'Masood can come to Pak.'
Masood Azhar, a Harkat-ul-Mujahideen cleric who regularly propagated global ``jehad'', can return home if his Pakistani identity is established, a Pakistan military spokesman has said. Azhar was released on Friday along with two other militants for the freedom of the hostages aboard a hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

Hijackers in Pak. military base?
After remaining in Afghanistan for nearly four days after the hijack drama, the five hijackers and the three extremists released by India may have moved to a Pakistani military facility in Zhob.

Gujarat ban on staff joining RSS goes
The BJP Government in Gujarat has amended the Gujarat Civil Servants Conduct Rules, lifting the ban on participation by Government employees in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

LCA test flight by January end
The much awaited indigenously built light combat aircraft (LCA) would be finally test flown by the end of this month, according to Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government. He was giving a lecture as part of the 87th session of the Indian Science Congress here.

Rockets recovered
Nine Chinese-made 107-mm sophisticated rockets have been recovered from near the Mam stadium in Jammu city, where the State-level Republic Day function is held every year.

Cold wave in north
The northern region smarted under intense cold conditions today and dense fog for the third consecutive day affected train services and flight schedule.

Yashwant Sinha to start pre-budget meetings today
It is budget time again in the Union Finance Ministry with the D-day of February 29 fast approaching. The Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, today started the formal process of budget making by holding a meeting with the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr. K.C. Pant, on the quantum of gross budgetary support to be provided to various Departments and State Annual Plans.

PM's call a diversionary tactic, says Opposition
Political parties today termed as a ``diversionary tactic'' the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's statement that major powers should declare Pakistan a terrorist state. A widespread view was that it was an attempt to divert attention from the Government's ``bungling'' of the hijack crisis.

'India should learn a lesson'
India should learn a ``lesson'' from the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft, ``Commander'' Naseer Ahmed Mujahid of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda outfit, claimed in a statement today.