust and animosity still besets and bedevils America. However, given the visceral response generated by the tragic events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York, it is clear that we still have a long way to go in our national life before we achieve Dr. King's dream of a nation where people are not judged "by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

No matter how one might feel personally about the precise nature of these two individual incidents in Missouri and New York City, the undeniable reality is that when black Americans and white Americans view them through such contrasting lenses, we still have a serious rift in the nation's social fabric.

This rift must be healed and healed as quickly as possible because the longer it is left to fester and metastasize, the more alienation and damage is caused, the more difficult it will become to heal, and the more people will be victimized.

If we as a people and a nation are going to achieve true racial reconciliation and justice, it will be the Christian churches that will lead us to Dr. King's "Promised Land." It would seem that the "salt" of the law has done most of the heavy lifting it can do to relieve racial injustice. The salt of the law can change actions, behaviors, and habits. However, it is only the light of the Gospel that can change attitudes, beliefs, and hearts.

Racism is as old as the fallen nature of man. The Bible condemns it from Genesis onward, explaining that Eve was the mother of all (Gen. 3:20). The Apostle Peter reminds us "that God is no respecter of persons." After we have been transformed by being born again from above by trusting in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we live in a new world in which all has been made new.

The Apostle Paul describes that world for us: "For ye are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26-28).

When we become part of Christ's church of born again believers, our "citizenship is in heaven" (Phil.

3:20, NASB) and we are part of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is "here, but not yet." Each church is to be a present model and positive reminder of the Kingdom of Heaven that will fully arrive upon the Lord's return.

America's problem with race goes back to our beginnings. From our first encounters as Europeans with Native-Americans in Virginia and New England, race has been the serpent in the garden. For all of her greatness, America's treatment of non-whites has been an ongoing tale of prejudice, abuse, and malign neglect.

Unfortunately, the Nobel Laureate William Faulkner was right when he observed, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." There are always the ghosts of the racist past among us, coloring how we perceive the present.

Our present is always informed and tinted by our past experiences. Consequently, while most white Americans were dismissive of theories that the police framed O. J. Simpson, many African-Americans, based on their past experiences, found such accusations far too believable.

Once again, in the wake of Ferguson and Staten Island, people default to their past experiences. Like most Anglos, I must confess I have never had a negative experience with a police officer, white, brown, or black.

I know few African-Americans, however, who have not had truly bad experiences with the police or know someone well who has.

The only way to truly bridge this divide, heal this rift, and move forward is for Christians, twice-born men and women, to come forward and take the lead in the immediate formation of ethnically diverse coalitions where people can tell each other their stories and begin to exorcise the ghosts of the past together.

Ultimately, we must seek to get out of our comfort zones and strive with intentionality to form truly multiethnic, multi-class churches where people of differing ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds worship together and minister to one another as equal members of the local body of Christ. Then we will hear and know each other's stories, and we will put faces we know on racial and economic injustice. Such churches will truly transform our culture.

The Gospel must begin with the truth that each person must be born again and spiritually transformed by accepting Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross as his Savior. But it doesn't end there. As a consequence or fruit of being born again, we are to go into the world as salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16), seeking to preserve against decay, disinfect against the infection of sin, and dispel gloom and depression with the light of the Gospel.

Being salt and light in society is part of the Great Commission mandate "to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20).

Back in the 1940s Lillian Smith, a white Southerner, wrote with breathtaking, broken-hearted pathos of her Georgia girlhood experience of racial segregation and how it victimized everyone.

So we learned the dance that cripples the human spirit, step by step by step, we who were white and we who were colored, day by day, hour by hour, year by year. . . . Something was wrong with a world that tells you that love is good and people are important and then forces you to deny love and to humiliate people. . . . in trying to shut the Negro race away from us, we have shut ourselves away from so many good, creative, honest, deeply human things in life. . . . what cruelly shapes and cripples the personality of one is as cruelly shaping and crippling the personality of the other. (Lillian Smith, Killers of the Dream, 1949) Yes, everyone is victimized when bigotry and racism are perpetrated. But Lillian Smith was wrong when she concluded its victims, white and black, were "stunted and warped" by the experience and "in our lifetime cannot grow straight again."

The Gospel of Jesus reveals to us that we can. We can experience liberation in Christ. We can exorcize the ghosts of the past. We can grow straight again, together in Christ.

Several months after I felt called to full-time Christian ministry at the age of 16, I watched Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech on television, August 28, 1963.

I was captivated, convicted, and convinced. From that moment forward it was never enough to be opposed to racism and segregation (as I already was). I must confront it, speak out against it, and seek to be a Christian ambassador of reconciliation in my ministry. I have dedicated a significant portion of my ministry in the little over a half-century since that summer day long ago. I remain undaunted. I remain optimistic. I refuse to abandon Dr. King's vision. With Jesus' help we will finish the journey together, black and white, brothers in Christ leading the way.

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

8

Dimapur

NATIONAL

Sunday 11 January 2015

The Morung Express

Modi kickstarts BJP’s Poll caMPaign Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally New Delhi, India on January 10. The rally is meant to kickstart his Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the upcoming Delhi polls, expected to be held in F e b r u a r y.

(AP Photo)

New Delhi, JaNuary 10 (PTi): Kickstarting BJP’s poll campaign for Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday wooed voters with a host of promises as he singled out ‘anarchist’ AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for attack and asked voters to punish him for “wasting” one year.

Without naming Kejriwal or his party, Modi said at a rally here that if the AAP leader wants to be an “anarchist” as he has claimed to be, he should go to jungles to join naxals as Delhi cannot have anarchy. Kejriwal had said about a year ago that he is an “anarchist”.

During the 30-minute address, he suggested that Kejriwal has “mastery” in “lies” and dharnas and protests and should be given that role only and that power should be given to BJP which has “mastery” in administration.

At the rally at Ramlila Ground attended by all three new BJP Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, Modi sought a clear mandate for his party to ensure allround development and create a “new” Delhi.

Promising to take Delhi to new heights of development, the Prime Minister said people here will be given an option of choosing their power service provider on the lines of mobile number portability

and pledged to make Delhi slum-free by 2022.

He also promised to usher in a corruption-free system, saying it has been started at the top and gradually it will reach down to colonies.

In an apparent reference to Kejriwal’s comment, made almost a year back that he was an anarchist, Modi said “if somebody is an anarchist, he should go to the jungles and join the naxals. Do not allow Delhi’s pride to be affected by anarchy. Delhi will not benefit from it.”

Apparently referring to resignation by Kejriwal government on February 14 last year after being in power for 49 days, he said, “people should punish those because of whom one year of Delhi was wasted.”

Committing to provide a corruption-free society, Modi said he already commenced the cleansing from the top and asked if anyone has heard any complaint about him ever since he took over as Prime Minister some seven months back.

“Trust me, I will clean up the system. I have started from the top and I will take it to the bottom.

People take money from auto drivers, shopkeeper, the poor people…It will all stop,” the Prime Minister said.

Reaching out to the vast slum population, he prom-

Now, FIR of train offence to be lodged in train itself KaNPur, JaNuary 10 (PTi): Under a new initiative, passengers will now be able to register an FIR in the train itself, instead of halting their journey to register it at the nearest GRP station. Under the service which has been launched in NCR Railway, the FIR will be registered by officials in the train who will then forward it to the nearest GRP station which will keep the victim apprised of the action taken in his case through aggrieved person’s mobile phone.

Chief PRO, NCR Railway Naveen Babu told PTI on Saturday that earlier when a person had to lodge an FIR in case of any event in the moving train, they to break their journey to lodge the report at the nearest GRP station but now an FIR can be filed in the train itself by authorised train officials. FIR forms in English and Hindi will be available with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) escort party, coach conductor, train guard and coach attendant in the train. The forms will also be available with the station incharge and GRP police in case of any incident on the platform, Babu said. In the trains where the RPF is not present, the coach conductor, train guard and coach attendant will help the victim fill the form and will submit it at the next GRP station, he added.

Stalin killed Netaji: Subramanian Swamy KolKaTa, JaNuary 10 (iaNS): Claiming that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did not die in a plane crash in 1945 but was killed at the instance of Soviet supremo Joseph Stalin, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy Saturday demanded declassification of secret files on the leader.

Seeking declassifciation of files to unravel the mystery behind the legendary nationalist leader and freedom fighter’s death, Swamy blamed Stalin of killing Bose in captivity in Siberia. Participating in a Merchant Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised event here, Swamy, however, admitted that disclosing the secret files might jeopardise India’s relation with Britain and Russia but assured of taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“According to the papers that exist with us, Bose had faked his death and escaped to Manchuria in China which was under Russian occupation, hoping Russia would look after him. But Stalin put him in a jail in Siberia. Somewhere around 1953, he hanged or suffocated Bose to death,” said Swamy. Swamy also claimed that the then Indian prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru was aware about Bose being held captive in Yakutsk Prison in Siberia. “Declassification of Netaji documents in haste and without judging the consequences would be difficult. India’s relations with Britain and Russia may be affected, but I will persuade the prime minister to disclose the documents,” said Swamy.

“The mystery of Bose’s disappearance must be solved and the files must be declassified. Because it was Bose’s heroics that played a catalytic role in the British leaving India despite winning the world war,” added Swamy. A host of Netaji’s descendants, enthusiasts and historians and organisations have been campaigning for declassification of secret files claimed to be in possession of various government departments.

ised to replace the slums with concrete houses by 2022, saying “your dream is my dream.” He said steps have already been initiated in this regard by the Urban Development Ministry. While talking about schemes benefitting the poor, he referred to Jan Dhan and said bankers, who earlier used to be reluctant to open accounts of the people from lower economic strata, are now going house-to-house to open zero-balance accounts. “So far 11 crore accounts have been opened as against the target of 7 crore by January 26,” he said adding though people had an option of opening zero-balance accounts, Rs 8,500 crore were deposited by them. In Delhi alone, 19.50 lakh accounts were opened under the scheme,” he said. Taking a dig at the Congress over its claim of standing by the poor, he said “who was running government for the rich and who is running government for the poor has been proved by the Jan Dhan scheme.” Promising 24-hour power supply to Delhi, Modi said he will rid the city of generators which will also ensure a cleaner environment. “We will shut the voice of generators in Delhi. It will also help clean up the air by reducing poisonous gases.” He said BJP was all set to take some “revolutionary steps”

in Delhi which no one can even think of and talked about portability of choosing power service providers on the line of mobile number portability. Assuring to end water woes in Delhi, he said BJP-ruled Haryana has promised to provide more water to Delhi after Central intervention. He also hailed people of Jammu and Kashmir for coming out in large numbers and defeat the separatist forces. Modi termed Amit Shah as the “most successful” party president as under his leadership party has achieved unprecedented success in various states. Without naming anybody, the Prime Minister said a “factory of lies” has come up in the city and rumours are being spread that if BJP comes to power, the retirement age of government employees will be reduced from the current 60 to 58 years.

He said those spreading lies cannot be defeated by anybody except the people and asked the voters to do so. “The government never thought about it and never spoke about it. And still a lie is being spread. Every day a new lie is being manufactured. Spreading lies is their job and their politics.

Modi can never back stab anyone…Elect a good government in Delhi. Give us a clear mandate,” he told the gathering.

Religion in India bubbles over into politics

New Delhi, JaNuary 10 (aP): In smalltown northern India, Muslims are offered food and money to convert to Hinduism. If that doesn’t suffice, they say they’re threatened. Across the country, the Christmas holiday is canceled for hundreds of government servants who spend the day publicly extolling the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Powerful Hindu nationalist leaders — some with close ties to Modi’s government — say they intend to ensure India becomes a completely Hindu nation.

But Modi himself? He has remained silent as nationalist demands have bubbled over into dayto-day politics, and amid growing fears among minority religious groups of creeping efforts to shunt them aside.

“We told him we feel insecure and fearful,” said the Rev. Dominic Emmanuel, a Roman Catholic priest who was in a delegation of religious leaders who met a few days ago with Modi.

“We told him, ‘If there were just two words from your side, prime minister, we would feel so much better.’”

But according to Emmanuel, Modi dismissed the fears as media exaggeration and told the group it wasn’t his role to weigh in on every issue.

A largely Hindu country that has long proclaimed its multicultural character, India has a sizable Muslim minority, a small Christian community and even smaller pockets of other religions from Judaism to Zoroastrianism.

It’s a country where barely 2 percent of people celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, but where the day has long been set aside by families and friends — no matter their religion — for eating, drink-

ing and gift-giving. It has been a day off from school and work as long as anyone can remember.

So when a top Modi official suggested that students come in on Christmas for lessons on “Good Governance” — a key Modi platform — anger welled up quickly. While that plan was quietly shelved, hundreds of civil servants held high-profile activities across the country on Dec. 25 to herald Modi’s governance policies.

If there was no outright anti-Christian message in these gatherings, Emmanuel says the subtext was loud and clear. “It’s not merely undermining the festival of Christmas, but it is trying to segregate a community and its festival,” he said.

Nonsense, said Tarun Vijay, a writer, longtime supporter of Hindu causes and member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. The government activities on Christmas, he insisted, were to honor the birthday of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the last BJP prime minister.

“Was it his mistake being born on 25th December?” he asked. “Is it sacrilegious for us to celebrate his birthday on 25th December?” Instead, Vijay accuses some of Modi’s opponents of politicizing Christmas, calling them “hate groups.”

“These are the people who are doing harm to Christianity,” he said.

The rancor is rarely just about God. Instead, it’s a complex interplay of religion and politics, as the dreams of Hindu nationalist voters combine with the after-effects of Modi’s sweeping electoral victory earlier this year.

Modi was catapulted to power on promises to develop India’s economy and root out the corruption and incompetence that had

crippled the previous government.

But he had launched his political career in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a militant Hindu group that combines religious education with selfdefense exercises, and the parent organization of the ruling party. The RSS has long been accused of stoking religious hatred against Muslims.

While Modi played down religious issues during the campaign, wary of alienating voters with his and his party’s reputations for Hindu nationalism, nationalist voters turned out for him in droves.

So when Modi was elected, nationalist leaders who had spent years in India’s political wilderness began pressing the government to adopt its agenda.

Just how much Modi actually supports that sprawling agenda — which includes everything from demands to rewrite school textbooks to, at the most extreme end, the expulsion of non-Hindus from India — remains unclear.

Certainly, he is sympathetic to parts of it.

In an October speech to medical professionals, for example, Modi traced parts of modern medicine back to ancient India, noting that Ganesh — the Hindu god with the head of an elephant but the body of a person — is proof that plastic surgery began in India.

“We can feel proud of what our country achieved in medical science at one point in time,” he said.

India, with its population of some 1.3 billion, is about 81 percent Hindu, 13 percent Muslim and a little over 2 percent Christian. The Muslim community, in particular, has long feared Modi. In 2002, when he was the top official in the western state of Gujarat,

anti-Muslim riots ripped through the region, killing at least 1,000 people. Muslim leaders and human rights groups said Modi did little to stop the violence, a charge he denies. India’s Supreme Court has said it found no evidence to prosecute him for the violence.

In the early months of Modi’s tenure as prime minister, religion rarely intruded into politics.

But in early December, right-wing Hindu groups allied with the BJP conducted a series of ceremonies to convert Christians and Muslims to Hinduism. The events are called “homecomings,” with organizers saying they were reconverting people whose ancestors had once been Hindu.

Some of the Muslims, though, later said they’d either been paid to convert or threatened with violence if they did not. Quickly, the simmering religious issues boiled over into Parliament, with opposition lawmakers all but shutting down the legislature over charges that the prime minister had done little to stop the ceremonies.

A few days later, the government’s Christmas plans came into focus.

Amid the political fracas, major economic legislation stopped cold.

That has alienated many who supported Modi for his economic agenda, and who worry that jobs and development will be pushed aside by the demands of the Hindu right.

“The ‘cultural right’ is too extreme for the middle-of-the-road voter,” Gurcharan Das, a writer and former businessman, wrote in Monday’s Times of India. “Modi has his work cut out — he must assuage the anxieties of the cultural extremists while pursuing his jobs agenda.”

Delhi: Semi-naked woman found dead

New Delhi, JaNuary 10 (NDTV): The body of a 40-year-old woman was recovered this morning from a DDA nursery in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area in New Delhi, with the police suspecting that she was killed after being gang raped.

The incident came to light today morning, when a security guard informed the police about the body.

“Right now, it looks like a case of murder, and we registering a case under Section 302. The woman has been identified as a resident of Fatehpurberi. Rest of the details will be given after the postmortem,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Prem Nath.

The woman had left from home yesterday morning around 9:30 am for work. However, when she did not return till late evening her family members launched a search and also informed the police.

The woman was the only earning member of her family, after her security guard husband met with an accident last March. She has three daughters, between 15 and 9 years of age. She had

joined a factory, where she did embroidery work, about two months back.

Her daughters said she had been escorted home at about 10 pm on Thursday by a man sent by the head tailor of the factory, who had then called her to enquire if she had reached safely.

The girls said their mother had argued with the head tailor, but did not know about what.

When she had not returned home by 10 pm last night, they went to the factory with their father, looking for her, but met with little success. They learnt that her body had been found, when they received a call from the police in the morning.

Earlier, police officials had said that the woman’s body had been found in the bushes of the nursery with her hands and legs tied while her clothes were in a disheveled condition. “Prima facie, it seems that she was killed after being gang raped. But, the exact cause of death and whether she was sexually assaulted or not will be clear only after postmortem,” the police official added, saying further investigations are on.

Indians prepare a kite for flight during the International Kite Festival in Ahmadabad, India on January 10. The festival is organized annually by Gujarat state tourism to showcase and promote cultural and tourism offerings of the state. (AP Photo)

Govt unblocks 32 websites as they promise to cooperate

New Delhi, JaNuary 10 (PTi): The government has ordered unblocking of all the 32 websites that were being used by terrorists after these sites promised to cooperate with the authorities and removed “jihadist” content.

“Order was issued on Thursday to unblock all 32 websites that were blocked

following complaint of Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad that ISIS is disseminating content through them. All websites has responded that they will work with government and removed jihadist content,” a source told PTI. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team director

general Gulshan Rai confirmed the development.

The websites were blocked in November following an order from a Mumbai court, which was approached by Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) with a plea to block some websites carrying anti-India content.

During its probe into certain terror cases, the ATS had received information that some websites were carrying anti- national content, said an official. The websites included dailymotion.com, weebly.com, github.com, pastebin.com, archive.org, heypasteit.com, ipaste.eu, thesnippetapp.com, vimeo.

com among others.

They purportedly containing material about Areeb Majid, an alleged ISIS member who was arrested by NIA, and three others hailing from north Karnataka’s Bhatkal area.

Sources said some of the websites were being used to induce Indian

youth to join ISIS and for spreading news about purported death of certain persons while fighting Allied Forces in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ban was lifted on some of the websites in December and rest of have been ordered to be unblock now, the source said.

Father of Kashmir violence is now for dialogue

SriNagar, JaNuary 10 (iaNS): The man considered the architect of the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir now says that the only road to peace lies in a peaceful dialogue.

But Muhammad Azam Inquilabi is also passionately opposed to any coalition in the state between any regional party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as that would, he says, hurt Kashmir interests.

Inquilabi is the founding chairman of the militant umbrella group, the United Jehad Council (UJC), which is based in Muzaffarabad in that part of Kashmir held by Pakistan.

He claims to have crossed over to Pakistan eight times since a separatist insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. But he has given up violence for good.

Disgruntled with violence, Inquilabi, 68, now talks of a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue involving India, Pakistan and the people of the state.

Educated in a Christian missionary school in Srinagar, Inquilabi heads a separatist political outfit, Mahaz-e-Azadi.

“I am averse to any alliance between Kashmir regional parties and the BJP,” Inquilabi told IANS at his house here.

“I would like to see Kashmir regional parties maintain their stand safeguarding the regional character of Kashmir, Kashmiryat, Article 370, the Muslim character and the disputed nature of the state,” he said.

Article 370 of the Indian constitution provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP wants it scrapped.

He also suggested that Kashmiri parties in electoral politics can forge a regional alliance to form a government.

Inquilabi’s comments came on a day Governor’s rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, where

political parties failed to form a coalition after elections left a hung assembly.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) finished with most seats at 28 in the house of 87. The BJP won 25 seats, the National Conference 15 and the Congress got 12 seats.

According to Inquilabi, the BJP “has its own agenda regarding Kashmir. The BJP is not having a dialogue with Pakistan... So this is the situation where Kashmiri leaders have to assert (themselves), whether they are pro-independence or ... regional parties.”

He said the Congress and the BJP were on the same page when it came to

Kashmir.

Inquilabi admitted that the disbandment of the Muslim United Front (MUF) after the 1987 assembly elections was wrong. “It was a blunder on the part of MUF leaders. If such a forum comes into being and joins the election fray, the situation will get automatically changed.

“Once a genuinely separatist party joins the election fray, I think the proIndia parties will lose their postal address.”

How does he see the 77 percent voter turnout in the elections? “People were devastated by floods. It was winter, and people wanted some relief in their devas-

tated lives...

“But even those who voted were not doing so because they had accepted Kashmir’s accession with India.” Inquilabi warned that after NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation will become more volatile in Kashmir.

“Because the mujahideen of Afghanistan, in league with the mujahideen of Pakistan, will feel automatically motivated to join the fray here and help the Kashmiri mujahideen.

“Pakistan and India can avoid that flare-up only with a dialogue, taking Kashmiris into confidence, for a peaceful settlement of this issue.”

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Sunday 11 January 2015

Dimapur

9

France works to avert new terror attacks, hunts suspect PARIS, JAnuARy 10 (AP): France’s government urged the nation to remain vigilant Saturday, as thousands of security forces try to thwart new attacks and hunt down a suspected accomplice in a rampage by terrorists linked to al-Qaida in Yemen that scarred the nation and left 20 dead.

Three attackers were among those killed after three days of bloodshed at the offices of a satiri-

and tourist sites, and preparing for what’s likely to be a huge demonstration Sunday to show unity against extremists. World leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel and Britain’s David Cameron are among the many expected to join.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted Saturday that authorities will do everything to ensure security at the event. Speaking after an

Paris gives Charlie Hebdo honorary citizenship PARIS, JAnuARy 10 (IAnS): Paris has made the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo an “honorary citizen” as part of support to the weekly which lost its main cartoonists in a deadly shooting Wednesday. In an extraordinary meeting of the city council Friday, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the status of “honorary citizen”, rarely awarded, was given to “the most iconic defenders of human rights around the world to honour great resistance against dictatorship and barbarism”. “By choosing to grant it to Charlie Hebdo, Paris, our city, shows a heroic newspaper the respect due to heroes,” Xinhua news agency quoted her as saying. nOn Wednesday, two masked and heavily armed men, Cherif and Said Kouachi, stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo, killing 10 journalists and two policemen. Eleven others were wounded of whom four are in critical conditions.

The dead included co-founder Jean “Cabu” Cabut and editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier (who publishes under the pen name Charb). In November 2011, the magazine’s headquarters was fire-bombed after it put an image of the Prophet Mohammad on its cover. In its last published cartoons, it mocked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State terrorist group.

In a move to back freedom of press, French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said the government would grant the struggling newspaper one million euros ($1.18 million). Next Wednesday, Charlie Hebdo, known for mocking politicians and religious leaders and printing sensitive cartoons, said it would publish one million copiesas against an average of 30,000. cal newspaper, a kosher supermarket and other sites around Paris. But the sense of relief Saturday was tinged with worry and sorrow, as the nation mourned slain hostages and cartoonists.

Security forces are deployed around the capital, guarding places of worship

emergency security meeting called by French President Francois Hollande on Saturday morning, he called for “extreme vigilance,” saying that “given the context, we are exposed to risks.”

Cazeneuve said the government is deploying hundreds of troops in addi-

tion to thousands of police and other security forces and maintaining its terror alert system at the highest level in the Paris region.

He said investigators are focusing on determining whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network. Five people are in custody as part of the investigation, and family members of the attackers are among several given preliminary charges so far.

Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen said it directed Wednesday’s attack against the publication Charlie Hebdo to avenge the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly’s satire.

The two brothers behind that attack, Said and Cherif Kouachi, were known to authorities: One had a terrorism-related conviction for ties to a network sending fighters to battle American forces in Iraq, and both were on the U.S. no-fly list.

French radio RTL released audio Saturday of the attacker who seized hostages in the kosher supermarket, Amedy Coulibaly, in which he lashes out over Western military campaigns against extremists in Syria and Mali. He describes Osama bin Laden as an inspiration.

Coulibaly’s common law wife, Hayat Boumeddiene, remains at large.

Police named her as an accomplice and think she is armed.

“You must consider her as the companion of a dangerous terrorist who needs to be questioned,” Christophe Crepin, spokesman for UNSA police union, told The Associated Press.

“Since 2010, she has had a relationship with an individual whose ideology translates into violence and the execution of poor people who were just doing their shopping in a supermarket.”

Paris hostages

prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters.

The employee -- a 26-year-old graphic designer named Lilian, according to a source close to the investigation -- was “terrified”, Molin said.

But, overcoming his fear as he remained undetected, he began communicating with police outside via text message, sending them “tactical elements such as his location inside the premises,” a source said.

He could hear the suspects talking, which both helped reassure him and

gave him more information to send to the forces poised outside, the source said.

The brothers -- identified as Cherif and Said Kouachi, who had been on the run since they are believed to have slaughtered 12 people at the weekly magazine’s offices in Paris on Wednesday -- had been cornered there after a firefight with police which Molins said left Said with a minor neck wound.

They had a hefty cache of arms including Molotov cocktails and a loaded rocket-launcher.

The brothers had taken the store manager hostage, but later released him after he helped Said with his wound as the second man hid upstairs, said Molins.

Another source said the hidden employee was also able to communicate with a family member via text.

Some 40 kilometres away, shortly before 1:00

pm, a father called Ilan and his three-year-old son were at a kosher supermarket in Vincennes when Amedy Coulibaly, believed to be an ally of the Kouachi brothers, burst into the store and pulled out a Kalashnikov.

The father and son quickly hid in the supermarket’s refrigeration unit, two relatives told AFP. At least three other people were with them, according to sources close to the investigation.

Ilan, in his thirties, quickly removed his jacket and wrapped his son in it to protect the toddler from the frigid temperatures.

Hidden in the cold, they and the other hostages remained in the refrigerator for nearly five hours.

Meanwhile, Ilan’s mother realised quickly that her son and grandson were hidden and decided not to try to contact them, even by text.

Instead she gave Ilan’s

Then Friday he attacked the Paris kosher market, killing four hostages and threatening more violence unless the police let the Kouachis go. It all ended at dusk Friday with nearsimultaneous raids at the printing plant and the kosher market in eastern Paris. As scores of black-clad security forces surrounded both sites, booming explosions, heavy gunfire and dense smoke heralded the news that the twin sieges had ended.

The three gunmen were dead — but the authorities also discovered four dead hostages at the market. Sixteen hostages were freed, one from the printing plant and 15 from the store.

The attackers epitomized Western authorities’ greatest fear: Islamic radicals who trained abroad and came home to stage attacks. France counts at

least 1,200 citizens in the war zone in Syria — headed there, returned or dead.

Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have threatened France, home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim population.

A member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula gave a statement in English to The Associated Press saying the group’s leadership “directed the operations and they have chosen their target carefully.”

The attack on the kosher market came before sundown on the Jewish Sabbath, when the store would have been crowded with shoppers, and Hollande called it “a terrifying anti-Semitic act.”

According to a Yemeni security official, Said Kouachi is suspected of having fought for al-Qaida in Yemen. Another senior security official added that Said

was in Yemen until 2012.

Both officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into Kouachi’s stay in Yemen.

The attacks in France, as well as a hostage siege last month in Sydney and the October killing of a solder near Canada’s parliament, prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a global travel warning for Americans. It also cited an increased risk of reprisals against U.S. and Western targets for the U.S.-led intervention against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

The publication Charlie Hebdo had long drawn threats for its depictions of Islam, although it also lampooned other religions and political figures. Charlie Hebdo plans a special edition next week, produced in the offices of another paper.

survived hidden

in fridges and beneath sinks PARIS, JAnuARy 10 (AFP): From the father who hid his toddler inside a supermarket refrigerator to the employee who texted tactical information to police from beneath a sink, authorities praised the quick instincts of survivors in the hostage incidents that gripped France Friday.

At the printing business northeast of Paris besieged by the brothers believed to have carried out the Charlie Hebdo massacre, one employee took refuge “under a sink in the canteen” upstairs, Paris

This week’s drama, which played out on live TV and social media, began with the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi coldly and methodically massacring 12 people Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo offices before fleeing.

They eluded police for two days, robbing a gas station and stealing a car. Cherif Kouachi was wounded in the throat by police at one point, the Paris prosecutor said, but the brothers got away. They went on to take a hostage at a printing house in Dammartin-en-Goele near Charles de Gaulle Airport on Friday, prompting a daylong standoff with police Meanwhile, on Thursday, Coulibaly shot a policewoman to death south of Paris. He, too, fled. Police later determined he was linked to the Kouachi brothers.

mobile phone number to law enforcement, who were able to use it to track the location of the man, his son and the other hostages inside the store.

This knowledge, according to the prosecutor, may have contributed to their survival when police finally stormed the store and killed Coulibaly.

Meanwhile, in Dammartin-en-Goele, as police launched their assault on the printing works, an armoured car gave them access to the upper floor to free the hidden employee, a source said.

The employee, unharmed, was taken to police headquarters, where he was quickly reunited with his family, another source close to the case said, adding that the young man was “shocked” but “OK”.

Ilan was debriefed by intelligence services late Friday and his mother was recovering after several hours of anguish.

French police seek slain terror suspect’s widow French police are hunting the wife of one of the slain suspects in a wave of attacks around Paris, considered dangerous herself and the possible key to helping authorities dismantle what could be a terrorist network.

Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, wed Amedy Coulibaly in an Islamic religious ceremony in July 2009 — a union not recognized by French law. A circular distributed Friday by French police said Boumeddiene should be considered dangerous and potentially armed.

At dusk Friday, Coulibaly was killed by police who stormed a kosher market in eastern Paris and freed the gunman’s hostages. French prosecutors said Coulibaly had killed four people at the grocery.

Nigeria massacre deadliest North Korea hints at nuclear test moratorium in history of Boko Haram

SeOuL, SOuth KOReA, JAnuARy 10 (AP): North Korea has told the yOLA, nIGeRIA, JAnuARy 10 (AP): take all possible steps to address the urgent United States that it’s willing to impose a temporary threat of Boko Haram. Even in the face of Hundreds of bodies too many to count these horrifying attacks, terrorist organiza- moratorium on nuclear remain strewn in the bush in Nigeria tests if Washington scraps tions like Boko Haram must not distract from an Islamic extremist attack that planned military drills with Amnesty International suggested Friday Nigeria from carrying out credible and is the “deadliest massacre” in the history peaceful elections that reflect the will of the South Korea this year, the Nigerian people,” Psaki said in a statement. North’s official news agenof Boko Haram. cy said Saturday.

The previous bloodiest day in the Mike Omeri, the government spokesThe reported proposal uprising involved soldiers gunning down man on the insurgency, said fighting comes at a time of tensions unarmed detainees freed in a March 14, continued Friday for Baga, a town on between North Korea and 2014, attack on Giwa military barracks in the border with Chad where insurgents the U.S. over a Sony movie Maiduguri city. Amnesty said then that seized a key military base on Jan. 3 and attacked again on Wednesday. “Security satellite imagery indicated more than 600 depicting an assassination attempt on North Korean forces have responded rapidly, and have people were killed that day.

The 5-year insurgency killed more than leader Kim Jong Un. The deployed significant military assets and conducted airstrikes against militant tar- 10,000 people last year alone, according to U.S. blames the North for the Washington-based Council on Foreign crippling hacking attacks gets,” Omeri said in a statement. on Sony Entertainment District head Baba Abba Hassan said Relations. More than a million people are and subsequently imposed displaced inside Nigeria and hundreds of most victims are children, women and thousands have fled across its borders into elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Emergency workers said this week firing rocket-propelled grenades and asthey are having a hard time coping with sault rifles on town residents. scores of children separated from their “The human carnage perpetrated parents in the chaos of Boko Haram’s inby Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was creasingly frequent and deadly attacks. enormous,” Muhammad Abba Gava, a Just seven children have been reunited spokesman for poorly armed civilians in with parents in Yola, capital of Adamawa a defense group that fights Boko Haram, state, where about 140 others have no told The Associated Press. idea if their families are alive or dead, said He said the civilian fighters gave up on trying to count all the bodies. “No one could Sa’ad Bello, the coordinator of five refugee attend to the corpses and even the seriously camps in Yola. He said he was optimistic that more reunions will come as residents injured ones who may have died by now,” Gava said. An Amnesty International state- return to towns that the military has retaken from extremists in recent weeks. ment said there are reports the town was Suleiman Dauda, 12, said he ran into razed and as many as 2,000 people killed. the bushes with neighbors when exIf true, “this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram’s ongo- tremists attacked his village, Askira Uba, near Yola last year. “I saw them kill my ing onslaught,” said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria father, they slaughtered him like a ram. researcher for Amnesty International.

And up until now I don’t know where my In Washington, U.S. State Department mother is,” he told The Associated Press Spokesman Jen Psaki condemned the attacks. “We urge Nigeria and its neighbors to at Daware refugee camp in Yola.

new sanctions on the country, inviting an angry response from Pyongyang, which has denied responsibility for the cyberattacks.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the government proposed to the U.S. what it calls a “crucial step” to ease animosities and remove the danger of war, prompted by desires to pave the way for a reunification with South Korea this year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the rivals’ division.

The message “proposed the U.S. to contribute to easing tension on the Korean Peninsula by temporarily suspending

joint military exercises in South Korea and its vicinity this year, and said that in this case (North Korea) is ready to take such responsive step as temporarily suspending the nuclear test over which the U.S. is concerned,” KCNA’s report said. “Now is the time for the U.S. to make a bold decision for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”

It said the message was conveyed to the U.S. on Friday through an unspecified relevant channel.

Pyongyang has called the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills a rehearsal for an invasion,

though the allies have repeatedly said they have no intentions of attacking the North.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. A fourth test would mark another defiant response to U.S.-led international pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program.

Western experts believe North Korea has a handful of rudimentary bombs, though it is not believed to be capable yet of producing warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile that could threaten the U.S. Another nuclear test could put the North a

step closer to that goal.

The Korean Peninsula remains divided along the world’s most heavily armed border because the 195053 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are deployed in South Korea as a buttress against potential North Korean aggression.

In the spring of 2013, tensions dramatically spiked after Pyongyang made a torrent of threats to launch nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington in protest of U.N. sanctions that were toughened following its third bomb test.

AirAsia QZ8501: Plane tail lifted from seabed

Pakistan continues drive against terrorism, 297 arrested

ISLAmABAd, JAnuARy 10 (IAnS): At least 593 cases have been registered and 297 people have been arrested across Pakistan’s Punjab for inciting violence. Inspector General (IG) of Punjab Mushtaq Sukhera said that strict action would be taken against extremists, those inciting violence and accessories to terrorists across Punjab, Daily Dunya reported. He said the police have begun its crackdown and that it would continue until the elimination of all such elements in the province.

Similarly, 16 cases have been registered for inciting people to violence through speeches on loudspeakers and 130 people have been arrested. Twenty five more people have been arrested over hateful wall chalking and cases have been registered against several others. Through raids, the police have also seized a large amount of hate-speech material including books, pamphlets, banners, newspapers, and electronic accessories. Moreover, the Mughalpura police in Punjab also took the imam of the Jamia Masjid Hanafia Shamsia into custody for misuse of loudspeaker.

Rescuers wave at an Indonesian Air Force helicopter near portion of AirAsia Flight 8501 after it was recovered from the sea floor on the deck of a rescue ship on the Java Sea on January 10. Investigators searching for the crashed plane's black boxes lifted the tail portion of the jet out of the Java Sea on Saturday, two weeks after it went down, killing all 162 people on board. (AP Photo)

PAnGKALAn Bun, JAnuARy 10 (AP): A tail section from the AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea late last month, killing all 162 people on board, became the first major wreckage lifted off the ocean floor Saturday, but the all-important black boxes were not found inside.

The red metal chunk,

with the words “AirAsia” clearly visible across it, was brought to the surface using inflatable balloons.

The cockpit voice and flight data recorders, located in the plane’s rear, must have detached when the Airbus A320 plummeted into the waters Dec. 28, said Indonesian military commander Gen. Moeldoko.

Their recovery is essential to finding out why Flight QZ8501 crashed.

However, Moeldoko, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said pings believed to be coming from the black boxes were detected Saturday.

Their beacons emit signals for about 30 days until the batteries die, meaning div-

ers have about two weeks left to find them.

“I am fully confident that the black boxes are still not far from the tail,” Moeldoko said.

The debris was brought up from a depth of about 30 meters (100 feet) and towed to a ship, where it was hoisted onto the deck.

The vertical stabilizer was still largely intact, but the attached jagged fuselage was ripped open and tangled by a mess of wires.

The tail’s discovery earlier in the week was a major breakthrough in the slowmoving search, which has been hampered by seasonal rains, choppy seas and blinding silt from river runoff.

But Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, operation director of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, said Saturday that he was still focused on finding the main section of fuselage, where most of the bodies are believed to be entombed. Several large objects have been spotted in the area by sonar, but they have not yet been explored underwater. So far, only 48 corpses have been recovered.

“This is what the fami-

lies have been waiting for,” Supriyadi said. “They have been crying for 14 days.”

The last contact the pilots had with air traffic control, about halfway into their two-hour journey from Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, to Singapore, indicated they were entering stormy weather. They asked to climb from 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) to avoid threatening clouds, but were denied permission because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the plane dropped off the radar. No distress signal was issued.

Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan cracked down on five airlines Friday, temporarily suspending 61 flights because they were flying routes on days without permits. Earlier, all AirAsia flights from Surabaya to Singapore were stopped after it was discovered that the low-cost carrier was not authorized to fly on Sundays.

Jonan also sanctioned nine more officials for allowing the AirAsia plane to fly without permits, bringing the total to 16.

10

Dimapur

SPORTS

Sunday 11 January 2015

Radwanska downs Serena, powers Poland to Hopman Cup title

Jerzy Janowicz, left, and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland hold the Hopman Cup after defeating the U.S in the final of the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in Perth, Australia on January 10. (AP Photo)

SinGaPOre, January 10 (reuTerS): Agnieszka Radwanska showed why she should be considered among the favourites for the Australian Open later this month by beating world number one Serena Williams and helping Poland to its first Hopman Cup title in Perth on Saturday.

World number five Radwanska claimed a 6-4 6-7(3) 6-1 win to put her country 1-0 up against the United States and returned to partner Jerzy Janowicz and beat Williams and John Isner 7-5 6-3 in doubles as Poland became the 13th nation to win the mixed team event.

Isner had overcome Janowicz 7-6(10) 6-4 in the other singles to haul the U.S. back into the contest.

"When I go and play against her, you have nothing really to lose, she is number one in the world

and a great champion," Radwanska told reporters of her singles victory.

"It doesn't matter what the score is. It's never over, she's a great fighter. I'm just very happy that I could come back after that second set and play my good game in the third set.

"Wins like this always give a lot of confidence."

Radwanska's first victory over Williams in nine meetings comes after she signed up former American great Martina Navratilova as a coach. Williams, who also lost to Eugenie Bouchard of Canada earlier this week in the round robin, could have done with some advice from the 18-times grand slam singles champion after struggling in the opening set.

The American's forehand was particularly troublesome, contributing to many of her 28 unforced

errors as she was broken twice early on to fall 4-1 behind before losing out 6-4.

The second went with serve as Radwanska pushed and pulled Williams around the court, with the powerful American retaliating by bludgeoning some heavy winners in an even contest.

The Pole, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open last year, then broke Williams to go 6-5 up and serve for the match but she was unable to put the American down as the world number one broke back to force a tiebreak that she took 7-3.

However, that was as good as it got for Williams, who will be seeking a 19th grand slam title in Australia, as she collapsed in the third to allow Radwanska to claim the moral boosting win. The Australian Open begins in Melbourne on Jan. 19.

The Morung Express

Wizards move above Bulls with 102-86 win

WaSHinGTOn, January 10 (aP): Washington made a storming start to set up a 102-86 victory over Chicago on Friday, moving the Wizards above their NBA Eastern Conference rival.

Overall league leader Golden State had a comfortable home win over a Cleveland team that continues to struggle in the absence of LeBron James, San Antonio overcame the absence of its Big Three to beat Phoenix, and New Orleans prevented Memphis reclaiming the Southwest Division lead.

Washington took a 20-point lead in the first quarter against Chicago and a key to its victory was that John Wall finally beat Derrick Rose headto-head.

Wall finished with 16 points and 12 assists and had a hand in seven of Washington's final eight baskets in the first half after the Bulls had begun to rally.

The leader in All-Star votes among Eastern Conference guards, Wall snapped his 0-5 record when both he and Rose are on the court.

Marcin Gortat added 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards.

Rose has been in a horrid shooting slump — 25.5 percent over his previous six games — and he went 8 for 19 and scored 19 points.

Golden State completed a perfect six-game home stand with a 112-94 victory over Cleveland.

Klay Thompson scored 24 points, while Stephen Curry had 23 points and 10 assists for the Warriors, who have won 14 straight home games.

Cleveland is 1-6 since James has been sidelined with a strained back and left knee. He is expected

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) shoots between Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) and forward Nene (42), from Brazil, in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, January 9, in Washington. (AP Photo)

to miss at least two more games. J.R. Smith scored 27 points for the Cavaliers, who stayed close most of the way until Golden State blitzed them late.

San Antonio fought through the second half without their experienced star trio and beat Phoenix 100-95. Danny Green had 20 points and Patty Mills had 15 points, including two 3-pointers in the final

2 minutes, for the Spurs, who rested Tim Duncan in the fourth quarter, benched an off-target Tony Parker for the same time, and lost Many Ginobili to back spasms for the entire second half.

P.J. Tucker and Eric Bledsoe had 19 points each for the Suns, who have lost five straight in San Antonio.

New Orleans' Tyreke

Evans had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pelicans past Memphis 106-95. Jrue Holiday had 23 points and eight assists for New Orleans, which hit half of its 20 3-point attempts.

Marc Gasol and Mike Conley each scored 19 points for the Grizzlies.

Atlanta withstood a spirited rally by Detroit and won 106-103 in a

clash of the league's two form teams. Al Horford had 19 points and 16 rebounds while Paul Millsap scored 17 points for the Hawks, who have won seven straight and ended the Pistons' streak at the same number. Detroit trailed by 23 points in the second quarter but worked its way back into the contest, and had a chance to tie when Kentavious CaldwellPope missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Caldwell-Pope scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

Denver extended its winning run to four games by taking a 118-108 victory at Sacramento. Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson each scored 22 points for the Nuggets, who erased a six-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Kings 36-15 in the third period.

DeMarcus Cousins had 32 points, 13 rebounds and a season-high four blocks for the Kings, who are 4-8 since appointing new coach Tyrone Corbin.

Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant scored 32 points and Dion Waiters made an impact in his home debut to help the Thunder defeat Utah 99-94.

Indiana outlasted Boston and won 107-103 in overtime, with Roy Hibbert scoring 19 points in an even team contribution.

Los Angeles overcame the absence of a rested Kobe Bryant to beat Orlando 101-84, with Jeremy Lin scoring 18 points for the Lakers.

Milwaukee handed Minnesota its 14th straight loss, with Brandon Knight scoring 14 points in the Bucks' 98-84 win.

Philadelphia's Nerlens Noel dunked with 3 seconds left to lift the 76ers to a 90-88 win against Brooklyn.

I'll leave if players don't back me: Luis Enrique Man United injury crisis is

Madrid, January 10 (aFP): Barcelona coach Luis Enrique claimed he hadn't been affected by rumours that he could become the latest high-profile exit from the Camp Nou should his side fail to beat Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

However, the 44-yearold said he would step down after just seven months in the job if he felt he no longer had the backing of his players.

"There are so many reports, some of them badly intentioned," he said on Saturday. "I won't get involved in this dangerous game. What I can guarantee is that the day I see that my players don't follow me, I will leave."

A destabilising week for the Catalan giants began

with a shock 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad last weekend after Luis Enrique had left nearly 300 million euros ($355m, £234m) of talent, including Lionel Messi and Neymar, on the bench.

The unrest at the Camp Nou kicked into overdrive on Monday when sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta was sacked, his assistant and club legend Carles Puyol resigned and Messi then missed an open training session with the club's fans.

The Argentine sparked transfer rumours by then following Chelsea on the social networking site Instagram, while reports emerged that his relationship with Luis Enrique is at breaking point.

On Wednesday, club president Josep Maria Bar-

tomeu called early elections for the end of the season in response to the increasing pressure on his position.

On the field there was some respite as Barca eased towards the quarter-finals of the Copa del

Rey with a 5-0 thrashing of Elche on Thursday. However, the coach's name was booed by the home fans as they showed their support for Messi.

"I continue to be concentrated and motivated.

There is nothing that will distract me," Luis Enrique added. "All that I see behind closed doors motivates me. The players and the technical team remain on the fringes of all that. We are used to it. Tomorrow we are playing for three important points, but three points all the same. I feel the same as on my first day."

Barca and Atletico are tied on 38 points in second place, one point adrift of La Liga leaders Real Madrid, who also have a game in hand.

However, by contrast to the crisis enveloping Barcelona, Atletico arrive in the Catalan capital full of confidence after beating Real Madrid for the third time this season 2-0 in the Cup on Wednesday as Fernando Torres made his first appearance since returning to the Vicente Calderon.

Diego Simeone's side were unbeaten in six meetings against Barca last season as they sealed La Liga at the Camp Nou in May and also dumped Gerardo Martino's men out of the Champions League.

And Luis Enrique expects another serious test this weekend. "Atletico don't look vulnerable. We need to attack and defend well because it will be a difficult game."

India's other-end problem Sidharth Monga ESPNcricinfo

On a day that he became the third-fastest Test player to the double of 100 wickets and 1000 runs, R Ashwin was left an unsatisfied man. He came in at the early fall of Virat Kohli, put his head down to bat for close to three hours to take India to what seemed like safety, then he threatened with the new ball, but saw his colleagues release all the pressure and leave the visitors with a tough task on a pitch that could pose challenges on the final day.

This was Ashwin's slowest innings of 30 or more, which ate into the time for Australia to force a result, only India gave away 251 runs in 40 overs, easily the worst run-rate the team has conceded in all the Tests that he has played. Ashwin was pleased with his own effort with the bat and saw some promise when one spun sharply to get David Warner in the second over of Australia's innings. But

India lost it after that.

On a pitch that has been slow, where the ball is turning as much as it did for Ashwin, there is no way a side should be conceding more than six an over over 40 overs and India will now have to bat longer than they might prefer to save this Test, although they have the ability to threaten like in Adelaide.

"We definitely leaked a lot more runs than we would have liked to have," Ashwin said. "They played a few good shots, we started off pretty poorly with the new ball as well. Definitely the game could have been different. The way we applied pressure, the way the ball was spinning, the way it was coming out for me, it could have been a lot different. Having said that, it is still pretty decently poised. They definitely have an ace up, but we will have to see how it goes. We batted pretty well in Adelaide. When I batted there weren't many devils in the wicket. I definitely found it

a little hard to score. It's a new-ball wicket."

Even though Ashwin asked questions with the new ball, there was no pressure from the other end.

With no swing or seam, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's gentle pace was easy to hit, and Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav were their usual profligate selves. Yadav, going for 45 that included 10 boundaries, even registered the worst economy rate ever for a bowler who has bowled a minimum of three overs in an innings. In his last over, he showed total lack of application by bowling short when the field had been set to protect the off-side boundary down the ground.

The pressure Ashwin built being released so regularly did not please him too much. "When what you have been working on, and what efforts you have put in, when it pays off in numbers, it feels heartening," he said. "Yes genuinely I thought this could be a chance where I could create something for the team.

Ideally, I would have liked a little bit more control from the other side. It would have been nice. But they also took us on. I mean you have to give credit to them.

They batted very positively.

"They took us on. A few shots were played. We started pretty poorly with the new ball. We have to admit it. When we picked up wickets, we kept on leaking 15-16 runs from the other end. That wasn't helping the cause. That's gone now. You have to look forward. We put ourselves in a decent situation this Test after batting well, but we will have to see how it goes. Even in Adelaide it was similar. We will see how they take this up."

Ashwin's seemingly mild annoyance at the support cast now that the pitch was doing tricks for him was at odds with his reaction towards them throughout the series. In Melbourne, when only he and Ishant Sharma had maintained any sort of pressure, Ashwin had said, "It's too far-fetched for me

to think along those lines.

I can only think what best I can offer the team. At the end of the day you can't point a finger at anybody else that he went wrong. It is a team game."

When asked in Brisbane what difference it made for him bowling alongside two genuinely quick bowlers, Ashwin had said: "As far as I was concerned, I had my focus very sharp. It really didn't matter what was happening at the other end.

Not from the point of view of the team's cause. From my perspective, whatever happened at the other end I would have forgotten and gone about my job. Having faced the music ourselves, it is a pleasure actually to see the opposition also face similar kind of music."

When Ashwin was actually onto something, however briefly, the other end mattered. If only India can sort out the other end, all the runs that Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have been scoring might amount to something.

finally over, says Van Gaal

LOndOn, January 10 (reuTerS): With just one player left on Manchester United's injury list and a new goalkeeper signed, manager Louis van Gaal is starting to enjoy life at Old Trafford as he tries to assemble the "best team in the world".

Third-placed United, unbeaten in their last 11 matches in all competitions, host fourth-placed Southampton at Old Trafford on Sunday with just a point separating the sides after 20 matches.

United were plagued by injuries at the start of the season but the treatment room has an emptier feel now as a number of first-team players close in on returns.

Luke Shaw, who signed from the Saints during the close season, is fit to face his former club after recovering from an ankle injury and midfielder Daley Blind has shaken off a knee problem he sustained

in November.

Argentine defender Marcos Rojo will return to training on Saturday, leaving Ashley Young, who has a hamstring problem, as United's only injury concern. "We have only one player injured. Can you believe it? Only one," Van Gaal told a news conference on Friday.

United signed former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes on a free transfer on Thursday and the Spaniard will compete with compatriot David De Gea for the number one spot at Old Trafford. "We were the first to buy a player. We were very quick to buy Victor Valdes. You notice?

Manchester -- we deal quickly. When we can, we deal quickly," Van Gaal said. "My ambition is that I have the best players who can cooperate with each other to form the best team in the world."

Kidima Youth Organisation Golden Jubilee culminates

KOHiMa, January 10 (Mexn): The 6-day long Golden Jubilee celebration of the Kidima Youth Organisation (KYO) culminated on Saturday with Additional Chief Engineer, Road & Bridges, Government of Nagaland, Er. Krosü Rhetso gracing the closing ceremony as the guest of honour.

The golden jubilee celebrations was held at the Kidima Local Ground under the theme “Thewe ki vi thakie chü” (The greater glory in youth be an example).

The Golden Jubilee celebration was launched on December 27, 2014 with Niketu Iralu, Member, Advisory Council, Martin Luther Christian University & Trustee; Centre for Policy Research & Northeast Studies, Chairman, NBCC Peace Committee as the resource person. State Speaker, Chotisuh Sazo had on January 5 declared the sports celebrations open.

Edikunu Rikha and Vibito Thol from Makro Cul-

Edikunu Rikha

tural Society and Virhatso Khathitso Society (VKS) respectively won the individual titles for best women and men sportpersons. VKS also won the overall champion, while Temi Youth Club came runners-up. The best discipline was awarded to Optimistic Club.

The celebration also witnessed indigenous games like thulo keva, ole keda, thuphi keve, phiphwü ketsa, tsücho kepshe, oso kemesü,

tati kekhu, tewomi kesü (making new fire), phila te, okukhu te (harmony voice), meki te (high tune voice), tei khu te teitho and teleteli (plant speaker voice), group folk song and tug of peace.

The events included athletics for both men and women, football, volleyball, badminton, chess, sepaktakraw, arm wrestling, and Naga and free style wrestling for boys below 12 years.

Felicitation, unfurling of the Golden Jubilee tournament flag, Jubilee culmination lighting followed by community feast were the highlights of the closing ceremony.

Edikunu Rikha 15-year old Edikunu Rikha marked the golden jubilee celebrations with three gold and three bronze medals. Representing Makro Cultural Society, Rikha won gold in 100m, 200m and high jump and earned her bronze medals in long jump and shot put.

Rikha was awarded the best individual sportswomen.

C M Y K

his own

record

with PK

A

amir Khan has the distinction of being the first and only Bollywood actor to be in the ‘300-cr’ club, courtesy PK’s collections in the domestic market. He and director Rajkumar Hirani have achieved this feat in three weeks of the film›s release. The movie still has legs, so the final tally is hard to gauge.

Aamir is also the only hero to have a film in the ‹250-cr› club. His Dhoom 3 is the sole standing film to achieve this box-office feat. Now, with PK, Aamir has broken his own record.

The Big club 300 cr club: PK: Aamir Khan, Raj Kumar Hirani 250 cr club: Dhoom 3: Aamir Khan, Vijay Krishna Acharya 200 cr club: Kick: Salman Khan, Sajid Nadiadwala Chennai Express: SRK, Rohit Shetty 3 Idiots: Rajkumar Hirani, Aamir Khan 150 cr club: Ek Tha Tiger: Salman Khan, Kabir Khan Happy New Year: SRK, Abhishek Bachchan, Farah Khan Krrish 3: Hrithik Roshan, Rakesh Roshan Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani: Ranbir Kapoor, Ayan Mukerji Dabangg 2: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan

Paris, January 10 (ians): Fictional cartoon detective Tintin, on turning 86 Saturday, expressed his solidarity with the victims of a French satirical magazine in an attack by two gunmen in Paris. “His anniversary is marked by the most horrible recent attacks against, among others, employees of Charlie Hebdo,” a post on Tintin’s official website said.

The offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine were attacked by two brothers - Cherif and Said Kouachi - Jan 7.They killed 12 people, including the chief editor.

Tintin, the amazing young reporter and sleuth with the unforgettable quiff created by Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, appeared for the first time in Jan 10, 1929 in the comic strip called “Le Petit Vingtième”, together with his loveable, trusted canine partner, Snowy.

“Tintin expresses its solidarity with

tin comics have been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies worldwide.

It was also transformed into a movie titled “The Adventures of Tintin” in 2011 directed by legendary Hollywood director, Steven Spielberg.

Lara Stone receives

M

DEATH

THREATS

odel Lara Stone receives Death Threats for being in racy Calvin Klein underwear shoot with Justin Bieber The 31-year-old has come under fire from Bieber fans who are jealous. Model Lara Stone has been inundated with abusive message after her Calvin Klein campaign with Justin Bieber was released.

Justin’s fans, known as Beliebers, took to Twitter to vent their anger over seeing the 31-year-old cosy up with the pop star,20, on the shoot. Some even went as far as to threaten to ‘kill her’ for posing with Justin Images from the shoot see a topless Justin writhing around with the mother-of-one, who is married to David Walliams.

Many fans were also unaware of who the famous Dutch beauty is - despite the fact she is one of the world’s top-earning models.

Lara meanwhile appears to be taking it all in her stride and has so far yet to comment on the abuse. She instead has been sharing pictures from the shoot and retweeting praise. Her husband David reacted by tweeting: “Why has someone photoshopped @justinbieber’s head onto what is clearly my body?”

Someone quickly responded with their own photoshopped version, this time with David’s head on Bieber’s body.

were ‘already married’ before secret ceremony!

A

ngelina Jolie has re veale d that she and Brad Pitt were already married before their secret nuptials on August 23, 2014.

The 39-year-old actress said that before the wedding in France with the kids, she and Pitt were already married in California, adding that as Americans, they couldn’t marry legally in France, E! Online reported.

The ‘Unbroken director’ continued about her marriage in California that one day she said to the 51-year-old actor to meet up at 4:30 p.m., after which she called a justice of the peace and then they signed the documents. Later on, the ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ co-stars exchanged their vows inside an ancient stone chapel at Chateau Miraval, which is the Jolie-Pitt family’s estate in Correns, France.

Ethan Hawke

honoured with Star Wars and James Bond Hollywood actor, 42, dies on stage Walk of Fame

A

ctor Ethan Hawke is the latest celebrity who cemented his mark on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The 44-year-old actor’s hand and foot prints were enshrined in cement last evening in front of TCL Chinese Theatre, reported Ace Showbiz.

«To be a part of that legacy, to be a member of that community is all that I›ve ever, ever wanted. For you guys to welcome me means so much to me,» he said. The ‹Boyhood› actor also expressed his solidarity over the Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris. «I stand in solidarity with everyone in Paris and everybody all over the world who stand for freedom of speech. We are with you and we thank you,» he added.

A

n actor whose numerous film credits include roles in the Star Wars and James Bond franchises passed away on Tuesday after collapsing while rehearsing for a new play. Khan Bonfils, 42, affectionately referred to as Kan, was preparing for an upcoming production of Dante’s Inferno when he collapsed.

Paramedics and members of the Craft Theatre Company in East London fought in vain to save the actor’s life before he was pronounced dead. Company spokesperson Chris Hislop later confirmed Khan’s

11 C M Y K

‘We had to steal bread’:

Model

death and admitted that cast and crew were reeling by the sudden loss.

‘Kan collapsed during a rehearsal and the director Rocky Rodriguez Jr, he performed CPR on location,’ he said. ‘An ambulance was called out but unfortunately he couldn’t be resuscitated.’ He added: ‘The entire company are in shock. There is absolutely severe sadness, it is a real tragedy. ‘I think they are holding it together by talking it through and by being there for each other.’

Inferno was expected to open at the Rag Factory in East London later this week, but those plans have now been pushed back while they search for a replacement.

‘It was due to open on Thursday,’ said Hislop. ‘If things go to plan and if the incoming actor is able to do the job we are hoping to open on Saturday.’ Kan had previously taken roles in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life in 2003 and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005. He also starred in two Bond films, playing Isagura in 1997 smash Tomorrow Never Dies and a henchman in 2012 box office hit Skyfall.

In 1999 he starred alongside Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson, playing Jedi master Saesee Tiin in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. A cause of death is yet to be established.

Dimapur

Expresses solidarity with Charlie Hebdo victims

the families of the victims,” the posting said. Since its first appearence, Tin-

Brangelina

C M Y K

11 January 2015

Aamir Khan TinTin turns 86

beats

C M Y K

Sunday

Entertainment

The Morung Express

A

Rihanna, Taylor Swift’s songs relieve children of pain

new study has found that songs by Rihanna, Taylor Swift and other singers give a significant reduction in pain to kids after major surgeries. The study led by pediatrics at Northwestern Medicine has found music and audio books as a strategy to control post-surgical pain because medication like opioid analgesics that are given to kids after surgery cause breathing problems in them, and it makes the care takers to control the dose, and hence children’s pain is not well-controlled.

Dr Santhanam Suresh, a senior author of the study, explained that audio therapy is an exciting and inexpensive opportunity and should be considered by hospitals as an important strategy to minimise pain in children undergoing major surgery, and doesn’t even have any side effects.The researchers said that music chosen by kids on their own works better than any other medicine as it distracts the brain to refocus on something else, and it also avoids risky side effects of opioid drugs. The paper is published in Paediatric Surgery.

nicki Minaj

talks about her days as a struggling waitress in trailer for My Time Again documentary

S

he has said that she wants her fans to know more about her past through the material on her recentlyreleased third record, The Pinkprint. And in a newly released trailer for Nicki Minaj’s MTV documentary My Time Again, the star gives a rare and very personal glimpse into her life and challenges as a hugely successful performing artist.

In a clip from the film which goes behind the scenes during the making of her latest album, the singer can be seen telling her dancers: ‘When I was a waitress we had to steal bread and eat that,’ In a montage of different scenes, Nicki, 32, can be seen rehearsing, performing, greeting fans, having fun and spending time with family.

It opens with Nicki saying: ‹I did not know that this album would entail an emotional roller coaster, ‹No one could prepare for this business. Until you are in it, you really can›t wrap your brain around it.› she added. The star is seen looking shocked when one of her crew gets bitten by a snake as they perform Anaconda. And in one tender moment she is seen hugging her grandma while in another scene she hangs out backstage with members of her team who call her ‹the best rapper›.

At the end of the video Nicki is seen saying, ‹Every human needs to push themselves to the point of breaking sometimes. If you never break, you never know how much pressure you can take.› The star gave an interview to Rolling Stone recently where she opened up about a traumatic abortion she had while a teenager. She told the magazine: ‹One of my goals was to give people a glimpse into my personal life, because it’s something I›ve kept very private.› Meanwhile, Nicki is recently single and has been engaging in a public war of words with her ex Safaree Samuels.

And on Wednesday both parties went out of their way to prove they were moving on as TMZ reported Safaree was seen parading his new date Candice Brook in an open top car as they headed to Boa restaurant in Los Angeles. The same day Nicki shared a selfie to Twitter showing her with rumoured new beau Hip-hop artist Meek Mill.

Nicki and Safaree were together for 14 years before things came to an end in November.

C M Y K

C M Y K

C

C

M

M

Y

Y

K

K

Maria Sharapova wins Brisbane International Federer set for a milestone

Australian players Nathan Lyon, left, David Warner, second left, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, second right, and Shane Watson, right, line up in the slips to field against India on the fifth day of their cricket test match in Sydney, Saturday, January 10. (AP Photo)

India survive late collapse to draw final Test Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic pose with their trophies after contesting the Brisbane International final, Brisbane International, Australia, January 10.

BrISBaNE, JaNuarY 10 (aP): Maria Sharapova claimed her 34th career title and closed the gap on the No. 1 ranking with a 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 win over Ana Ivanovic on Saturday in the Brisbane International final.

The top-seeded Sharapova raced to 4-1 lead and had set points in the 11th game but No. 2-seeded Ivanovic fought back to take the hour-long set in a tiebreaker.

Sharapova earned early service breaks in the next two sets and held for victory, giving her the chance to overhaul Serena Williams for top spot in the rankings depending on results at the Australian Open, starting Jan. 19.

Roger Federer has a chance to go into the Australian Open with 1,000 career match wins to his credit after beating fourthseeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the final of the Brisbane International.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion came into the 2015 season with 996 wins and has had three more on the way to Sunday's final, where he'll meet third-seeded Milos Raonic.

He has a 7-1 win-loss record against the 24-yearold Canadian, who served 34 aces to grind out a 6-7

(4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) win over second-seeded Kei Nishikori in the other semifinal.

"It's a goal for the season, so I still have time to get to a thousand," Federer said, smiling. "I mean, it's a really big number, no doubt about it. Love to get it tomorrow, especially in the finals in an ATP event where most of my wins have come.

"If not tomorrow, I hope it happens at the Australian Open. It would definitely be an incredible milestone to reach."

Only Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl have won more than 1,000 matches.

"They were very consistent for a long time, very match tough, and definitely players and athletes you could look up to because their longevity was incredible," the 33-year-old Federer said. "It would mean a lot to get to a thousand, but they're still ahead of me."

The third-seeded Raonic appeared to grow in confidence as the match progressed against U.S. Open finalist Nishikori, earning three match points with an ace in the third tiebreaker and then clinching it after 2 1/2 hours with a stunning forehand service return.

Raonic said he'll be relying again on his serve, hoping to emulate the form

that earned a win over Federer in Paris last year.

"That's always been a key. Last few matches I started poorly. I would get broken right in my first service game, which is not the way to really go about things, especially against a top player and especially against Roger," he said. "So I've got to keep that pressure on him and then sort of step up when I can create my opportunities."

It was his second win in six matches against Nishikori. Neither player dropped serve in the match, meaning Nishikori exited the tournament without being broken in a service game.

Eventually, though, the quick points Raonic was able to pick up on his booming serve made the difference.

Venus Williams won her first title of the year when she recovered from a set and a break down for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over top-seeded Carolina Wozniacki in the final of the ASB Classic at Auckland, New Zealand.

Her sister, Serena Williams, was aiming for a third Hopman Cup title when she partnered John Isner in the U.S. team against Poland in the final later Saturday in Perth, Australia.

India finishes on 252/7 in the second innings; Australia settle for a 2-0 series win to reclaim Border-Gavaskar Trophy SYDNEY, JaNuarY 10 (rEutErS): Australia were denied a dramatic victory and forced to settle for a 2-0 series win when India survived a nervous final session to force a draw in the fourth test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Steve Smith's side were aggressive to the very last ball but unable to break the eighth wicket pairing of Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and grab a third win to go with those they achieved in Adelaide and Brisbane.

The tourists, who were handed a victory target of 349 when Australia declared on their overnight score of 251-6, collapsed from 160-2 at tea to 217-7 but Virat Kohli had promised his team would never throw in the towel and they were true to his word.

They had reached 2527 when Australia ran out of overs in the early evening gloom. "It would have been nice to have got the win today," said Smith, who was named man of the match and the series for his batting exploits. "I thought we were going to be a good chance to win this game, but today wasn't to be. The boys toiled really hard today and it was disappointing not to get the result in the end."

There was a period around the tea break when Kohli and opener Murali

The Australian team players pose with the Border/Gavaskar trophy after defeating India on the fifth day of their cricket test match in Sydney, Saturday, January 10. (AP Photo)

Steve Smith, Virat Kohli; new captains breaking records SYDNEY, JaNuarY 10 (aP): India may have hung on to claim a draw against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday, limiting the series defeat to 2-0, but the four-test series will be remembered more for the performances of opposing young captains Virat Kohli of India and Australia's Steve Smith.

Kohli scored four tons in the series, an effort matched by Australia's stand-in skipper Steve Smith, who is the heir apparent to the injured Michael Clarke as permanent captain, and as young leaders they may be establishing a longstanding rivalry.

Smith was named man of the series after an aggregate of 769 runs — with four hundreds and two half-centuries — which surpassed Don Bradman's record of 715 runs in five tests in 1947-48 as the most runs in an Australia-India series.

The 25-year-old's 117 in the fourth test also matched the feats of Bradman (vs. South Africa in 1931-32) and South Africa great Jacques Kallis (vs. West Indies in 2003-04) in scoring four hundreds in four consecutive tests of a series.

"It's been a pretty special summer for me personally, with some of the results that I've got," Smith said after his latest

Vijay flirted with going for the victory, which would have smashed the previous record for a successful fourth innings run chase in a test at the ground.

Once their third wicket partnership was broken

hundred. "I've felt good throughout the whole series. I'm really happy with where my form is at and my approach to batting at the moment."

The 26-year-old Kohli marked his elevation to India's captaincy by smashing his fourth century of the series in Sydney.

Kohli, who was appointed captain when Mahendra Singh Dhoni suddenly retired after the third test, produced an unbeaten 140 at the SCG to go with his twin centuries in the first test at Adelaide and his highest score of 169 in Melbourne's third test.

The 26-year-old Kohli was a target of both verbal barbs on the field and from parochial home crowds around the country, but rose to the occasion by scoring 685 runs for the series to pass Rahul Dravid's record of 617 runs in a series (2003-04) for an Indian batsman in Australia.

"To have the whole Australian crowd and 11 players who want to irritate me and get me out has been challenging but it has been enjoyable," said Kohli. "We respect the way they play and both teams know this was a strong fight and enjoyed it equally. "It has brought out the best in me. This is certainly the best test series that I have had so far."

with the departure of Vijay for 80, however, it was damage limitation all the way as Kohli (46), the luckless Suresh Raina (0), Wriddhiman Saha (0) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1) all quickly followed.

That the last three were all out leg before wicket was an indication that the pitch was finally producing some turn and movement after being something of a batsman's paradise for much of the match.

It was also fitting reward for Australia's bowlers, particularly paceman Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon, who had bowled with discipline and accuracy in the first two sessions without being able to claim more than two wickets.

The field closed in around Rahane (38 not out) and Kumar (20 not out) with often just one Australian outside the cordon but the Indian batsmen held firm to secure a second successive draw after the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.

Given the lack of success for both sides in each other's countries in recent years, that could be considered something of an achievement for India. "We took them to the end on three occasions, two were draws and one was a loss that could have gone either way," Kohli, who deputised for Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Adelaide and took over permanently in Sydney after the wicketkeeper called time on his test career.

The series started late with a schedule rejigged and compacted after the death of former Australian batsmen Phillip Hughes.

With 5,870 runs scored by both sides, it featured more runs than any other four-match test series with Smith (769) and Kohli (682) leading the way with four centuries apiece.

Lazar-guided Liverpool close on top four

C M Y K

LONDON, JaNuarY 10 (aFP): Lazar Markovic scored the only goal as improving Liverpool provisionally closed to within four points of the Premier League's top four by winning 1-0 at Sunderland on Saturday.

At a gusty Stadium of Light, the 20-year-old Serbia winger's ninth-minute strike -- his first Premier League goal -- enabled Liverpool to extend their unbeaten run to five league games.

Gus Poyet's Sunderland, who had Liam Bridcutt sent off for two bookable offences, remain three points above the relegation zone with only one win from their last 11 games.

Having earlier seen a penalty appeal waved away after tumbling under a challenge from Wes Brown, Markovic put Liverpool ahead when he gathered a

pass from Fabio Borini and prodded the ball between Costel Pantilimon's legs.

Markovic then hit the bar with a spectacular, improvised scissors kick as Liverpool dominated, while former Sunderland loanee Borini rounded Pantilimon, only to find the side-netting.

The visitors lost Steven Gerrard at half-time, with Dejan Lovren coming on, but their position was strengthened in the 49th minute when Bridcutt was shown a second yellow card for impeding Emre Can. Moments later, Adam Johnson left the Liverpool crossbar shuddering with a swerving drive from distance, but Brendan Rodgers's side finished strongLiverpool's Lazar Markovic, left, vies for the ball with Sunderland's Patrick Van Aanholt, right, during their English Pre- ly, with Pantilimon saving mier League soccer match at the Stadium of Light, Sunder- from Mario Balotelli and Philippe Coutinho. land, England, Saturday, January 10. (AP Photo)

Published, Printed and Edited by Aküm Longchari on behalf of Morung for Indigenous Affairs and JustPeace from House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur at Themba Printers and Telecommunications, Padum Pukhuri Village, Dimapur, Nagaland.

RNI No : NAGENG /2005/15430. House No.4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur 797112, Nagaland. Phone: Dimapur -(03862) 248854, Fax: (03862) 235194, Kohima - (0370) 2291952

For news email: morung@gmail.com and for advertisements and circulation contact: (03862) 248854, Fax-235194 or email : morungad@yahoo.com

PO Reg No. NE/RN-722

C M Y K