Sunday, September 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India
 Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

BCCI ultimatum to players
Team to be selected tomorrow
New Delhi, September 7
The BCCI, at an emergency meeting here today, decided to give the Indian cricketers time till Monday afternoon to sign the contract for their participation in the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament to be held in Colombo from September 12. 
In video (28k, 56k)

Privatisation move put off
George opposes proposal on HPCL, BPCL sell-off
New Delhi, September 7
Bowing down to pressure from with in the NDA coalition, the Centre today decided to defer by three months the controversial proposal to disinvest in state-owned oil refining companies — the HPCL and the BPCL.

	Nation page: Punjab to seek heritage status for Golden Temple Schoolchildren participate in a nagar kirtan on the Golden Temple premises in Amritsar on the occasion of 398th Parkash Utsav (function to mark installation ceremony) of Guru Granth Sahib on Saturday.  — Photo Rajiv Sharma

PM to focus on Musharraf’s ‘helplessness’
New Delhi, September 7
India would be changing diplomatic gears during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s forthcoming visit to the UN and according to indications available here Mr Vajpayee and his team would focus on the alleged “helplessness” of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in putting a complete stop to cross-border infiltration.

Snow, rain lash Himachal
3 Manimahesh pilgrims die of cold
Shimla, September 7
Higher reaches in the tribal areas and other high mountain passes in Himachal Pradesh had moderate snowfall while mid and lower hills were lashed by intermittent heavy rains during past 24 hours even as four more persons died in rain and snow-related incidents, raising the death toll to 23.

Pawar softens stance on Sonia
Says time not ripe for raising foreign-origin issue
New Delhi, September 7
Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar today soft-pedalled on Sonia Gandhi’s foreign-origin issue and called for forming a “secular” front to fight the “communal” BJP in Gujarat.

INLD men behind land grab? Chandigarh, September 7 While the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, is busy wooing NRIs to invest in the state, some of his partymen are helping land grabbers.