tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Sunday, June 6, 1999
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Vijayraje Scindia quits politics
GWALIOR, June 5 (UNI) — Senior leader Vijayraje Scindia has retired from active politics and will no longer contest any election. In a statement here, her Personal Secretary S.C. Angree said yesterday that Mrs Scindia had decided not to fight the coming Lok Sabha elections for the Guna-Shivpuri constituency due to her prolonged illness. The BJP high command would decide the party candidate from this constituency.

PTV broadcasts
NEW DELHI, June 5 (UNI) — Zee TV-owned Siticable, which is linked to thousands of cable operators all over the country, has decided to switch off telecasts of Pakistan Television from its network. Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan had recently urged all operators to switch off Pak TV telecasts, which, he said would be banned under the Prasar Bharati Act.

Ranvir Sena
AURANGABAD (Bihar), June 5 (PTI) — An alleged supporter of the Ranvir Sena group was killed and 12 others injured when heavily armed men of the banned Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) attacked Chandapesai village of the district today, the police said. Over 100 MCC men blew up the house of an alleged Ranvir Sena supporter with dynamite and opened indiscriminate fire killing one Karion Singh and injuring 12 others including five women, Police Superintendent M.V. Rao said.

Bus to Dhaka
DHAKA, June 5 (PTI) — The Bangladesh Government is making brisk preparations for the June 19 visit here of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the occasion of the inauguration of a direct bus service between Dhaka and Calcutta, official sources here said today. Although Mr Vajpayee's itinerary is yet to be finalised, the Bangladesh Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Abul Hasan Chowdhary, told PTI here that the Indian Prime Minister was now expected to arrive in Dhaka by air instead of by bus. OBC status for Jats

OBC status for Jats
JAIPUR, June 5 (PTI) — Rajasthan Minister for Public Works Department (PWD) Harendra Mirdha today said Jats in the state would be included in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) soon. "We are committed to do this. The Congress made it a part of its election manifesto. We cannot go back from it," Mr Mirdha told reporters here.

19 killed in Algeria
ALGIERS, June 5 (Reuters) — Muslim rebels killed 19 civilians and wounded four others overnight in a raid on a village in western Algeria, government security forces said today. Government security forces said in a statement carried by the official Algerian news agency APS that the massacre took place at Sidi Ahmed Drquni village in Mascara province, 300 km west of Algiers.

Hurriyat claim
NEW DELHI, June 5 (PTI) — Hurriyat Conference here today claimed that its Deputy Chief of Bureau had been "whisked away" by Intelligence personnel while he was on his way to Palam Airport. Hurriyat Conference Bureau Chief Abdul Majid Bandey said his Deputy G.M. Butt, along with his family members, was on his way to the airport to take a flight to Srinagar this morning when around 15 persons in two vehicles stopped them and Butt was "whisked away".