3 days ago
June 7, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Clashes In Northeast
At least 25 police personnel were killed and several injured in a continuous exchange of fire for the past three days between Assam and Nagaland police at Merapal on the inter-state border. Official sources said that 20 of those killed were Assam policemen. In Guwahati, Assam Home Commissioner Jatin Hazarika confirmed the death of 10 state policemen and indicated that the casualties might be higher.
PM In France
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi arrived in Paris to a warm and affectionate welcome and straightaway went into talks with President Francois Mitterrand. The French government rolled out the red carpet for Gandhi and the PM, Laurent Fabius, set aside protocol to personally greet Gandhi at Orly Airport on his arrival from Cairo on a five-day official visit.
Colombo's Outreach
A three-month truce with separatist Lankan guerillas is being worked out behind the scenes by politicians in Colombo, New Delhi and Madras as a direct result of last week's Indo-Lankan summit, well-informed sources said. At the summit meeting between Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, an agreement had reportedly been reached that violence of any sort should end as a pre-condition for any political solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic violence.
Curfew In Ludhiana
The calm which was prevailing in Punjab for the last two days was disturbed when a curfew was clamped in the industrial town of Ludhiana as a precautionary measure after a fire broke out in the Society Cinema hall there. According to official reports, the fire broke out in the cinema hall due to a short circuit. It has been controlled and there was no loss to life or property.