tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Sunday, December 13, 1998
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Cong stand on women's Bill
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 12 (PTI) — Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress leader P.A. Sangma said here today that his party was not averse to discussing the question of quota for OBCs and minorities within the proposed 33 per cent reservation for women if the government came forward with such a proposal. "As of now our stand is very clear. If the government brings in the Bill in the present form we will vote for it. If the government presents the Bill with amendments we will consider it, " Mr Sangma told reporters. Though the Congress had an "absolutely open mind" on the issue, no proposal on ‘quota within the quota’ has so far come from the government, he pointed out. The Congress leader, however, held that the issue was not a political or ideological one. The whole issue involved constitutional questions. There was no OBC or minority quota in Parliament or legislatures as in the case of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, he added.

Pak missile firing
KARACHI, Dec 12 (AFP) — The Pakistan army’s air defence units concluded two-day annual missile practice firing today at the Sonmiani range, 40 km from here. The missiles test-fired included the laser-guided RBS-70, a Swedish-made weapon which cannot be jammed by hostile aircraft, and the Pakistan-made heat-seeking Anza Mark-1.

Thai crash toll 100
SURAT THANI (Thailand), Dec 12 (Reuters) — At least 100 persons were reported killed when a Thai airways airbus crashed yesterday while trying to land at an airport in southern Thailand, the police said today. Rescue workers waded through muddy swamp to pull charred bodies from the wreckage of the plane which was carrying 146 passengers and crew. Fortysix injured had been taken to five local hospitals.

Uncertainty in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Dec 12 (Reuters) — The political uncertainty that gripped Nepal after the Prime Minister asked King Birendra to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections is likely to be resolved only after the monarch's return from London next week, the royal palace said today. The Himalayan kingdom plunged into uncertainty yesterday after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala recommended to the King fresh parliamentary elections for March 31, 1999, seven months earlier than scheduled. Opposition parties, including a Communist faction which quit the Cabinet, have asked the monarch to convene a special session of Parliament to submit a no-confidence motion against Koirala's eight-month old government.