Wednesday, March 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Joint session okays POTO
425 vote in favour, 296 against
New Delhi, March 26
The Vajpayee government had its way when the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, 2002 was passed with 425 votes in favour and 296 against after a marathon 10-hour debate at an extraordinary joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament tonight.

Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha P. M. Sayeed and Congress President Sonia Gandhi at the all-party meeting before the joint session on POTO at Parliament House in New Delhi on Tuesday.  — PTI photo

Opposition slams govt
New Delhi, March 26
The Opposition today made a scathing attack on the government in Parliament on the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance charging the BJP-led coalition with bringing the “black” measure for its partisan politics “to terrorise minorities and the Opposition”.

Vajpayee lashes out at Sonia
New Delhi, March 26
A livid Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, launched an unprecedented verbal assault on Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi at the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament today and categorically refuted her allegation that that he had ever worked under pressure.

• POTO need of the hour, says Advani

• Panja receives threats

POTO charge against Afroz dropped
Mumbai, March 26
In a major climbdown, the city police today appealed to a special court to drop provisions of anti-terrorist ordinance POTO invoked against suspected Al-Qaida terrorist Mohammed Afroz Abdul Razak.

Vajpayee summons Modi
Ahmedabad, March 26
In unabated communal violence in Gujarat a woman was burnt alive and a 19-year-old youth died in police firing as the Prime Minister summoned Chief Minister Narendra Modi to Delhi to discuss the situation in the state.

1800 feared dead in Afghan quake
Kabul, March 26
Up to 1,800 persons were feared killed and around 10,000 made homeless when a severe earthquake wiped out an isolated rural town in northern Afghanistan, UN and Afghan officials said today.

BT cotton cleared for commercial cultivation
New Delhi, March 26
Amidst stiff opposition from environmentalists and a section of agriculturists, the government today cleared transgenic BT cotton for commercial cultivation and marketing, thereby opening the floodgates for growing and importing genetically-modified crops.

HC seeks DGP’s explanation
Non-production of PPSC Chairman
Chandigarh, March 26
Punjab Public Service Commission Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu, reportedly booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau after conducting raids at his residence in Sector 39 here, was not produced before the Punjab and Haryana High Court despite directions. 

One-day remand for Sidhu
Kharar, March 26
Mr Roshan Lal Chouhan, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, today remanded Ravinder Paul Singh Sidhu, PPSC Chairman, in police remand for one day and ordered that the accused should be produced in court tomorrow.

• PPSC Chairman booked

• Admitted to GMCH