S P O T L I G H T

Pak ex-minister jailed for graft
ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (PTI) — An accountability court in Pakistan has sentenced a former federal minister to 14 years’ rigorous imprisonment and disqualified him from holding any public office for 21 years after finding him guilty in a corruption case. Azam Hoti, Communications Minister in the Nawaz Sharif Government, was also directed by Judge Farrukh Latif yesterday to pay a penalty of Rs 20 million failing which he would have to undergo three years’ additional sentence. He has been found guilty of receiving commission in awarding a contract for installation of an emergency telephone on the Islamabad-Lahore motorway.

2 ultras killed
GUWAHATI, Oct 7 (PTI) — Two hardcore ultras were arrested and two other NDFB militants killed in an encounter with the Army in Assam’s Darrang district today, official sources said. Acting on a tip-off, troops raided Kalbari village under Udalguri subdivision of the district and apprehended a hardcore NDFB militant Shristir Deuri, alias Sukhtai. In another raid, troops apprehended another hardcore ultra Dawin Narzary form Pathakatha village, the sources said.

Uma meets PM
NEW DELHI, Oct 7 (PTI) — Senior BJP MP Uma Bharati, who had gone into a self-imposed political exile, met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today, indicating that she would return to active politics. Ms Bharati, who had proceeded to Kedarnath some 40 days ago after submitting her resignation as a member of the Lok Sabha to the Prime Minister, said that she had never left the party . “I had never quit the primary membership of the party. I will never run away from my responsibility. In fact, I consider it as a sin”, she said. Party sources hinted that after her meeting with the Prime Minister, she was unlikely to press for accepting her resignation from the Lok Sabha.