40 years ago February 24, 1986: Punjab, after the bandh

The prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, is intending to take concrete steps after February 26, the day of the Bharat Bandh, for implementation of the Punjab Accord, regarding the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab and some Hindi-speaking villages to Haryana. Plan to eliminate missiles The president, Ronald Reagan, in a letter to the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, is calling for the elimination of medium-range missiles deployed in Europe as a “constructive first step” towards a worldwide curb of the nuclear arms race, a US official said. A presidential statement to the nation is also planned, said the official, who insisted on anonymity. Reagan’s decision was based on the advice of most of his senior arms control specialists, who see an agreement on US and Soviet medium-range missiles as the most likely way to break the deadlock at the negotiating table in Geneva. Zia evades question on India The Pakistan President, General Zia-ul Haq, has said that it is too early to say anything on a possible agreement with India on a comprehensive friendship treaty or a non-aggression pact. “If there is some outcome, it will emerge before us,” General Zia told newsmen on arrival in Sibi (Balochistan). Replying to a question, he said that the new democratic order in the country was working satisfactorily. He said he would not join any political party, including the official Pakistan Muslim League, launched by the Prime Minister, Mohammed Khan Junejo. In capital, a murder a day One person is murdered in the capital every day on average and there is one case of attempted murder. At least half a dozen persons receive severe injuries in violence and brawls every day, according to the police figures. Many more are injured or otherwise beaten up in brawls that do not figure in police records. Many of these attacks, police say, happen when people cross the thin line between anger and aggression.