Wednesday, November 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

UP rebels to float new outfit
Farrukhabad, November 5
Rebel Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya has claimed that 35 dissident BJP legislators in Uttar Pradesh have decided to float a new political outfit called the ‘Rashtrawadi Bharatiya Janata Party’.

    Tirade against UP Governor flayed

In video: Mulayam says the Samajwadi Party will go to the "people's court" over the UP Governor's decision. (28k, 56k)

Jaguar crashes into Ambala houses; 5 dead
Ambala, November 5
A Jaguar aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in a residential area at Dilipgarh village, Ambala Cantonment, claiming five lives and leaving at least 16 persons injured. The pilot managed to bail out.

Salvage operations at Dilipgarh village in Ambala where a Jaguar crashed on Tuesday, claiming five lives. 
— Photo Neeraj Chopra

Mufti for talks with all groups
Jammu, November 5
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, has urged the Centre to initiate “unconditional” dialogue with representatives of people of all shades of opinion to resolve the turmoil in Kashmir and has announced that all political prisoners will be released gradually to create an atmosphere of goodwill and win over the misguided people to the main streams.
In video (28k, 56k)

    19 lakh looted from bank in Srinagar
    Ultras kill 4

10 SGPC men may be disqualified
Amritsar, November 5
At least 10 SGPC members belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal may be disqualified for claiming ‘double’ TA and DA and securing employment for their wards in violation of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.

ASEAN backs PM on free trade area
Phnom Penh, November 5
In a major initiative to boost trade and economic ties with South-East Asian countries, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today asked the ASEAN grouping to establish a free trade area with India in the next 10 years and announced greater tariff concessions to its lesser developed members - Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. 
In video (28k, 56k)
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri assists Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee off the stage after a group-photo of ASEAN leaders at their inaugural summit in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
— Reuters photo

Five more Dalits convert
Rohtak, November 5
In a continued fallout of the Jhajjar lynchings, five more Dalits reportedly embraced Buddhism on Divali in protest against the Hindu practice of “casteism and untouchability’’ at a conversion ceremony at a temple in Meham town of Haryana.

Rehman to head coalition in Pak
Islamabad, November 5
Overcoming her reservations, former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has reportedly okayed top Islamic cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the Prime Ministerial candidate to head a coalition government comprising religious and moderate political parties opposed to President Pervez Musharraf.

Time for jatha to Pakistan running out
New Delhi, November 5
Even as the Vajpayee government is “actively considering” the request for granting permission to a jatha to visit Nankana Sahib in Pakistan to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak on November 19, leaders of the Sikh community are becoming anxious that time for making preparations may be running out.

USA may soon be out of bounds for Asians Chandigarh, November 5 If the sharp decline in the number of visas granted by the US Embassy in India after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack and the proposed legislation requiring Canadian landed immigrants from most Commonwealth countries, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Banglades, to get visas are any indication, the USA may virtually soon be out of bounds for Asians in general and Indians in particular.