3 min readMar 21, 2026 07:06 AM IST
First published on: Mar 21, 2026 at 06:45 AM IST
The External Affairs Minister, B R Bhagat, sought to assure the Lok Sabha that the government would never lower its guard with regard to the country’s security. Bhagat was responding to a Calling Attention Motion on the danger posed to the country by the visit of the US aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, and five other vessels to Karachi Port recently. The minister said that according to reports in the Pakistani media, a nuclear submarine had also accompanied these ships from March 15 to 19.
Friction within Tihar
There was near chaos in the Tihar Jail administration when senior officials of the jail threatened to go on casual leave because of “harassment” by the police. Friction is already developing between the jail officials and the police following the posting of an IPS officer as the inspector-general and the interrogation of some senior jail officials. The friction was controlled after the intervention of senior government officials, jail sources said. The police have not been able to talk so far to a young woman lawyer who met Charles Sobhraj occasionally in connection with some of his cases. She apparently left her Delhi address some time before Sobhraj escaped.
Curfew in Kohima
Dusk to dawn curfew was imposed in Kohima after the police opened fire, killing two students and injuring 20, two of them seriously, to contain a mob violating prohibitory orders imposed in several parts of the town in the wake of the bandh call given by the Nagaland Students Federation. The police resorted to firing when blank firing on a violent mob failed to make an impact, the inspector-general of police, P D Malaviya, said. There was tension, he told ENS. In violation of prohibitory orders, the students attempted to block traffic. The bandh was to protest against the extension of the disturbed area from 5 km to 20 km along the Indo-Burmese border.
Rajya Sabha polls
In the biennial poll to 19 seats of the Rajya Sabha held in seven states, the strength of the Congress (I) in the House was reduced by seven while the Telugu Desam emerged as the third-largest opposition group after the CPI(M) and the AIADMK. The Telugu Desam wrested five of the six seats from Andhra Pradesh. In Assam, the Congress (I) did not participate and the two seats were won by the Asom Gana Parishad.
