APRIL 3, 1984, FORTY YEARS AGO

PUNJAB UNDER CURFEW

THREE MAJOR CITIES of Punjab were brought under curfew following mob violence and arson sparked by the gunning down of former Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Harbans Lal Khanna and his bodyguard by terrorists in Amritsar. The authorities imposed curfew in Amritsar following incidents o f arson and violence in which public property and police personnel were the target of attacks.

INDIAN IN SPACE

INDIA TAKES TO manned space flight when the Soyuz T-l l lifts off from Baikonur with Sqn

Leader Rakesh Sharma and two Soviet cosmonauts aboard for an eight-day space odyssey. The other Indian cosmonauts Wg Cdr Ravish Malhotra and two other Soviet spacemen will remain as a back-up team. The countdown has begun and final preparations for the blast-off were under way at this cosmodrome in the desolate Kazakhstan Steppe.

TERRORISTS DESPERATE

TERRORISTS IN PUNJAB are getting desperate to stall the possibility of any negotiations between the Akali leadership and the government to resolve the Punjab problem. The killing of BJP leader Harbans Lal and his gunmen have been seen in the light of this restiveness. The BJP gave a call for hartal in Punjab, Delhi, Himachachal Pradesh and Haryana to express anguish over the slaying

JERUSALEM SHOOTOUT

NEARLY 50 CIVILIANS were wounded in Jerusalem by a suicide commando attack that Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has pledged to “punish with the necessary rigour.” The shootup occurred at Jerusalem’s busiest intersection, Jaffa and King George streets in the city’s Jewish district. Armed with sub-machine guns and grenades, the commando group wounded 48 persons.