Pre-poll violence in Assam worries Vajpayee People from all walks of life, including AGP and BJP supporters, shout slogans at a rally to protest against the killings in the state in Nalbari, Assam.  — PTI photo

Akal Takht summons WSC groups
Amritsar, May 5
In order to break the deadlock, Akal Takht has called both warring groups of the World Sikh Council on May 14. Though the then Jathedar, Akal Takht, Giani Puran Singh, had dissolved both groups of the WSC on February 23 last and formed a 12-member committee, yet parallel bodies continue to work. Lakhs of rupees are lying unused in the bank accounts.

New Income Tax Act by March: Sinha
New Delhi, May 5
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today indicated that the government was contemplating setting up of a economic law commission to review tax laws and other economic legislation in the context of the new economic reforms programme.

Hurriyat rejects Shabir’s stand
New Delhi, May 5
The Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mr Abdul Ghani Bhat, has disapproved of the stand taken by Mr Shabir Shah’s Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party to the Centre’s invitation for talks on the Kashmir issue, saying that nothing was likely to come off the letter that had been delivered by the JKDFP to the Centre’s negotiator, Mr K. C. Pant.

• J&K page: Shabir’s demand gives new dimension

Nationwide strike by chemists
32 die due to lack of life-saving drugs
New Delhi, May 5
Chemists and druggists all over the country kept their shops closed today in response to the one-day nationwide strike called by the All-India Chemists and Druggists Association, to express solidarity with the nine-day-old stir by the Bihar chemists for the withdrawal of turnover tax.