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From the desk Vol.1 No.9 April 2008

Editor in Chief & Publisher – Pradyot Manikya Deb Burman Managing Editor – Rajoo Sharma - 98620 90001 Political Editor – Joydeep Bhattacharjee Current Affairs & Feature Editor – Madhuparna Bhattacharjee Entertainment Editor – Gail T.W. Thomas Sub Editor – Paul Shylla Graphic and Layout Artist – Osmond Cooper Dhar Office secretary – Sanghamitra Roy/John Jamatia Correspondents: Assam: D. Banerjee, A. Roy Tripura: Ratnadeep Choudhury Mizoram: Ratnadeep Choudhury Ayushman Dutta - 99571 93228 (Guwahati) Columnist - Subir Bhawmik Technical Team S.S. Chandel and associates Circulation John Jamatia - 98631 94096 Rajiv Yadav Md. Mukib Hussain - 98541 21162 (Guwahati) Mridul Hazarika - 98646 06014 (Guwahati) Advertisement Incharge G. Lyngwa - 98630 25621 P. Shylla - 9856388710 Production Consultant Debopriyo Chakrabarty Kolkata Office Incharge D. S. Pathak - 93310 07632 Advisor to Editor Nyamar Karbak Printed at Swapna Printing Works, Kolkata Cover Design: Osmond C. Dhar

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Civil wars, social conflicts, communal riots and struggle for existence and self-assertion are all that matter to everyone, but bother none - only the two who are on either side of these. The recent unrest in Tibet is a similar incident, which raised many a storm over coffee cups, but failed to attract any pro-active action, which could have defused tension in the Southeast. The international reactions are only suggestive and never assertive. The Tibetans protesting China’s occupation over its land is as old as Independent India, but the matter still remains unresolved simply because it does not offer an economic bonanza for countries like US and its allies, who find democracy is being gagged only in Central Asia, but not in China. Human rights are violated in other states but not during military crackdown on Tibetans. Whether Tibet is part of China or not, is absolutely a matter that concerns two concerned parties and none else. But that does not mean the UN Conventions would fall short to protect the rights of protesters. Tibetans in Tibet were forced to live outside their area in some urban locations without livelihood for China earmarking the land there for their economic activities. But surprisingly, no nation including India had any comment on that. No doubt, America lost interest in Tibet when its President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972 and closed a deal with Mao Zedong and acknowledged its idea of ‘One China’ theory. But it was widely expected the India would take opportunity this time to get maximum benefit out of this unrest. Lest China take offence to India’s allegiance to the Dalai Lama and his followers, India was soft on China’s aggression. But what about a demand for independent inquiry into the incident and a genuine study to find out the state of affairs within Tibet? The most important issue, which we have failed to address as a region and as a country, is that we conveniently allow people to rule and pass judgments and policies in the name of democracy (sic). Sadly, it looks like the European Union is taking an active and keener role in solving the Tibet issue, we have lost our say because of some 60 individuals who think that they and their Chairman (from the orient) are bigger than the nation and its constitution. On a different note, we have a feature that explains events and incidents, which have shocked the region, some of which are gruesome and others satirical.

Joydeep Bhattacharjee Political Editor

While best efforts have been made to contact every individual for the material used in this edition, we, however, regret for any lapse that might have occurred without our notice.

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