The army was called out to assist the police in quelling the violence sweeping curfew-bound Baroda. Director-General of Police P N Writer said troops would stage a flag march through the affected parts of the city.

Trade union leader Datta Samant called upon workers belonging to his unions, including the striking mill-workers of the Maharashtra Girni Kamgar Union (MGKU), to make the “Bombay bandh” a success.

Harchand Singh Longowal, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal said the next phase of the agitation would be announced after January 26 next year.

The Congress (I) in Gujarat was split with dissidents in the party sending in their resignations disregarding a high voltage pressure from the high command and its last minute conciliation efforts.

India and Egypt stressed the need for Palestinian participation in any move aimed at finding a just and durable solution of the Arab-Israel conflict and resolving the West Asian crisis, after a detailed exchange of views between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on the international situation with particular reference to the situation in West Asia and the role of the non-aligned movement.

Talks between the French President Francois Mitterrand and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Rashtrapati Bhawan assumed added dimension with France having accepted the Indian position on the supply of enriched uranium for the Tarapur atomic power plant.

The Assam movement leaders disclosed a fresh and angry confrontation programme of action, including a statewide 24-hour bandh on December 2, to counteract what they called, a “conspiratorial election” without solving the foreigners issue.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, a 64-year-old veteran politician, will succeed Zenko Suzuki as prime minister of Japan by virtue of his landslide victory in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s primary election.

A crackdown on the Akalis has started with the arrest of former finance minister Balwant Singh from his residence. He has been arrested for the apprehension of breach of peace — the first of the Akali leaders to be under pre-emptive arrest.

Congressmen, arrayed behind A K Antony under the Congress (A) banner, are returning to the Congress (I) fold after a gap of five years, which were marked by hostility towards Mrs Indira Gandhi. The merger will take place soon.

A series of explosions rocked Punjab during the last 36 hours while the state government swung into action to round up middle rung Akali leaders as a step to foil their plan to protest in New Delhi during the Asian Games.

At least 35 refugees, mostly old men and women stranded without food on the Rwandan-Ugandan border, committed mass suicide by drinking cattle tick ointment, a UN official said.

The non-communist opposition parties in Parliament scuttled the government’s move to extend President’s rule in Assam even after next March through a constitution amendment bill during the current session of Parliament.

The Pakistan President, General Ziaul Haq said that his country desired to improve its relations with India and make the Indian Subcontinent tension-free.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan met for an hour and concluded that the two countries should continue their search for durable peace on the sub-continent and better relations between them.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who has spent several years in Pakistani jails since independence, was once again put under house arrest.

As units of the Border Security Force and Punjab police staged a joint flag march in the affected areas of Amritsar, a Nirankari leader was shot dead at Tanda in Hoshiarpur district, the second day of violence in Punjab.

One person was killed and several others injured when a grenade was thrown at a religious procession taken out on the eve of Dussehra in front of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The Bow Court Magistrate acquitted the Khalistan movement founder Jagjit Singh Chohan of the charge of trying to burn the Indian National Flag and a copy of the Indian Constitution and creating public disorder outside the Indian High Commission but gave three years’ suspended sentence to two of his associates.

Shoot-at-sight orders were issued in Amritsar by the deputy commissioner, Sardar Singh. The official statement said that the order was issued in the city in view of the violent clashes between police and Akali supporters in the vicinity of the Golden Temple.

Violence erupted as responding to party chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal’s call, Akali satyagrahis lodged in various jails all over the state, resisted eviction from prison.

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has asked central leaders to allow his government to purchase foodgrain from other states to stave off near-famine conditions arising from a calamitous drought.

MP CM Arjun Singh, dropped from his ministry the Forest Minister, Vedram, against whom there were grave charges of corruption, Minister of State for Home, Hazarilal Raghuvanshi, whose brother, Gammu Pehalwan, was recently arrested on the charge of attempt to molest a woman, and the Food Minister, M L Dube, who had been named in various scandals.

Japanese Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki tendered his resignation as president of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) and with it his position as Japanese leader, chief cabinet secretary Kuichi Miyazawa announced.

There was an attempt on the life of Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq at Rawalpindi airport, The Washington Post reported. The Post’s report said the attack was made when a shoulder-feed missile was fired at General Zia’s plane taxied on the runway at Rawalpindi airport for a flight to Lahore.