The Indian parliament will meet in a special session at midnight here today to recreate the historic moments of the transfer of power from Britain 50 years ago, a minister said yesterday. The Human Resource Development Minister, Mr S.R. Bommai, said the special session would be addressed by President K.R. Narayanan, India's first Hindu "untouchable" head of state.
The house would then hear a replay of the memorable "tryst with destiny" speech delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru to the nation just before August 15th, 1947, when the British Raj ended.
Members would also hear a speech by Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence who led India's struggle for independence. Nehru was the first prime minister of independent India.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, India's last British governor-general, handed over power to Indian leaders at midnight of August 14th in the same parliament hall in New Delhi 50 years ago.
The midnight session would be preceded by a colourful "March of the Nation" by 50,000 people from a stadium to the presidential palace to be led by the Prime Minister, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral.
On August 16th, authorities will flag off two "exhibition trains" from the Himalayan state of Kashmir and Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace at Porbandar in Gujarat state on the west coast. The trains are to run through 18 of India's 25 states over five months.
In Islamabad, the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, called for removing misunderstandings and building confidence between India and Pakistan.
India must show some flexibility on "the key issue of Kashmir" and make the renewed peace process "meaningful", Mr Sharif told reporters representing the foreign media. However he said he was happy the foreign secretaries of the two sides had opened negotiations on "outstanding issues". Mr Sharif met Mr Gujral in the Maldivian capital, Male, during a South Asian summit in May.
. Two bombs exploded in the eastern Indian state of Assam, seriously injuring three soldiers, army officials said. The bombs, suspected to have been planted by Bodo tribal separatists, rocked the western district of Barpeta and the eastern region of Dhemaji.
Bodo rebels have been campaigning for a tribal homeland in Assam and separatist groups behind the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front have called for a general strike to protest against five decades of "colonialism" by New Delhi.
In Assam, at least 16 people have been killed during the past four days in violence blamed on the rebels. One separatist group tried to blow up a train carrying 400 people.