This is the front page of The Indian Express published on February 05, 1985.
Feb 5, 2025 07:03 IST First published on: Feb 5, 2025 at 07:01 IST
J & K CM G M Shah, offered to reunite with the Farooq faction of the National Conference and patch up with his brother-in-law if the latter accepted five conditions including “total and permanent friendship with the Congress-I”. The other conditions are: No confrontation with the Centre, nobody from the Sheikh family to be the CM or minister in the state cabinet; ditto for the Shah family; and retention of the present ministers.
Reagan’s Budget
US President Ronald Reagan asked Congress to exhibit political courage and adopt a low-growth $973.7 billion budget that calls for big domestic cuts and increased military spending. The budget proposes a $30 billion increase in defence spending — guaranteed to provoke congressional criticism — including more than doubling spending on Reagan’s controversial “star wars” programme and hikes in nuclear weapons spending.
Mhatre Killers
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Two Kashmiri separatists were convicted of kidnapping and killing Ravindra Mhatre, an Indian diplomat in Britain, in February 1984. Abdul Raja, 28, and Mohammed Riaz, 23, were found guilty at Birmingham Crown court of the unlawful imprisonment and murder of Mhatre, 47, an assistant commissioner at the Indian consulate in Birmingham.
Coomar, The Spy
Coomar Narain, the alleged kingpin of the espionage ring busted by intelligence agencies last month, named France, Poland and the German Democratic Republic as the countries to which he had been passing top secrets. Narain also confessed to the metropolitan magistrate in a 15-page statement that he had been in the business for the past 25 years.
