tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Sunday, February 21, 1999
weather today's calendar

Couple flee to Paris
KARACHI, Feb 20 (AFP) — Pakistan's beleaguered "Romeo and Juliet", whose marriage was declared legal by a court earlier this week, have flown to Paris en route to the USA, a lawyer for the couple said today. Humaira Butt and Mehmood Butt, whose tribulations had riveted Pakistan, faced harassment and detention before a Lahore High Court judge upheld their secret marriage.

Basu for rail link
BANGSHIHARI (Dakshin Dinajpur) Feb 20 (PTI) — West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today said that his government was keen to see that the railway link between India and Bangladesh was restored. Inaugurating a bridge on the Tangon river here, Mr Basu said the railway link would further improve the bilateral trade and relations between the two countries.

Delhi-Lahore bus
BANGALORE, Feb 20 (UNI) — The family which owns the company that built the body of the Delhi-Lahore bus for the historic ride of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee hails from a village located near Lahore. The hi-tech bus, with the glittering logo "Sada-e-sarhad" (call of the border), was built by a private bus-bodybuilding unit here to the specifications of the Delhi Transport Corporation, giving the city a place in the history of Indo-Pak relations.

S.S. Bhandari
NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (PTI) — Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari today called on President K.R. Narayanan at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Official sources described the 30-minute meeting as a courtesy call. The meeting came a day after Mr Bhandari agreed to continue as Bihar Governor.

Bill on closure laws
NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (UNI) — The Bill on closure laws is ready for introduction in Parliament during the Budget session beginning on Monday, Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani said. In all his ministry would introduce five Bills in Parliament for approval during the session, Mr Jethmalani said in an interview to be telecast tomorrow on Eenadu Television. There would be two apartment Bills and one each on closure laws rent control and urban land ceiling.

Advisers to Governor
NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (PTI) — The Centre today appointed Mr S.A.T. Rizvi, Secretary Parliamentary Affairs, and Mr Chaman Lal, a reitred IPS officer, as advisers to Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari, Home Ministry sources said. Bihar was placed under the President's rule on February 13.

Iraqi cleric slain
BAGHDAD, Feb 20 (AFP) — One of Iraq's leading Shiite clerics and his two sons were assassinated overnight, the official INA news agency said today. Ayatollah Mohammad Sadel Al-Sadr and his two sons "were victims of an abominable crime on the night of February 18 to 19", an Information and Culture Ministry spokesman said.

Indo-Pak forum
KARACHI, Feb 20 (AFP) — A non-governmental Pakistan-India joint forum today welcomed the visit of Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, hoping it would reduce tension between the two countries. "It will help defuse tension between India and Pakistan, especially after the nuclear tests by them," said the secretary-general of the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum, Mr Baser Naveed.