January Month Article’s

• Pakistan must crack down on terrorists, says Russia
• The Times of India, January 31, 2002

Russia has reiterated its position that only concrete steps by Islamabad to crack down on terrorist organisations will pave the way for resumption of dialogue with neighbour India. ......
 
• Bengal toes Centre’s line, puts blame on Lashkar
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 30, 2002

The West Bengal government on Tuesday endorsed the Centre's position holding Pakistan backed Lashkar-e-Toiba for the attack on Kolkata's American Centre. The position of the state government was put out by Soumen Mitra, Kolkata's deputy commissioner of police heading the probe into the terror attack on the American Center, after a visit to Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. ......
 
• Helping Pak in Kunduz won’t help the war
• K. Subrahmanyam, The Times of India, January 29, 2002

In June 1940, Hitler allowed the British expeditionary force in France, trapped at Dunkirk, to escape as the German Wehrmacht swept through Hitler's expectation was that the British would not be able to continue the war after the fall of France and allowing the British troops to be evacuated would earn him the goodwill of Britain. Hitler was thoroughly mistaken. Britain fought on and four years later, the British troops stormed the beaches of Normandy as part of Operation Overlord, which liberated Western Europe. ......
 
• CPI(M) unhappy over Bengal CM’s remark on madrasas
• Krittivas Mukherjee, The Economic Times, January 29, 2002

Criticism from his own party leadership has forced West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to tone down his statements on the sensitive issue of closing down unauthorised madrasas in the state. ......
 
• RSS releases book on martyrs who fell to swords and bullets
• Times News Network, The Times of India, January 28, 2002

It released a book on its “429 martyrs” who have fallen to “the swords and bullets of the nation-splitters in 15 states” over the last three decades. The “nation-splitters” include the Marxists, Naxalites, Islamic fundamentalist outfits supported by the ISI, and the north-eastern insurgents. ......
 
• ‘Dutch nationals came with ulterior motives’
• PTI, The Times of India, January 28, 2002

The two Dutch nationals, who were killed by BSF jawans on January 13, could not have been tourists as they had come to the Valley with “ulterior intentions”, according to evidence available with, the Jammu and Kashmir police. ......
 
• Do not test our patience, Pak warns India against Agni firing
• The Times of India, January 28, 2002

Pakistan may have second thoughts and follow suit to test its Shaheen-II and other missiles in response to India’s test-firing of Agni-II, if the condemnation of the international community against the Indian test was not up to its expectations. ......
 
• ‘US support to Pak will boost terror’
• The Economic Times, January 28, 2002

New evidence shows that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India could increase as a result of US support to Pakistan, according to the Asia Pacific Foundation (APF). The foundation, a London-based research group, says militant activity will increase substantially as a result of the evacuation of Taliban, Pakistani and Al Qaeda fighters by Pakistan. ......
 
• Behind the Bonhomie
• K Subrahmanyam, The Times of India, January 28, 2002

General Musharrafs speech of January 12, 2002 has been hailed all over the world, including by the Indian leadership and public as a progressive move towards rescuing Pakistan from the cults of terrorism and extremism and steering it towards becoming a moderate Islamic state. As is to be expected, some Indian commentators have expressed scepticism about General Musharraf playing the role of Kemal Ataturk. In their view, Pakistani society and polity are sicker than Turkey was in the early '20s and General Musharraf does not have the will, commitment, stature and charisma of Mustapha Kemal. ......
 
• Court suggests common code for marriage and divorce
• Rakesh Bhatnagar, The Times of India, January 28, 2002

If marriages are made in heaven, as they say, there should not be any reason that different communities belonging to different faiths and religions should ever be governed by separate codes for bringing an end to the marital tie. Way in 1985, the supreme court recommended to the government to intervene to “provide for a uniform code of marriage and divorce and to provide by law for a way out of the unhappy situation” being faced by certain couples. ......
 
• India gives Pak proof of terror designs
• Times News Network & Agencies, The Times of India, January 25, 2002

While demanding the extradition of 20 criminals and terrorists from Pakistan, India has provided Interpol with red-comer notices and details of the crimes committed by them, along with their fake names and Pakistani passports. ......
 
• Musharraf makeover: don’t gloss over the past
• Benazir Bhutto, The Indian Express, January 22, 2002

The rebirth of General Musharraf from Godfather of Taliban and Terrorism to Man of Moderation was externally driven. It was midwifed through the ministrations of Tony Blair and Colin Powell to save South Asia from war. Now Pakistan has two Musharrafs. The pre-2002 Musharraf whose plane landed safely to the throne of power piloted by hardline generals. The 2002 Musharraf, without apology for bringing Pakistan near a war it least wanted, adopted peaceful coexistence principles that his opponents proclaimed all along. ......
 
• Poison of the past
• Editorial, The Statesman, January 22, 2002

When Jyoti Basu speaks of the culture of corruption having taken a stranglehold on the CPI-M, he wants to appear as a patriarch the party is obliged to respect. The point to bear in mind is that he makes these observations after having ignored and indeed encouraged what he now says is unacceptable. Another name of the phenomenon is hypocrisy. Knowing our former chief minister as we do he may well intend to suggest that things have deteriorated recently - read under Buddhadev. ......
 
• The Kathmandu Handshake
• Seshadri Chari, Organiser, January 20, 2002

The eleventh summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) will be remembered for two things-the first is that despite the tension created by the Pakistani terrorists in India and Pakistan, it was after all held. Secondly, the biting sarcasm of Atal Behari Vajpayee that must have stung stuntman Pervez Musharraf in response to his handshake with shri Vajpayee at the end of his speech. ......
 
• Marxists manoeuvred to mould history
• M.R.Mallya, Organiser, January 20, 2002

We are in the midst of a textbooks controversy. On one side are persons like Romilla Thapar and Satish Chandra complaining that portions of their history books are being deleted. Siding with them are journalists publishing articles denouncing what they dub the “saffron brigade”. The Times of India, 1-12-2001 “History as End, Beginning of a New Mythology” by Mahesh Daga. The Hindu, 6-12-2001 “The Textbooks controversy” by Achin Vanaik. ......
 
• Musharraf must know that Kashmir's future is not at all negotiable
• MV Kamath, The Free Press Journal, January 17, 2002

So, at last, General Musharraf has spoken. His televised address was intended as much for a domestic as for an international - specifically American - audience. It calls for analysis. Most of his one-hour address was aimed at his fellow countrymen. He recalled the words of Pakistan's founder, Mohamad Ali Jinnah and of the poet Iqbal. ......
 
• Mumbai connection in the list to Musharraf
• N. P. Phadnis, The Free Press Journal, January 15, 2002

Mumbai police had to do a lot of home work before the Indian government could submit its list of most wanted terrorists hiding in Pakistan to General Parvez Musharraf so that he can act immediately and show his sincerity in fighting terrorism as promised to world leaders. ......
 
• Sickening double standards
• Editorial, The Free Press Journal, January 11, 2002

If the sauce is good for the goose, it is good for the gander as well, isn’t it? Well, Congressmen and Congresswomen do not seem to have heard that old saying. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be making such a hue and cry over the extension of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act to the national capital. As the world knows, the Congress Party heads the ruling coalition in Maharashtra. ......
 
• Imams on watch-list
• Ian Cobain, The Statesman, January 1, 2002

Muslim clerics preaching in British prisons were told on Friday that they were being watched carefully after two were suspended for allegedly delivering anti-American sermons to young inmates after the 11 September attacks. ......
 
• Osama may have been in Pak all along
• K Subrahmanyam, The Times of India, January 31, 2002

CBS, the American television channel, has reported that Osama bin Laden underwent dialysis at Rawalpindi's military hospital on the eve of 9\11. ......
 
• Hindu Panchayat leader gunned down
• Mukesh Ropeta, The Jang, Pakistan, January 29, 2002

President Hindu General Panchayat and PPP (Minority Wing) District President Jacobabad, Sudham Chand Chawla, was shot dead here on Monday. ......
 
• Kerala CM accuses own party, others of inciting violence
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 22, 2002

Kerala chief minister, A K Antony, has made a sensational first-of-its-kind statement, accusing the 'secular' parties including his very own Congress and the CPM, of indulging in communal violence in Kerala. Making a statement on the basis of findings of inquiries into recent communal violence in his state, Mr Antony said that activists of the Congress and CPM were involved in the violence along with 'communal outfits like NDF, PDP and RSS'. ......
 
• Fax the list, we’ll send’em in double quick time
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 22, 2002

Restricting Pakistan's room for manoeuvre even further, India today declared that it would work “double-time” to ensure any Pakistani request for handing over criminals was met by India. Refusing to fall back into defensive mode, India's latest diplomatic offensive strategy is bound to boomerang on Islamabad's delaying tactics. ......
 
• India blasts Pak on wheat issue, says it’s inhuman
• The Economic Times, January 22, 2002

India on Monday slammed Pakistan for its reported move to deny transit facility for the wheat to be supplied to Afghanistan, terming it as 'unfortunate, inhuman and politically motivated.' ......
 
• Left pulls out of all-party delegation
• HT Correspondent, The Hindustan Times, January 16, 2002

Left parties on Tuesday decided to withdraw their members from the all-party delegation to be sent to various countries to mobilise opinion on Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism and to drum-up support in favour of India. ......
 
• Speech received with mistrust
• Our Special Correspondent, The Asian Age, January 14, 2002

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s address to the nation was received with a feeling of distrust by Kashmiri pandits in New Delhi who said that going by past experience his sincerity was doubtful. ......
 
• Pak has ignored 32 Red Corner notices, says CBI
• PTI, The Pioneer, January 14, 2002

The CBI is pressing Interpol to persuade Pakistan to hand over 32 terrorists and criminals wanted in India for serious crimes, CBI Director P C Sharma said here on Sunday. ......
 
• RSS accuses China of terrorism in Tibet
• Pioneer News Service, The Pioneer, January 14, 2002

The day Chinese Prime Minster Zhu Rongji had landed in India, the RSS fired the salvo by accusing China of indulging in 'terrorism in Tibet.' ......
 
• Wipe out terrorism, Peres tells Pakistan
• The Economic Times, January 8, 2002

Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres today said though Pakistan had initiated certain steps against terrorist outfits operating in that country the world community would be satisfied only when all forms of terrorism are uprooted. ......
 
• Stretching limits: Yoga fans find fitness on the floor
• Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun, January 31, 2002

The 27-year-old Las Vegas resident was living in Salt Lake City at the time. Her mother had Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer, and took up yoga as a means of relieving the stress brought about by her terminal illness. ......
 
• What about PoK?
• Editorial, The Hindustan Times, January 30, 2002

Even if there was nothing substantially new for an Indian audience in some of the things which the prime minister said in Raipur, there was still a need for reiteration against the background of the persistent Pakistani propaganda on Kashmir. ......
 
• The mischief men do at election time
• R.K. Misra, The Indian Express, January 30, 2002

Is it the Congress party’s new-found slogan to woo the estranged minorities back to the fold before the forthcoming assembly elections? Does not seem likely until you hear what Congress leader K.C. Lenka has been telling the minorities in Orissa. Then you begin to wonder and, as the full import of Lenka-speak begins to sink in, you fret and fume. ......
 
• Singapore tightens grip on anti-US Muslim Web site
• Reuters, The Hindustan Times, January 27, 2002

Singapore has ordered a Muslim group to register its Internet portal as a political Web site after its leader said the government had prompted local Muslim terror plots by aligning itself with the United States and Israel. ......
 
• ‘You have to kill in the name of Allah until you are killed’
• Jason Burke, The Observer, UK, January 27, 2002

The trail runs from a wet corner of a west London street to the dusty mountains of eastern Algeria, from a garage on the Thames to the Mediterranean, from a mosque off north London's Seven Sisters Road to Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan. ......
 
• Buddha’s madrasa remark draws fire
• Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay, The Indian Express, January 26, 2002

For the first time since the CPI(M) came to power in West Bengal, the Muslim community’s ties with the Marxists appear to have come under strain. ......
 
• India steps up pressure on Pak to deport Dawood
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 25, 2002

With fresh evidence confirming Pakistan's inability to shift the privileged guest of the ISI, Dawood Ibrahim, out of Pakistan, New Delhi has been stepping up pressure on Islamabad to handover India's most wanted criminal. ......
 
• Ease tension first, then talk: Powell
• The Times of India, January 17, 2002

U.S. Secretary of State Cohn Powell on Wednesday night rejected a mediatory role for the United States in resolving disputes between India and Pakistan and said that he was carrying “some ideas” to New Delhi for initiating a dialogue between the two neighbours on several issues including Kashmir. ......
 
• Mystery blaze erases Pak army’s jehadi connection
• Manoj Joshi, The Times of India, January 17, 2002

A little over three months after an as-yet-unexplained fire gutted a portion of the Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi, housing records relating to the army's involvement with the Taliban, a major blaze razed Islamabad's 16-storey Shaheed-e-Millat secretariat late on Tuesday. ......
 
• Singapore scare sets off alarm bells about terrorism in South-East Asia
• Harvey Stockwin, The Times of India, January 17, 2002

The wake-up call, reminding that terrorism is a problem and in urgent need of attention in South-East Asia, was loud and clear. But it did not come from the southern Philippines. ......
 
• Pak has ignored 32 Red Corner notices, says CBI
• PTI, The Pioneer, January 14, 2002

The CBI is pressing Interpol to persuade Pakistan to hand over 32 terrorists and criminals wanted in India for serious crimes, CBI Director P C Sharma said here on Sunday. ......
 
• Suspect Calls Malaysia a Staging Area for Terror Attacks
• Philip Shenon and David Johnston, The New York Times, January 31, 2002

An operative of Al Qaeda arrested in Malaysia has begun cooperating with investigators and provided new evidence to show that the Southeast Asian nation was a major staging area for the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, Bush administration officials said today. ......
 
• Nambiar’s Total Recall (Interview with Vijay K Nambiar)
• The Times of India, January 31, 2002

Introduction: In the course of a turbulent 18-month stay in Islamabad, Vijay K Nambiar, India’s high commissioner to Pakistan, saw both the high of the build-up to the Agra summit, and the low to which Indo-Pak relations plummeted after December 13. Nambiar’s recall from Islamabad by the Indian government marked a dramatic escalation in tension between the two countries. ......
 
• Sonia tries to woo Muslims by attire gimmick
• Manjari Mishra, The Times of India, January 31, 2002

There are two sets of posters, presenting two totally different avatars of the Congress chief. One has a smiling Sonia draped in her trademark bordered handloom sari striking a pose for the lensman with folded hands. The other has a new look Sonia clad in a beige salwar suit, head covered demurely by a dupatta, waving out of the mega-sized coloured sheet. ......
 
• Pak heading towards serial production of SRBMs: CIA
• PTI, January 31, 2002

Pakistan is moving toward serial production of solid-propellant Short Range Ballistic Missiles such as Shaheen-I and Haider-I with extensive Chinese assistance, the CIA says in a report. ......
 
• Withdrawal symptoms
• Editorial, The Indian Express, January 31, 2002

Pakistan's new set of proposals are, as its spokesman stated, a “sum-up and re-affirmation” of its earlier positions. However, considering the gravity of the situation and the need to roll back terrorism well in time for our electoral processes to remain on track, it is important that the proposals are given serious attention. But Pakistan could hardly be serious about its own proposal for strengthening of UN Military Observers Group. ......
 
• Camp X-Ray: Arrests reveal terrorist links with Pak
• Sanjay Suri, The Pioneer, January 28, 2002

An extensive link between Islamic extremists and terror groups in Pakistan is beginning to surface after the detention of several British nationals at Camp X-Ray in Cuba. The arrested men in Cuba include three Britons. ......
 
• Sadistic video used to lure recruits for Osama
• Agencies, The Pioneer, January 28, 2002

A video showing Islamic extremists murdering and mutilating "infidels" is being circulated around Britain's mosques as part of a recruiting drive for terror suspect Osama bin Laden's network, a British Sunday paper reported. ......
 
• History lesson from Dunkirk for Kunduz
• K Subrahmaniam, The Times of India, January 26, 2002

In 1940 June, Adolf Hitler allowed the British expeditionary force in France, trapped at Dunkirk, to escape as the German Wehrmacht swept through. Hitler’s expectation was that the British would not be able to continue the war after the fall of France, and allowing the British troops to be evacuated, would cam him the goodwill of Britain. Hitler was thoroughly mistaken. ......
 
• Managing madrasas
• Editorial, The Statesman, January 26, 2002

Buddhadev Bhattacharya deserves a big dose of credit for not only being honest in publicly acknowledging the large presence of unauthorised madrasas in West Bengal’s border districts “run with foreign help and petro-dollars for churning out anti-national elements” but also promising to take action against them. ......
 
• Experts hail missile launch timing, say it’s a warning for Pak (Part III of III)
• Srinivas Laxman, The Times of India, January 26, 2002

Strategic experts have welcomed the launch of the Agni-l intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) on Friday, saying it was meant to send a warning signal to Pakistan at the right moment. ......
 
• N –capable Agni – 1 missile test-fired (Part II of III)
• Times News Network and Agencies, The Times of India, January 26, 2002

The Indian government on Friday sought to allay fears that the Agni-II test would lead to an escalation of tensions, but that cut no ice with Pakistan, which immediately termed the test “prejudicial to the pursuit of stability in our region, especially during the current situation”. ......
 
• N –capable Agni – 1 missile test-fired (Part I of III)
• Rajat Pandit, The Times of India, January 26, 2002

India on Friday successfully test-fired a short-range variant of the Agni ballistic missile. With a range of about 800-900 km, this nuclear-capable, gravity-propelled variant of Agni-1 seems to have been specifically designed keeping Pakistan in mind. ......
 
• Hurriyat is bothered
• Editorial, The Statesman, January 24, 2002

One of the problems with the Hurriyat is that it rarely gets to speak in one voice. Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Jamat started off by saying that a dialogue should be held under the auspices of the United Nations, mentioning in passing that the historical background and the UN resolutions should be kept in mind. ......
 
• CBI links 9/11, Kolkata attacks; gives proof to FBI
• The Times of India, January 22, 2002

Linking Tuesday's shootout at American Centre in Kolkata with the September 11 US strikes, CBI on Tuesday informed FBI that the ransom money taken by Dubai underworld don Aftab Ansari to release a Kolkata shoe baron was used to finance Mohammed Atta, leader of the hijackers who rammed planes into buildings in Washington and New York. ......
 
• Keeping Their Faiths Under Taliban Rule Drew Sikhs and Hindus Together
• Amy Waldman, The New York Times, January 20, 2002

The men emerge from the rubble like an apparition, 10 of them, most bearded and turbaned. They move toward a bruised, shuttered building whose roof has been caved in by a rocket, and unlock the door. They pass through an interior courtyard, remove their shoes and enter a vast room empty except for a barren altar and perfumed smoke. ......
 
• Tough talk, tougher times ahead
• Imtiaz Gul, The Telegraph, January 20, 2002

Kashmir and Afghanistan have long formed the two most important pillars of Pakistan's national security agenda. General Pervez Musharraf has fiddled with one of them - the Afghan policy - and, forced by the course of international events, looks set to turn the other one - the Kashmir policy - on its head. ......
 
• Act on list first: India
• Jyoti Malhotra, The Indian Express, January 19, 2002

In the wake of worldwide approval to General Musharraf's speech last week, India has formulated a two-pronged strategy on dealing with Pakistan, which will separately address a return to the diplomatic normalisation with Islamabad as well as a military de-escalation from the border. ......
 
• Fear and Flight in Deadly Kashmir
• Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, January 16, 2002

One night two weeks ago, Gulshan Kumar Sharma heard a knock at the door and a voice calling out, "Didi" -- older sister, in Hindi. When he answered, the 28-year-old Hindu farmer was gunned down on the threshold of his mud house. ......
 
• Here’s a warning General!
• Wilson John, The Pioneer, January 16, 2002

President Pervez Musharraf sure has a twisted sense of humour. In his Saturday Speech (he is still gloating over it), he blurted out one-liners that seem to have come straight from those loud, lewd Pakistani television soap operas that survive solely on heaps of double entendre. This one from General Musharraf takes the cake: Kashmir runs in our blood. ......
 
• War against terrorism
• M.V. Kamath, Afternoon Despatch & Courier, January 11, 2002

Ever since September 11, the Indian media has been steadily looking at the triangular relations between India, Pakistan and the United States - and, interestingly, with little reference to Britain or its Prime Minister Tony Blair. A quick run-down on media thought throws light on what India, presumably, thinks. ......
 
• “Musharraf Has Attempted To Put Up A Smokescreen Of Action” (Interview with Selig Harrison)
• Sanjay Suri, Outlook, January 10, 2002

Selig Harrison is Director of the National Security Project at the Centre for International Policy in Washington. Considered extremely influential among the think-tanks, his views on South Asia are closely followed. Here he talks to Sanjay Suri. ......
 
• God & I
• Lata Mangeshkar, India Times

Nothing in this world can happen without God's mercy that's my firm belief. I was raised in a very religious family and follow the precepts of Hinduism. Though I love my religion, I respect all religions as much. I visit and derive tremendous peace from all places of worship. ......
 
• Ansari’s man Friday in the Net
• Our Bureau, The Telegraph, January 31, 2002

The jigsaw pieces in the January 22 American Center attack in Calcutta have begun to fall into place with police today catching one of the suspects involved in the conspiracy - not dead, but alive. ......
 
• Airlifting trouble
• Editorial, The Pioneer, January 31, 2002

The United States and Britain have not only exposed India to a vastly increased incidence of terrorism but have also bought serious trouble for themselves by allowing Pakistan to airlift thousands of Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda activists from Kunduz. ......
 
• ‘Musharraf had threatened to quit before Jan 12 speech’
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 31, 2002

Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami has claimed President Pervez Musharraf had threatened to quit three days ahead of his January 12 address in the face of vehement opposition by military commanders to his stand on terrorism, Indo-Pak relations and the Kashmir issue. ......
 
• Terror machine has not halted; new outfits asked to create mayhem in Kashmir
• Agencies, The Pioneer, January 30, 2002

Former Pakistani activists in the Taliban have set up a new terrorist outfit to carry on jehad in Jammu and Kashmir, according to informed Afghan sources here. ......
 
• Musharraf's U-turns and border prospects
• Ashok K Mehta, The Pioneer, January 30, 2002

General Pervez Musharraf has mastered the art of public speaking. The talent cultivated as a Brigadier at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London in 1990 has been perfected on the job. The hallmark of his frequent addresses to the nation is the carte blanche attribution of policy decision to national interest. Whether it is dumping the Taliban or elevating himself as President, even extending his tenure as Army Chief, supreme national interest is invoked in their justification. ......
 
• Plot to kill Jinnah: Advani in Pak’s Most Wanted list
• Sify News, January 30, 2002

Even as India and Pakistan are flexing muscles through a military stand-off on the border and are busy pushing Most Wanted lists, Pakistan has allegedly come up with an extradition list which features none less than Indian Home Minister L K Advani. ......
 
• Did ally Pakistan play role in 9-11?
• Paul Sperry, WorldNetDaily.com, January 30, 2002

India's Central Bureau of Investigation is turning up evidence that is proving inconvenient for the Bush administration as it tries to maintain its shaky alliance with Pakistan. ......
 
• Pak-backed militants planning another Kargil
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 30, 2002

In a bid to create a Kargil-type situation of intrusions, militants of Laskhar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have constructed several bunkers and blown up small bridges in high altitude areas in south of Pir Panjal range as part of a plan reportedly worked out by the Pakistan army. ......
 
• Pak dilly-dallying, will press for UN sanctions: India
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 30, 2002

With Islamabad dragging its feet on handing over India's fugitives, New Delhi is contemplating launching a fresh diplomatic offensive for imposition of UN sanctions against Pakistan for its failure to honour an enforceable General Assembly resolution requiring countries not to support terrorism actively or passively. ......
 
• We stand by PM’s remarks on PoK: India
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 30, 2002

India on Tuesday rejected Pakistani criticism of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks demanding return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. New Delhi also asserted that the nation stood by the ''well considered, principled position'' on the whole of Jammu and Kashmir being an integral part. ......
 
• India kills Muslim militants sneaking into Kashmir
• Reuters, January 30, 2002

Indian forces killed five Islamic guerrillas trying to sneak into contested Kashmir on Wednesday as Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire in the Himalayan region, a defence official said. ......
 
• The abduction of Daniel Pearl
• T V R Shenoy, Rediff on Net, January 29, 2002

Was it Jefferson or Lincoln who described the journalist as "a disturber of the peace, a roiler of nations"? Neither man is a hero in a dictatorship, but this is one description which has often been taken all too literally. Several members of the media fraternity have been jailed like common criminals for doing their job sincerely. And this brings up the case of the unfortunate Daniel Pearl. ......
 
• ‘NCERT has corrected the approach towards the teaching of civilisation’
• Interview of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, HRD Minister, The Indian Express, January 29, 2002

One unit of the new Social Science syllabus, which compresses history, geography, civics-specifically the one meant for Class VI, looks at the features,  spread and basic values of 'major religions' - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism,  Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity. Why has Islam has been left out? ......
 
• Young Chinese Mother Dies from Torture in Police Custody
• The Falun Dafa Information Center, January 29, 2002

Family and Local Village Under Tight Security to Avoid Leaking News of Death NEW YORK, January 29th, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Ms. Wu Jingxia, a 29-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Fangzi District, Weifang City, was tortured to death in police custody nine days ago, leaving her 15 month-old baby without a mother. ......
 
• War paint against terrorism
• Benazir Bhutto, The Hindustan Times, January 26, 2002

For the second time during General Pervez Musharraf’s tenure as Pakistan’s chief of army staff, his men confront their Indian counterparts over a potentially nuclear conflict. The first confrontation took place in spring 1999. Then Kashmiri militants seized the Kargil heights in the disputed Siachin area triggering a near war. ......
 
• ‘Joke of the year’
• A Staff Reporter, Afternoon Despatch & Courier, January 19, 2002

Pakistani railway minister, Mr. laved Ashraf’s recent demand that India barter the Shiv Sena chief, Mr. Bal Thackeray, in exchange for the 20 terrorists which it (India) has sought from the Pakistani government has invited total condemnation from Sena bigwigs who term the demand as “ridiculous and outrageous.” ......
 
• Taliban of the east
• The Public Affair Magazine, January 30, 2002

The message of the Indian military build-up against Pakistani terrorism must be communicated to Bangladesh if it has not already understood its significance. ......
 
• ‘Pak army, terrorists conducting pre-war manoeuvres in J&K’
• PTI, The Hindustan Times, January 29, 2002

In a bid to create a Kargil type situation of intrusions, terrorists of Laskhar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have constructed several bunkers and blown up small bridges in high altitude areas in south of Pir Panjal range as part of a plan reportedly worked out by the Pakistan army. ......
 
• India’s lost city discovered under water
• Graham Hancock, Mid-Day, January 29, 2002

Deep beneath the ocean, this extraordinary picture reveals a city that was submerged 11,000 years ago... Could this be the birth place of a modern civilisation? ......
 
• Shahriar Kabir feels insecure after bail
• News from Bangladesh, January 28, 2002

Shahriar Kabir, acting President of the Committee for Annihilation of the Killers and Collaborators of 1971 popularly called Nirmul Committee, who was recently released from jail on a bail for six months said that he was living in a big prison now after his release from the Dhaka Central Jail on January 21. "I am feeling totally insecure as my daily activities are under surveillance", he said. ......
 
• Return PoK before talks: PM to Pak
• PTI, The The Times of India, January 28, 2002

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday ruled out talks with Pakistan until it returned the parts of Kashmir occupied by it in 1948. ......
 
• LSE was focal point of Islamic fundamentalist activity
• The Daily Excelsior, January 28, 2002

Britain's prestigious London School of Economics had become the focal point of recruitment of Islamic fundamentalists in late 1990s and hosted at least three terrorists with Al-Qaeda links including Omar Sheikh, who is said to be behind last week's attack in Kolkata. ......
 
• Who wants a war?
• Varsha Bhosle, Rediff on Net, January 28, 2002

My friends in the press have always advised me against responding to hate mail through my column. They say that I waste a whole week in giving undue importance to some frustro who has no place else to vent his hate, and that it prevents me from focusing on the current issue. I, of course, differ on all counts: One, the web has made obsolete the take on immediacy, for, unlike surface mail, email reaches a writer within minutes and can be answered in the very next column. ......
 
• BJP supports Buddha on madrasas issue
• PTI, The Hindustan Times, January 28, 2002

The opposition BJP on Monday supported West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on the issue of crackdown on unaffiliated madrasas in the state and said the Left Front government should take strong action if it was proved that they were harbouring anti-national elements. ......
 
• Too soon to write off jehadis
• Salman Hussein, The Indian Express, January 21, 2002

As General Pervez Musharraf moves following his January 12 speech to curb religious extremism and take control of seminaries that provide religious groups with their cadres, indications are the clerics may not go down without a fight, howsoever feeble. ......
 
• Musharraf  backtracked: Advani
• Agencies, The Economic Times, January 20, 2002

As Pakistan drags its feet over India’s demand for handing over criminals and terrorists wanted here, home minister LK Advani today said that President Pervez Musharraf backtracked on an extradition treaty once the accused in the Mumbai blasts were mentioned. ......
 
• Pak will give own list for extradition, says Sattar
• Agencies, The Economic Times, January 20, 2002

In an apparent bid to counter the demand for handing over 20 criminals and terrorists, Pakistan said it would provide New Delhi with its own list of wanted men allegedly sheltered in India for extradition. ......
 
• Islamabad shouldn’t harp on Kashmir-centric talks: Powell
• Our political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 19, 2002

India today virtually compelled the visiting US secretary of state Colin Powell to accede to India's stand that Pakistan had to deliver on infiltration and the list of terrorists before expecting any positive action from India. Wrapping up several hours of discussions here today, the Mr Powell found himself repeating that Mr Musharraf would have to take further action. “We will know,” he said, “when things stop happening over the line of control (LoC).” ......
 
• We could take a strike and survive. Pakistan won’t:
• George Fernandes, BJP Today, January 16-31, 2002

Union Minister for Defence George Fernandes is gung-ho... ready to take on all comers, Pakistan, the United States and even the defence bureaucracy. My autobiography will be called "George: My life as an obstacle course" he says laughing. In a wide-ranging interview with Swati Chaturvedi, Fernandes speaks about the clouds of war, defence procurement, the coffin seam and his return to the Cabinet. ......
 
• Fight against terrorism primary goal - “everything else is secondary”
• Atalji, BJP Today, January 16-31, 2002

In an impassioned speech at the emergency meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Dec 29, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared the countrys firm resolve to put an end to cross-border terrorism entirely on its own strength and would not come under any external pressure to dilute the struggle. ......
 
• Madarsa for girls, school for boys
• Sunando Sarkar and Alamgir Hossain, The Telegraph, January 28, 2002

Five-year-old Reshma Khatoon rises before the sun and heads straight for the morning namaaz at a Beldanga madarsa. Prayer over, she has a frugal breakfast comprising dry bread or muri and then rushes to class where the mistress is waiting. The day is spent studying the Quran and gets over only in the evening. She, of course, washes her own clothes and utensils. ......
 
• America’s India Problem
• Selig S. Harrison, LA Times, January 27, 2002

When Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh made this caustic remark to an American journalist recently, he was sending multiple messages to Washington. The most obvious one was that Pakistan remains a hotbed of Islamic extremists, despite President Pervez Musharraf's promised crackdown, and cannot be trusted. ......
 
• Pakistani scribe exposes Dawood, gets arrested
• www.sify.com, January 25, 2002

A reputed journalist, who reported on the plush lifestyles which wanted mafia lord Dawood Ibrahim and his aides Chota Shakeel and Tiger Memon lead in Pakistan, has been arrested, according to reports here. ......
 
• Army chief defends casket deal
• Our Special Correspondent, The Hindu, January 25, 2002

The Chief of Army Staff, S. Padmanabhan, has defended the casket deal with an American firm, saying, “There was no mala fide intent. An unnecessary controversy will hopefully now be put to rest.” ......
 
• Terrorism: Now in the East?
• Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, January 25, 2002

On December 22, 1994, two boys in Domkal in West Bengal's Murshidabad district discovered several bombs very near a temporary dais from which Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, now Chief Minister of West Bengal, and then an important minister, was to address a public meeting on December 24 along with other important functionaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). ......
 
• Army chief writes to George, says time to bury the coffin scandal
• News, The Indian Express, January 25, 2002

The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General S. Padmanabhan has said there is no malafide intent in the procurement of the aluminium caskets. ......
 
• Moscow Patriarchate Lays Down Conditions for Papal Visit
• Zenit.org, January 25, 2002

Dialogue with the Vatican and a papal visit are possible if the Catholic clergy ceases to proselytize in Russia, a key member of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow said. ......
 
• The Karachi connection
• Wilson John, The Pioneer, January 23, 2002

After Kabul and Kandahar, it is time to turn to another hub of terrorism in the neighbourhood, Karachi. If one were to draw lines on a world map linking various terrorist acts, all the lines will, without fail, cross Pakistan's port town of Karachi. Karachi is where the alma mater of all jihadis-the Binori mosque-is situated. Terrorist leaders like Maulana Mohammad Omar and Maulana Masood Azhar are students of the seminary run from the Binori mosque complex. ......
 
• Just do it
• Editorial, The Telegraph, January 23, 2002

Violence and terrorist attacks are no longer things that happen in far away places like Jammu and Kashmir. They happen early in the morning on Calcutta's most important thoroughfare. The attack on the police picket outside the American Center on Tuesday morning underlined Calcutta's vulnerability and the incompetence of the city's police. The two may not be entirely unrelated. Assailants armed with AK-47s fired from motorcycles and killed four and injured 23 persons. ......
 
• Pakistan’s Kashmiri Committee: headed in the wrong direction
• www.tehelka.com, January 21, 2002

The newly-constituted Kashmir Committee, inaugurated on January 16 in Islamabad, has officially started working. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf addressed the inaugural session, outlined the fundamental assignment of the committee, and asked it to secure international support on the Kashmir issue. He expressed the hope that the committee would seek a solution of the issue in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspiration of the people of Kashmir. ......
 
• Reasons for ‘jehad’ not economic
• P R Ramesh, The Economic Times, January 16, 2002

Three days ago, General Pervez Musharraf promised he would compel Pakistan to mend its uncivilised ways. Never mind that it was a reiteration of the steps that he announced a year ago, the General said religious reforms planned by his administration would change his society's outlook. ......
 
• What he didn’t say may be more significant than what he said
• Manoj Joshi, The Times of India, January 14, 2002

Can a real edifice emerge from a pile of fine words from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf? Few would not want Pakistan to become a "tolerant" and "modem" Islamic state. But government officials prone to scepticism say that as of now there is not even a clear blueprint, leave alone the foundations, of a promising structure. ......
 
• ‘Madarsas being used to provide shelter to ultras’
• Krittivas Mukherjee, The Pioneer, January 25, 2002

Following Tuesday's attack outside the American Center in Kolkata, in which unidentified motorcycle-borne gunmen shot dead four policemen and injured nearly 20 people, investigations into the role of madarsas have been stepped up. ......
 
• No options Left
• Editorial, The Pioneer, January 25, 2002

It is difficult to accept at face value the claim by the Dubai-based don, Aftab Ansari, that Tuesday's attack on Calcutta Police personnel in front of the city's American Center was meant to avenge the death of his associate Asif Reza Khan in an encounter with the police in Gujarat. Ansari has links with the Jaish-e-Mohammad which in turn is a creature of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). ......
 
• Did the Pakistanis spirit away thousands of Al Qaeda men?
• Mid-Day, January 25, 2002

In Afghanistan last November, the Northern Alliance, supported by American Special Forces troops and emboldened by the highly accurate American bombing, forced thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters to retreat inside the northern hill town of Kunduz. Trapped with them were Pakistani Army officers, intelligence advisers, and volunteers who were fighting alongside the Taliban. ......
 
• China may share intelligence on J&K, northeast
• Atul Aneja, The Hindu, January 25, 2002

As the war against terrorism begins to realign political equations in the region, China has agreed to look at sharing intelligence with India on terrorism in Kashmir and insurgency in the northeast, highly placed government sources here said. ......
 
• ISI sending spies into Rajasthan
• Narayan Bareth, The Pioneer, January 24, 2002

The Indian Army's build-up has encouraged Pakistan to increase its espionage net across borders in Rajasthan. The security agencies and Rajasthan police have unearthed a plot of Pakistan-backed spies who are trying to penetrate the country. ......
 
• Run, Osama, Run
• Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, January 23, 2002

On the way back from Kabul, I passed through Pakistan, the Persian Gulf, London and Belgium, where I had a variety of talks with Arab and Muslim journalists and business people and Muslim community leaders in Europe. All of them were educated, intelligent and thoughtful - and virtually none of them believed that Osama bin Laden was guilty. ......
 
• Rumsfeld Defends U.S. Treatment of Detainees in Cuba
• Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times, January 23, 2002

Frustrated by an international outcry over the American treatment of prisoners in Cuba, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld defended the United States' conduct at length today and dismissed the criticism as breathless armchair hyperbole. ......
 
• Don’t wear your attitude on campus, students told
• Deepa A, The Times of India, January 17, 2002

There are no rule books tacked to the notice boards in college campuses across the city, but St. Xaviers's College at Dhobi Talao does not seem to be the only one policing students. ......
 
• ‘Pak should match action with words’
• Reuters, The Indian Express, January 15, 2002

Following is the full text of the Government's statement in reaction to a pledge by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on Islamic militant The statement was issued to day by Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. ......
 
• India welcomes Pak policy shift, awaits ground action
• Times News Network, The Times of India, January 14, 2002

India has welcomed the “major shift” in Pakistan's declared policy not to support or permit terrorism on its territory, but said it would wait for Pakistan to “operationalise” its intent before resuming dialogue. ......
 
• Detonator thefts: Possible ISI ‘link’ unnerves Bengal
• Santanu Banerjee, The Indian Express, January 14, 2002

It’s an old story that the detonators are routinely pilfered from magazines of collieries in the coal belt of Burdhwan district. Last year “we had four such cases,” said a senior district intelligence official in Burdhwan. But Thursday night's theft from a magazine in Madanpur colliery, set alarm bells ringing in the state for obvious reasons. ......
 
• American power
• S K Datta, The Statesman, January 10, 2002

Let us get real. Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has crossed the benchmark by attempting to kill as many politicians as possible in Parliament on 13 December. A rehearsal of this was done on 1 October by attacking the J&K Assembly' All these attacks were carried out during the current US-led “war on terror”. General Musharraf was literally “conscripted' to join the alliance. ......
 
• Bin Laden Has ‘Tentacles’ In Bangladesh
• Town Hall

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - As speculation mounts about possible future targets in the U.S. campaign against terrorism, one country that has not generally been placed in this category is Bangladesh, although Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has been active there. ......
 
• ‘Attack on USIS could be ISI handiwork’
• www.tehelka.com, January 24, 2002

The attack on Kolkata's American Center could have been a handiwork of Pakistan's ISI operatives based in Bangladesh, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said today. ......
 
• Beware of the academic fascists
• Saradindu Mukherjee, The Hindustan Times, January 23, 2002

In a genuine academic debate over selection of facts and their interpretation, people should be graceful enough to accept their folly, if and when it is exposed. As Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi correctly put it (HT December 2): "Who says they are respectable? ......
 
• Adarniya Bandhuwar
• Sadar Namaskar, January 23, 2002

Hope, you are in the best of health and sprites. Those who are in India, might have read the news items and some coverage of the "Hindu Sangam", organised in Jhabuwa on 17 January 2002 by Sewa Bharati Madhya Bharat, Bhopal with the co-operation and good wishes of our sister organizations. The aim of the Hindu Samgam was to awaken and make the Tribal aware of the tenets and philosophy Hindu Religion. ......
 
• Kolkatta is considered safe by Pak criminals (Rediff Interview/Sudhir Sinha)
• Rediff on Net, January 23, 2002

The attack on the American Centre in Kolkata has resurrected an old case file for Sudhir Sinha, inspector general of police, border range, Kutch. A kidnapping investigation in December 2000 had led Sinha to Aftab Ahmed Ansari, suspected to be the mastermind behind the attack. Ansari and his associate Asif Razakhan had kidnapped Bhaskar Parekh, a wealthy Rajkot jeweller, on November 11, 2000, releasing him on December 1 that year for a hefty ransom of Rs 3 crore [Rs 30 million]. ......
 
• Jehad in retreat
• Mubashir Zaidi, The Hindustan Times, January 20, 2002

President General Pervez Musharraf's speech on January 12 banning two jehadi groups, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, two militant sectarian groups, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Tehrik-e-Jaferia, along with an Islamic movement, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammedi, reflected the sentiments of the people of Pakistan in general. There is no doubt in that. They have had enough of religious fanaticism. ......
 
• ISI: bogey then and a menace now
• Rakesh Sinha, The Pioneer, January 17, 2002

Home Minister LK Advani has been warning against the nefarious designs of the ISI ever since the NDA Government came to power. However, the serious issue of national security was reduced to a farce and deliberately trivialised by the so-called secular media which artificially metamorphosised it into an ideological question. ......
 
• Old ghosts, new hopes
• Yashwant Raj, The Hindustan Times, January 17, 2002

The mujahid had just returned from 10 gruelling days in the icy mountains. His sunken cheeks and tired eyes showed he was hungry as hell and was dying to hit the bed. But no, he says, he is willing to fight again with Pakistan. ......
 
• The Silicon Tong
• Ashok Parthasarathi, The Times of India, January 21, 2002

A while ago, several national dailies carried reports about the government having “discovered” that the Bangalore-based Chinese company Huawei Technologies may have helped Pakistan and the Taliban upgrade their telecom network with both hardware and software during 2000 and 2001. The reports go on to state that, according to intelligence sources, all the company’s 300 software professionals are Chinese and that the chief executive of the company was formerly an officer of the People’s Liberation Army of China. ......
 
• Six Blind Women and the Elephant
• Judith Lewis, LA Times, January 18 - 24, 2002

In the aftermath of September 11, when the world became irremediably aware of the treatment of Afghan women under the Taliban, journalists, scholars and feminists have been asking whether the burka, the forced illiteracy, and the beating of women in the street have anything to do with Islam. ......
 
• India not to pull out troops from the border
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 15, 2002

India today ruled out pulling out its troops from the border unless Pakistan followed up on its stated intent of putting an end to cross-border terrorism by taking concrete steps on the ground. ......
 
• British Muslims are the second-largest benefactors of Kashmiri terrorist groups
• Mark Franchetti and Nick Fielding, The Times of India, January 15, 2002

British Muslims are believed to have donated more than pounds 2 million last year to one of the Kashmiri terrorist groups accused of carrying out December 13 attack on the Indian parliament, in which 14 people were killed. ......
 
• China to cooperate with India in fighting terrorism
• The Economic Times, January 15, 2002

Making a prime ministerial visit after a gap of ten years, China, a close of ally of Pakistan, today agreed to cooperate with India in combating terrorism as part of steps to strengthen trust and understanding between the two countries. It also said that India need not have anything to fear from India. ......
 
• Army build-up may have prompted tough talk
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, January 14, 2002

India’s diplomatic initiatives and military build-up may have forced General Pervez Musharraf to declare that he will compel the Pakistani society to mend its uncivilised ways. It may have also prompted him to act against the two major terror merchants in the Valley - Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. But will that change the situation in Jammu and Kashmir? ......
 
• Blair laughs away blush
• The Telegraph, January 8, 2002

British Prime Minister Tony Blair today brushed aside reports in the British media that some of the remarks made by parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan had caused him embarrassment. Blair quipped that he had become a connoisseur of Mahajan's speeches. ......
 
• ‘The government felt enough was enough’ (Interview with LK Advani)
• Pankaj Vohra, The Hindustan Times, January 20, 2002

Q.: Do you think that the chances of an armed conflict with Pakistan have reduced after your US visit?
A.: First, this is a question to which my answer has been fundamentally different from what is expected. For the past month or so, ever since Indian Government decided to recall its High Commissioner from Islamabad and take a series of steps including the deployment of the armed forces in a big way on the frontiers, the question I have been asked is whether there will be a war ......
 
• ‘Bin Laden is the Lenin of the great Islamist revolution’
• Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, The Hindustan Times, January 20, 2002

Yossef Bodanksy authored the first definitive biography of Osama bin Laden. First printed in 1999, a new version of Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America is due this summer. This summer Bodansky, director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare in Washington, will have completed 30 years of studying Islamic terrorism. Here, he speaks about Bin Laden and September 11. ......
 
• 1965, 1971, 2002?
• Abhijit Bhattacharyya, The Pioneer, January 17, 2002

Assuming that an India-Pakistan military confrontation owing to Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism is round the corner, it is time to make assessment of the combat ground realities. It is also time to throw light on the escalating violence because of Pakistan's peculiar brand of Islam based on distortion, fundamentalism, misrule and terrorism. ......
 
• Confused comrades
• Editorial, The Pioneer, January 17, 2002

As it so often does, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has made pronouncements which are India's despair and its enemy's delight. Thus its general secretary, Mr Harkishan Singh Surjeet, whom neither age seems to wither nor experience make wise, stated on Tuesday that the country "should have made a fresh study" of the situation created by General Pervez Musharraf's address to the people of Pakistan on Sunday instead of going ahead with its diplomatic offensive "which was planned under different circumstances" ......
 
• Will Bangladesh be converted to a country devoid of Hindus?
• Abdur Guffar Choudhuri, Jugantar, January 12, 2002

I was suffering from flu for a few days. Owing to the physical weakness I made up my mind not to write for a couple of days. Instead, I would read the book ??The Clash of Civilisations-the remaking of world order?? by S. P. Hantington. The book was presented to me by a close friend. The contents were very interesting and curiously informative. ......
 
• ‘Armed forces are and should remain last resort, we have to keep talking’ (Interview with Admiral Sushil Kumar)
• Gaurav C. Sawant, The Indian Express, January 6, 2002

Even if we go for war, it will be for peace, says Admiral Sushil Kumar, who retired last week as the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS). Even as tensions continue to simmer between India and Pakistan mount and forces swell at the borders, Admiral Kumar cautions that a ‘‘war is the final act only when all other options are exhausted’. ......
 
• Singapore Sleepers
• Simon Elegant, Time, January 21, 2002

Even by the dull standards of home videos, the tape is notably unexciting: a shaky, amateurish pan along a typically busy Singapore street, with views of a subway station and passing commuters. A bland voice provides a running commentary in well-educated English, a litany of street names and building numbers. ......
 
• Eastern Exodus
• Swapan Dasgupta, India Today, January 21, 2002

Rai Saheb Nagendra Kumar Sur was a leading lawyer of Noakhali in East Bengal in 1946. When the pro-Pakistan riots broke out that year, he was kidnapped by a Muslim League gang, taken to a lonely spot and asked to dig his own grave. Sur told his abductors that since he was going to be killed in any case, there was no reason why he should oblige them. ......
 
• The General’s sly refrain
• Wilson John, The Pioneer, January 19, 2002

As expected, it has taken only less than a week to unravel the jihadi magic played by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Going by the reaction to his January 12 speech, the whole world seems to be in a mood to give the General a standing ovation for his "bold and visionary" approach to tackle terrorism. Here I would advise a pause. ......
 
• Let’s not ease the pressure on Pakistan
• Sumant Dhamija, The Pioneer, January 19, 2002

All of America's immediate short term objectives in respect of Afghanistan achieved, and Pakistan, basking in the afterglow of international attention and flush with funds, will now shift its focus completely to Kashmir. Despite appearances, it will continue to give concrete help to terrorist groups (including the remnants of the disbanded Al Qaeda, Lashkar, Jaish, etc) for the purposes of cross-border terrorism and/or fomenting mass agitations in the Valley. ......
 
• Govt to crack down on non-affiliated madrasas
• PTI, January 19, 2002

The West Bengal government would take tough measures against non-affiliated madrasas that came up in the bordering districts of the state, the Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said on Saturday. ......
 
• E-mail ties Richard Reid to Pakistan
• NBC, MSNBC And News Services, January 19, 2002

In e-mails apparently sent by shoe-bomb suspect Richard Reid before he boarded a Paris-Miami flight, he indicated he would be destroying an airplane and, after being thwarted from boarding an earlier flight, asked one recipient in Pakistan if he should ''go again.'' The mail was found on the hard drives of computers used by the 28-year-old Briton while he was in Paris, French news media reported Saturday. ......
 
• Excelling at the art of the strategic U-turn
• Ayaz Amir, Dawn, January 18, 2002

When President Bush suggested recently that Iran was protecting some Al-Qaida fighters, the Iranian foreign ministry angrily rejected his remarks and said they were groundless. When at the height of the war on Afghanistan, the United States asked Lebanon to freeze the funds of Hezbollah, Lebanon rejected the demand. On what planet lies Iran, on what planet Lebanon? ......
 
• Writer stands by controversial remarks on Hanuman
• Deepshikha Ghosh, Indo-Asian News Service, January 18, 2002

One man's freedom fighter can be another man's terrorist, says a leading literary figure who is not apologising for saying that Hindu monkey god Hanuman may have been a terrorist for demon king Ravana. ......
 
• Talks: Powell doesn’t push but nudges hard
• Express News Service, The Indian Express, January 18, 2002

The onus is slowly shifting to India to ease its pressure on Pakistan. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who flew in here this evening from Islamabad, said the US was ‘‘anxious’’ to see talks begin, including on Kashmir, and insisted that New Delhi respond positively to the ‘‘important statement’’ made by General Pervez Musharraf last week. ......
 
• Musharraf’s Ban: An Analysis
• B.Raman, South Asia Analysis Group, January 18, 2002

"Don't blame the common man if he does not take the government's orders seriously. What happened to the deweaponization ?  The paramilitary forces looked on helplessly when the TNSM activists drove past the check points with guns mounted on their vehicles. ......
 
• The Chip on China’s Shoulder
• Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, January 18, 2002

As soon as the two planes hit the World Trade Center, Chinese Internet users logged into online chat rooms to discuss the terror attacks. ......
 
• Same old bluff and bluster
• T.V.R. Shenoy, The Indian Express, January 17, 2002

We of the media, print or electronic, are wordsmiths. Words are the tools of our trade, and so, perhaps, we occasionally grant them an importance which they do not deserve. Thus it was with the British and American media’s reporting of General Musharraf’s much-vaunted speech of this past Saturday. ......
 
• Anglican priest believes West is underestimating zeal of Islam
• The Washington Times, January 16, 2002

The Rev. Patrick Sookhdeo, an expert on Islamic history and politics, directs the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity in London and the Barnabas Fund, a charity. Of Pakistani descent, he grew up as a Muslim in Guyana, then converted to Christianity, eventually becoming an Anglican priest. ......
 
• Religious parties criticize decision
• Our Staff Reporter, Dawn, January 14, 2002

Leaders of some religious parties criticized on Sunday the President's address to the nation in which he had announced putting a ban on extremist religious organizations. ......
 
• Arabs Still Want to Destroy Israel
• Daniel Pipes, The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2002

Last June, Palestinian television broadcast a sermon in a Gaza mosque in which the imam, Ibrahim Madi, made the following statement: "God willing, this unjust state Israel will be erased; this unjust state the United States will be erased; this unjust state Britain will be erased." ......
 
• No scope for mediation: Oppn
• HT Correspondent, The Hindustan Times, January 14, 2002

Major political parties on Sunday rejected Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's suggestion for a third party mediation to resolve the Kashmir issue. ......
 
• And The World
• Editorial, The Telegraph, January 14, 2002

It is a pity that Mr Pervez Musharraf’s radical plan to reform Pakistan’s state and society is not matched by an equally far-reaching plan to make peace with India. Although the Pakistan president’s speech did address many of the issues that have caused deep concern to India in the recent past, it is unlikely that Mr Musharraf’s words alone will lead to a rapid de-escalation of the tension that has gripped south Asia over the past few weeks. ......
 
• 3 foreigners held in Lucknow may have links with Hamas
• Times News Network, The Times of India, January 7, 2002

Two Jordanians and a Palestinian national were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) on Saturday after they were found in possession of fake passports and other documents. The three were residing at a rented house in Indiranagar locality and are said to have links with the intelligence agency Hamas. ......
 
• Muslim policemen allowed to sport beards in Rajasthan
• Prakash Bhandari, The Times of India, January 7, 2002

Muslims in Rajasthan's police force will now be able to keep a beard, but they will first have to seek the permission of the police headquarters. The state government has decided, on the recommendation of the state minority commission, to allow Muslim policemen to keep a beard. ......
 
• ‘The BJP govt. is only aiming at de-Macaulisation of education’
• S. Balakrishnan, The Times of India, January 7, 2002

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre is under attack in the academic world for allegedly trying to saffronise education. The party has been accused of trying to rewrite Indian history to fit into the RSS world view. In this context, Times News Network spoke to Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, director-general of the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini and an important member of the RSS think tank. ......
 
• Who Is the Enemy?
• Daniel Pipes, Commentary, January, 2002

With whom, or what, is the United States at war? The answer to this question has far-reaching implications for strategy, for public diplomacy, and for foreign and domestic policy alike. It may seem that the answer is obvious; but it is not. ......
 
• Moksha Mantra
• Sheela Raval, India Today, January 21, 2002

Four years ago, Parinita Zia Nath was more than happy with what she was doing-taking classes in scuba diving at the Laccadives Dive Centre at Kadmat Island in Lakshadweep. With the magical blue sea for a workplace and a boundless sense of adventure about her, the 28-year-old instructor believed hers was a dream job. ......
 
• Comrades in Alms
• Uday Mahurkar, India Today, January 21, 2002

Insurgency has often thrived on the misconception that outlawing a subversive organisation will quell rebellion. The Government sought to feed this delusion in September last year when it banned the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Only for the unsavoury truth to be reiterated when 123 SIMI activists were arrested in Surat last week. ......
 
• The Enemy Within
• Sayantan Chakravarty, India Today, January 21, 2002

Abdul Raouf Hawash is no prophet of doom, just a man with his finger on the pulse of the terror trade. Nine days after the attack on the World Trade Center (WTC), Hawash, a Sudanese member of the Al Qaida, told interrogators in his high-security cell in the Tihar Jail: "India will be the new destination for the Al Qaida. Watch out." ......
 
• A Hawk Among Eagles
• Prabhu Chawla, India Today, January 21, 2002

George W. Bush: "Mr Advani, your reputation has preceded you here. You stand up for what you believe. You are a strong leader. We appreciate that and also those who speak their mind." ......
 
• General Janus
• Tavleen Singh, India Today, January 21, 2002

Why do Indians find it so hard to trust General Pervez Musharraf? Why do we not see him, as western leaders seem to these days, as a genuine crusader against terrorism? Well, until I spent some quality time watching Pakistan Television (PTV) last week I was beginning to believe that we were perhaps judging the General too harshly. ......
 
• US-Pak ties: Huge carrot vs tiny stick
• Pioneer News Service, The Pioneer, January 18, 2002

Few phrases are more frequently used to describe political and diplomatic pressure than "carrot and stick. The phrase can lend itself to virtually any interpretation, and the United States'(US) current support for its "strong ally" Pakistan, has often been seen in these terms. ......
 
• Valuable records on militant outfits gutted in Pakistan
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 17, 2002

The mysterious fire that broke out in a 16-storey state owned building in Islamabad on Tuesday night reportedly destroyed valuable records containing sensitive information on Islamic militant outfits, some of them which were banned by the Pakistan government. ......
 
• Fear and Flight in Deadly Kashmir - Islamic Militants Brutalize Hindus, Dramatizing a Land’s Divisions
• Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, January 16, 2002

One night two weeks ago, Gulshan Kumar Sharma heard a knock at the door and a voice calling out, "Didi" -- older sister, in Hindi. When he answered, the 28-year-old Hindu farmer was gunned down on the threshold of his mud house. ......
 
• Madarsa Debate Spills Across Border
• Rasheed Kidwai, The Telegraph, January 14, 2002

Opinion among Indian Muslims is sharply divided after his historic speech where he promised to regulate madarsas and mosques in a sweeping reform to separate politics from education and religion. Conservative sections of Indian Muslims are wary, fearing that the BJP-led government may embark on a similar course, leading to a witch-hunt. ......
 
• Goading the general
• Editorial, The Hindustan Times, January 9, 2002

Isn’t it amazing that a promise to rein in terrorists has to be periodically extracted from Pervez Musharraf? The latest to do so is British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had to repeat in front of the Pakistani dictator the commitment he had secured from him about rejecting terrorism “in all its forms”. ......
 
• Travails of a failed State
• Amulya Ganguli, The Hindustan Times, January 9, 2002

Is Musharraf doing enough to wipe out terrorists? Or is this the endgame for Pakistan? It used to be said at the time of the Agra summit that the best hope for peace between India and Pakistan is when a BJP government is in power in New Delhi and a military dictator rules in Islamabad. ......
 
• An epistle to Mr Advani
• K.P. Nayar, The Telegraph, January 9, 2002

You have begun what is unquestionably the most profound and consequential interaction between our country and the United States of America since the two meetings between the then president, Bill Clinton, and the prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee — the first in New Delhi in March 2000, the next here in Washington in September last year. ......
 
• Motives unlimited
• Editorial, The Statesman, January 7, 2002

Once more an assault from Jyoti Basu reinforced by Alimuddin Street speaking from commanding heights casts doubts about Buddhadev Bhattacharya's being allowed to function. It revolves around workers' rights of which Basu, now safely retired, has become an ardent champion. This is becoming a regular affair and is made worse by dissenting voices. ......
 
• It’s tough being Pak envoy’s daughters
• Shobita Dhar, The Indian Express, January 6, 2002

This the time of year Maha and Nilofer should be enjoying the most. One works with UNESCO, the other is a consultant on women and development issues and both had an active social fife. Suddenly, there's a chill in the air and it's not just the weather. ......
 
• Rape of Unbelievers in Islam - Mindset of Pakistanis favouring 1971 Genocide
• Abul Kasem, www.golshan.com

This re-count starts when I was in Thailand in 1973 to do my post graduate studies in Engineering. The Institution was AIT and being an international institution for post graduate study there were students from many parts of the world, though the majority were from the Asian countries. There was sizable number of Bangladeshi as well as Pakistani and Indian students. ......
 
• Denial: A River in Egypt
• Daniel Pipes & Jonathan Schanzer, The New York Post, January 14, 2002

You may think you know what happened on Jan. 3, when Israeli Navy Seals seized the Karine A, a cargo ship carrying 50 tons of contraband Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles, mortars, mines, explosives, and sniper rifles. ......
 
• U.S. Holding British Subject in Detention at Cuba Base
• Katharine Q. Seelye and Thom Shanker, The New York Times, January 13, 2002

The United States has notified Britain that a British subject is one of the 20 detainees from Afghanistan being held at the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a Foreign Office spokesman in London said today. ......
 
• Pakistani Leader Pledges to Bar Any Groups Linked to Terror
• Erik Eckholm, The New York Times, January 13, 2002

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, pledged tonight that his country would not be used as a base for terrorism of any kind and announced a broad ban on militant groups accused of fomenting violence in Indian-held Kashmir, as well as at home. ......
 
• Hindutva is Elst-where
• The Pioneer, January 13, 2002

According to a body of opinion, the handling of the KN Govindacharya affair by the RSS last week was symptomatic of a malaise that afflicts the Sangh parivar. True, a cadre-based political formulation demands that an individual be subservient to the organisation, but when this "cardinal principle" becomes overbearing to the extent that any voice of dissent is treated as rebellion ......
 
• Getting real
• Editorial, The Hindustan Times, January 12, 2002

The hasty acquisition of fighter aircraft from China seems to be Pakistan’s only consolation at present. Otherwise, it appears to be very much on the losing side where diplomacy is concerned. ......
 
• Musharraf: Another Posture
• B.Raman, South Asia Analysis Group, January 11, 2002

Writing in its issue of October 4 to 10, 2001, "Independent", a weekly journal of Pakistan, quoted an unidentified leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami as saying as follows: " The Pakistani Army is jehadi by philosophy.  Its hidden policy is still pro-jehad and pro-Taliban.  What we see is just a posture and not a policy. The military Government's support to the US is just a posture." ......
 
• ISI trail takes police to Burrabazar
• A Staff Reporter, The Telegraph, January 11, 2002

The police today claimed they had obtained several leads that linked Mohammad Dilshad, the ISI operative arrested from Siliguri, to his network in Calcutta. ......
 
• Transcript of Advani on Newshour today
• Lal Krishna Advani, PBS Online, January 10, 2002

RAY SUAREZ: Tensions between India and Pakistan have been rising sharply ever since Kashmiri militants attacked India's parliament building in New Delhi on December 13. Both sides have been mobilizing their military forces along the borders, and there has been constant shelling between the armies. ......
 
• World’s no.1 terrorist state
• A.R. Kanangi, Afternoon Despatch & Courier, January 5, 2002

Pakistan's president Musharraf can no longer deny it: the world can see skeleton after skeleton coming out of Pakistan's terrorist cupboard. ......
 
• Musharraf and cross-border terrorism
• Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, January 11, 2002

How much can India rely on President Pervez Musharraf ending the proxy war through cross-border terrorism that Pakistan has been waging against it for over two decades? Those who say that it can do so to a very great extent, point to the steps he has already taken and his promise to do much more, including the announcement of a total plan "in a few days". ......
 
• “India shall not take another Pak betrayal”
• T.V. Parasuram, www.expressindia.com, January 11, 2002

Home Minister L.K. Advani said on Thursday that India would not take "another betrayal" this time by Pakistan. Speaking to the media in Washington, he said, Pakistan has responded each time to India's "immense restraint" with an act of betrayal, with state-sponsored terrorism. "It has breached the limits of our endurance. We shall not take another betrayal this time around," Advani added. ......
 
• India walks the tightrope with Israel
• Ramananda Sengupta, Rediff on Net, January 11, 2002

"We cannot accept that Israel, with its plots and in this unusual manner, becomes involved in regional affairs." So said Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Sadak Harazi on Tuesday, expressing concern over the "real purpose" of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's three-day visit to India earlier this week. ......
 
• Captive Lashkar cadres say ISI instrumental in recruiting them
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 11, 2002

The ISI is instrumental in recruiting terrorists into Lashkar-e-Toiba and training camps for militants are being run in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), according to two arrested terrorists. ......
 
• ‘Heads I win, tails you lose’
• ML Kotru, The Pioneer, January 11, 2002

If terrorism be terrorism, how come terrorism against the US is to be accepted as more heinous than terrorism against India? But the question is why should anyone try to draw a distinction between the attacks on New York's twin towers and the attacks on the Indian Parliament? British Prime Minister Tony Blair was about to fall for this fine distinction when he made that unfortunate off-the-cuff reference to Pakistan having a strong case on Kashmir, even as he opposed terrorism in any form. ......
 
• And now, ISI agents in the NE monitor troop movements
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, January 11, 2002

Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence, was monitoring movement of Indian troops from the North Eastern region and North Bengal to other parts of the country in view of prevailing tension in the western sector, defence sources said on Thursday. ......
 
• Pak shoud give up terror as state policy: Bush
• The Times of India, January 10, 2002

US President George W Bush on Thursday told Home Minister L K Advani that he expects Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to abandon terror as an instrument of state policy. ......
 
• India wary of ‘nice guy’ Musharraf
• Siddharth Srivastava, The Times of India, January 10, 2002

There is a sense of anticipation here in India as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf prepares to deliver possibly his biggest speech "that could change the course of relations between the two countries." ......
 
• Powell, Advani disagree on Musharraf
• Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India, January 10, 2002

US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit India and Pakistan next week amid realisation here that tensions in the region are not about to abate. ......
 
• Questions and doubts surface in US war on terrorism
• The Times of India, January 10, 2002

In particular, the reliance on Afghan forces to fight Taliban and Al-Qaeda troops on the ground -- a centerpiece of US strategy -- has been the target of increasing criticism among experts and in the US press. The local forces are suspected of having let top terror suspect Osama bin Laden, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and hundreds of their followers escape from the Tora Bora region in eastern Afghanistan and from around the city of Kandahar in the south. ......
 
• Quoting Atalji to Atalji
• A Surya Prakash, The Pioneer, January 10, 2002

Western leaders and a small club of swadeshi Pak-lovers are once again mounting pressure on Prime Minister Vajpayee for resumption of dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart and to keep up the facade of cordiality with that terrorist state and its people. ......
 
• ‘Pak’s moves are based on supposed assurances from UK Govt’
• The Indian Express, January 10, 2002

British generals in India and Pakistan maintained informal channels of communication on Kashmir developments. General Douglas Gracey’s telegram of 24 October finds a place in every account of the history of Kashmir; less well-known is the fact that he had informed (General Rob) Lockhart about preparations for the invasion even before October 24 ......
 
• Baker’s attitude can’t but prejudice Indo-UK relations: Nehru
• The Indian Express, January 9, 2002

As early as 1 February 1948, Patrick Gordon-Walker, the junior minister in the Commonwealth Relations Office, had warned that the ‘‘Indians will be mortally offended if we put forward the idea (of admitting Pakistani troops into Kashmir) publicly’’ and had urged a more balanced approach in which the first step would be to call on the Pathan raiders to withdraw from Kashmir. ......
 
• Pak’s Nepal Embassy a hub for ISI activities
• The Daily Excelsior, January 9, 2002

The Union Home Ministry has identified the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu as the major hub of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for subversive activities, including terrorism, in South Asia. ......
 
• “The courts would not regulate the fatwas,  Rather the fatwas would regulate the courts.”
• Narayanganja, Mayer Dak, January 8, 2002

Jamait-E-Islami leader and Member of Parliament, Delawar Hossain Sayeedi declared "Except for the religious icons of the non-Muslims, all sculptures of the nation would be broken. He added that "The courts would not regulate the fatwas(Islamic religious edicts), rather the fatwas would regulate the courts." Without directly mentioning the Awami League by name, he said "After three elections, India's agents would not even see the parliament any more. ......
 
• Osama’s finance head in Pakistan
• Agencies, The Pioneer, January 8, 2002

Investigators following the money trail in the September 11 attacks on the United States have traced more than $ 325,000 via credit card receipts, atm withdrawals and other transactions connected to the 19 suspected hijackers, The Washington Post reported on Monday. ......
 
• The jihadi origin of 1857 revolt
• Prafull Goradia, The Pioneer, January 8, 2002

Jihad has indeed enjoyed a colorful history. Throughout the 19th century, inspired by the Wahabis, the Muslims waged jihad against the British in India. In his book The Indian Muslims (George Alien and Unwin, London, 1967), M Mujeeb states that in the first years of the 19th century, Shah Abdul Aziz issued fatwas declaring India to be dar-ul-harb. ......
 
• Attlee’s reminder: how lies led to pro-Pak bias
• C Dasgupta, The Indian Express, January 7, 2002

As British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares to exercise a ‘‘calming influence’’ in New Delhi and Islamabad, he would do well to reflect on the lessons to be drawn from the role played by Britain when clandestine warfare first made its appearance in Kashmir. ......
 
• Singapore ‘terror network’ broken
• Craig Francis, CNN, January 7, 2002

The Singapore government says it has broken up a network of militants targeting the U.S. embassy and American businesses after arresting 15 people with suspected links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group. ......
 
• ‘We must not climb down’ (Interview with S.K. Sareen)
• The Indian Express, January 6, 2002

Q.: Do you think the attack on Parliament calls for strikes cross the LoC or a war?
A.: The attempted mass murder of our elected leadership is more than enough of a ‘threshold’ to go to war if Pakistan does not hand over the terrorist masterminds behind the attack. Any attempt by Pakistan to shield the leaders of the organisations which attacked Parliament will only confirm the widespread view that the ISI and the Pakistan army itself are primary perpetuators of terrorism. ......
 
• India & Pakistan: By Islam Divided?
• Sandeep Gopalan, The Texas Mercury, January 6, 2002

India and Pakistan are poised on a knife’s edge, spewing venom across the divide as the slightest slip threatens to bring a swift death to millions. Nuclear brinksmanship is not for the fainthearted and actions will eventually follow words. The reasons for India’s anger are not incomprehensible: meretricious sympathy from Pakistan was accompanied by suggestions that the dastardly attack on the Indian Parliament was orchestrated by India itself. ......
 
• Non-Goan maulavi’s caustic speech in Vasco under probe
• Maya Bhushan Nagvenkar, Herald, January 6, 2002

Police are probing into yet another instance of a non-Goan maulavi, allegedly delivering inflammatory and seditious speeches recently. This time in a mosque at Vasco and areas adjoining the port town. ......
 
• Handshake Between India and Pakistan Is Not Enough for India
• Ceria W. Dugger, The New York Times, January 6, 2002

In a  theatrical gesture delivered with a  flourish onstage, Pakistan's military ruler,  Gen. Pervez Musharraf, strode up to Prime  Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India  today and thrust out his hand. ......
 
• As Mad Hatters party with Pak
• Ayaz Amir, The Asian Age, January 5, 2002

Despite the threatening sounds and the build-up on the borders here’s where I lay my bets: the possibility of war can be discounted. The odds are against it as is the American frame of mind. Sackcloth and ashes be my dress should this turn out to be wrong — as, given the nature of this business, firm predictions often turn out to be. ......
 
• Lashkar chief mourns the diminishing of jehad
• www.tehelka.com, January 5, 2002

The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is presently behind bars, has issued a piece titled "Special Writings of the Prisoner of Jihad". In his piece, released in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to the "Muslim rulers and the Muslim ummah (community)", he proclaims, "throw me wherever you like, my heart is hurt, my eyes cannot bear the sight of the Muslim ummah's plight." ......
 
• The mirror strikes back
• www.tehelka.com, January 5, 2002

So much is being written and said about the September 11 attack on the US that the multiplicity of views, thoughts and opinions leave little else to be said. Nevertheless, I am left with some tormenting thoughts of my own. ......
 
• Madness at noon
• Irfan Husain, Dawn, January 5, 2002

In an apocryphal story that did the rounds after the 1965 Indo-Pak war, a group of Indian and Pakistani officers met at the border soon after the fighting had stopped. One Sikh officer asked his Pakistani counterparts with a grin: "Yar, we sardarjis are supposed to go mad at noon, but what happened to you guys?" ......
 
• Pakistan & Terrorism: The Evidence
• B.Raman

The international community is yet to understand clearly that Pakistan's State-sponsorship of terrorism against India in Indian territory is not related only to Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).  This started in the North-Eastern tribal areas of India in the 1950s, spread to the Punjab in the 1970s, to J&K in 1989 onwards and to other parts of India, including New Delhi, since the late 1990s. ......
 
• Not Guilty Plea Is Set for Man in Terror Case
• David Johnston, The New York Times, January 3, 2002

Invoking the name of Allah, Zacarias Moussaoui refused to enter a plea today to a six-count criminal indictment that accused him of a role in the Sept. 11 terrorist plot. His lawyer and the judge in the case then entered a plea of not guilty for him. ......
 
• Musharraf seeks China’s backing
• Rupert Wingfield Hayes, BBC News, January 3, 2002

With tensions between Pakistan and India running high, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is turning to his old ally China for support. ......
 
• Historicide: Censoring the past... and the present
• Rajeev Srinivasan, Rediff on Net, January 3, 2002

I would like you to take the following quiz: How many of the following recent news stories (all from the year 2001, except one, maybe) have you personally heard of? ......
 
• The empire builders of Islam
• M.V. Kamath, The Free Press Journal, January 3, 2002

We must hand it over to our good neighbours in Pakistan and its military leadership: their aim was not just to take over the Vale of Kashmir which to them must have sounded like petty change. Their aim was much greater. ......
 
• Sacked academic has friends in DU
• The Hindustan Times, January 2, 2002

A group of Delhi University lecturers is allegedly raising funds for their suspended colleague Syed Abdul Rehman Gilani, the professor of Arabic accused of links with the terrorists who stormed Parliament House in New Delhi on December 13. ......
 
• Pak shuts down ISI wing dealing with militants in Kashmir
• PTI, The Hindustan Times, January 2, 2002

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has ordered to shutdown the wing of the ISI that deals exclusively with the armed groups that Pakistan backs in Kashmir, a newspaper here reported on Wednesday. ......
 
• God and Mammon:  Does Poverty Cause Militant Islam?
• Daniel Pipes, The National Interest, Winter 2001/02

The events of September 11 have intensified a long-standing debate: What causes Muslims to turn to militant Islam? Some analysts have noted the poverty of Afghanistan and concluded that herein lay the problem. Jessica Stern of Harvard University wrote that the United States "can no longer afford to allow states to fail." ......
 
• Report from Rabindra Ghosh
•  

About 29 families consisting 243 members of Hindu have already took shelter at Kakdwip from Sandwip,Chittagong in different destinations. On 27th we made some of them to assemble in a place for relief operation through Bastuhara Shahayata Samittee organized by workers of RSS and VHP at Pukurberia, Kakdwip. ......