Seven persons, including six children — five of them minors — and a 65-year-old woman were roasted alive, scores suffered burn injuries and homes of over 10,000 people were reduced to ashes in a massive fire which broke out in New Seemapuri, a trans-Yamuna colony in New Delhi
Hundreds of volunteers from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Lok Dal (LD) began a week-long satyagraha against the government’s failure to restore normalcy in Punjab by courting arrest in the capital. Led by the Lok Dal president Charan Singh, and BJP president Atal Bihari Vajpayee, NDA workers, including 50 women were arrested at the Boat Club for violating prohibitory orders.
Gurdwara Siege Lifted
The Punjab government yielded to the ultimatum given by the Akali Dal and lifted the siege on three gurdwaras at Moga in Faridkot district. An official spokesman said 16 persons, wanted in different cases, were arrested when they came out of the gurdwara. Thirteen firearms were recovered from them. The spokesperson made it clear that the whole operation was conducted without police entering any place of worship.
Diplomat Threatened
Unlike the letter bomb that was posted to the Indian High Commission and was quietly defused before any harm could come about, the threatening letter to an Indian diplomat in London, Prakash Bhalla, appears to be the work of some mischief-maker who successfully created panic in the mission and gave a welcome propaganda boost to the Kashmir Liberation Front (KLA). An envelope containing some powdered explosives was received with the High commission mail but was found to be a hoax, eventually.
Delhi Fire Toll
Seven persons, including six children — five of them minors — and a 65-year-old woman were roasted alive, scores suffered burn injuries and homes of over 10,000 people were reduced to ashes in a massive fire which broke out in New Seemapuri, a trans-Yamuna colony in New Delhi. The fire, which raged unchecked for about two hours, ravaged the jhuggi colony of over 2,000 dwellings populated by refugees from Bangladesh and labourers from Bihar and West Bengal.
