Plot to kill Advani foiled

AHMEDABAD, Oct 13 (PTI) — A Pakistani ISI agent, on a sinister mission to eliminate Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, was shot dead by a commando of the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) here late last night.

The Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Mr Haren Pandya, told PTI today that the ATS had arrested 21-year old ISI agent Abu Kasem alias Ajmal, yesterday after a police informer spotted him near a petrol pump at Sabarmati.

During the interrogation the ISI agent revealed that he was a member of a terrorist group and he had been sent with the specific task of eliminating the two leaders, ATS sources said.

The agent, who entered India through Jaisalmer three months back, was given the mobile phone number of another ISI agent Bablu alias Usman, who was carrying the explosives and weapons for the purpose, the sources said.

Ajmal then set his foot in Ahmedabad to get familiarised with the city.

As he was being taken from the ATS interrogation room to the office of a senior police officer for making a long-distance call to contact Bablu, Ajmal snatched the sten gun of an escorting commando and opened fire in a bid to escape. However, another commando immediately fired three rounds killing the ISI agent.

Rodrigo to be new SAARC Secy-Gen

NEW DELHI, Oct 13 (UNI) — Mr Nihal Rodrigo, Additional Secretary in the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka, will be the next Secretary-General of SAARC.

The nomination of Mr Rodrigo, made by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the recommendation of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, has been communicated to the other six member states of SAARC, a Sri Lankan High Commission note here said.

Prior to his present position, Mr Rodrigo has served as Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva and as his country’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. in Geneva.

He has also served in Sri Lanka’s missions in Bonn, New Delhi and Canberra.

The post of Secretary-General, according to the SAARC practice, rotates among the member-states in the alphabetical order. The term of the present incumbent, Mr Naeem U. Hasan, a Pakistani national, expires on December 31, this year.