40 years ago June 20, 1986: South Africa sanctions vetoed

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2 min readJun 20, 2026 06:30 AM IST First published on: Jun 20, 2026 at 06:30 AM ISTDespite India’s plea not to send out “wrong signals”, the US and UK killed a non-aligned move for sanctions against racist South Africa, which raided Angola’s Namibe port on June 5. The veto left Angola in “despair and frustration.” This was the second time in a month the Western powers cast a double veto to protect South Africa from sanctions.Package deal on transfer likelyA package deal is being worked out to solve the problem of effecting the simultaneous transfer of Chandigarh and 70,000 acres of Punjab territory to Haryana. An official spokesman said the Centre was hopeful an amicable solution would be found by June 21.AdvertisementPunjab Speaker roughed upAn unprecedented pandemonium in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, caused by the raiding of the Speaker’s podium by irate dissident Akali members, led to the adjournment of the proceedings five times, for a total of nearly three hours. The trouble started when the Speaker, Surjit Singh Minhas, did not permit the dissident Akali members to raise points of order on the agenda before the House.Dismay over Gen Zia’s remarksIndia noted with “deep dismay” Pakistan President Zia ul Haq’s “baseless claim” that Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People’s Party were receiving funds from India to hold large public meetings in Pakistan. An MEA spokesman recalled that the former minister for external affairs, B R Bhagat, had on May 4 expressed astonishment that a head of state should make such baseless allegations, while at the same time repeatedly professing his keenness to improve India-Pakistan relations.