Thirty-two Sinhalese were shot dead by Tamil militants at Navalwathe village in Sri Lanka’s Trincomalee district as President J R Jayawardene rejected the Tamils’ demand for the linkage of the Northern and Eastern provinces. This was the second-biggest massacre of members of the majority community since May, reports said. Official sources said the militants drove into the village, shot dead men, women and children and later set fire to their houses.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi underscored the need to develop human values and create a sense of oneness through one language known to all for strengthening the country’s unity and integrity. He said that while science and technology were important for all-round development and betterment of the poor, humanism, culture and traditions could not be given a go-by. Gandhi said the widening gap between economic progress and age-old human values should be bridged.
Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister Sat Mahajan resigned, owning moral responsibility for the HRTC bus accident near Bandlidhar, which has so far claimed 53 lives. In his resignation letter addressed to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Mahajan expressed shock over the mishap and asked him to relieve him from the ministry. The bus, belonging to the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation, had rolled down a gorge near Bandlidhar village in Sirmour district.
The Canadian police arrested four Sikh extremists in Vancouver in the first Air India Kanishka crash. UNI learnt from high-level sources that a special intelligence operation had been launched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police four months ago to track down the cause of the crash. The Canadian police searches centred around known International Sikh Youth Federation activists. They also announced they had arrested Talwinder Singh, wanted for murder in India.
