NEW DELHI: Kashmir is totally closed on Wednesday to protest against holding of Lok Sabha polls being held in Baramulla and Ladakh regions. The strike was called on by Hurriyat leaders, who have been put under house arrest preventing them to lead anti-polls rallies. Streets, roads and market places presented deserted look as Indian security personnel, deployed in thousands in the valley restricted the movement of the people. Security personnel were not allowing Kashmiris to move outside their localities and roads in the cities and towns to foil any attempt of staging anti-polls rallies.The Hurriyat leaders including APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik have described the present polls as a futile exercise as the people of Kashmir want right of self determination and not sham elections being held in the presence of thousands of security personnel.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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