This Months Article

Starting: Thu November 1, 2001
Ending: Fri November 30, 2001

Messages: 302

• Saffron State as terrorist
• Sitaram Yechury, The Hindustan Times, November 28, 2001

>>> Not with standing verbose pontification and spreading of motivated disinformation by Union ministers, the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) has clearly been promulgated more to advance the RSS/BJP's partisan political agenda than to combat terrorism. ......
 
• Seven Days in a forest
• M G Vaidya, Tarun Bharat, November 25, 2001

>>> Mananiya Shri M. G. Vaidya, now the Spokesman of RSS had been to Jashpurnagar in Chhatisgarh State for the annual meeting of Sangh Pracharaks in November.  The journey is through forest area. They were only for seven days in this area populated by forest-dwellers or tribals.  A brief account of their exhilerating experience and what they saw there. ......
 
• ‘Five Britons died fighting for the Taliban in Mazar’
• Cahal Milmo, The Independent, UK, November 17, 2001

>>> Five British Muslims have been killed while fighting for the Taliban in the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif captured by Northern Alliance troops last week, it was claimed yesterday. ......
 
• The real damage has been done outside Afghanistan
• Alice Thomson, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 16, 2001

>>> Mad Mullah Omar can urge his troops to stop scattering like slaughtered chickens, but it's nearly over. The roses at the embassy in Kabul are being pruned to receive the first British ambassador in 21 years. Food is floating into Afghanistan on barges. In Kabul, the men have shaved off enough facial hair to supply all the journalists with soft mattresses. ......
 
• Saudi Prince Warns Clerics on Rhetoric
• International Herald Tribune, UK, November 16, 2001

>>> Saudi Arabia's crown prince has asked clerics to tone down their sermons to avoid embarrassing the kingdom or aggravating anti-Muslim sentiment around the world following the September attacks on the United States. ......
 
• Rejoicing in Kabul raises questions for Muslim scholars
• Philip Smucker, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 16, 2001

>>> While the brainwashing of Muslim young men continued in earnest in Pakistan's hard-line Islamic schools yesterday, confused students began to cast doubt on the diatribes of their mentors. ......
 
• The war is just beginning, say extremists in Britain
• Richard Alleyne, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 15, 2001

>>> Members of extreme Muslim groups in Britain remained defiant yesterday despite the apparent collapse of the Taliban regime. ......
 
• Opportunistic cronies
• Faisal Bodi, The Guardian, UK, November 13, 2001

>>> In a calamity a thief but sees an opportunity to steal. Far be it for me to accuse fellow Muslims of behaving like the fabled kleptomaniac of the Arabian Nights, but if the thief of Baghdad had a modern political equivalent he would surely be found in the pack of opportunists capitalising on the fallout from September 11. ......
 
• Harrowing tales of depravity Where child marriage is the norm
• Star Roving Team, The Daily Star, November 10, 2001

>>> Despite intensive campaigns by successive governments, child marriage is widely prevalent in Bhola district, particularly in the Hindu community, for what they call "lack of security for female children." ......
 
• Honest intellectuals must shed their spiritual turbans
• Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, International Herald Tribune, UK, November 8, 2001

>>> On Oct. 7, while American-led forces were making their final preparations to deliver the first strikes in the new world war against terrorism, the armed forces of my country were bracing for further attacks by terrorists who have killed 64,000 Sri Lankans in 18 years. ......
 
• Sri Lanka Knows About Terrorism
• Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, International Herald Tribune, UK, November 8, 2001

>>> On Oct. 7, while American-led forces were making their final preparations to deliver the first strikes in the new world war against terrorism, the armed forces of my country were bracing for further attacks by terrorists who have killed 64,000 Sri Lankans in 18 years. ......
 
• Hypocrisy Wins
• Editorial, International Herald Tribune, UK, November 8, 2001

>>> “You don’t belong to a country club that excludes blacks or Jews,” Bernadine Healy, outgoing president of the American Red Cross, once said. Her departure is a blow to an organization that profited greatly from her leadership for two years. ......
 
• Religious schools ‘need to broaden curriculum’
• Amit Roy, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 8, 2001

>>> The Pakistani High Commissioner to London has called for urgent reforms to the religious schools in Pakistan and Britain. ......
 
• Keepers of British war graves pay the price
• Sandra Laville, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 8, 2001

>>> For more than 100 years the Bakhush family has tended the graves of British soldiers, guarding the resting places of the men who died in the second Afghan war, and welcoming relatives of those who were killed defending an outpost of the Empire. ......
 
• Taliban forces hide in mosques and hospitals
• Philip Smucker, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 7, 2001

>>> The Taliban and its allies in the al-Qa'eda terror network are developing ever-more ingenious methods of eluding American bombs, including the redeployment of forces to ancient archaeological sites, mosques and even relief organisation offices. ......
 
• A corrosive national danger in our multicultural model
• Hugo Young, The Guardian, UK, November 6, 2001

>>> When immigration was first becoming an issue in British politics, the question of patriotism barely arose. Loyalty was not the major problem, let alone the right of a citizen to support war against Britain and her allies. ......
 
• The Anti-Semitism of the Islamo-Fascists
• The New Republic, November 5, 2001

>>> One of the most vivid experiences of my time as a graduate student at Harvard was a seminar I took with the preeminent liberal political theorist John Rawls. The discussion centered on Rawls's later work, in which he divorced his liberalism from the claim of absolute truth. ......
 
• What are we fighting against? It’s simple - fundamentalism
• Barbara Amiel, The Daily Telegraph, UK, November 5, 2001

>>> In The Times of November 2 a page titled “War on terror Israel” Michael Binyon wrote a short history of the Jewish state. It contained the following paragraph: “Britain tried to govern a largely Arab Palestine while encouraging Jewish immigration. Clashes grew, and by 1945 Britain tried to halt the influx. ......
 
• British jehadis and the definition of war
• Farrukh Dhondy, The Times of India, November 5, 2001

>>> There is growing anxiety in Britain about what Bush, Blair, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, are all agreed is a war. Bush and Blair say it's a war against terrorism and consequently a war against the Afghan State which shelters it. ......
 
• From the bloody pages of Al-Qaida’s killing manual
• Nick Fielding, The Times of India, November 5, 2001

>>> A unique manual for Islamic terrorists, detailing every aspect of how to fight a guerrilla war, from biochemical attacks to finding the fatal pressure point during hand-to-hand combat, has been obtained by western intelligence agencies. ......
 
• Victory Changes Everything . . .
• Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, November 30, 2001

>>> Hundreds of holy warriors lie dead in a prison near Mazar-e Sharif. Ramadan is violated by the hail of American bombs. Infidel Americans land in force on Muslim soil near Kandahar. "We now own a piece of Afghanistan," says Brig. Gen. James Mattis. ......
 
• Don’t stress non-issues
• MC Joshi, The Daily Pioneer, November 29, 2001

>>> In his write-up 'In the grip of Islamophobia' (November 13) Mr Sidharth Bhatia has said that in recent years, currying favour with the Indian Government and basking at the new found acknowledgement of their presence by their adopted countries, Hindu NRIs have become more vocal at getting their point of view across ......
 
• The silent Imams
• Charles Krauthammer, Mid-Day, November 29, 2001

>>> President George Bush visits the main Washington mosque and declares Islam a religion of peace. He urges Americans to publicly accompany and protect ‘women of cover' - Islamic faithful wearing the shawl. He encourages American school children to find a Muslim pen pal. ......
 
• Fortune cookie crumbles
• Anil Narendra, The Pioneer, November 29, 2001

>>> September 11 and November 13 are two dates which Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf will always remember. After the September 11 attacks, General Musharraf became an overnight star in the Western world. However, November 13 brought him down to "ground zero". ......
 
• Lend a helping hand to Bangladeshi Hindus – Mohan Bhagwat
• Organiser, November 25, 2001

>>> An endless flow of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh into Bharat seeking shelter and security has once again put the Hindu society in a cruel dilemma. Branded as the pro-Awami League voters in the recent elections, the Hindu minority was chosen as the target by the Muslim murderous mobs backed by their own political masters. ......
 
• World accepts India’s agenda on terrorism – Arun Jaitley
• Aniket Raja, Organiser, November 25, 2001

>>> “Fifteen years of terrorism in India has cost India 54,000 lives which no single war would have done that loss, and terrorist organisations such as Al Qaida and Lashkar-e-Toiba are spreading terrorism in India under the cover of jehad and freedom fight. ......
 
• Check Minorities commission or close Archaeological Survey
• Prafull Goradia, Organiser, November 25, 2001

>>> It is not widely realised that just one. 19th century archaeologist, Lt Gen Sir Alexander Cunningham has left behind records sufficient to fill 23 hard bound volumes recently published by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). This quantum of records are a miniscule part of the survey treasure available with the ASI. Hardly any of this literature is referred to in the books of Indian. history that I happen to have read. ......
 
• Fighting for freedom
• M. V. Kamath, Organiser, November 25, 2001

>>> In recent weeks there has been a great deal of talk about 'Freedom fighters' in Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf going out of his way to describe terrorists operating in there as “freedom fighters”. The General has some queer idea about fighting for freedom. ......
 
• POTO in toto
• A R Kanangi, Afternoon Despatch & Courier, November 24, 2001

>>> Can we trust the police? Can we allow a police officer to be a magistrate as well? Can we really expect a policeman not to use force - third degree - to extract a confession from an accused. ......
 
• Al Qaida Killing Taliban fighters to prevent surrender
• The Times of India, November 19, 2001

>>> A grim situation prevails in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz with hundreds of Taliban fighters holed up in the besieged city killing each other to avoid capture by the advancing Northern Alliance troops. ......
 
• Refuge in New York?
• Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, The Times of India, November 18, 2001

>>> As Yogi Berra would have put it, its deja vu all over again. Eleven years ago, when George Bush Sr launched the Gulf War against Iraq, Indian intellectuals let loose a cannonade of articles on how stupid and dumb Bush was; on how he failed to see the religious consequences of attack ......
 
• Does President Mushrraf have only a single-point agenda: Kashmir? (Part II of II)
• Ayaz Amir, The Times of India, November 18, 2001

>>> Kashmir is important for Pakistan and President Mushrraf not least because the UN Security Council resolutions calling for a plebiscite there remain unfulfilled. But Kashmir does not define Pakistan just as Taiwan does not define China. ......
 
• Does President Mushrraf have only a single-point agenda: Kashmir? (Part I of II)
• Brahma Chellaney, The Times of India, November 18, 2001

>>> The answer has to be an emphatic yes, given Musharraf's phobic fixation on Kashmir. Musharraf's career, with its record of combat in Siachin and commando operations elsewhere in Kashmir, is testament to the need he has always felt to prove his credentials in the Punjabi-dominated military establishment. ......
 
• Hindu seers condemn religious conversions in India
• Sugita Katyal, Yahoo News, November 15, 2001

>>> Hindu religious leaders and scholars voiced strong opposition on Thursday to religious conversions in India and urged different faiths to live together in harmony instead. ......
 
• Pakistan Sends Supplies To Taliban
• Bill Gertz, The Washington Times, November 1, 2001

>>> The Taliban militia is receiving military and other supplies covertly from Pakistan despite the Islamabad government's backing for American military operations, according to U.S. officials. The military goods, including ammunition and fuel, are being sent with the help of elements of the Pakistani government, said officials familiar with intelligence reports of the transfers. ......
 
• ISI does not give a damn about American Threat
• Rediff on Net, November 30, 2001

>>> Former Inter Services Intelligence operative in Kashmir Mir Khursheed claims he can organise the surrender of Kashmiri militants if the Government of India promises them amnesty. ......
 
• China must stop missile supplies to Pakistan: US
• Reuters, Yahoo News, November 30, 2001

>>> Washington, November 30: The United States, underscoring a post-September 11 pledge to defeat terrorism, will hang tough in high-level talks with China on Friday and renew a demand that the Chinese curb missile cooperation with Pakistan, a senior US official said. ......
 
• US feared ISI during Clinton's Pakistan visit: Report
• Rediff on Net, November 30, 2001

>>> A belief among United States security agencies that Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence was 'badly penetrated by terrorists', including those from Al Qaeda, had prompted them to undertake major diversionary tactics during the visit of President Bill Clinton to Pakistan last year, according to a prominent American daily. ......
 
• Pakistan preparing to push Taliban into Kashmir, India
• The Tribune, November 30, 2001

>>> Pakistan may try to push in as many as 1,000 Taliban militia fighters who have fled Afghanistan through the Line of Control (LoC) into the Jammu region within the next fortnight, a top military official has warned. Brig P.C. Das of 16 Corps said here this afternoon that large- scale preparations were on across the LoC to ensure the entry of 1,000 Taliban men into India in the first phase within the next fortnight. ......
 
• The king of Greater Afghanistan
• Tariq Ali, The Guardian, November 30, 2001

>>> The Pandora's box of the American empire is still open, releasing its monsters and fears on a world still not fully under its control. The Northern Alliance is a confederation of monsters. Attaching dissidents to the chains of a tank and crushing them, executing defenceless prisoners, raping men and women, these are all in a day's work for the guardians of the heroin trade. Blemishes of yesteryear? No such luck. ......
 
• What happened in Kunduz?
• Rajeev Srinivasan, Rediff on Net, November 30, 2001

>>> A large number of Taleban were surrounded by Northern Alliance forces. This included both Afghan Taleban and several thousand "Arab, Pakistani and Chechen" fighters. Several Pakistani planes (and helicopters) were observed by eyewitnesses landing at night and ferrying away several hundred of the 10,000 or so besieged Taleban. ......
 
• With antiquated weapons, they fight hitech terrorists
• Dinesh Manhotra, The Daily Excelsior, November 30, 2001

>>> With ‘antiquated’ 303 rifles on their shoulders, three youth in their teens, were patrolling the Khalani-Guha road which has been considered as IED prone. Even security personnels do not dare to move on this track but these youth, without fear on their faces, have been manning the track. ......
 
• Terrorists could use Pakistani nukes against India, Israel, US
• P. Jayaram, The Hindustan Times, November 30, 2001

>>> "If there is a coup d'etat in Pakistan and extremists and terrorists get hold of their nuclear weapons, they will use them to destroy three countries -- you, us and the US" said Joseph Lapid, member of an Israeli parliamentary team currently visiting India. ......
 
• Action against extremists
• M. Ismail Khan, Dawn, November 29, 2001

>>> Sufi Mohammad is back from 'Jihad-i-Afghanistan' and has walked straight into Dera Ismail Khan jail. The Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) chief, who had gone to Afghanistan with thousands of his armed supporters trailing behind, keen to fight a holy war against the United States, lost no time in heading home when tables against Taliban began to turn. ......
 
• The ‘airlift of evil’
• Michael Moran, MSNBC, November 29, 2001

>>> A convoy of several hundred Taliban soldiers evacuate their northern foothold of Kunduz to surrender to opposing Northern Alliance forces earlier this week. ......
 
• Chinese Regime Threatens Existence of a Diocese
• ZENIT.org, November 29, 2001

>>> The Catholic Diocese of Feng Xiang in the central Chinese province of Shaanxi may be in danger of disappearing. ......
 
• Man And Religion
• Swami Sandarshanananda, The Statesman, November 28, 2001

>>> “War begins at heart”. Unless the heart is cleansed of evil, hostility will persist. It is now a crisis of rationality. Man is rational only when he is spiritual. What is being taught in the name of religion today is pure and simple barbarism. The significance of religion in human life is irrevocable. But it is not the same religion which provokes so-called jihad or “crusade” or dharma-yuddha. ......
 
• US shelves trade, tariff concession package
• Sajid Aziz, The Jung, November 28, 2001

>>> The US government has shelved the plan to extend a package of trade and tariff concessions to Pakistan as compensation for the colossal losses the country's trade with US had suffered in the wake of September 11 incidents, sources said here Tuesday. ......
 
• ‘Vajpayeeji helped me make this film’
• Rediff on Net, November 27, 2001

>>> He was called the crown prince of the revolutionaries. Veer Savarkar led the life a legend. And the saga of this martyr and freedom fighter captured on 70 mm is all set to hit screen later this week to inspire the latent patriot in all Indians. ......
 
• Justice, 200 Years Later
• Bob Herbert, The New York Times, November 26, 2001

>>> The Cayuga Indians are a tiny, poverty-stricken, widely scattered tribe that lost its ancestral home in western New York more than 200 years ago. ......
 
• Bangla Minorities
• Editorial, The Statesman, November 25, 2001

>>> It is disappointing to hear the same cliches being repeated by ministers of the BNP-led government that they would not tolerate persecution of minorities in Bangladesh. Heart rending reports of their continuing persecution and the killing of a principal of a Chittagong college in broad daylight by supporters of Jamat e Islami, are still being published by Bangladesh’s press. ......
 
• Destruction of Decorum
• George Fernandes, The Statesman, November 25, 2001

>>> Is India’s Parliament which represents the collective will of a billion Indians becoming an irrelevant institution or is it degenerating into another state assembly of Bihar where rules are meant to be broken and the well of the House is treated as a wrestling ring? ......
 
• When it comes to tinkering with textbooks, LF Govt isn’t far behind
• HT Correspondent, The Hindustan Times, November 24, 2001

>>> Despite repeated Opposition charges of tampering with State's school textbooks to incorporate a heavy dose of red ideology, the Left Front Government's education department refuses to take heed. ......
 
• ‘Jehad turns sour for Pak volunteers’
• Cecile Feuillatre, The Times of India, November 24, 2001

>>> They left Pakistan with their heads held high to fight a holy war with their Taliban “brothers” in Afghanistan, only to return without having fired a shot and with a deep sense of betrayal. ......
 
• Islamic terrorists or just plain terrorists?
• Arvind Virmani, The Economic Times, November 24, 2001

>>> Since September 11 many of us have taken a close interest in the media debates on terrorism. One of the issues that have repeatedly come up is the unfairness involved in calling terrorist organisations such as ‘Al Qaeda’ as ‘Islamic terrorists.’ There is an unstated implication that those who use this appellation are anti-Islam and are using this unfortunate episode to tar all Muslims and Islam with the same brush. ......
 
• Alliance Reports Planes Flew Into Kunduz to Rescue Fighters
• Dexter Filkins and Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, November 23, 2001

>>> Northern Alliance soldiers said today that Pakistani airplanes had once again flown into the encircled city of Kunduz to evacuate Pakistanis who have been fighting alongside Afghan Taliban forces trapped there. ......
 
• Curry ‘may slow Alzheimer’s’
• BBC News, November 21, 2001

>>> A spicy ingredient of many curries may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease, say researchers. ......
 
• ‘Stop bombings to stop boycott’
• Mid-Day, November 20, 2001

>>> The happy images on television of Afghans celebrating the flight of the Taliban from Kabul have not convinced Mumbai’s Sadik Ali to give up his boycott of American soft drinks and food products. ......
 
• The CM and the Commissars
• Editorial, The Telegraph, November 17, 2001

>>> The meaningless controversy over the Russian film, Taurus, contains a warning for the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. It is clear that stalwarts within his own party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have decided to pressurize and override him on his own turf, culture. ......
 
• Come all ye faithful
• Rudrangshu Mukherjee, The Telegraph, November 17, 2001

>>> P.C. Joshi, the legendary general secretary of the Communist Party of India, who, in the words of an admirer, “lit up the lives of some of us”, had a remarkable story to tell in one of his pieces. The story was about Susobhan Chandra Sarkar, another legendary figure in the world of history teaching in Calcutta. Joshi considered Sarkar to be one of his “best friends”. ......
 
• Yesterday’s homilies thrown to the bin
• Sandeep Gopalan, The Statesman, November 17, 2001

>>> Greatness is a tremendous burden. As America indulges in repeated assertions of its own greatness, allowing the word’s tonic quality to soothe residual doubts, one wonders, if it is so great after all. ......
 
• Natural allies in the making
• K P Nayar, The Telegraph, November 16, 2001

>>> An unfortunate aspect of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s just concluded visit to Washington was the relatively low public profile of the prime minister’s day-long activities in Capitol Hill on the first day of his stay in America’s capital. ......
 
• Christian widows to get share in husband property
• Our Special Correspondent, The Telegraph, November 16, 2001

>>> The Cabinet today agreed to amend the Indian Succession Act to give a Christian widow her “distributive” share in the property of her deceased husband. More important, she will get her share even if there is a contract to the contrary. ......
 
• The new terror in Bangladesh: tortured Hindus flee to India
• M V Kamath, The Free Press Journal, November 15, 2001

>>> First it began in Pakistan. Even before partition formally took place, several million Hindus and Sikhs left territory that had been formally marked out as Pakistan for safety in India. How many millions were killed, injured and mutilated has never been accurately accounted. Numberless women were raped or converted into Islam. Today there are hardly any Hindus in Pakistan. ......
 
• Record Diwali turnout in Durban
• Farook Khan, Independent Online, November 12, 2001

>>> A record crowd of 120 000 turned up for the Diwali festivities on the Durban beachfront at the weekend. ......
 
• On a low key
• Editorial, The Telegraph, November 6, 2001

>>> Seeing a problem in its right perspective is often half solving it. There is no point denying, as officials at Writers’ Buildings and the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Calcutta initially did, that some Hindu families had actually fled their homes in that country and crossed over to West Bengal. ......
 
• The need for a new Indic school of thought
• David Frawley, European Business Review/New European, Volume 13, No. 6, 2001

>>> During the Eurocolonial period, Indian history and civilization were distorted to fit European perceptions. A new school of thought is needed that will see Asian history and tradition with Asian eyes and thought, beginning with India. ......
 
• The West’s great psychological blunder
• David Frawley, Hindu Vision

>>> The West has made many blunders relative to Islam. These have resulted from a failure to understand the Muslim psyche and its psychology. What America doesn’t realize is that the country is now making perhaps an even greater blunder as they belatedly go after Islamic terrorism after it has just brutally attacked them, an attack that they should have seen coming. Most terrorists begin as disturbed, angry, dispossessed or humiliated young men. ......
 
• Islamic Terrorism springs from Quranic Jehad
• Ibn Warraq, Hindu Vision

>>> Given the stupefying enormity of the acts of barbarism of September 11, moral outrage is appropriate and justified, as are demands for punishment and reprisals. But what is not justified or permissible in a civilised society is acts of vengeance by lynch mobs who blindly attack all those whom they perceive as “Muslims” or Arabs. ......
 
• In defence of ‘Saffronisation’
• K. R. Malkani, Hindu Vision

>>> Recently the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) produced the National Curriculum Framework for School Education.’ Here was, in the words of NCERT Director, Prof J.S. Rajput, ‘the first ever honest attempt to modernise education by Upholding not only the deepest but forgotten values of Indian civilization, but also the sagely advice of the founding fathers of our nation.” ......
 
• A Federation of Swadeshi Churches
• Hindu Vision

>>> RSS Sarsanghchalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan has called for forming a federation of Indian Christians who subscribed to the idea of a Swadeshi Church. This, according to him, would be the first step towards the creation of a National Church in India which would be free of foreign controls of all kinds. ......
 
• India, US reach pact on military intelligence
• Deepak K. Upreti, The Deccan Herald, November 30, 2001

>>> In a major policy decision India, for the first time, has agreed to exchange military intelligence (MI) with US with both the countries agreeing to work out contours of the co- operation in future meetings. ......
 
• Tattle on terrorism, get US visa
• Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India, November 30, 2001

>>> The US Justice Department on Thursday announced the "Responsible Cooperators Program", under which it will offer immigration incentives to non-US citizens, including illegal aliens already in the country and aspirants living abroad, who come forward with credible information on terrorists. ......
 
• Taliban offer £30,000 a head to kill reporters
• Ian Traynor, The Guardian (UK), November 30, 2001

>>> Mullah Mohammed Omar has promised Afghans blood money for the murder of western journalists. With the roads of Afghanistan becoming ever more perilous for the huge international media presence in the country to report the war, the Taliban leader announced a bounty of $50,000 (£30,000) to any Afghan gunmen who shoot a western journalist. ......
 
• ‘Musharraf planned Kargil when I was PM’ : Bhutto
• Vir Sanghvi, The Hindustan Times, November 30, 2001

>>> In an exclusive interview, Benazir Bhutto demolished General Pervez Musharraf's claim that Kargil was a mujahideen operation. Ms Bhutto confirmed that when she was Prime Minister, General Musharraf had presented the same blueprint for an invasion of Kargil in the shape of a 'war-game'. "I put my foot down," Ms Bhutto recalled. "I said that if anything like this happens, it will be a big setback for Pakistan. We will be forced to withdraw." ......
 
• Minority cleansing in Bangladesh
• Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, November 30, 2001

>>> Begum Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, must be grateful to the war in Afghanistan which continues to hog media attention the world over. Otherwise the large-scale atrocities on the minorities (Hindus, Buddhists and Christians) and the Fascist repression on political opponents and dissenters, continuing in that country since the general elections of October 1 which returned her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to power with a massive majority, would have attracted worldwide condemnation. ......
 
• Debate on conversion law back to the fore
• Soumyajit Pattnaik, The Times of India, November 30, 2001

>>> Several instances of religious conversions, which are in violation of Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), have been reported in the state in the last few months. Reports of conversions were previously confined to the tribal dominated districts in the state. But the problem is now spreading to coastal Orissa after the super cyclone and the floods. ......
 
• ‘Musharraf weaker after Kabul’s fall’ (Interview with Benazir Bhutto)
• The Indian Express, November 29, 2001

>>> Q.: On balance, has Pakistan gained or lost due to the recent developments in Afghanistan?
A.: It depends on perception. My own party feels the Taliban was giving Pakistan a bad name. We had called upon the military regime to break relations with the Taliban in 1998. ......
 
• Most detainees are Pakistanis: US
• Tahir Mirza, Dawn, November 29, 2001

>>> More than a third of those rounded up after the Sept 11 attacks and still in custody are people of Pakistani origin, according to official figures released here on Tuesday. ......
 
• India’s spy satellite boost
• Habib Beary, BBC News, November 27, 2001

>>> India's Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), which can be used as a spy satellite, has been beaming down what space officials call "excellent pictures". ......
 
• Seeds of discord (Letters to the Editor)
• M Ratan, The Pioneer, November 23, 2001

>>> Sir - Mr A Surya Prakash, in his 8-part essay, ‘Islam and the Indian Constitution’ has raised many serious questions that have an important bearing on secularism and national cohesion. Since this is a very sensitive subject, any one who dwells on it with a degree of frankness, exposes himself to the familiar charge of anti-Muslim prejudice and communalism. ......
 
• Double-faced Marxists
• Editorial, The Free Press Journal, November 21, 2001

>>> A propos the ongoing debate on the viability or otherwise of POTO, we fail to understand the reasoning behind CPI (M) leader Somnath Chatterjee’s objection. ......
 
• When in Manhattan, don’t forget rickshaw
• Bhupesh Bhandari, Rediff on Net, November 16, 2001

>>> On your next visit to Manhattan, you may have the option to travel from one appointment to another in a cycle rickshaw put together at Agra. Srichakra Cycles Pvt Ltd is in negotiations with Manhattan Taxi Service to supply rickshaws at $500 apiece. ......
 
• ‘POTO and India just not made for each other!’
• Prakash Singh, The Hindustan Times, November 9, 2001

>>> India is different, and it must remain so. While other countries are gearing up to fight international terrorism, we need not be unduly disturbed by the threat. Matters nearer home are far more important. ......
 
• National anthem row takes new turn
• K S Dakshina Murthy, The Hindustan Times, November 29, 2001

>>> The controversy over the refusal of three students to sing the national anthem at a school in Madikeri, Karnataka, has taken a new turn. They refused to accept a show-cause notice from the school authorities. ......
 
• Know your values
• K R Malkani, The Hindustan Times, November 29, 2001

>>> Recently, the NCERT produced the National Curriculum Framework for School Education. Here was, in the words of NCERT Director J.S. Rajput, “the first ever honest attempt to modernise education by upholding not only the deepest but forgotten values of Indian civilisation, but also the sagely advice of the founding fathers of our nation”. ......
 
• US and Pak: Sleeping with the enemy
• Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India, November 29, 2001

>>> Despite all the protestations about military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf's "bold and courageous stand" and Islamabad's status as a frontline ally, there is a growing sense in Washington that Pakistan has worked against US interests in Afghanistan. ......
 
• Retaliatory firing destroys 16 Pak bunkers in Kashmir
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, November 29, 2001

>>> Sixteen Pakistani bunkers were destroyed in retaliatory shelling and firing by Indian troops along Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector on Tuesday night, official sources said on Wednesday. ......
 
• US says it has al Qaeda members in custody
• Agencies, www.expressindia.com, November 29, 2001

>>> Members of the al Qaeda network the US government blames for the September 11 terror strikes may have been caught in a dragnet by US law enforcement agencies, Attorney General John Ashcroft has revealed. ......
 
• J&K encounter enters second day, toll rises to 20
• The Times of India, November 29, 2001

>>> Srinagar: Eleven Army soldiers and nine Muslim militants have been killed in a gunbattle in Kashmir which entered a second day on Wednesday, a defence spokesman said. ......
 
• Omar orders Taliban to fight to the last
• The Times of India, November 29, 2001

>>> Desert Airstrip, Afghanistan: Mullah Mohammad Omar, defiant after a U.S. raid failed to hit him, ordered his beleaguered Taliban to stand firm on Wednesday, sources in the radical Afghan militia said. ......
 
• 2 Pakistanis Linked to Papers on Anthrax Weapons
• Douglas Frantz with David Rohde, The New York Times, November 28, 2001

>>> Pakistan said today that it had detained two retired nuclear scientists after the recent discovery in offices they had used in Afghanistan of documents describing ways to use anthrax as a weapon and other suspicious material. ......
 
• Recent Atrocities Against Minorities in Bangladesh
• Report from Bangladesh on November 28, 2001

>>> While we reached at the village namely Anandaprasad one Aicha Ram Das (50) years and his wife Kanchan Mala Das (35) started to narrate the manner of torture by the local miscreants. The miscreants on 2nd October, 2001 with ram dao, kirish and deadly weapons approached to Kanchan Mala Das to use her house to rape two neighboring hindu girls, but as Kanchan Mala vehemently refused to allow them to do so the local miscreants threatened to rape Kanchan ......
 
• Musharraf’s wife house hunting in the US
• Onkar Singh, Rediff on Net, November 28, 2001

>>> Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf appears to be making contingency plans in the event of the situation in his country getting out of his hand and his ouster seems imminent. ......
 
• Rescuing The Enemy
• Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2001

>>> Last Thursday the Indian press carried reports that two helicopters of the Pakistani air force had landed in the heart of Kunduz--an Afghan town then under siege by the Northern Alliance, but still under Taliban control--and "flew out soon after carrying two chopper loads of personnel." These included two brigadiers of the Pakistani army. ......
 
• Cash Connection, Germans Nab Hijack Suspect
• Christel Kucharz, www.abcnews.com, November 28, 2001

>>> German police today arrested a man accused of keeping a bank account that financed Sept. 11 hijackers. ......
 
• Laden moves close to Pak border
• The Daily Excelsior, November 28, 2001

>>> For the first time since September 11 terror strikes in US, Pakistani intelligence agents have entered Afghanistan with a task to track Osama bin Laden and frustrate Al-Qaeda’s attempts to search for a new base in Pakistan, according to a senior Pakistani intelligence official. ......
 
• Choose between terrorism and dialogue, India tells Pak
• Press Trust of India, www.expressindia.com, November 28, 2001

>>> Indian Ambassador to the US, Lalit Mansingh, has said that while Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are expected to meet on the sidelines at SAARC next January, a "dialogue" will require Islamabad to give up cross-border terrorism. ......
 
• What Muslim societies are grossly lacking
• Kaiser Bengali, Dawn, November 28, 2001

>>> Briefing reporters in Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that "while we still had two Americans detainees and other foreigners detained in Afghanistan, we felt it was useful for (the Taliban) office to be there, to be open to offer the possibility of communication on the subject of our detainees should that be necessary. ......
 
• Tension follows Hindu story
• Pioneer News Service, The Pioneer, November 27, 2001

>>> Violence has erupted in several places in Karnataka in the last two days following the publication of a feature in the "Young World" supplement of the Bangalore edition of 'The Hindu.' ......
 
• Mystery of Disappearing al-Qaeda Soldiers
• November 27, 2001

>>> While US troops scour the mountains and caves for Osama bin Laden, the bulk of his al Qaeda army has also disappeared. It was found to be missing when the Northern Alliance seized control of the northern Taliban enclave of Konduz-Khanabad on Monday, November 26. ......
 
• Fight With Prisoners Rages at Northern Afghan Fort
• Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, November 27, 2001

>>> A battle raged here today between Taliban prisoners and the American-backed troops of the Northern Alliance, and the Bush administration revealed that five Americans had been wounded. ......
 
• Balawaristan National Front's letter to Indian prime minister
• www.tehelka.com, November 27, 2001

>>> I have the honour to draw your kind attention towards my earlier petition (Sub: "Include Gilgit Baltistan in J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) dialogue" dated December 18, 2000), on the subject cited above, and inform you further about the prevailing anti-people activities of Pakistan in Balawaristan (Pakistan Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (POGB)). ......
 
• Pakistan’s Choice
• The Washington Post, November 27, 2001

>>> Two Months ago, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf made the right choice in the war on terrorism. In a televised address, he pledged his "full support" for the United States, including use of Pakistan's airspace, intelligence and airfields. Though he wavered when he called for an ill-advised interruption to America's bombing campaign during Ramadan, Mr. Musharraf has broadly stuck to his position, facing down anti-American demonstrations and jailing prominent clerics who support the Taliban. ......
 
• ‘A terrorist isn’t a freedom fighter’
• Agencies, The Economic Times, November 22, 2001

>>> The US ambassador to India said on Wednesday Washington and New Delhi were on the brink of a major relationship, and pledged the war against terrorism would not be over until terrorism ended against both countries. ......
 
• Steps to resume ties with Afghanistan gather pace
• Our Political Bureau, The Economic Times, November 22, 2001

>>> India’s diplomatic initiatives in Afghanistan gathered pace with special envoy, SK Lambah leading the first Indian diplomatic mission to Kabul today. Mr Lambah will also represent India at the forthcoming intra-Afghan talks in Berlin on the 26th, said sources. ......
 
• Seeking refuge in the Buddha
• Lakshmi Iyer, India Today, November 19, 2001

>>> Like Kanshi Ram, he chose to manipulate the support of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe government employees to enter politics. He, however, used religion as a short-cut. He tried to re-enact B. R. Ambedkar’s final act of leading Dalits into Buddhism. Ram Raj, president of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations and joint –commissioner at the Income-Tax Department ......
 
• US bans Jaish & Lashkar; labels them as terrorists
• The Economic Times, November 4, 2001

>>> The US has banned two Pakistan-based terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, conceding one of India's major demands four days before the arrival of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which have been blamed for several terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, have been branded Foreign Terrorist Organisations (PTO) in the US. ......
 
• PM refuses to chat with General during UN summit
• Devesh Kumar, The Economic Times, November 3, 2001

>>> Two days before he sets off on a three-nation tour, including the United States, PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee effectively scotched all speculations about a possible meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the UNGA meet. ......
 
• BJP to US: Take care of J&K too
• Devesh Kumar, The Economic Times, November 3, 2001

>>> India’s unease with the growing US-Pakistan cooperation in an attempt to finish off the Taliban found its echo in the BJP national executive meeting which began here this morning amidst unprecedented security. Party president Jana Krishnamurthy, in his introductory speech, had this piece of advise for the Bush administration: 'America should remember that elimination of terrorism ......
 
• Baptist Head Urges Prayers for Muslim Conversion
• The Associated Press, The New York Times, November 27, 2001

>>> The head of the Southern Baptist Convention is asking its members to "pray and fast that God will miraculously reveal himself through Jesus Christ to Muslims" at the end of Ramadan, Islam's holy month. ......
 
• Killings of civilians in Kashmir terrorism, accepts Musharraf
• K. J. M. Varma, The Hindustan Times, November 27, 2001

>>> Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday night described as "terrorist act" the killing of civilians in bomb blasts in Jammu and Kashmir and asked Pakistani extremists not to get involved in foreign countries. ......
 
• House sealed under terror law in J&K
• The Times of India, November 27, 2001

>>> Srinagar: In what may be the first action under the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, a house in downtown Srinagar has been sealed by the Jammu and Kashmir police for providing a "safe hideout" to militants, official sources said Monday. ......
 
• Underground dissent looms over PoK
• www.tehelka.com, November 27, 2001

>>> An unknown freedom struggle is quietly taking shape in Pakistan. Leaders of an underground political movement in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit and Baltistan (POGB) are appealing to India to highlight the plight of the "two million downtrodden people" that they claim to represent. ......
 
• New Zealand adopts stringent anti-terror laws
• The Times of India, November 27, 2001

>>> Wellington, New Zealand: Moving to meet United Nations anti-terrorism controls, New Zealand approved stiff new regulations on Monday to prohibit funding and recruiting for terrorist groups. ......
 
• Pakistani clerics announce day of mourning
• The Times of India, November 27, 2001

>>> Islamabad: Pakistani clerics Monday deplored the deaths hundreds of foreign prisoners in northern Afghan city of -i-Sharif and announced a nationwide day of mourning against what they called the barbaric act of the U.S. and -Taliban forces. ......
 
• Israel detains Pakistanis for alleged Laden link
• The Times of India, November 27, 2001

>>> Jerusalem: Four Pakistani nationals, suspected of having links with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, were detained in Israel after they entered the country's territorial waters by a ship, a media report here said. ......
 
• Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights
• PRESS RELEASE, November 26, 2001

>>> (Alexandria, VA) Dramatic accounts of detention, torture and death highlighted the recent symposium sponsored by the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights, held in Alexandria, VA on November 16-17. Participants received updates on the results of radical Islamism from such wide-ranging locations as Nigeria and Indonesia. ......
 
• A season for Marxist follies
• Not mentioned, The Free Press Journal, November 26, 2001

>>> Patriotism may or may not be the last refuge of scoundrels but insanity certainly becomes our China-centric Marxists. Otherwise, do you think anyone claiming to be responsible would have openly justified the terrorist attacks against the Twin Towers in New York? The West Bengal CPI(M) leader, the venerable Subash Chakravorty, made bold to say the other day that his childhood dream to see the Towers crashed was realized when on September 11 bin Laden's religious maniacs banged aircraft-bombs against them. ......
 
• Bangla Govt draws flak on scribe’s arrest
• News, The Times of India, November 26, 2001

>>> Kolkata: The arrest of Bangladeshi rights activist and journalist Shahriar Kabir has provoked angry across the world. In Dhaka, more than 2000 people staged an angry demonstration demanding against Kabir's arrest. watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) has demanded immediate release of Kabir. ......
 
• What’s True Islam?  Not For U.S. To Say
• Daniel Pipes, The New York Post, November 26, 2001

>>> The U.S. government wants you to know that the Taliban, who yet rule part of Afghanistan, are bad Muslims. Instead, it should be showing that they are totalitarian thugs. There's a big difference. ......
 
• India’s hopes for Afghanistan talks
• Alastair Lawson, BBC News, November 26, 2001

>>> The Indian Government's special envoy to Afghanistan, Satinder Lambah, has gone to the German city of Bonn to observe talks that start on Tuesday on the future of Afghanistan. ......
 
• Pak. scientist wanted more Islamic States nuclearised
• The Hindu, November 26, 2001

>>> Pakistani Intelligence is investigating alleged terrorist links of a scientist who once strongly advocated extensive production of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium enrichment with a view to equipping other Islamic countries with nuclear capabilities, an American newspaper has reported. ......
 
• 300 revolting Al Qaeda prisoners killed
• Rediff on Net, November 26, 2001

>>> United States Defence Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dan Stoneking on Sunday night confirmed reports that atleast 300 Chechen, Pakistanis and Arabs -- belonging to Al Qaeda -- were killed after US airstrikes were used to control an insurrection by the militiamen, who had surrendered and were jailed in the Qalai Janghi fortress, near Mazar-e-Sharif. ......
 
• Many Taliban and Allies Holding Out at Last Northern Stronghold
• Dexter Filkins & Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, November 25, 2001

>>> Hundreds of Taliban soldiers streamed out of the besieged northern city of Kunduz today, some to the welcoming arms of joyous crowds, others to the custody of their adversaries, each group following a script of surrender that culminated a two- week standoff in one of the last Taliban strongholds. ......
 
• Wanted in Pakistan, someone to bell the cat
• Husain Haqqani, The Indian Express, November 24, 2001

>>> The turn of events in Afghanistan over the past two weeks is being described as a strategic debacle for Pakistan. After 20 years of involvement in Afghan affairs, Islamabad suddenly finds itself without any significant friends across its Northwest frontier. The Taliban, hitherto cultivated by Pakistan at the expense of friendly relations with other nations, are bitter about General Pervez Musharraf's U-turn against them. ......
 
• Kespur Line
• Editorial, The Statesman, November 23, 2001

>>> The CPI-M were exposed after its political cleansing in Midnapore, Hooghly, Bankura and north 24 Parganas districts both before and during the rigged election of 10 May last. What Alimuddin mandarins said at Kespur recently has reinforced popular perceptions that its ideology is Stalinism. The opposition must be annihilated or forced into submission. ......
 
• Pakistan’s debacle in Afghanistan
• G Parthasarathy, The Pioneer, November 22, 2001

>>> Speaking on Pakistan's independence day on August 14, General Pervez Musharraf proclaimed: "The Taliban are the dominant reality in Afghanistan and the international community should engage, rather than isolate them". There were good reasons why General Musharraf could then smugly make this assertion. ......
 
• 20 British Muslims trapped in Kunduz
• Ian Cobain, The Statesman, November 22, 2001

>>> Up to 20 British Muslims were reported to be trapped in Kunduz last night, after Washington made clear its determination to see all the Taliban defenders of the besieged city either killed or captured. ......
 
• Text Of Nbc Transcript on Pakistan evacuating its troops in Afghanistan
•  

>>> MR. RUSSERT: Both Northern Alliance soldiers and Taliban soldiers have told The New York Times that Pakistan has airlifted Pakistani fighters aligned with the Taliban out of Afghanistan and brought them safely home. Can you confirm that?
AMB. KEITH: I cannot confirm that. The Pakistani government is denying it. We have no knowledge of that. ......
 
• Expansion and Contraction:
• Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales, Hindu Vivek Kendra, November 26, 2001

>>> In its relatively short - and decidedly Western-centric - history, a wide variety of academic terms have arisen from within the discipline known as Religious Studies in the expressed order of assisting the field's specialists to more ably grasp the structure and outlook of religious sects and institutions. One pair of such terms that we encounter are the concepts of "Expansive" versus "Contractive". ......
 
• White Man’s Arrogance
• Prem Shankar Jha, Outlook, November 26, 2001

>>> The great powers of the western 'coalition' seem incapable of learning, either from history or from their own past mistakes. The Taliban are down but not yet out. Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden are still very much at large and the dead of September 11 remain unavenged. There is still a lot of fighting ahead and if there is one thing the Americans have learned in the past month, it is that this is best left to the Afghans. ......
 
• Pakistan’s Anxiety Grows as Taliban Collapse
• John F. Burns, The New York Times, November 25, 2001

>>> A senior Pakistani official watched in dismay today as the television in his office showed Taliban fighters, streaming out of Kunduz, Afghanistan, to surrender to the Northern Alliance. ......
 
• Resentment as a religion
• Marian Kester Coombs, The Washington Times, November 25, 2001

>>> The questions of the hour are "Is Islam the problem?" and "If so, then what is Islam?" The West had been waiting for the formidable Salman Rushdie - a man who has been living under a "fatwa" a few years longer than the rest of us - to weigh in, and he did so in early November, answering the question "Is it Islam?" with a resounding yes. ......
 
• Ambedkar and Partition
• Prafull Goradia, The Pioneer, November 25, 2001

>>> According to Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi was a Hindu and an Indian, the greatest in many generations, and he was proud of being a Hindu and an Indian. (He broadcast this on 14 February, 1948). What the Mahatma wrote, said and did is widely known. The track record of Dr BR Ambedkar as a Hindu is not so well known. ......
 
• Pakistan and other donors question Hurriyat about funds utilisation
• Sumir Kaul, Rediff on Net, November 25, 2001

>>> Simmering differences between the Hurriyat Conference and Pakistan over utilisation of funds by the former came to fore when the entire executive council of the 23-party amalgam did not attend the Iftar party hosted by Pakistani High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi in Delhi on Friday. ......
 
• Indonesia Extremism Worries U.S.
• Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press, November 25, 2001

>>> After decades of dormancy under the iron-fisted rule of former dictator Suharto, Islamic militancy is on the rise in Indonesia and U.S. officials fear its newfound democracy is threatened. ......
 
• Pakistanis Again Said to Evacuate Allies of Taliban
• Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, November 24, 2001

>>> Northern Alliance soldiers said today that Pakistani airplanes had once again flown into the encircled city of Kunduz to evacuate Pakistanis who have been fighting alongside Afghan Taliban forces trapped there. ......
 
• Meteorology: Folk wisdom
• The Economist, November 24, 2001

>>> Can traditional rules of thumb provide accurate weather forecasts? Researchers in Junagadh, India, are trying to find out. Most farmers in the region grow one crop of peanuts or castor per year. In a wet year, peanuts give the best returns, but if the rains are poor, the more drought-tolerant castor is a better bet. In April and May, before the monsoon comes, farmers decide what to plant, buy the seed, prepare the soil and hope for the best. An accurate forecast would be extremely helpful. ......
 
• Fear of last stand by foreign fighters hangs over surrender deal
• The Associated Press, November 24, 2001

>>> Amid fears that foreign fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden could stage a bloody last stand rather than surrender in the northern city of Kunduz, a northern alliance commander said Saturday it was believed Pakistani planes were ferrying out Pakistanis who fought on the Taliban side. ......
 
• Pak losing opinion war over Kashmir
• Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India, November 24, 2001

>>> Washington: Pakistan's credibility and claim over Kashmir is coming under great strain following mounting evidence that the same set of terrorists and jehadis flit from Kashmir to Kandahar and Kunduz and back. ......
 
• British Taliban supporters should not be prosecuted, London mayor says
• Associated Press, MSNBC Online, November 24, 2001

>>> British Muslims who went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban should not face prosecution when they return home, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said. ......
 
• Academic’s murder sparks Hindu protest
• Alastair Lawson, BBC News, November 24, 2001

>>> Minority Hindus in the southern Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong have staged a violent protest following the murder of a prominent university professor. ......
 
• British anti-terror proposal under fire
• Anne Barnard, The Boston Globe, November 23, 2001

>>> Tensions heightened yesterday between the United States and Pakistan as the countries disagreed over the fate of Pakistani pro-Taliban fighters who are trapped in the embattled Afghan city of Kunduz. The new dispute came as the Pakistani government severed diplomatic ties with the Taliban regime - at the request of the United States - and closed its embassy here. ......
 
• British anti-terror proposal under fire
• Daniel Strieff, MSNBC Online, November 23, 2001

>>> In a country where attacks by Northern Ireland terrorists remain a greater threat to internal security than Islamist militant groups, the British government is facing fierce criticism over proposed anti-terror legislation that Prime Minister Tony Blair is rushing to law. ......
 
• Inquiries Into Failures of Intelligence Community Are Put Off Until Next Year
• James Risen and Todd S. Purdum, The New York Times, November 23, 2001

>>> Congressional leaders have agreed to delay until next year any major investigation into the government's failure to prevent the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, citing the need to give the administration time to focus on the war in Afghanistan and the global effort to destroy the Qaeda terrorist network. ......
 
• An Investigation in Egypt Illustrates Al Qaeda’s Web
• Susan Sachs, The New York Times, November 21, 2001

>>> To support their terrorism, they skimmed money from a charity for Muslim orphans in Albania and robbed an Italian diplomat's home in Jordan. They acquired or forged seals from universities, border guards and the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry. ......
 
• Taliban Supreme Leader names successor
• Pakistan Observer, November 20, 2001

>>> The Corps Commander of five southern Afghan provinces, Mullah Akhtar Usmani, has been named the successor of Taliban's Supreme Leader Mullah Muhammad Omar in case of latters death, Taliban officials said. ......
 
• Muslim Group Seeks to Meet Billy Graham’s Son
• Gustav Niebuhr, The New York Times, November 20, 2001

>>> A Muslim advocacy organization, the Council on America-Islamic Relations, said yesterday that it had sent a letter to the Rev. Franklin Graham, to discuss remarks that Mr. Graham, an evangelist, made describing Islam as evil. ......
 
• States, MPs backed law panel’s draft POTO
• Pioneer News Service, The Pioneer, November 17, 2001

>>> The Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) story is getting curiouser and curiouser. The POTO is in some ways a revised version of the Law Commission's draft Prevention of Terrorism, 2000, Bill which was circulated to the States for their response. ......
 
• Pakistan Fighters Abandon Taliban
• Mort Rosenblum, AP, November 17, 2001

>>> Pakistani holy warriors are deserting Taliban ranks and streaming home in large numbers, tribal leaders said Friday, while in the streets of Peshawar, portraits of Osama bin Laden go unsold. Here where it counts, just across the Khyber Pass from the heartland of Afghanistan, the Taliban mystique is waning. ......
 
• It’s Bad News For Pakistan
• Tashbih Sayyed, November 16, 2001

>>> What Pakistan dreaded for a very long time became a fact when victorious Northern Alliance forces, entered Kabul yelling "Death to the Taliban!" and "Death to Pakistan!" Now Pakistan has on its western borders, a government that has reasons to be hostile toward it. ......
 
• He Wants To Have His Cake After Having Eaten It!
• Nayyar Zaidi, The Hindustan Times, November 16, 2001

>>> The Pakistani political and bureaucracy elite are proud of one thing: They do not read newspapers. Why? Well, there is nothing in newspapers that they already do not know. ......
 
• Homegrown terrorism
• Ardeshir Cowasjee, Dawn, November 11, 2001

>>> Since I wrote last week, Bagh-i-Rustom has lost its illustrious neighbours. The consulate-general of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with its huge mosque and its adjacent comfortable living quarters lies sealed and shut. ......
 
• India’s dilemma in coping with terrorism
• J.N. Dixit, The Free Press Journal, November 10, 2001

>>> India's attention is so focussed on the campaign led by the U.S. against Afghanistan that it seems unaware of the consequences of the drive in terms of its own struggle against terrorism, of which it has been a vhttp://features.samachar.com/101101-fpj.htmlictim. ......
 
• Fighting bin Ladenism
• Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, November 6, 2001

>>> If you want to know why the U.S. is hated in the Arab street, read the recent editorial in the semi-official Egyptian daily, Al Ahram, written by its editor, Ibrahim Nafie. After saying that the U.S. was deliberately making humanitarian food drops in areas of Afghanistan full of land mines, Mr. Nafie added: "Similarly, there were several reports that the [U.S.] humanitarian materials have been genetically treated, with the aim of affecting the health of the Afghan people. ......
 
• Nepali Man Arrested, Linked to Hijackers
• CNN News, November 5, 2001

>>> A man was arrested Saturday night at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, when he tried to board a flight with nine knives, a can of Mace and a stun gun, police said. ......
 
• Pak choppers in Kundez pull out trapped commanders
• www.expressindia.com, November 23, 2001

>>> Two Pakistan Air Force helicopters pulled out two of their top military commanders trapped in the beseiged Kunduz town, the last Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan, according to highly placed Defence sources in New Delhi. ......
 
• Pak allows ‘wanted’ scientists to escape
• Rahul Datta, The Pioneer, November 23, 2001

>>> Pakistan has allowed two nuclear scientists, wanted by the USA for questioning over their possible connivance with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda, to slip away to Myanmar. The military junta of Myanmar has for long defied international opinion on a host of issues from human rights to supporting terrorists. ......
 
• Pakistani held on terrorism charges:
• Dawn, November 22, 2001

>>> Peru said on Tuesday it had arrested a Pakistani man on "terrorism" charges after coordination with US and European intelligence agencies and Interpol. ......
 
• Delhi dispatches mission to Kabul; likely to start flights
• Nilofar Suhrawardy, Arab News, November 22, 2001

>>> India staged a comeback in Afghanistan yesterday by sending its first diplomatic mission there since the closure of its embassy in Kabul in 1996. ......
 
• America’s dirty Afghan secret: it’s a war over oil
• www.tehelka.com, November 21, 2001

>>> A book written by two French intelligence analysts is certain to embarrass President George W Bush and his administration. The book, Bin Laden, La Verite Interdite (Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth), released recently, claims that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director John O'Neill resigned in July in protest over Bush's obstruction of an investigation into Taliban's terrorist activities. ......
 
• Alliance’s Rise Catches Pakistan Off-Guard
• Susan B. Glasser and Kamran Khan, The Washington Times, November 21, 2001

>>> More than a week after the Taliban retreat from the Afghan capital of Kabul and other cities, Pakistan is reeling from the rout of the strict Islamic militia it helped create. ......
 
• Osama plot revealed: How he got the bomb
• The Washington Times, November 20, 2001

>>> Osama bin Laden is not a Georgetown hostess's dream of the extra man for a dinner party, but he may be the man to invite to your next snipe hunt. ......
 
• Hundreds of al Qaeda ‘sleeper agents’ living in Europe
• Agencies, www.expressindia.com, November 20, 2001

>>> Washington, November 19: Hundreds of al Qaeda "sleeper agents" are living in Europe waiting for orders to attack, according to a report in The Washington Post citing France's chief counter intelligence officer. Jean-Jacques Pascal, head of France's DST counter intelligence agency, said a number of "neo-Afghans," or Algerians who trained in Afghan terrorist camps, had resettled in Europe. ......
 
• Sectarian secularism vitiates atmosphere
• Sandhya Jain, The Pioneer, November 20, 2001

>>> Even by the deplorable standards of public discourse in India, the cloying communalism of leftist Muslim academics and the utter falsehoods being propagated by their secular comrades are breathtaking. In the two months since the apocalyptic attack on the symbols of American military and economic power, the worldwide Islamic intellectual industry and its dhimmi clientele has been overactive trying to ensure that the confrontation with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden is not expanded into a drive against all terrorist organizations and nations harbouring them. ......
 
• US ‘let terror chiefs off hook’
• Toby Harnden, The Telegraph (UK), November 19, 2001

>>> American pilots have had senior Taliban and al-Qa'eda targets in their sights as many as 10 times in the past six weeks but were unable to open fire because authorisation did not come through in time, it was reported yesterday. ......
 
• US efforts to make peace summed up by ‘oil’
• The Irish Times, November 19, 2001

>>> The fate of John O'Neill, the Irish-American FBI agent who for years led US investigations into Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, is the most chilling revelation in the book Bin Laden: The Hidden Truth, published in Paris this week. ......
 
• Defiant Taliban says bin Laden no longer its guest
• Sayed Salahuddin and Rosalind Russell, www.expressindia.com, November 19, 2001

>>> US bombs pounded Afghanistan again on Sunday but the beleaguered Taliban held on in its southern bastion of Kandahar, dismissing reports that it would retreat to fight a guerrilla campaign in the mountains. The Taliban said Osama bin Laden -- prime suspect for the September 11 hijack attacks that killed some 4,600 people in the US -- had left the territory they controlled and they did not know where he was. The Pentagon said he was still in the country. ......
 
• ‘There’s more support for the Ram Temple today than ever before’ (Interview of Pravin Togadia)
• Sukhmani Sangh, The Indian Express, November 18, 2001

>>> Q. The PM has set up a special Ayodhya cell to resolve the Ram temple issue. Do you have faith in him?
A. Everyone in Bharat should have faith in an elected PM. We have faith in him but we don't depend on him for construction of the Ram temple. That depends upon the people of Bharat. We have planned one of the biggest mass mobilisation movements, involving 50 million people, for the temple construction. ......
 
• Recipe for disaster
• I D Swamin, The Hindustan Times, November 17, 2001

>>> Pakistan should stop harping on that out-worn theme 'the will of the people' for the purpose of pursuing political terrorism, for capturing Indian territory. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and former US President Bill Clinton have ruled against plebiscite in Kashmir. Yet, Pakistan continues to harp on this camouflaged and out-worn catch-phrase for waging a proxy war against India. ......
 
• Liberalism in Islam: An issue for Indian Muslims to debate
• R.Upadhyay, South Asia Analysis Group, November 16, 2001

>>> The puritans of Islam are anxious to wheel back the contemporary world order to the fourteen hundred years old concept of their faith and create a pan-Islamic world polity. Those, who take a vow to accomplish this mission through violent Jihad, have now become the cult figures for the Muslim community. ......
 
• Pakistan: America's worst nightmare CBS ‘60 minutes’
• Following are the highlights from tonight's CBS weekly show '60 Minutes'., November 15, 2001

>>> The elected prime minister is in jail. The generals who seized power are beholden to Islamic radicals, and militant fundamentalists could end up controlling nuclear weapons. ......
 
• Tilting Again
• Richard Rapaport, San Francisco Chronicle, November 13, 2001

>>> America's new best friend, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, has been a busy strongman since September 11. Weekly, U.S. Cabinet secretaries, the British prime minister, generals and diplomats arrive at Islamabad's President's House to pay court. Saturday, at a joint press conference in New York, Major Gen. Musharraf was given President Bush's public seal of approval and a billion dollars in aid. ......
 
• No path to reformation
• Varsha Bhosle, Rediff on Net, November 12, 2001

>>> Last week, many readers wrote in asking what I had meant by 'Don't Christians have a New Testament?' I admit, that closing paragraph is inscrutable. The reason being that the original one was felt to be too 'hot,' and so was changed - with my consent. For, toning it down would have required considerable space. Now, by no stretch of imagination am I well-versed in scriptures - any scripture. ......
 
• A letter from London
• Vir Sanghvi, The Hindustan Times, November 11, 2001

>>> For a country that was once regarded as being riddled with the virus of racism, Britain has made astounding progress over the last 20 years. It is, for my money, the most genuinely multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society in the West. And unlike the United States, which prides itself on being a melting pot, where distinctive national traits are melted down to create an all-American identity, England is happy to be a mosaic, allowing citizens to retain Indian, Jamaican or Bangladeshi identities while calling themselves British. ......
 
• Beijing produces videos glorifying terrorist attacks on ‘arrogant’ US
• Damien McElroy, The Daily Telegraph (London), November 11, 2001

>>> The Chinese state-run propaganda machine is cashing in on the terror attacks in New York and Washington, producing books, films and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation. ......
 
• ‘India Has the Resolve, strength and stamina to Resist This Terrorism’: Vajpayee
• The Washington Times, November 9, 2001

>>> Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee responded to written questions submitted to him by Washington Post editors. ......
 
• Rocky Road To Asian Peace
• Mohammed Ayoob, The Washington Times, November 8, 2001

>>> The Indian prime minister's visit to Washington this week provides an opportunity for President George Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to exchange views on a whole host of issues that are likely to include coordinated responses to terrorism, but must go beyond that subject. ......
 
• CNN: an ally in the war
• Arvind Singh, South Asia Analysis Group, November 6, 2001

>>> Sometimes we get requests from scholars to get their paper published in our web site.  While we take no responsibility for the contents, we would publish selectively papers of interest. We thank Mr. Arvind Singh for sending his paper. The views expressed are his own. - Director. ......
 
• 200 terrorists contact security forces
• Dinesh Manhotra, The Daily Excelsior, November 6, 2001

>>> Antagonized over inhuman activities of so-called Mujahideens, a large number of disenchanted foreign terrorists, who had infiltrated in to this side to wage Jehad, have been desperately trying to return to their native places. ......
 
• ‘Jihad Is My First Obligation’
• Pamela Constable, The Washington Post, November 6, 2001

>>> Shahid Hussain, a bright and articulate man of 19, carries two plastic identification cards in his vest pocket. One is from a private college where he has studied science part time for the past two years in hopes of becoming a doctor. ......
 
• Cong no to refugee status for intruders
• Times News Network, The Times of India, November 5, 2001

>>> Kolkata: West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pranab Mukherjee is against declaring as refugees people who are arriving in the state from Bangladesh for shelter after facing religious and political persecution in the wake of the election victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). ......
 
• Bangla immigrants to be pushed back
• Times News Network, The Times of India, November 5, 2001

>>> Siliguri: Those entering West Bengal from Bangladesh without valid papers will be considered simple intruders and pushed back, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in Siliguri on Sunday. ......
 
• You either buy peace or convert’
• Aditya Ghosh, The Times of India, November 5, 2001

>>> Money can reduce ideological and religious differences to a great extent but being poor and living among those who consider you as an enemy can be worse than death, feel the 60-odd Bangladeshi Hindus who crossed over to India this week. ......
 
• How Afghanistan Went Unlisted as Terrorist Sponsor
• Mary Pat Flaherty, David B. Ottaway and James V. Grimaldi, The Washington Post, November 5, 2001

>>> Each year, the U.S. State Department formally rebukes and imposes penalties on governments that protect and promote terrorists. But since 1996, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the nation harboring Osama bin Laden has never made the department's list of terrorist-sponsoring countries. ......
 
• Who’s the general to preach to us’
• Omar Abdullah, The Times of India, November 4, 2001

>>> Keep talking, people tell us. They advise us to show restraint, when we are suffering due to the lack of restraint by another country. India has restrained itself since Independence and even after Kargil. How many countries can be so when their territorial integrity is challenged and soldiers killed? But others have taken advantage of that and attacked US. ......
 
• White House knows of Pakistan aid to Taliban militia
• Bill Gertz, The Washington Times, November 2, 2001

>>> Senior Bush administration officials acknowledged yesterday that Pakistan is supplying covert military assistance to the Taliban militia, but they praised Islamabad's cooperation in the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign. ......
 
• Misuse of mosque loudspeakers
• Editorial, Dawn, November 2, 2001

>>> The government has decided to clamp down on the misuse of loudspeakers in mosques, and directed the provincial governments to strictly implement this ban. The use of mosque loudspeakers will now be restricted to calling the faithful to prayer and for the Friday khutba (sermon). ......
 
• Announcement Of A Protest Against The Government Of Bangladesh
•  

>>> Hindu Human Rights group (HHR) is deeply concerned about  the current oppression of the Indigenous Hindu Minority  in Bangladesh.  The situation is all the more worrying  following the recent election of the BNP (Bangladesh  National Party) which includes extremist Islamic  elements. ......
 
• Text of Indo-US joint statement
•  

>>> Since September 11, the people of the United States and India have been united as never before in the fight against terrorism. In doing so, they have together reaffirmed the enduring ties between both nations, and the importance of further transforming the US-India relationship. In their meeting, President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee discussed ways to accelerate progress towards these goals. ......
 
• Fighting Militant Islam, Without Bias
• Daniel Pipes, City Journal, Autumn 2001

>>> The whole country, and New York especially, has to face an urgent question in the wake of the September 11 attacks, organized by a militant Islamic network and carried out by Arabic-speaking Muslims resident in North America: how should Americans now view and treat the Muslim populations living in their midst? ......
 
• Gestures And Ground Reality
• V. Sudarshan, Outlook, November 26, 2001

>>> Q: Will the United States try to get involved in a settlement of Kashmir?
US Secretary of State Colin Powell: The two sides have to settle that and there needs to be a dialogue between Pakistan and India.  To the extent the US can be helpful in fostering their dialogue, fine. But we cannot become the mediator, the arbitor, or the intermediary between them. (Interview on NBC's meet the press programme, November 11.) ......
 
• Outmanoeuvred, Mr Musharraf?
• Mariana Baabar, Outlook, November 26, 2001

>>> Never before in the last 52 years has Pakistan been left wringing its hands in anguish over a foreign policy debacle as it's doing now. With the Northern Alliance (NA) riding on US shoulders to occupy Kabul, and the Taliban on the run, it seems Islamabad's Afghan cards have been snatched away overnight. Pakistan now faces the grim prospect of isolation abroad and violent convulsions at home. ......
 
• Many can’t stomach Bush Ramzan feasts
• Hanna Rosin & Thomas B. Edsall, The Indian Express, November 22, 2001

>>> As President Bush hosts Ramzan feasts at the White House this week to bolster Muslim support for the war o