S P O T L I G H T

Lashkar threat to stop census
KARACHI, Sept 18 (AFP) — Pakistan-based Muslim militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba warned today that it had inducted special squads to attack troops if India did not halt a controversial census in Jammu and Kashmir. “We have set up around 100 groups of fidayeen (suicide squads) for the sole purpose of attacking Indian troops and army camps,” Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of the outfit told AFP. He said each group consists of three or four Lashkar militants who would start their operations if the census continued.

Muviah on bail
NEW DELHI, Sept 18 (UNI) — Muviah, chief negotiator for the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (ISAAC-Muviah), was released on bail today from a Bangkok jail where he was imprisoned for travelling on forged documents, but asked not to leave Thailand. The NSCN has given an ultimatum to the Government of India to include all Naga inhabited areas in its ceasefire agreement. The government has said the matter will be looked into after the Prime Minister returns.

Madurai tense
MADURAI, Sept 18 (UNI) — Tension prevailed in and around Azhapuri near Melur in this district of Tamil Nadu, where an ashram-cum-Kali Temple had come up recently, as about 2000 villagers prevented the police from moving out of the ashram, demanding that they dig the area around the ashram where human sacrifices had allegedly taken place and bodies buried.