Pakistan’s President Gen Zia-ul Haq was quoted as saying that under the Simla Agreement, India had no right to demand the return of Pak-occupied Kashmir. Rather, India was bound to settle this issue through talks with Pakistan and not by threats and bullying, right-wing influential Urdu daily Nawa-i-Waqt reported him as telling the Urdu service of Radio Denmark. It must also be made clear to the leaders and the people of India that Pakistan had the right to raise the Kashmir issue at any time and at every international forum till it was resolved, the General added.
The Congress (S) in West Bengal was formally merged with Congress (I). According to Congress (S) president Priyaranjandas Munshi, this was to “recapture the 1966 spirit.” Welcoming the new entrants, Congress (I) working president Kamlapati Tripathi said the process would strengthen the democratic movement in the state.
Maneka Gandhi said that her new party to be launched on April 3 would be known as the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch, which she described as “centrist’’, influenced by the “best from right and left”. She said that the flag of the Manch would be half white and half green with India’s map in saffron in the centre. She did not disclose the symbol, lest it is “frozen” by the government.
Veteran journalist and doyen of editors, M Chalapati Rau died in New Delhi under tragic circumstances. Popularly known as MC, Rau collapsed and died at a tea shop in Kakanagar in south Delhi. His body was removed to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.
