M A I N   N E W S

Bihar bandh partial

PATNA, April 7 (PTI) — The 12-hour Bihar bandh called by the NDA to press for resignation of the chargesheeted Chief Minister Rabri Devi today partially hit normal life as former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was among 1,000 persons taken into custody as they attempted to enforce the shutdown.

State Director-General of Police K.A. Jacob told PTI that no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state. Tribal-dominated south Bihar was kept out of the purview of the bandh due to ‘Sarhul’, a tribal festival.

Mr Jacob said bandh supporters staged dharnas and squatted on railway tracks at several places disrupting movement of trains. No railway property was, however, damaged.

He said more than 1,000 political activists were taken into custody in different parts of the state when they tried to enforce the bandh defying prohibitory orders.

In the state capital, Mr Nitish Kumar, his Samata Party colleague Raghunath Jha, state BJP President Nand Kishore Yadav and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Sushil Kumar Modi were among over 100 NDA activists arrested when they went in a procession violating prohibitory orders.

Shahbaz, 3 others shifted to Rawalpindi

ISLAMABAD, April 7 (PTI) — Convicted former Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s brother and three others, acquitted in the plane conspiracy case, were today produced before the Accountability Court in Rawalpindi.

Those brought to Rawalpindi from Karachi and produced before Judge Malik Rustam were former Chief Minister of Punjab and Nawaz’s brother Shahbaz Sharif, former Chief of Accountability Bureau Saifur Rehman, Sharif’s former Principal Secretary Saeed Mehdi and former Sindh police chief Rana Maqbool.

A special plane brought the four to the Chakala airbase amid tight security, a report from Rawalpindi said.

Shahbaz and three others were among the six who were acquitted here yesterday by the anti-terrorism court, which convicted Sharif of hijacking and terrorism and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

After the remand, two of them, Shahbaz and Saifur Rehman, were shifted to Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, while Saeed Mehdi and Rana Maqbool have been remanded to the Accountability Bureau for 20 days.