AP Chief Minister confirmed dead

The crash site of a helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has been located, five days after it crashed.  Khandu's body was greeted by thousands of people in the streets of the state capital Itanagar.

Baruah: Assam's underlying issues remain unresolved

Sanjib Baruah, one of the foremost scholars of the northeast, has written an opinion piece for Forbes India cautioning against drawing excessively optimistic conclusions from Assam's recent elections.  Positives such as the high voter turnout, the fact that ULFA did not call a boycott and less prominence for the inflammatory citizen status (ie anti Bangladeshi settlers) issue, are, he argues, balanced by unresolved issues of citizenship and identity he traces back to partition.

A recent edition of the South Asia Intelligence Review contains a fairly upbeat assessment of the Assamese polls, results of which will be published on 13 May.

AFSPA and women's rights

Binalakshmi Nepram has written a post on the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue's blog about the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, its impact on women and the role women can play combating it.

ULFA funds shortage

It was reported last week that the pro-talks faction of ULFA is facing a shortage of funds.  While a spokesman has denied accusations of extortion, a separate report in the Times of India claims the Assamese government is actively funding the pro-talks faction to remove the incentive for them to engage in extortionate behaviour.

Meghalaya government investigation: police-rebel collusion

The Meghalaya government last month announced it would conduct an investigation into alleged links between police personnel and the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA).

Since then a police constable has been arrested for leaking information to the GNLA and 20 GNLA cadres have surrendered.