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        Pervez Musharraf's worst crisis since he seized power eight years ago deepened Saturday as 30 people were killed in firing between his supporters and those of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry in Karachi — the commercial capital of Pakistan. But Musharraf has ruled out the imposition of emergency. Groups of activists belonging to MQM, a partner in the Federal ruling coalition, and those of opposition parties supporting the suspended Chief Justice, fought pitched battles on streets using assault rifles firing indiscriminately in different parts of Karachi. More than 150 people were injured, Geo TV said giving the casualty figures. Chaudhry, who arrived in the commercial hub to address a rally of High Court lawyers, was stranded at the airport and was asked by the local government to avoid the meeting and return home. Surely, India will be watching the civil strife in Pakistan closely.

        Concerned over recruitment of children by the outlawed and terror outfits in South Asia, a UN group has demanded an immediate demobilising of all child soldiers in Sri Lanka and Nepal. In messages addressed to Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as well as the Karuna faction which split from LTTE and supports the government troops now - the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict of the Security Council at the UN called for the cessation of child recruitment. The group also sought respect for safe zones for children and guarantees of humanitarian access to all conflict areas. Addressing the government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which are now engaged in a peace process under UN monitoring, the Working Group called for an immediate liberation of child soldiers. Will UN intervention save child soldiers from grave situations.

        Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Friday said that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is to leave office in June, was a 'great leader' and one of the 'heroes of the liberation of Iraq.' Speaking at a joint press conference with the British leader in London, Talabani said: 'We regret the departure of one of the great leaders of the British people and a true friend of the Iraqi people. We consider Blair as one of the heroes of the liberation of Iraq.' Blair repaid the tribute praising Talabani's 'quite extraordinary courage and leadership' that he has shown in Iraq in these past years. 'We remain fully in support of his desire to see an Iraq in which people from different communities live in peace and harmony together and where the fate of the country is decided not by terrorist but by the process of democracy,' Blair said. One hopes normalcy is restored in Iraq within a short time.

        Denying that documents were destroyed at his office, outgoing Uttar Pradesh Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Azam Khan on Friday night said his staff were only disposing off waste. 'We were just disposing off waste. We thought we would clean up the office,' he told reporters when questioned on his office at the Secretariat being sealed off following reports that his staff had destroyed some documents. Reacting to BSP chief and Chief Minister-in-waiting Mayawati ordering a probe into the matter, he said 'I don't know why she is doing this.' Mayawati had decided to order a high-level inquiry into Khan's staff members allegedly tearing papers and dumping them into dust bin shortly after the Assembly election results came out with the Samajwadi Party received a drubbing. Caught in the act of destroying evidence against bungling and irregularities?

        Calling the UP election results 'shocking', BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Friday refused to own responsibility for the party's debacle in his home State. He instead cited the victories that the BJP had secured in other States under his leadership when asked if he would take the blame for the party's dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh. 'What responsibility? We do concede defeat,' he told a news conference in New Delhi after the BJP's Parliamentary Board meeting to discuss the election results. He admitted 'some shortcomings' did lead the party to electoral reverses, but identified none. 'Election results are shocking and unprecedented,' he said. The Sangh-backed leader also claimed that the RSS, which is believed to have come in full support of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh elections, had no role in the party's election management. A shell-shocked party!

        CBI's request for sanction to prosecute BSP supremo Mayawati in the Rs 175 crore Taj Heritage Corridor case has been referred by the outgoing Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to UP Governor T V Rajeshwar. Two days before the counting of votes in the UP assembly elections, Yadav passed on to the Governor on 9 May the request from the CBI made on 11 March which was followed up with reminders to the Chief Secretary, sources said. CBI was acting in compliance with the order of the designated court in Lucknow which had asked the agency to seek prosecution sanction against Mayawati. The court has given time till 15 May to the CBI for filing the sanction for prosecution before it could take a decision on whether to take cognisance of the investigation report submitted by it on 15 February. A flesh in the thorn for the new CM.

        Sibling rivalry in the ruling DMK got violent on Wednesday when two employees and a security personnel of Tamil newspaper Dinakaran were killed after a group of persons claiming to be supporters of DMK leader M K Azhagiri, elder son of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, attacked the newspaper's office in Madurai and set it afire. The supporters, who hurled petrol bombs and stones at the building, were protesting against a survey published by the Maran family-owned newspaper on who would be Karunanidhi's 'possible political heir'. Police said 25 people were arrested following the violence as protests were also held in some other parts of the State like Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Cumbum and Kamuthi. The survey Makkal Manasu (What People Think) conducted by the daily in association with consultants A C Nielsen, had given 70 per cent chances to M K Stalin, the second son of Karunanidhi and just two per cent to Azhagiri, who controlled the party cadres in Southern districts. Will this herald the exist of Dayanidhi Maran from the Union Cabinet?

        Tamizhar Desiya Iyakkam leader P Nedumaran and 150 others were arrested in Madurai on Wednesday when they attempted to picket vehicular traffic near Tamukkam, demanding that the height of the Mullaperiyar dam be increased to 142 feet, as per the the Supreme Court order. Nedumaran, who is also the leader of the Mullaperiyar Dam Retrieval Committee, told reporters that the government should take steps to increase the dam level before the onset of the monsoon. The arrested included State Janata Dal (S) general secretary John Moses. The quibble over the dam's height is set to take its own course!

        Superintendent of Police Premkumar, who was suspended and further sentenced to one month imprisonment by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court for hand cuffing and parading an ex-serviceman, surrendered before the Fast Track Court in Madurai on Friday. He was granted bail, as per a Supreme court directive. The FTC Judge Bhoobalan granted the bail. On 28 April the FTC had rejected his petition, praying that the arrest warrant against him be recalled and asked him to surrender. The ex-serviceman Nallakaman was tortured in connection with a civil dispute when Premkumar was sub-inspector of Vadipatti Police station nearly 25 years ago. Along with Premkumar, three other police personnel, including Chelliah, Subramanian and Ramakrishnan were also convicted for the crime and sentenced to one month imprisonment. No one is above law even if he is a high-flying cop!

        Even as the violence and death at Dinakaran office in Madurai cast a long shadow over the golden jubilee fete on completion of 50 years of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi as a legislator, a galaxy of national leaders turned up at a public meeting in Chennai on Friday to felicitate the DMK supremo. Top leaders of the UPA constituents attended the meeting at Island Grounds to celebrate the gala event in which Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi, both grand nephews of Karunanidhi, were conspicuous by their absence in the wake of the bad blood over the attack on Dinakaran owned by the Marans. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister I K Gujral, NCP president Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Lalu Prasad, Lok Jansakthi leader Ram Vilas Paswan, CPI-M general Secretary Prakash Karat and CPI leader A B Bardhan, besides PMK leader S Ramadoss heaped praise on Karunanidhi.

        Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Friday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to solve the State's decades-old Cauvery water dispute with Karnataka. Addressing the meeting organised to mark his golden jubilee year in the State legislature, he told the leaders: 'It is your responsibility. I thought that the problems would have been solved once the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal gave its final award. But this did not happen.'

        He also appealed to the Centre to take up the interlinking of rivers in order to solve all the inter-State river disputes in the country. Karunanidhi recalled during the last 50 years of his political service, he had been Chief Minister for five terms. But still the Cauvery dispute could not be resolved. Now, the ball is firmly in Centre's court to find a long-term solution to the Cauvery tangle.

        Calling for the dismissal of the DMK government in Tamilnadu for its failure in the law and order front, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa said that the attack on the Dinakaran office in Madurai was due to a power struggle in the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's family. In a statement, she recalled the murder of former DMK Minister T Krittinan three years ago and stated the power struggle in the family had been continuing since then without any let up. 'Dinakaran has been creating problems in all parties. The paper tried to create confusion in the AIADMK by naming a heir, but we ignored it. Then it attempted to play with the PMK leaders and now with DMK, causing large-scale violence in Madurai. The police has become inactive,' she charged. Is the recent skirmish between DMK family members just a curtain raiser of sorts?

        A committee of Department of Telecom is said to have given its clearance on entry of foreign players in offering 3G mobile services and allocation of spectrum through auction. The group, which is looking into recommendations of telecom regulator TRAI on 3G spectrum, will submit its report to the Telecom Commission later this month for making policy

        and guidelines on 3G spectrum. It has so far finalised two things — that 3G is not an extension of 2G, implying that there is price to be paid through auction for spectrum to start 3G services, and entry of foreign players, official sources said. Other issues including allocation of spectrum to public sector undertakings and pricing criteria are also being worked out, they said. 3G services allow operators to offer advanced data service like video streaming, high speed internet, real-time transactions and voice services.

        Opener Gautam Gambhir scored a stylish 101 to help India beat Bangladesh by 46 runs in the second one-day international on Saturday and take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

        Replying to India's 284 for eight, Bangladesh reached 238 for nine in their 49 overs in a match shortened because of morning rain. Skipper Habibul Bashar (43), Mashrafe Mortaza (42), Aftab Ahmed (40) and Mushfiqur Rahim (35) contributed to the Bangladesh score without producing a decisive knock. Mortaza delighted the local crowd, hitting five sixes including four in a row off Dinesh Mongia.