This Months Article

Starting: Fri June 1, 2001
Ending: Sat June 30, 2001

Messages: 142

• Carter Seeking Alliance of Moderate Baptists
• Gustav Niebuhr, The New York Times, June 30, 2001
>>> Former President Jimmy Carter, who last year broke with his denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, over its increasingly conservative direction, has been host to two meetings of leaders of moderate Baptist groups to seek "common ground" among them, such as sending out missionaries, he said in an interview tonight. ......
• Muslim Cleric Calls for Death of Author Who Wrote on Islam
• Dean E. Murphy, The New York Times, June 30, 2001
>>> A radical Muslim cleric in Jordan has issued a religious opinion that advocates the death of a Muslim scholar in the United States in punishment for a book he wrote about Islam. ......
• Lahore Declaration (Part IV of IV)
• BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> The following is the Lahore Declaration signed by Prime, Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee and the Pakistan Prime Minister Shri Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on 21-2-99: ......
• Shimla Agreement (Part III of IV)
• BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> Shimla Agreement on Bilateral Relations between India and Pakistan signed by Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, and President of Pakistan, Mr. Z.A. Bhutto, in Shimla on duly 3, 1972. ......
 
• Walk the high road to peace with us, PM asks Pakistan CEO (Part II of IV)
• BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> At the beginning of the new century, our two countries must do their utmost to overcome the legacy of distrust and hostility, in order to build a brighter future for our peoples. ......
 
• Walk the high road to peace with us, PM asks Pakistan CEO (Part I of IV)
• BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> “When I visited Lahore in February 1999,with the objective of beginning a new chapter in our bilateral relations, I had recorded at Minar-e-Pakistan that a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan is in India's interest. That remains our conviction. ......
 
• The ISI connection
• Sangeeta Saxena, BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> Authored by R. Shekhar, the ISI -Connection is a novel based on the sinister designs of the Inter Services Intelligence, the intelligence agency of Pakistan, to destabilise and disintegrate India. Despite of being an organisational profile of the ISI, the book is woven into the threads of absorbing fiction, written in easy English as is spoken in the Indian sub-continent. ......
 
• Pakistani realities
• Chanakya, BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> There was no logic to the creation of Pakistan. The Muslim majority areas had Muslim prime ministers like Hussain Suhrawardy in Bengal and Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan in the Punjab. ......
 
• Government reiterates J&K integral part of India
• Our special correspondent, BJP Today, June 16-30, 2001
>>> On May 25, after hours of top-level meeting at the residence of the Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Government caused a flutter, as it were by announcing the withdrawal of the six-month old “cease fire” against the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. ......
 
• Fresh race attacks in Britain worry leaders
• Shyam Bhatia, Indian Abroad, June 29, 2001
>>> There bomb attacks in Lancashire country have prompted fears among Asian and white community leaders that Britain's racial violence may be spiraling out of control. ......
 
• Priest arrested as sanctuary becomes death trap for deer
• Express News Service, The Indian Express, June 28, 2001
>>> Fresh venison with scotch and whisky is the latest fad among bigwigs in places such as Masinadgudi, Thorapalli and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in the Gudalur block of the Nilgiris bordering Kerala and Karnataka. ......
 
• Ariel Makes His Point to George
• William Safire, The New York Times, June 28, 2001
>>> "The world is celebrating the cease-fire," Ariel Sharon told George W. Bush in the Oval Office this week, "but we in Israel are going to funerals." That pained remark came privately after the U.S. president had used the word "progress" 11 times in 13 minutes of the photo op before their meeting. ......
 
• Gadar: are the Muslim League's objections justified?
• Aditi Prasad, www.indya.com, June 28, 2001
>>> The controversy may have fuelled box-office collections. But cascading protests across the country against Nitin Keni's Sunny Deol-Amisha Patel starrer Gadar are threatening to fuel more than that. Already, there have been protests in Bhopal, Lucknow, New Delhi, Ahmedabad and even Mumbai against the film. ......
 
• Drive to de-weaponise militant groups a 'Sham': Pak media
• The Daily Excelsior, June 28, 2001
>>> The drive to "de-weaponise" religious and fundamentalist groups in Pakistan has been dismissed by a section of local media as a "Sham" with the Pervez Musharraf regime publicising minor efforts to recover weapons to pacify international community while desisting from carrying out these drives against known militant outfits. ......
 
• Bush and Sharon Differ on Ending Violence
• Jane Perlez, The New York Times, June 27, 2001
>>> President Bush today urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel to be more receptive to political steps that the administration believes are necessary to cool the Middle East situation, a senior administration official said. ......
 
• Inside Afghanistan: Behind the veil
• BBC News, June 27, 2001
>>> An undercover documentary film about the Taleban movement in Afghanistan has shown shocking footage of mass executions, and an insight into the oppression suffered by Afghan women. ......
 
• Our Freudian fixation for peace-at-any-cost with Pakistan
• Arvind Lavakare, Rediff on Net, June 27, 2001
>>> Journalistic deadlines can be deadly in effect. Thus it was a slip of the pen in this column last week that put the price for allowing the thief to retain our stolen property of Pak Occupied Kashmir at Rs 10 billion when, in fact, the mind's intent was $ 10 billion for India forfeiting that territory and accepting the LoC as the international border.  .....
 
• Even courts cannot disturb status quo in Ayodhya: seer
• Press Trust of India, Central Chronicle, June 26, 2001
>>> Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Swami Jayendra Saraswati today said that it would be difficult even for courts to disturb the status quo in Ayodhya where Ram already has a ‘temporary shelter.’ .....
 
• A Memo From Osama
• Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, June 26, 2001
>>> My men: This is a great day! Did you see what we accomplished last week? We drove the U.S. armed forces out of three Arab countries by just threatening to hit them. I had some of our boys discuss an attack against the U.S. over cell phones, the C.I.A. picked it up, and look what happened: .....
 
• RSS is threat to national integrity, says SIMI
• HT Correspondent, The Hindustan Times, June 26, 2001
>>> The National general secretary of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Safdar Nagori, has alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was “a major threat to the unity and integrity of the country” Addressing a press conference here at a hotel this afternoon, the national leader of this pan-Islamic youth organisation said that there was an urgent need to put the RSS and its Parivar in check. .....
 
• Secularism poisons nations: Singhal
• Principal Correspondent, Central Chronicle, June 26, 2001
>>> The so-called ‘secularism’ has poisoned the very veins of the nation and caused extensive damage to it during the last five decades, said Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, Ashok Singhal. He gave a clarion call to the young blood to wake-up in order to restore the glorious past of the nation. .....
 
• Asians battle whites in yet another British city
• Rashmee Z. Ahmed, The Times of India, June 26, 2001
>>> In a grim pattern of blood and gore across northern England, Burnley has joined other cities such as Oldham, Leeds and Bradford as a place where Asians and whites are apparently in conflict. A weekend of interracial violence in Burnley, an industrial town with a predominantly Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic minority, comes within weeks of the neo-fascist British National Party (BNP) posting exceptionally good results in local and parliamentary elections in the region. .....
 
• ‘Arrest me for I have joined Bajrang Dal,’ Uma dares CM
• HT Correspondent, The Hindustan Times, June 26, 2001
>>> At A meeting here full of VHP rhetoric and vitriol today, Union Minister Uma Bharti announced that she had joined the Bajrang Dal. And in the thunderous applause that followed, Bharti dared Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to arrest her. (The Chief Minister had recently demanded a ban on the Bajrang Dal.) .....
 
• Race violence erupts in one more English town
• The Hindustan Times, June 26, 2001
>>> Asian Youths set fire to shops and a car in the northwest English town of Burnley on Sunday night after an Indian taxi driver was attacked by a group of white men, police said. .....
 
• Kanchi seer warns against disturbing Ayodhya status quo
• Press Trust of India, The Indian Express, June 26, 2001
>>> Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Swami Jayendra Saraswati today said that it would he difficult even for courts to disturb the status quo in Ayodhya where Ram already has a “temporary shelter.” ......
 
• Bring along PoWs, Sena tells Musharraf
• PTI, The Times of India, June 26, 2001
>>> Shiv Sena, an alliance partner in the NDA government, on Tuesday urged Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf to bring alongwith him all Indian Prisoners of War (PoWs) during his coming visit to India as a "goodwill gesture" even as another party leader asked New Delhi not to accord a red carpet welcome to him. ......
 
• Counsel from Kanchi
• Editorial, The Indian Express, June 26, 2001
>>> Q.: What are your views on population management?
A.: Official propaganda to restrict the size of the family has been largely aggressive. Hum Do, Hamare Do is fine. However, the manner of implementation has been rather abrasive. The methods advocated have been more interventionist than affirmative. Panic reaction can create more harm than goo......
 
• Kashmir should remain part of India: US Congressmen
• T V Parasuram, The Hindustan Times, June 26, 2001
>>> Ahead of the summit meet between Premier A B Vajpayee and Pakistani Presdient Pervez Musharraf, influential Congressmen and prominent members of the US establishment have said that solution to the Kashmir problem must be found within the framework of secular India. ......
 
• Laden orders blasts at US installations in India
• The Times of India, June 26, 2001
>>> Peeved over the arrest of his associates by Delhi Police, international terrorist Osama bin Laden has asked his groups to carry out blasts at all the US installations in India, according to a message received from the US Central Intelligence Agency. ......
 
• ‘Kashmir should remain integral part of secular India’
• The Daily Excelsior, June 26, 2001
>>> Ahead of the summit meet between Premier A B Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, influential Congressmen and prominent members of the US establishment have said that solution to the Kashmir problem must be found within the framework of secular India. ......
 
• 3000 ultras waiting to cross over
• Associated Press, Central Chronicle, June 25, 2001
>>> Nearly 3,000 Pakistan-backed terrorists are ready to sneak into Kashmir to fight security forces despite Islamabad’s peace moves, a top Army General said Sunday. ......
 
• CBI seeks Interpol help to probe Vincent George’s foreign funding
• Pratyush Kanth, The Times of India, June 25, 2001
>>> The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has completed the major part of its investigation within the country in the Vincent George case and is now concerning to CBI sources, on verifying the remittances amounting to over Rs. 3.5 crore sent to him from abroad, mainly from the U.S. Mr George is a close aide of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. ......
 
• Bin Laden readying to attack US targets
• Agence France Presse, Central Chronicle, June 25, 2001
>>> Supporters of Saudi-born extremist Osama Bin Laden are preparing to hit US and Israeli interests around the world, an Arab television channel has reported. ......
 
• Muslim law board to decide on Gadar
• HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, June 25, 2001
>>> The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) will decide whether the agitation against the film Gadar is justified. AIMPLB vice-president Maulana Kalbe Sadiq said on Saturday that the board would take a decision about the ‘objectionable scenes and dialogues’ in the film after consultations with the AIMPLB president, Maulana Mujahidul Islam Qasmi. ......
 
• Crescent Classroom
• Sumit Mitra, India Today, June 25, 2001
>>> Murshidabad district in West Bengal has the distinction of being a part of Pakistan for two days, from August 15 to 17, 1947, until the Radcliffe award which respected demography but not geography was amended bilaterally. ......
 
• Made In China
• Shishir Gupta, India Today, June 25, 2001
>>> The relationship between India and China have a tendency to toggle between good, bad and ugly. While economic issues have overshadowed many problems, the nuclear threat and missile proliferation have led to serious concerns in the past. And, lest one forgets, it was the border dispute that sparked off hostilities between the two Asian giants.  ......
 
• A story for Mr Bhattacharjee
• Jugnu Ramaswamy, The Hindustan Times, June 25, 2001
>>> In A small village 220 kilometres north of Kolkata, a war is being fought to build a village road and to save a school.  ......
 
• Use of classics in computational logic
• Anuradha C. Kumar, The Indian Express, June 25, 2001
>>> Although I greatly enjoyed Ajit Kumar Jha’s ‘‘Why is the West crazy about a ‘dead’ language?’’ (Indian Express, June 10), I feel it is unfortunate that having been around as a vehicle of literary expression for over 2500 years, Sanskrit still has to bear the tag of a dead language. ......
 
• Hindu Temple demolished, hundreds of Tribal houses torched: 30 people wounded.
• www.hrcbm.org, June 25, 2001
>>> For the second time in recent months, Bengali Muslims have again attacked tribal villages in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The clashes erupted after the killing of a Bengali Muslim truck driver reportedly by the tribal freedom fighters. ......
 
• The doublespeak of Vedic science (Part XII of XII)
• Meera Nanda, The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> The leading Hindutva ideas-men go around calling themselves "intellectual Kshatriyas". But Kshatriyas were only supposed to defend dharma as a way of life. Why, then, are our Kshatriyas so bent upon defending dharma as science? Why must they insist upon declaring astrology, and the entire Vedic tradition, 'scientific'? ......
 
• Scientist’s soapbox (Part XI of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> After delivering thousands of lectures on Indian heritage since the age of 18 and more than 1,800 of them in the last five years (a lecture a day!), N. Gopalakrishnan is passionate for more. The 45-year-old scientist at the regional centre of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Thiruvananthapuram considers it his mission to separate the chaff from the grain in people's minds. The winnow he uses is science. ......
 
• Flights of fancy? (Part X of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> In the early 70s, G.R. Josyer of the International Academy of Sanskrit in Mysore brought out the English translation of a Sanskrit work, Vymanika Shastra. It describes different types of aircraft with drawings, metals used for their production, mirrors and their use in wars and varieties of machines and yantras. ......
 
• Mind over matter (Part IX of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> The first Indian who formulated ideas about the atom as the indivisible particle of matter in a systematic manner was 6th century BC philosopher Kanada. Katyayana, a contemporary of the Buddha, put forward ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. ......
 
• Buildings with a genetic code (Part VIII of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> The science of building in India is analogous to genetics. Just as the DNA, which contains hereditary information on cell life, every element of a building contains a dimensional code that will speak of the whole structure. ......
 
• Root and trunk (Part VII of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> Jivaka, physician of King Bimbisara, a contemporary of the Buddha, had to undergo a practical examination in the final year of his studies at Taxila. The teacher asked him to take a spade and seek round about a yojana on every side of the university and bring the plant he saw which had no medicinal properties. ......
 
• A nose for news (Part VI of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> In the war of 1792 Tipu Sultan's soldiers captured Kawasji (Cowasjee), a Maratha cart driver in the British army, and cut off his nose and an arm. A year later, a kumhara (potter) vaidya of Pune reconstructed Kawasji's nose in the presence of two English doctors, Thomas Cruso and James Trindlay, of the Bombay Presidency. ......
 
• Is astrology a science? (Part V of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> Mainstream science does not accept astrology as science, says astrophysicist Rajesh Kochhar. "The methodology of science is more important than the results. Scientific theories are not based on provability but on falsiability," he says, quoting Karl Popper's theory of falsiability in verification of a scientific proposition. ......
 
• Sum and substance (Part IV of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> There has been a renewed interest in Vedic Mathematics or Sixteen Simple Mathematical Formulae from the Vedas by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Shri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja of Govardhan Peeth Mutt, Puri, originally published by Banaras Hindu University in 1965. ......
 
• Acts of faith (Part III of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> A 3,000-year-old ritual was resurrected at Panjal in Kerala in April 1975. A 12-day Agnicayana, or Atiratra, was performed on a bird-shaped altar of a thousand bricks. The altar was a geometricians' delight. ......
 
• Saladin's sword (Part II of XII)
• The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> Saladin the Saracen had a steely edge over Richard the Lion-hearted. Sir Walter Scott, in his romance The Talisman, describes a meeting of the two mediaeval monarchs who crossed swords in the Crusades. ......
 
• Lost knowledge (Part I of XII)
• Samuel Abraham, The Week, June 24, 2001
>>> A few thousand years are a short period in the timetable of India. Its myths and religious symbols take us millions of years beyond archaeological findings. And so "the Indian mind," as French thinker Guy Sorman puts it, "was better prepared for the chronological mutations of Darwinian evolution and astrophysics" that shook the west. ......
 
• Hip to be Hindi
• Anupreeta Das, The Indian Express, June 24, 2001
>>> What do you do with a language that’s morphed over seven centuries, flirted and allied with scores of dialects, sulked when you’ve tried to sully it with bureaucratese, but is ever-willing to be teased into new life? If you’re part of the set which decides what we, the people (specifically, television viewers), should watch, you follow a simple rule: if it won’t go away, wrap it up in glossy packaging, and suddenly, everyone’s calling it Hip. ......
 
• Seeing ourselves as other see us
• M. V. Kamath, Organiser, June 24, 2001
>>> There is nothing more educative than seeing ourselves as others see us. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha may think India, all told, is doing well, but most concerned experts are likely to take his assurances with a pinch of salt. But when an important journal like the London based The Economist (June 2) assesses. India's economic situation one has to sit up and take notice of it. ......
 
• Police team nabs Bin Laden’s contact from Bihar town
• Gyan Prakash, The Times of India, June 23, 2001
>>> A joint police team of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and special cell of the Delhi police picked up international terrorist Osama bin Laden’s Patna connection, Mohammad Arshad alias Ladoo Milan, from his residence in Naya Tola under Phulwarisharif police station on Thursday morning. ......
 
• Power is one thing, growth quite another
• Abheek Barman, The Economic Times, June 23, 2001
>>> Late last month, investment bank Merrill Lynch observed that the Karachi Stock Exchange index, KSE 100, had slipped nearly 4 per cent in a month, but concluded that this made a recovery of Pakistan's battered markets likely - things couldn't get worse. The KSE 100 has slipped more than 11 per cent in five-and-a-half months since December, a steeper fall than the sensex's near-10 per cent tumble in the same time. ......
 
• ‘India and China should be united culturally’
• Renuka Suryanarayan, The Indian Express, June 22, 2001
>>> One visit to the city, to consecrate the new Dwjasthambam at Mahalakshmi temple last Sunday, His Holiness Shankaracharya of Kanchi Jayendra Saraswati, shares his views with Newsline. ......
 
• Skeptical Senators Question Rumsfeld on Missile Defense
• James Dao, The New York Times, June 22, 2001
>>> Senate Democrats sharply questioned Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld today about the high cost and unproven effectiveness of a national missile defense system, and they raised deep concerns about the administration's threats to withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty if the Russians refused to amend it. ......
 
• I was removed, says Tarar
• Mid-Day, June 21, 2001
>>> Pakistan’s ousted President Rafiq Tarar last night said he was removed from the post under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated by military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf who took over as the head of the state. ......
 
• Musharraf comes in for flak from Commonwealth, UK
• Rashmee Z. Ahmed, The Times of India, June 21, 2001
>>> The Commonwealth and Britain have separately condemned General Musharrafs decision to name himself President of Pakistan and dissolve the national assembly in a move that is widely being seen as an attempt to consolidate the military's hold on power. ......
 
• Confess your sins online
• Carla Kucinski, The Times of India, June 21, 2001
>>> Now you can unburden yourself of all those naughty things you've done without kneeling in a dark closet or confessing face to face. ......
 
• Schools Harass Christians, Coddle Other Faiths
• David A. Yeagley, Front Page Magazine, June 21, 2001
>>> In New York City, Muslims can pray in public schools. Christians can't. Muslims can assemble in school auditoriums, during school hours, and pray. Christians cannot. ......
 
• 39 Police Officers Hurt in Belfast Riots
• Reuters, The New York Times, June 21, 2001
>>> Gun shots were fired at police as they tried to quell fresh outbreaks of violence in part of Northern Ireland's capital Belfast overnight, police said on Friday. ......
 
• Now We Shall Speak - Muslim Women Must be in Control
• Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, The Times of India, June 21, 2001
>>> The Supreme Court had recently issued notice to the government on a petition submitted by Zuleikha Bi of Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh. She had married Mohammad Fazal in 1989 when she was 20 years old. In 1991, when he remarried, she had refused to live with him. Maintenance was granted to her in 1993 at Rs 400 per month. ......
 
• Press statement on Vajpayee-Musharraf summit
• Shri K. Jana Krishnamurthi, bjp.org, June 21, 2001
>>> The Prime Minister's decision to invite General Pervez Musharraf for talks has led to speculations about the reasons for this sudden development. Analysts and so-called experts have attributed it to various kinds of imagined domestic and international compulsions. ......
 
• China-US clashes may get worse: Russian expert
• Dadan Upadhyay, The Indian Express, June 21, 2001
>>> China is the biggest rival of the United States, a top Russian military analyst said here on Wednesday. ......
 
• This freeze is no surprise
• Jasjit Singh, The Indian Express, June 21, 2001
>>> Given Pakistan's high levels of defence spending the government's announcement of a freeze on the defence budget for the current year has attracted a great deal of attention. Some people have tried to interpret this in relation to the forthcoming summit at Agra next month. ......
 
• Heavy infiltration of foreign militants in Poonch
• Dwarika Prasad Sharma, The Times of India, June 21, 2001
>>> There has been infiltration of foreign militants into Poonch district on an ``unprecedented" scale following the withdrawal of the unilateral cease fire by the Union government, said intelligence reports. ......
 
• US flays Pak move; sanctions to stay
• The Times of India, June 21, 2001
>>> The United States condemned the decision by Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf to declare himself president on Wednesday and officials said it would complicate the Bush administration's decision-making on the future of US sanctions on Islamabad. ......
 
• Billionaire-turned-muni nirvana on foot
• K R Rajeev, The Indian Express, June 20, 2001
>>> In A world teeming with jet-setting godmen, Jain muni Prashantratna Vijay stands apart. For this 36-year-old billionaire-turned-muni, life has been a long journey in pursuit of God; rather a long walk on bare feet. ......
 
• Twelve Christians Sentenced In China
• Catholic World News, June 20, 2001
>>> A group of twelve Christians arrested by Communist Chinese police last month have been sentenced to "reeducation through labor" camps for up to three years, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Wednesday. ......
 
• Cost of conflict
• Editorial, The Indian Express, June 20, 2001
>>> It is one of the subcontinent’s most heartbreaking tragedies. Commentators on this side of Radcliffe’s meandering line have long bemoaned the Lost Decade in Jammu and Kashmir, the years the people of the state have been forced to sacrifice in dodging the crossfire. ......
 
• Muslims attack cinema hall showing Gadar
• The Hindustan Times, June 20, 2001
>>> A cinema hall screening Hindi film Gadar in Bhopal was ransacked by an unruly mob on Tuesday afternoon. The mob allegedly were enraged by certain scenes of the film offended religious sentiments of Muslims. ......
 
• Musharraf to take oath as President today
• Rediff on Net, June 20, 2001
>>> Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf is expected to take oath as President of Pakistan on Wednesday at 4 pm. Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan will administer the oath of secrecy to the chief executive. ......
 
• Two major intrusions by Rangers in RS Pura
• The Daily Excelsior, June 19, 2001
>>> In a new development on the International Border, two major intrusions have been reported by Pakistani Rangers alongwith local people from forward villages of Devigarh and Jouran in RS Pura sectors early today. ......
 
• Racism is rife in NHS says study
• John Carvel, The Guardian, June 19, 2001
>>> Racial harassment, bullying and discrimination are daily facts of life for black and Asian doctors, according to a report published today by the King's Fund, an independent health thinktank. ......
 
• Converging against an Indian Kashmir
• Sandhya Jain, The Pioneer, June 18, 2001
>>> There is now little doubt that regardless of the formal agenda of the forthcoming talks with General Musharraf, the BJP-led Government is all set to discuss Kashmir with the Pakistani dictator. Indeed, this may well be the only issue that is discussed at all, since Islamabad is hardly anxious that its business community trades with India, while India has no desperate need for a Pakistani market. ......
 
• Buddhism Blooms Amid the Forests of the Catskills
• Terence Neilan, The New York Times, June 18, 2001
>>> Until six years ago, James Frechter rose at 9 each morning, put on a dark suit and the mandatory tie and took the subway to Wall Street to begin another long day as an associate lawyer with Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. ......
 
• Wag The Indo-Pak Dog
• Editorial, India Today, June 18, 2001
>>> The text is all optimism and "O Brother" bonhomie. What with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's unanticipated invitation and General Pervez Musharraf's unexpected enthusiasm for the handshake. However, the hope of the leadership, both in Delhi and Islamabad, is not shared by those who have made a prosperous fundamentalist career out of Kashmir-the jehadis across the border, for instance. ......
 
• Pak dubbed an abettor of extremism at China meet
• Press Trust of India, The Indian Express, June 18, 2001
>>> Pakistan's attempt to alter its image as an abettor of Islamic extremism in Afghanistan seems to have backfired with the newly-established Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) taking no decision on Islamabad's application for membership while admitting Uzbekistan. ......
 
• Pakistan stung by Stinger sting
• Shri Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India, June 18, 2001
>>> In a huge embarrassment to Pakistan on the eve of the visit to Washington by its foreign minister Abdul Sattar, US federal agents have arrested two New Jersey-based Pakistanis for trying to illegally obtain high-tech weapons, including Stinger missiles and M-47 Dragon anti-tank guided missiles. ......
 
• Plot to blow up police chief's office revealed
• Mr. Ranjit Khome, The Times of India, June 18, 2001
>>> The interrogation of two Kashmiri militants arrested by the Delhi police on May 21 has revealed a plot to blow up the police commissioner's office here. The police had also seized some explosives from them. ......
 
• On another planet
• Senay Boztas, The Sunday Times, June 17, 2001
>>> In its long and lonely orbit, Mars this weekend reaches one of its closest points to Earth for years. At a mere 42m miles away the red planet is a striking sight and, for astrologers at least, a portent of frenzied activity, accidents and mistakes. ......
 
• Culture of violence
• Prof Khalid Mahmud, Dawn, June 17, 2001
>>> At long last the government came out with a three-phase plan of action to recover illegal arms. The so-called 'awareness and persuasion' stage has come to a close with nothing much to show for it, although the police officials have been juggling with statistics to prove that the effort has not been in vain. ......
 
• Kashmir an integral part of India: Govt
• PTI, The Times of India, June 17, 2001
>>> India on Saturday made it clear that Jammu and Kashmir was its integral part, a day after Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf sought to downplay the recent remarks of external affairs minister Jaswant Singh on the issue. ......
 
• Onus on Pakistan to restore peace in J&K: Bodansky
• Som Chivukula, Rediff on Net, June 17, 2001
>>> For over a decade, Yossef Bodansky has been fiercely attacking Pakistan in his lectures and books, holding Islamabad responsible for escalating terror attacks in the region and for making itself a fountainhead of religious fundamentalism. ......
 
• Cardinal Wears Roman Collar in Saudi Arabia
• Mark Zimmermann, The Examiner, June 16, 2001
>>> Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick believes he may have made history in late March, during his visit to Saudi Arabia as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. ......
 
• Srikrishna report: Sena to move HC, plans drive
• The Indian Express, June 16, 2001
>>> To counter the Democratic Front government’s move to implement the Srikrishna Commission’s report, the Shiv Sena today chalked out a two-pronged strategy which consists of challenging the action before the High Court and simultaneously launching a massive campaign to gain political mileage. ......
 
• Budget shows how cost of Kashmir has finally caught up with Pakistan
• Sonia Trikha, The Indian Express, June 16, 2001
>>> Pakistan, it turns out, has done more than mortagage its security with a historic Rs 2 billion-cut in its defence outlay ahead of the July 14 summit. In a document signed by the Pakistan Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and Governor of State Bank of Pakistan Ishrat Husain, it has virtually pledged the country's economic sovereignty to the International Monetary Fund. ......
 
• ‘Profane’ Ad Crucified
• Peter Fearon, The New York Post, June 16, 2001
>>> Catholics are outraged at a newspaper ad showing a churchgoing Catholic man carrying a bowl of Lipton onion dip for his Communion wafer. ......
 
• ‘Pak the cradle of terrorism’
• Pioneer News Service, The Pioneer, June 16, 2001
>>> Pakistan's deep political and military links with the Taliban are coming home to roost. Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar's visits to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States are turning out to be diplomatic minefields with the leader being subjected to pointed scrutiny. ......
 
• Osama bin Laden’s man held with RDX - Plan to blast US embassy unearthed
• Gaurav Kala, The Times of India, June 16, 2001
>>> Indraprasth - A Sudanese national, said to be working for Osama bin Laden, and his Indian accomplice were arrested by the Delhi Police in a joint operation with central intelligence agencies from south Delhi on Thursday. ......
 
• Kuwait seeks closure of ‘illegal’ Sikh temple
• www.sifynews.com, June 16, 2001
>>> Kuwaiti authorities will seek to close a Sikh temple that has been operating in the emirate since 1985 in contravention of Islamic law, the municipality's chairman told Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper on Friday. ......
 
• Srikrishna report: Sena to move HC, launch public drive
• Express News Service, The Indian Express, June 16, 2001
>>> To counter the Democratic Front government’s move to implement the Srikrishna Commission report, the Shiv Sena today chalked out a two-pronged strategy. ......
 
• Integrally Indian - Pakistan is not an option in Kashmir
• A. M. Khusro, The Indian Express, June 16, 2001
>>> If one were in Srinagar or anywhere in the Kashmir Valley in the late 1980s or early 1990s, one would find that nearly everybody had fallen foul of India, whatever the reasons, and had turned a votary of Pakistan. ......
 
• ASI unearths 8th century settlement in Coochbehar
• Dhiman Chattopadhyay and Amlan Chakraborty, The Times of India, June 15, 2001
>>> Coochbehar / Kolkata: Thanks to the excavation carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Gosanimari hitherto an obscure place in Coochbehar has become an attraction for tourists and historians. The excavation, which started a few years ago, has revealed remnants of a settlement which dates back to more than 1,000 years to the heydays of Bengal’s best known dynasty, the Pala era. ......
 
• Litigation will not solve Ayodhya issue: Advani
• The Times of India, June 15, 2001
>>> Union home minister L. K. Advani’s sixth deposition before the Liberhan commission was spent discussing the relative merits of different proposals to solve the Ayodhya tangle and analysing the political gains different parties made out of the issue. ......
 
• Someone else’s peace - Two warring nations and an Indian contingent in Africa
• Saeed Naqvi, The Indian Express, June 15, 2001
>>> Last week the temperature at Bada was 65 degree celsius. Spare a thought for Lance Naik Rajesh Kuile of the 12 Maratha Light Infantry, keeping watch in that sizzling heat from the terrace of a prefabricated structure, part of an observation post in the heart of Danakil Depression, the world’s hottest place. Kuile is with the 1,200 strong Indian battalion, part of UNMEE, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. ......
 
• Maoist red star rises over Nepal
• Ajay Suri, The Indian Express, June 14, 2001
>>> Tucked away in mid-western Nepal are names that are exotic even to the intrepid back packer: Rukum, Rolpa, Ramechap, Sindupelchok, Khotang, Sinduli, Panchthar. There’re also seemingly so distant from governance and development that they have cradled the movement that’s now the bane of the Nepalese government: the dreaded, shadowy Maoist uprising. ......
 
• Ordinance was withdrawn to appease minority, says Advani
• PTI, The Times of India, June 14, 2001
>>> Home Minister L. K. Advani on Wednesday said the V.P. Singh government’s commitment to the policy of appeasement resulted in the withdrawal of a 1990 ordinance to acquire land around the disputed structure at Ayodhya, which was to be handed over for kar seva. ......
 
• Bradford uneasy as Hindu-Muslim tensions emerge
• Shyam Bhatia, India Abroad, June 14, 2001
>>> Communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims have become evident in the English city of Bradford where a 350,000-strong white majority coexists uneasily with 85,000 Asians, predominantly Pakistani Muslims. ......
 
• Kashmiri groups in PoK flay Pak’s dual-policy
• The Times of India, June 14, 2001
>>> Accusing Pakistan of dual standards on the issue of Kashmir, a conglomerate of political groups in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) has said Islamabad was "shedding crocodile tears on the issue of self-determination for Kashmiris while denying the same in areas under its occupation." ......
 
• Mosques are for worship - It’s the presence of militants in them that’s sacrilegious
• Editorial, The Indian Express, June 14, 2001
>>> The point that worship centres cannot be a safe haven for terrorists was brought home when the security forces stormed the Ganai Mohalla mosque at Shangus in Anantnag district and killed the six militants holed up there. It has forced the All Party Hurriyat Conference leader, Abdul Ghani Lone, to make an appeal to militants to desist from using mosques as a base for their operations. ......
 
• Hurriyat hawks back in business
• Nazir Masoodi, The Indian Express, June 14, 2001
>>> Pan-Islamist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani today rejected all possible solutions to the Kashmir issue within the ambit of the Constitution. He warned that if Pakistan agrees to India's overtures, it will be responsible for weakening the will of the Kashmir people and their justified struggle for self-determination. ......
 
• Weak in the knees
• Brahma Chellaney, The Hindustan Times, June 14, 2001
>>> A Weak, soft, corrupt, pusillanimous republic. That is the popular perception about India among Indians. Like the leadership it has, the republic appears weak in the knees. It displays a poverty of ambition, moves tentatively forward in the style of an old man's gait, and has a predilection for weak-kneed policies. ......
 
• India will help shape 21st century, says Clinton
• Suman Guha Mozumder, India Abroad, June 13, 2001
>>> Former US president Bill Clinton told a large gathering of Indian Americans here that the course of the 21st century would be shaped by, among other things, what happens in India. ......
 
• Ayodhya solution was in sight during Shekhar’s term: Joshi
• The Times of India, June 13, 2001
>>> Union HRD minister M.M. Joshi's deposition before the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday focussed on the July 1992 kar seva. When the commission's counsel, Anupam Gupta, asked him for the background of and reasons for the kar seva, Mr Joshi replied that “a solution was in sight” during Chandra Shekhar's tenure as the Prime Minister ......
 
• Public turn against ultras using mosques for refuge
• Mufti Islah, The Indian Express, June 13, 2001
>>> The increasing use of mosques as hideouts by militants is being described by security agencies as a sign that militants have lost public goodwill and are now trying to whip up religious passions. The past 11 years of conflict in the Valley have seen several instances – three in the past fortnight – when militants have used mosques. ......
 
• When the General comes calling, will it bring peace? (Interview)
• The Times of India, June 13, 2001
>>> Q. What are your expectations from Gen. Musharraf’s forthcoming visit to Delhi?
A. At this stage, it is not possible to have any significant expectations. This is only the first meeting between Prime Minister Vajpayee and the General who carried out the Kargil aggression. A lot will depend upon the personal chemistry between the two. In that respect Gen. Musharraf carries a lot of undesirable baggage. ......
 
• Ayodhya solution was in sight during Shekhar’s term: Joshi
• www.bdhindu.com, June 12, 2001
>>> Minority Persecution in Bangladesh as a semi institutionalized process is virtually a continuation of the policy of the Pakistani rulers who ruled Bangladesh until 1971. The Islamic supremacist groups in that country maintain sustained assaults on minorities as part of ethnic cleansing. ......
 
• The Minority Situation in Bangladesh
• www.bdhindu.com, June 12, 2001
>>> Minority Persecution in Bangladesh as a semi institutionalized process is virtually a continuation of the policy of the Pakistani rulers who ruled Bangladesh until 1971. The Islamic supremacist groups in that country maintain sustained assaults on minorities as part of ethnic cleansing. ......
 
• Women priests caste off convention
• Sarjoo Katkar, The Indian Express, June 12, 2001
>>> When Belgaum’s Jayashri Joshi planned to celebrate the 80th birthday of her father D.S. Talawalkar, she thought of engaging women purohits (priests) for the religious rites. She didn’t know she was initiating a caste and gender revolution. Her husband Shrikant welcomed the idea, but traditionalists were shocked. ......
 
• Pakistan: Colourful Race Faces Threat Of Slow Extinction
• Rory McCarthy, South China Morning Post, June 11, 2001
>>> Photographs of Kalash women, adorned with make-up and their necks laden with bright orange and yellow necklaces, have pride of place in Pakistani embassies across the world as symbols of the country's rich history. ......
 
• Russian Church Blacklists India-based Organisations
• Arun Mohanty, People’s Reporter, May 25 – June 10, 2001
>>> The Russian Orthodox Church, which is playing an increasingly important role in post-Soviet Russia, has blacklisted eight India-based religious organisations, including ISKCON and the Brahma Kumaris who have a strong presence in this country. ......
 
• Conversions Sri Lanka (un)Ltd.
• Atul Rawat, Organiser, June 3, 2001
>>> Economic liberalization comes with various kinds of frauds. Some are economic in nature, some are not. If one remembers, the Colonialism during the last centuries began from Europe with motives that are sometimes summed up as three “Gs’-the Gold, the God and the Glory. ......
 
• Role of Media Crucial
• Arabinda Ghose, Organiser, June 3, 2001
>>> The wild accusations by Mamata Banerjee against the outgoing Chief Election Commissioner in the context of rigging in the just-concluded State Assembly elections in West Bengal are deplorable. ......
 
• Islam’s Battle For Jerusalem... And The Entire World
• Alan Caruba, The Ether Zone
>>> Events in Israel reveal a reality the headlines do not address. Islam is at war with the West. Islam has set its eyes upon the capture and control of Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews and Christians alike. Its spiritual value to Islam is minimal. Its symbolic value is beyond price. ......
 
• Controversial Hindu Website comes back with Jewish help
• www.indya.com, June 13, 2001

>>> When its service provider pulled the plug on hinduunity.org, a Website run out of Queens and Long Island in New York, the Hindu group turned to a radical Jewish group in Brooklyn. ......
 
• “V P Singh too wanted to perform Kar Seva”: Advani
• UNI, The Hindu, June 13, 2001

>>> Union Home Minister L K Advani today said the then V P Singh Government had lost a chance to solve the Ayodhya issue in 1990 by withdrawing, under Muslim groups' pressure an ordinance to acquire the undisputed land around the Babri mosque to be handed over to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for temple construction. ......
 
• Kashmiris up in arms in PoK - Rejection of nomination papers
• The Daily Excelsior, June 12, 2001

>>> Nationalist Kashmiris in Pakistan occupied Kashmir are up in arms against the rejection of their nomination papers for the Assembly elections next month on the grounds that they did not sign a statement supporting Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. ......
 
• Mission Lands Losing Native Priests to the West
• www.Zenit.org, June 12, 2001

>>> Priests born in mission territories often end up working in the West, draining their homelands of sorely needed pastoral care, the Vatican warns in a new document. ......
 
• Court OKs School Religious Meetings
• Anne Gearan, www.excite.com, June 11, 2001

>>> The Supreme Court ruled for a Christian youth group Monday in a church-state battle over whether religious groups must be allowed to meet in public schools after class hours. ......
 
• Nuns jailed for aiding massacre of 7,000 Tutsis
• David Haworth, The Telegraph, June 9, 2001

>>> Two Roman Catholic nuns and two other ethnic Hutu militants were given long prison sentences yesterday for their part in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. ......
 
• Thoughts and Emotions From Tel Aviv Attack
• MDA News Flashes, June 6, 2001

>>> Over the weekend, Gary Kenzer, the Executive Director of Magen David Adom, received an email from a personal friend from Magen David Adom in Israel. Many of you who are subscribers to our email list have read information written about this special person, Yochai, in recent emails. ......
 
• Defiant Pak flays Afghan sanctions as ‘unjust’
• www.expressindia.com, June 6, 2001

>>> Irked by the findings of a UN committee that it is ignoring sanctions slapped on the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan has questioned the integrity of the panel and criticised the embargo imposed by the Security Council as an "unjust instrument" which is doomed to fail. ......
 
• Center helps ensure future of traditions
• Laura Fasbach, www.bergen.com, June 5, 2001

>>> Growing up American with Indian-born parents, 15-year-old Meera Jain has often felt the push and pull of trying to fit in with her peers while remembering where her family came from. ......
 
• Waiting For Musharraf
• B.Raman, June 5, 2001

>>> Gen.Pervez Musharraf, the self-styled Chief Executive of Pakistan, is as good a communicator as the late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, but with a difference. Whereas Zia effectively concealed his ambitions and arrogance behind a veneer of humility, Gen.Musharraf makes no effort to conceal his personal ambitions and his perception  ......
 
• Tackle Mr Hyde, not Mush Musharraf
• Arvind Lavakare, Rediff on Net, June 5, 2001

>>> More than a month before he sets foot on our soil, our press has begun to put out those soft, human-interest stories about him. News of General Musharraf's acceptance of Vajpayee's invitation was, for instance, accompanied by a front-page box item about how keen Musharraf is to see his old home in Delhi where he was born and spent his first ten years or so. ......
 
• UK: The race relations industry is playing into the hands of the thugs.
• Yorkshire Post, June 4, 2001

>>> Why be surprised when young Asian thugs in Oldham throw petrol bombs at the police? The race relations industry tells them that they are deprived, under-privileged victims of discrimination, living in a racist society. They are told endlessly that the police are racist. ......
 
• ‘I am a Muslim woman’
• Dr. Sauad M. Al-Sabah, Dr. Darabi Foundation

>>> I am a Moslem woman. I have no face. I have no identity. At age 9, based on lunar year (a lunar year is twelve months of 28 days each or 336 days) or, when I am actually 8 years and 8 months old, I am considered an adult. Being an adult means that I have to adhere with Islamic laws as stated below. ......
 
• Assam missionaries face ‘conversion’ flak
• Samudra Gupta Kashyap, The Indian Express, June 6, 2001

>>> Vaishnavite satras (monasteries) have accused Christian missionaries in Assam with converting Assamese tribals and tea plantation labourers forcibly. ......
 
• Caste in the race
• Editorial, The Hindustan Times, June 6, 2001

>>> A UN proposal to convene a World Congress on ‘Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance’ in Durban appears to have provoked a section of the intelligentsia in this country and overseas to urge that India’s caste system should also be brought into the ambit of the discussion. ......
 
• Kashmir’s forgotten people - Ashish Sharma on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits
• Business Standard, June 5, 2001

>>> From words of war to a war of words, it is yet another concession to hope in the tragedy of terrors being enacted in Kashmir. Even as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee readies to host Pakistan Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf, the most neglected and yet perhaps the most telling component of the troubled picture remains out of focus. ......
 
• Shiva and Ganesh Hit the Runways
• Rina Chandran, Masala Magazine, June 4, 2001

>>> Last summer Macy's-at-Herald-Square wore a Bollywood look; this year, Bloomingdale's is sporting a more divine look. Its "Urban Odyssey" collection for spring includes a range of ready-to-wear garments with images of Hindu deities. ......
 
• Who killed the royal family of Nepal?
• Rajeev Srinivasan, Rediff on Net, June 4, 2001

>>> There is something not quite right in the agency reports regarding the mysterious deaths of the royal family of Nepal. First, there is the curious story that the crown prince, Dipendra, having massacred his entire family, then tried to kill himself. He might have succeeded, except he contrived to shoot himself in the back of the head. ......
 
• Copy of Fax/dt.June-3-01/sent to PM: J&K policy
• Pranawa C. Deshmukh, June 4, 2001

>>> SanMananiya Pradhan Mantriji: We commend your continued efforts to resolve the Jammu & Kashmir imbroglio. In this endeavor, we trust that you will be guided by the following FACTS: ......
 
• Calls for Slavery Restitution Getting Louder
• Tamar Lewin, The New York Times, June 4, 2001

>>> It has been more than a century since Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman ordered that the coastlands confiscated in the Civil War be divided into 40-acre plots and distributed to thousands of former slaves. ......
 
• The Organic Kaka
• Vivek Deshpande, Sunday Indian Express, June 3, 2001

>>> Many years before the organically inclined arrived on the scene, there was one man in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra who had already switched to the what's now hip and mainstream.  Narayan Deorao Pandharipande (82) is better known as Nadep Kaka and for good reason - he is the inventor of one of the seven established methods of compost manufacture. ......
 
• 10 killed in Bangladesh in church blast
• The Times of India, June 3, 2001

>>> Ten people were killed Sunday and 12 others injured, some seriously, when a bomb exploded in a church at Baniarchar village in Gopalganj district, some 100 km from here, where people had assembled for Sunday mass prayer. ......
 
• Anti-Muslim Groups Unite Through Internet
• Dean E. Murphy, The New York Times, June 2, 2001

>>> A Web site run by militant Hindus in Queens and Long Island was recently shut down by its service provider because of complaints that it advocated hatred and violence toward Muslims. But a few days later, the site was back on the Internet. ......
 
• Prominent Hindu, Sikh And Jewish Leaders Deplore Taliban Savagery
• By Narain Kataria In New York

>>> Overseas Friends of BJP, along with approximately 20 prominent associations (including three Jewish groups) organized a boisterous demonstration in front of the United Nations in New York on Friday 1, 2001 in which more than 200 people representing various shades of public opinion enthusiastically participated. ......
 
• French Christians Fear Ramifications Of Anti-Sect Law
• www.crosswalk.com, June 1, 2001

>>> French Christians are bracing for problems resulting from the passage this week of a controversial new law aimed at controlling the activities of dangerous religious sects, but also likely to affect ordinary churches. ......
 
• Personal Evangelism Among Educated Hindus
• H.L. Richards, Mission Frontier

>>> Friendship evangelism is usually easy to initiate with Hindus. Most Hindus esteem religion in general and are free and open to speak about it. A sincere, nonjudgemental interest in all aspects of Indian Life will provide a good basis for friendship. Personal interaction with Hindus will lead to a more certain grasp of the essence of Hinduism than reading many books. ......