Forty Years Ago, October 31, 1980: Army in Assam

The Assam government declared the sub-divisional town of Barpeta and two mofussil towns, Barpeta Road and Howli, in Kamrup district as disturbed areas following large-scale incidents of violence, arson and assault, according to K Ramamurthy, adviser to the Assam governor. Indefinite curfew was clamped on Howli and its adjoining village Halapeki after violence, in which one person was killed and four were seriously injured. Army patrolled in Howli township and nearby areas in aid of civil authorities to quell the violence involving two communities. Ramamurthy said “communal violence would be put down with a heavy hand”.

NAM peace mission

Information suggests that the non-aligned peace-makers will have their first meeting in Belgrade early next week to begin efforts to end the five-week war between Iran and Iraq. To facilitate its task, the Indian government has decided to rush Foreign Secretary R D Sathe to Teheran. Sathe will be carrying a message from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for Iran’s President Bani-Sadr. Sathe’s mission follows the discussion his colleague in the MEA, Romesh Bhandari, had with Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Moradabad curfew

An indefinite curfew was imposed in Moradabad after a series of violent incidents left four persons dead, including two women, taking the death toll during the last 48 hours to nine.

Soviet oil

India has sought 2.5 million tonnes of crude and 2.25 million tonnes of products, mainly kerosene and diesel, from the Soviet Union for 1981. This year, the Soviet Union is committed to supply 1.5 million tonnes of crude and 1.9 million tonnes of products. Narayan Datt Tiwari, Planning and Labour Minister, who returned to Delhi from Moscow, said India would like Soviet Union to increase its crude supplies to 4 million tonnes.

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