M A I N   N E W S

President Assad dead

DAMASCUS, June 10 (Reuters) — Syrian President Hafez al-Assad died today in Damascus, state television said. He was 69.

Syria’s Parliament almost immediately amended the constitution to allow his son Bashar, 34, to succeed him.

A political source said the veteran leader had died at 0011 hrs local time (1330 hrs IST). He had no immediate word on the cause of death but Qatari television said it was a heart attack. Mr Assad had suffered from heart problems and diabetes.

His death occurred at a critical stage in the Middle East peace process and only a week before the opening of a key conference of the ruling Baath party that had been expected to elect his son as a member of the party’s regional command.

Mr Bashar has been playing an increasingly powerful role in Syrian affairs domestically and abroad in the past two years.

Mr Bashar has also been leading an anti-corruption campaign which resulted in the detention of several high-ranking officials. The campaign included former Prime Minister Mahoud Zu’bi, who committed suicide last month after being dismissed from the ruling party and sent for trial on corruption charges.

Governor’s role: Laloo seeks probe
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, June 10 — Rashtriya Janata Dal President, Laloo Prasad Yadav today met Congress President Mrs Sonia Gandhi, a day after the CBI court in Patna framed charges against him and his wife Mrs Rabri Devi, Chief Minister of Bihar in the disproportionate assets case.

The hour-long meeting at 10, Janpath residence of Mrs Gandhi assumes significance in the wake of demands by the Opposition in Bihar seeking the resignation of the Chief Minister.

The RJD chief is understood to have told the Congress president that the cases against him and his wife were ‘false’ and charged that Governor Vinod Pandey had played a dubious role in it. Yesterday, Mr Yadav reached Delhi soon after the CBI court had framed charges in the disproportionate case filed by the agency against Mr Yadav and Mrs Rabri Devi.

Mr Yadav met the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan yesterday demanding the recall of Mr Pandey and the institution of a commission of inquiry against him to probe his ‘misconduct’.

On the demands of Opposition seeking Mrs Rabri Devi’s resignation, Mr Yadav maintained that she was innocent till proved guilty by the highest court.

PTI: Mr Yadav demanded an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court Judge into the “conduct” of Bihar Governor V.C. Pandey and pledged that he and his Chief Minister wife Rabri Devi would “retire” from politics the day they were proved guilty.

“Let a sitting Supreme Court Judge go into the conspiracy to dislodge our government and study the dubious role of the Governor in the institution of false cases against me and my wife. If charges against us are proved we will retire from politics that very day,” Mr Yadav told a press conference.

Mr Yadav said he had requested her that she too should demand a thorough probe by a sitting judge of the apex court so that the facts came to light.

On questions whether Ms Rabri Devi would relinquish chief ministership in view of framing of charges in a disproportionate assets case, an angry Yadav said “let Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee first ask Home Minister L.K. Advani and HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi to step down following charge sheets against them in the Babri mosque demolition case”.

Asked what the Prime Minister told him after receiving the memorandum, the former Bihar Chief Minister said “he only heard us and kept mum”.