NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 23: Government today said in the Lok Sabha it may be more profitable for traders to import sugar from Pakistan in view of less transport cost.In a written answer, Agriculture minister Nitish Kumar said though government has not imported any sugar, individual traders or corporate entities are free to import sugar, whose import is on Open General License (OGL).He, however, said that the indigenous production and domestic stock was sufficient to meet the requirements of sugar in the country during the current year.MERCENARIES: AS many as 1,121 foreign mercenaries belonging to 13 countries were killed and 136 apprehended in the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir between 1991 and December 1998, Defence minister George Fernandes said.VILLAGES: Relocation of 33 villages lying in close proximity to the Line of Control in J&K was recommended by the Army and the state government as they were subject to unprovoked firing from Pakistani side, he said.SEABIRD: THE first phase of project `Seabird', a new naval base at Karwar in Karnataka, is scheduled to be complete by 2005, he said.SIKH: OUT of 2,802 Sikh army personnel involved in acts of indiscipline, including desertion in June 1984, 49 were killed while resisting arrest and 22 went missing, Fernandes said, adding, of the remaining 2,731 brought to trial, 22 were exenorated and 2,709 punished and awarded varying sentences.
