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Curfew continues in Haridwar

         Haridwar: An indefinite curfew continues in Haridwar, a day after violent clashes between the police and local traders left one dead and 20 injured. Officials said no fresh incidents of violence had been reported but the situation continued to be tense. The violence was triggered late on Tuesday night after a policeman allegedly misbehaved with the wife of a local trader. The agitated trading community confronted the police who canecharged and fired at the stone-pelting mob.

          Millions of people have converged in Haridwar for the Ardh Kumbh or half pitcher festival, one of the most important for Hindus, and many traders have set up temporary shops in the ongoing fair. The curfew has been particularly harassing for the pilgrims who find it hard to survive without the basic facilities. "There is lot of inconvenience due to the curfew. All the shops are closed. Pilgrims are facing a lot of problems as there are no places for us to eat anywhere," a pilgrim said. The Uttaranchal government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident and is holding talks with the local businessmen. "Curfew will be relaxed soon. We are holding talks with the local businessmen and things will be sorted out," Ashok Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, Uttaranchal, said.

Two die in Srinagar bomb blast (Go To Top)

         Srinagar: Two labourers were killed and two others were injured in a bomb blast triggered off by militants in Srinagar's Khanyar area on Thursday morning. The blast occurred at around 8.30 a.m. Of the four wounded, two died en route to the hospital. They were later identified as Farooq Ahmad Drabu of Banihal and Shamsdin Shagoo of Kupwara. The other two injured are still under treatment.

Jharkhand minister attacked, hurt (Go To Top)

          Palamu: Janta Dal (U) leader and Jharkhand's Land and Revenue Minister Madhu Singh was on Thursday injured in an attack allegedly carried out by CPI (ML-Liberation) workers at Panki in Palamu district. The attackers pelted stones and opened fire at Singh as he was taking a walk in his native Panki area with his nephew and supporters. While Singh sustained a head injury, his nephew received bullet wounds.

IAF chopper crashes in Uri (Go To Top)

          Srinagar: An Indian Air Force Cheetah helicopter on a training flight crashed near the Line of Control in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir today killing one pilot and injuring another. News agencies quoted official sources as saying that the chopper crashed near Baaz post around 12 a.m. Bad weather was cited as the cause for the mishap. While a Squadron Leader was killed in the crash, a Flight Lieutenant was injured. The injured officer has been shifted to the Army Hospital here. This is the second air disaster involving IAF within a month. Earlier, two Jaguar fighters had crashed near Sonamarg due to bad weather killing both pilots.

Gang-rape accused appear before court in Ahmedabad (Go To Top)

         Ahmedabad: Fourteen accused in the gangrape of a Muslim woman and murder of 14 of her family members during the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 were on Thursday produced before a court in Ahmedabad. This is the first ever appearance of the accused after the CBI chargesheeted all the 20 people last week. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in revenge killings after 59 Hindus were burned to death on a train by a Muslim mob. Bilkis Yaqoob, a key witness in the gang rape case, had alleged that a mob of 500 people had attacked them and at least three women, including his sister, were gangraped on March 3, 2002. Bano and her husband Yakoob Patel are the only survivors in the family of 16, the rest were burnt alive. Defence lawyer Arvind Pandya said four policemen, involved in the case had sought permission to appear later. A CBI report had confirmed that pieces of cloth exhumed from the grave of those killed in Dahod match those in a photograph taken by the police after the post-mortem. The apex court would hear the case on April 27.

Two Bakery case accused arrested, warrants for 18 (Go To Top)

          Vadodara: Vadodara police today arrested two of the 20 accused in the Best Bakery case after a fast-track court issued non-bailable warrants against them in the wake of the recent Supreme Court order transferring the case to Maharashtra for re-trial. The court had earlier acquitted all the 21 accused for want of evidence. While two accused were arrested, the others seemed to have fled from their houses after the April 12 verdict of the apex court. ''We are trying to trace them'', the police chief said.

          On April 12, a division bench of the apex court ordered re- investigation and transferred the case to a Maharashtra court for retrial after prime witness Zaheera Sheikh filed an SLP challenging the Gujarat High Court judgement which upheld the trial court verdict. In the post-Godhra violence in the state, 14 people were burnt alive and six others wounded when a mob attacked the Best Bakery and set it ablaze on March 1, 2002. Soon after the Supreme Court delivered its order, Vadodara Police nabbed five of the accused but had to release them the same night after they were told that fresh warrants would be issued after 4- 5 days.

US won't tolerate Iranian N-weapon: Bush (Go To Top)

          Washington: US President George W Bush has said that any move by Iran to develop an atomic weapon won't be tolerated by Washington. "The development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable, and a programme is intolerable, otherwise they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations," he was quoted as telling newspaper editors and publishers here on Wednesday by an international news agency. "The Iranians need to feel the pressure from the world that any nuclear weapons program will be uniformly condemned. It's essential that they hear that message," he said. "It is intolerable for the peace and the stability in the Middle East if they get a nuclear weapon especially when their stated objective is the destruction of Israel," said Bush.

12 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in Gaza (Go To Top)

          Dubai: Twelve Palestinians have been killed over the past 24 hours during fierce gun battles with the Israeli Army launched in the northern Gaza Strip. Medical sources and witnesses were quoted by foreign news agencies as saying that eight Palestinians, including a 12-year old boy, were shot dead by Israeli troops on Wednesday, while another four were martyred during the clashes in the Beit Lahiya area. Forty-five people have also been wounded in the clashes.

Pak's nuke plan non-negotiable: Musharraf (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan's nuclear programme is here to stay and is non-negotiable, claimed President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday. Describing Islamabad as a responsible nuclear power, Musharraf told a gathering of scientists, engineers, technicians and other staff of the Kahuta-based Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) that it was his aim to further strengthen the country's minimum deterrence needs. There was no pressure on Pakistan as far as its nuclear programme was concerned, he added, while tracing the history of the recent proliferation scam that had invited international condemnation. Pakistan, he said, had developed its nuclear capability solely for the purpose of deterrence of aggression and for the defence of the motherland. According to the News, Musharraf further explained the rationale for ordering investigations into allegations of proliferation against senior Pakistani scientists. "Now that the episode was behind us," he asked the scientists not to be misled by petty politics of vested interests and cynics. He concluded by saying that the key fundamental decision of the government was that the nuclear program would have only one direction - a forward one.

Weddings of Nawaz Sharif's daughter, son on May 28 (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif's son Hassan Nawaz and daughter Asma Nawaz will get married in Jeddah on May 28. The Daily Times quoted family sources as saying that weddings would be simple affairs, adding that not more 75 guests would be invited for the two functions.