[Grapevine] For July 21, 1999

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 News headlines:
 Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen behind Doda massacre: Police
 5,000 youths waiting to cross over to Kashmir
 Albright demands end to terrorism in Kashmir
 RPI to support NCP: Athawale
 Bail plea of ISI agents rejected
 Nine killed in rains, floods
 Mohan Bagan beat East Bengal in Kargil charity match

 Markets:
 Profit-taking pull prices down, sensex down nearly 1.5 pc
 BSE:equities open weak on selling pressure

 Forex and Weather below




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______News_______
(From various agencies)


 Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen behind Doda massacre: Police
   Jammu, july 20 (pti) Pakistan-based militant outfit,
   Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen, is behind the killing of 15 people at Lihota
   village in thathri tehsil of doda district, a police spokesman said
   here tonight.

   He said eight to 10 militants of the outfit, led by one Manzoor,
   swooped on the village last night.

   The IGP, Jammu zone, P V Raju announced a cash reward of Rs one lakh
   for anyone giving information leading to the arrest or killing of
   Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen militant, Manzoor, the spokesman said.

   One of the injured VDC members, Panna Lal, who was shifted to Jammu
   Medical College in a helicopter along with the seriously wounded,
   told PTI that he had identified two militants in the group.

   They were Manzoor Bhai, the Doda district commander of
   Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen, and Hamid of the adjoining village of Chedi, he
   added.


 5,000 youths waiting to cross over to Kashmir
   Baramulla (kashmir), july 20 (pti) Besides a large number of Afghans,
   Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) militants, over 5,800
   Kashmiri youths trained in various camps in PoK are awaiting the
   go-ahead from Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to cross over to
   Kashmir.

   This was stated by a group of four militants including two Pakistani
   nationals who were arrested immediately after they sneaked into
   Indian territory in Uri sector of north Kashmir last month, deputy
   general officer commanding of 19th infantry division Brig C S Manral
   told reporters here today.

   Nazir Ahmad alias Juma Khan from Sialkot and Gazanfar Ali alias Junid
   from Daulat Nagar, Gujrat (Pakistan) owing allegience to Muslim
   Janbaaz Force (MJF) were the first to be captured by the security
   force on june 27, Brig Manral said.

   He said alert sentries of Border Security Force, Mewa Ram and Harbeer
   Singh spotted the two Pakistani nationals on the Line of Control
   (LoC) along the Georetal Nallah on the intervening night of june
   25/26. The sentries alerted their officers and the two were arrested
   when they came to replenish their supplies and were moving under
   suspicious circumstances.

   Interrogation of the two Pakistani nationals led to the apprehension
   of two local militants, Tariq Ahmed alias Toofan Khan, and Mushtaq
   Ahmed Mir alias Shaheen, who hail from villages Runda and Limber in
   Uri sector, Brig Manral said.

   Nazir and Gazanfar, who were presented before newsmen here, said the
   infiltrating group had been tasked to establish a hideout in the
   upper reaches of Kazi Nag Dhar area of north Kashmir.



 Albright demands end to terrorism in Kashmir
   Washington, july 20 (AFP) U.S. Secretary of state Madeleine Albright
   today demanded an end to terrorist acts in Kashmir after militants
   massacred 19 people in two separate incidents in Poonch and Doda.

   'Acts of terrorism must stop immediately because such actions make
   the Kashmir conflict more, not less, difficult to resolve,' Albright
   told a news conference.

   'We condemn attacks against civilians and obviously those who
   perpetrate them and those who give assistance to the perpetrators,'
   she said in response to a question about militants massacring 19
   people overnight, most of them Hindus.

   Six others were injured in the incidents. 
   Albright also urged both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint
   along the Line of Control in Kashmir.



 RPI to support NCP: Athawale
   Mumbai, july 20 (pti) Republican Party of India (RPI) would support
   the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the upcoming lok sabha and
   assembly eletions in Maharashtra, the party president Ramdas Athawale
   said today.

   The decision was taken by RPI at its executive meeting held at Delhi
   yesterday, he told newspersons here.

   Athawale said RPI would demand six lok sabha seats and 60 assembly
   seats in the state.



 Bail plea of ISI agents rejected
   Mumbai, july 20 (pti) A local court today rejected the bail plea of
   suspected ISI agent Abdul Samad and his three associates who were
   held for allegedly transmitting classified documents to Pakistan's
   intelligence agency in Karachi.

   Their bail applications were turned down by additional chief
   metropolitan magistrate Usha Iyer who agreed with the prosecution
   that the matter was sensitive and involved nation's security. The
   police also apprehended that the accused might tamper with evidence
   if they were released.

   Abdul Samad Hingora was arrested on june 12 after he was found in
   possession of documents relating to defence matters of India. Abdul,
   who ran a communication centre, was alleged to have transmitted
   several documents to Pakistan with the help of Mohammed Shahnawaz who
   was also arrested on the same day.

   Two others, Imtiyaz Dalal and Afzal Dawood,who were also arrested in
   the same case, were remanded last week to judicial custody till july
   31 along with Abdul and Mohammed.

   Urging for bail, defence counsel Majeed Memon argued that the main
   accused in the case had not been arrsted. He was an alleged Pakistani
   national and had sneaked out of India on the strength of bogus
   documents, he alleged and produced a newspaper report which hinted
   that some officials had been transferred from the airport elswhere
   because of security lapses.

   Police, however, described the transfers of officials as routine and
   denied that they were linked to security lapses.


 Nine killed in rains, floods
   New Delhi, july 20 (pti) Incessant rains lashed several parts of the
   country claiming seven lives as the situation in flood-hit Bihar and
   Assam remained grim with two people being washed away and swirling
   waters inuundating more areas today.

   Heavy rains resulting in flash floods and landslides claimed three
   lives in Himachal Pradesh and two each in Gujarat and Maharashtra
   while bodies of two persons were fished out from flood-hit Bihar,
   reports reaching here said.

   Three persons were washed awere incessant heavy rains for the second
   day triggered flash floods and landslides disrupting road traffic and
   power supply. Most of the areas reamained fog-bound with rains
   further reducing visilibity.

   Rains also continued to lash several parts of Gujarat where one
   person drowned in a rivulet in Sabarkantha district while another met
   a watery grave while crossing river par in Valsad district taking the
   monsoon toll in the state to 25.

   Many palces in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat districts recorded
   over 100 mm rainfall and over 300 people were shifted out from
   low-lyiing areas of Surat city which were innundated.

   Heavy rains also continued in adjoining Maharashtra where bodies of
   two persons were recovered from Nar river in Nasik district. Rains
   have killed 41 people in the state so far.

   Two deaths were reported from flood-hit Khagaria district of Bihar as
   the overall situation in the state remained grim with major rivers
   like Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kosi and Kamala Balan maintaining a
   rising trend and the toll going up to 108.

[From another story]

   Torrential rains, pounding parts of karnataka over the last few days, 
   have so far claimed 14 lives and rendered several thousands homeless, 
   besides causing damage to property.



 Mohan Bagan beat East Bengal in Kargil charity match
   Siliguri, july 20 (pti) Calcutta giant Mohan Bagan today lifted the
   'Sanghati Cup' defeating arch rival East Bengal in in an exhibition
   soccer match organised to raise funds for the chief minister's Kargil
   relief fund here.

   The red and yellow brigade lost the match during the 'sudden-death'
   as its defender Sule Musha's shot missed the net after Satyajit
   Chatterjee made it for Mohan Bagan.

   Earlier the match, which ended goaless, was followed by an
   inconclusive tie-beaker with both the teams scoring four goals.

   With East Bengal's star forwards out, Mohan Bagan dominated the show,
   particularly before the lemon break.

   The exhibition match at the Kanchenjungha stadium was organised by
   Siliguri Mahakuma Krira Parishad.

   State sports minister Subhas Chakraborty and municipal affairs and
   urban development minister Asok Bhattacharjee gave away the prizes.

___________________________________________________________
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______Market_______

 To get today's complete NIFTY (the NSE index) listing send an e-mail to
                    get-nse@mumbai-central.com


 Profit-taking pull prices down, sensex down nearly 1.5 pc

   New Delhi, july 20 (pti) The Delhi sensex today fell sharply by
   nearly 15 points or 1.5 per cent amidst a major sell-off by
   speculators and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), specially in
   infotech and other blue chip stocks.

   Alongwith the weak trend, the Delhi stock exchange sensitive index
   was down by 14.92 points, or nearly 1.5 per cent to close at 1000.47
   points.

   Marketmen said besides profit-taking, end of settlement on the
   national stock exchange also depressed the local market sentiment to
   a certain extent.

   Software counters, which stole the show yesterday, could not maintain
   their rising tempo as FIIs and other players made fresh spell of
   selling to book profits at prevailing higher levels, they said.

   Apart from software, selling also spread to other blue chip
   pharmaceuticals, core sector such as cements, steels and automobile
   companies which are major contributors to the sensex.

   'Today's fall in stock prices was just a technical correction as some
   counters were in a over-bought position', said a DSE broker.

   'Despite drop in stock prices, sentiments still looks bullish as the
   country's economy is back on track,' he added.

   Satyam computer after witnessing significant rise yesterday,
   succumbed to profit-taking at higher levels and ended rs 53.30 or
   almost 3.8 per cent down at rs 1403 after moving wildly between rs
   1387 and rs 1492.



 BSE:equities open weak on selling pressure

   Mumbai, july 20 (pti) In a sudden reversal, equities opened weak and
   later suffered a sharp setback with the sensex at a low of 4656
   around 1020 hours on the stock market here today in the wake of heavy
   selling pressure.

   The BSE sensitive index opened moderately down at 4703.33 and dipped
   to 4656.09 before being quoted at 4686.03 at 1030 hours as against
   yesterday's close of 4716.81.

   Software scrips, which were in keen demand yesterday, failed to keep
   up the tempo as some institutional investors pressed heavy sales in
   these scrips to book profits at higher levels.

   However, a select few pharma shares continued their upward march on
   fresh buying support.

   Dealers said financial institutions booked profits in line with
   squaring up by operators on the last day of the current settlement on
   the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

   Among the major losers, Essar Steel dropped by 9.09 per cent followed
   by SPIC (4.91 per cent), GNFC (4.12 per cent), Kesoram (3.70 per
   cent), Infosys Tech (3.60 per cent), GESCO (3.41 per cent), Cromp Gr
   (3.40 per cent)and Satyam Computer (3.01 per cent).

   However, Indogulf Corp rose by 4.62 per cent, Nestle by 4.08 per
   cent, Voltas by 3.85 per cent, Zee Tele by 3.70 per cent and Ind
   Rayon by 3.64 per cent.


___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________


______Forex_______
      
  1 DMark  = 23.11003    INR    
  1 FFranc  = 6.890752    INR    
  1 U.K. Pound  = 68.00589    INR    
  1 US $  = 43.22500    INR    
  1 Yen  = 0.363571    INR    
  1 Singapore $ = 25.47 INR
  1 UAE Dirham = 11.77 INR
  1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 11.52 INR

___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________


______Weather_______
(From the Weather Underground)

 
Temperature: 84 F / 29 C
HeatIndex: 94 F / 34 C
Humidity: 80%
Dewpoint: 78 F / 25 C
Wind
West  at 4 mph / 6.4 km/h
Pressure: 29.60 in / 1003 hPa
Conditions
Mostly Cloudy
Visibility
 2 miles /  4 kilometers
  
Today: High: 82 F / 28 C Thunderstorm 
Tonight: Low: 73 F / 23 C Thunderstorm 
Thursday: High: 82 F / 28 C Thunderstorm 
Thursday Night: Low: 73 F / 23 C Thunderstorm 
Friday: High: 82 F / 28 C Thunderstorm 
Friday Night: Low: 73 F / 23 C Thunderstorm 

___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________




                   _____ -:Advertisement:- _____ 

                  The teachings of The Bhagvad Gita revealed !

                  Every Sunday at 9.30 AM on DD-I in 
                  "Gita Rahaysa" 
                  and on the web at

                  http://www.gitarahasya.com

                   _____ -:Advertisement:- _____ 


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