New Delhi, July 26 -- Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Akali Dal president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal on Thursday finalised a comprehensive accord on a slew of issues concerning Punjab, marking a welcome end to the prolonged crisis in the border state that has bedevilled the nation.

The 11-point Memorandum of Settlement signed at 5.30pm in Parliament House provides for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, two high-power commissions to decide on territorial disputes between Punjab and Haryana, a tribunal on the Ravi-Beas water systems, reference of the controversial Anandpur Sahib resolution to the Sarkaria Commission, widening of the scope of the inquiry into the November 1984 riots, rehabilitation of those discharged from the Army, an...