S P O T L I G H T

Police failure alleged
MIDNAPORE (WB), Aug 12 (PTI) — Leader of the NDA’s fact-finding team S. Venugopalacharya today alleged that the police and the administration had “failed to maintain law and order neutrally” in the trouble-torn Midnapore district of West Bengal and that democracy was “under threat” there. The six-member delegation, which reached Calcutta from New Delhi yesterday, met villagers and listened to their grievances at Keshpur, Ramnagar, Tasara, Angua, Dhandaugla, Birbira, Agarpara and Saroi villages, scene of clashes between the Trinamool Congress and the CPM in the past few months.

Meeting
KARACHI, Aug 12 (AFP) — Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee may meet at the UN in New York next month, a minister said today. “When the two leaders are present in the gathering nothing can be ruled out,” Information Minister Javed Jabbar said.

West Asia talks
BEIJING, Aug 12 (PTI) — China today invited Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli leader Shimon Pares to Beijing to give fresh impetus to the stalled West Asia peace process. “Mr Arafat will pay a working visit to China on August 14 at the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.