S P O T L I G H T

9 tourists hurt in Pak grenade attack
Islamabad, July 13
Nine foreigners and three Pakistanis were hurt today when an assailant hurled a hand grenade at a tourist party in northern Pakistan, a senior Interior Ministry official said. The nine comprised seven Germans, an Austrian and a Slovenian but the official described the injuries as minor and said all had been discharged from hospital. Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema, head of the Interior Ministry’s Crisis Management Cell, said the tourists were visiting the historical Ashoka sites, near Mansehra city, in North-Western Frontier Province when they came under attack. Reuters

Curfew in Kheda
Kheda (Gujarat), July 13
The indefinite curfew imposed here last night following cases of stone-throwing and arson continued today and 100 people from two communities were arrested overnight. No untoward incident was reported after last night’s incidents and the curfew was in force mainly as a precautionary measure. Five shops were set afire by miscreants in the town, headquarters of Kheda district, after group clashes, the police said. UNI

SP to file writ
Mumbai, July 13
Samajwadi Party (SP) today said it would file a writ of mandamus in the Mumbai High Court next week after Maharashtra Advocate-General refused to grant consent for prosecuting VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia for their alleged utterances against the judiciary over the disputed land in Ayodhya. Addressing a press conference here, SP Vice-President Majeed Memon said, his party would go ahead with the legal course by filing a writ of mandamus. PTI

Polling booths
Vijayawada, July 13
The All-India Brahmin Federation (AIBF) today demanded polling booths for thousands of Kashmiri Pandits in cities like Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad to enable them to exercise their franchise in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. The demand follows the Election Commission’s decision to set up polling booths in Delhi for Kashmiri Pandits, a move welcomed by the federation. UNI