Sairenkhun: There are at least 40 insurgent outfits in Manipur and desperate for new recruits, they have been targeting children in the state. In April this year, 10 boys were forcefully taken to militant training camps in Myanmar. The family members of the three boys, who managed to get released, are still living in fear. "I am living in constant fear and think what will happen to my son in the future," says a mother.
The boys tell that they were lured in the camp with the promise of money and cellphones. However, pressure from civil society forced their release. They were warned not to reveal the identity of those who recruited them.
"I saw other boys and also girls in the camp. They kept us in separate rooms. I was told not to take the name of the organisation. When I was coming back, I saw new recruits," says one of the boys, who was released from the camp.
Recruiting child soldiers in Manipur dates back to 2008 when 19 children were kidnapped by militant groups. So far, 66 children have been kidnapped and many have stayed back in the camps. "If they are convinced, thrilled by the guns and the life, it becomes very difficult to get them back," says Child Welfare Committee chairperson Annie Mangsatabam....
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10:19 PM, Aug 30, 2012
Washington: Pakistan has an "addiction" of "playing around" with militant groups against India, a top Pentagon official has said. "They have an addiction to playing around with militia groups to achieve certain interests, particularly vis-a-vis India. That gets them in all kinds of trouble," Michael Sheehan, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing. Responding to questions, Sheehan said the US has been having...
09:29 AM, Mar 29, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Friday admitted that violence in the country was still at an "unacceptably high level" and reminded militant groups of the futility of armed movement saying only talks can bring solution to their problems. "Violence is still at an unacceptably high level and every effort will be made to contain violence," Home Minister P Chidambaram said at a press conference. The Home Minister said militant groups...
07:29 PM, Dec 30, 2011
Washington: Pakistan's spy agency ISI sponsors terrorism in Kashmir and it oversees terrorist groups there, the FBI has said in the first ever open acknowledgment by a US agency that Islamabad is a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism'. In a 43-page affidavit to a US court in Alexandria in a case related to the arrest of Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, Special FBI agent Sarah Webb Linden said that the...
09:31 PM, Jul 21, 2011
New York: Notwithstanding its repeated refutal of links with terror groups, the Pakistan military continues to support a broad range of militants as part of its three-decade strategy of using proxies against its neighbours and US forces in Afghanistan, a former top militant commander has claimed. Terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen and Hizbul Mujahedeen are run by religious leaders, with the Pakistani military providing training, strategic planning and protection, the...
02:34 PM, Jul 04, 2011
Lashkar is controlled by ISI, civilian govt has no power over them. ...
03:30 PM, Dec 05, 2008
Pak govt must prepare for possible backlash from militants, warns daily. ...
12:30 PM, Dec 05, 2008
Independence Day is peaceful in state despite boycott call. ...
03:10 PM, Aug 15, 2007
