Monday, July 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

No troop withdrawal till J&K poll

New Delhi, July 28 India today categorically told the USA that the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly poll, due this October, would be a “litmus test” to judge Islamabad’s intentions and until the peaceful, sabotage-free completion of these poll, New Delhi would not be withdrawing its troops from Pakistan borders. In video (28k, 56k)

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani shakes hands with US Secretary of State Colin Powell in New Delhi on Sunday. — Reuters photo

Let J&K poll be peaceful: USA
Islamabad, July 28
Urging India to ensure free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir, US Secretary of State Colin Powell today asked Pakistan to let the poll take place without interference from militants as he refused to back President Pervez Musharraf’s assertion that incursions have ended.
In video (28k, 56k)

    Replace PoK govt, says Hurriyat
    Infiltration stopped, says Musharraf
  India rejects Pak claim

PPSC SCAM: FOLLOW-UP
I was obstructed: Bhatnagar; hits out at Vigilance Bureau
Chandigarh, July 28
If his reply to the disciplinary show-cause notice served on him earlier this month is any indication, the Punjab Government has clearly failed to subdue its former Intelligence chief and now ADGP (Security), Mr A.P. Bhatnagar, in the Punjab Public Service Commission case.

MLA under cloud in land deal
Gurgaon, July 28
Leaders and land mafia in Haryana appear to have devised a smart methodology to cloak themselves with an aura of respectability after committing crimes.

10 Sikh pilgrims die in mishap
Khatima, July 28
In the second major mishap involving Sikh pilgrims within a month in Uttaranchal, 10 persons, including four women and two children, were killed and over 80 injured when a truck fell into a deep khud in Champawat district today, a senior police official said.

Salman allowed to go abroad
Jodhpur, July 28
A local court has allowed Bollywood actor Salman Khan, the prime accused in the case of poaching of black buck, to go abroad as yet another prosecution witness turned hostile.

Selling jewellery to run tubewells Bathinda, July 28 While cash-strapped farmers of the state have started virtually begging money from commission agents and others for arranging diesel to run tubewells to irrigate their paddy crops as the monsoon has still been eluding this area and power supply is inadequate, commission agents and “sahukars” (traditional moneylenders) have not been lending enough money to them.