ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday released over 160 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture amid tensions with India over cross-border fire exchanges in recent weeks. According to officials, the authorities in the port city of Karachi freed a group of 164 Indian fishermen, including an 11- year-old boy who was taken into custody with his uncle when they had intruded into Pakistani water for fishing. Prime Ministers of the two countries agreed last month in a meeting in Ufa, Russia, that they will release all fishermen in two weeks. However the release was delayed for some days due to escalations along the border.The Indian fishermen are likely to be handed over to the Indian officials at the Wahga border on Monday.

64 militants killed

KABUL: Units of Afghan police backed by the national army have killed 64 armed militants during a series of operations across the war-torn country over the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Sunday. During the operations which have been conducted in Takhar, Faryab, Zabul, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Khost, Herat and Helmand provinces, another 52 militants sustained injuries, the statement added. It did not say whether there were casualties on the security personnel. Taliban militants have yet to make comments.

‘Logjam to continue’

GUNA: The logjam in Parliament will continue unless "corruption issues" involving BJP ministers are resolved, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Sunday, setting the tone for the all-party meeting convened on Monday by the ruling NDA to break the impasse. Scindia said that Congress will not "budge" on its demand for resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over Vyapam scam as it has dented the image of Madhya Pradesh at the international level. "Congress will vociferously raise the Vyapam issue in Lok Sabha to expose the doublespeak of BJP on corruption. The saffron party's acts and deeds on corruption are way apart," Scindia, chief whip of Congress in Lok Sabha, told PTI here. He said Congress will stick to its demand for Chouhan's resignation "in the interest of a fair probe"."The current logjam will continue in Parliament until the issues of corruption are resolved. Congress is firm on its stand on these issues. If the government wants to go ahead, then it should take some positive steps on these matters," he said.

Anti-liquor stir

CHENNAI: Agitations seeking total prohibition in Tamil Nadu intensified on Sunday in the state with a protest by local people and MDMK in Tirunelveli district turning violent.The protests took place even as support for an August 4 bandh call grew over the issue. Police lobbed tear-gas shells and lathi-charged protesters after a scuffle broke out between them. It was not immediately clear as to the number of persons injured. Police said, scores of people had been arrested for indulging in violence. The protests against state-run liqour outlets gained momentum on Sunday, two days after the death of Gandhian Sasi Perumal in Kanyakumari district during a stir against a liquor outlet. In Tirunelveli District, a protest by locals and MDMK, seeking closure of a TASMAC outlet in Kalingapatti turned violent as alcoholic beverages in the outlet were brought to the road, broken and smashed by angry protesters. Vaiko who led the stir and local people later blocked road traffic to protest against the police's action.