tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Friday, October 8, 1999
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Karnataka CM resigns
BANGALORE, Oct 7 (UNI) — Karnataka Governor Khurshed Alam Khan today accepted the resignation of Chief Minister J.H. Patel and his council of ministers. A Raj Bhavan communiqué said the Governor had asked the Chief Minister and his council of ministers to continue till alternative arrangements were made. In the morning, Mr Patel drove to Raj Bhavan with some of his cabinet colleagues and submitted his resignation letter in the wake of the debacle of the ruling Janata Dal (United) in the state. After submitting the resignation letter, Mr Patel said he was only discharging his constitutional responsibility. The assembly has already been dissolved.

5 ultras killed
GUWAHATI, Oct 7 (UNI) — Five hardcore NDFB militants were killed in an encounter with the Army at Badagaon village on the banks of the Dhansiri river in Darrang district today, official reports said. Acting on a tip-off, the operations were launched early in the morning, which resulted in the killing of the militants. A large number of arms, including two AK-56 rifles, one Chinese assault rifle, one point 303 rifle, one revolver, three grenades and 108 rounds of assorted ammunition were recovered from them, the report added.

Pak violence
ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (PTI) — Five persons, including a top Pakistan Television (PTV) official, were killed in unabated sectarian violence in the country since last evening while a top Shi'ite leader threatened a civil disobedience movement if the government failed to stop the killings. Muhammad Rizwi, a programme controller at PTV, was shot dead by two unidentified assailants outside his house in the nearby Rawalpindi early today, the official APP news agency reported. Rizwi, 54, was a noted scholar of the minority Shi'ite community.

Nepalese strike
KATHMANDU, Oct 7 (DPA) — Business in the Nepalese capital was brought to a halt today by a general strike called by the extreme Leftist Nepal Communist Party (Maoists). The Maoists have been waging war against the government for three and half years and the strike, according to them, is a protest against the "arbitrary killing of innocent people by the security forces".

7 Tigers killed
COLOMBO, Oct 7 (UNI) — Seven Tamil separatist guerrillas were killed in the embattled northeast while a terrorist bunker was destroyed by security forces in the Jaffna peninsula yesterday, a military press release today said. On receiving information that four terrorists were hiding inside a house, troops cordoned off the area and conducted a search operation. The terrorists, hiding in a bunker tried to escape but were killed in the ensuing encounter.