More than one hundred thousand
people in the southern Pakistan province of Sindh are tied to their employers
by "bonded labour" - 12 years after the country's government outlawed the
practice. .....
When the state begins to misuse
its powers nobody is safe. Today we have seen the arrest and the subsequent
humiliation of a Hindu saint; tomorrow another mercurial chief minister
might order the arrest a Muslim Imam or a Christian bishop. Those gloating
at the arrest of Sankaracharya should remember that the politics of religion
is bad for all. .....
There was a time when Communists
believed that the law was an instrument of class oppression, inherently
incapable of delivering justice to the poor and the underdog. It speaks
volumes for Indian democracy that Left organisations now routinely invoke
the glory and majesty of law. .....
In exactly a year's time, the England
cricket team starts a winter tour of Pakistan. In the latest report from
Human Rights Watch, General Musharraf's regime is accused of routinely
brutalising - and sometimes murdering - the 10,000 farmers of the Punjab
who refuse to give up their land to the military government .....
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
visited Jammu & Kashmir on November 17, he announced a Rs 24,000 crore
"package" for various developmental projects in the State. Since he was
visiting another "trouble torn" region-the Northeast, specifically Guwahati
(Assam) and Imphal (Manipur)-almost immediately thereafter (on November
20th-22nd), great expectations of comparable largesse had been generated
there as well. .....
JagatGuru Shankaracharya of the
Kanchipuram Peetham was arrested on Diwali day by the Jayalalithaa Government
of Tamil Nadu, which claims to have solid and shocking proof against him.
But practically nothing of this sort is contained in the State's report
to the Centre. The Shankaracharya is no an ordinary seer. .....
The Manager of the Kanchi Sankara
Mutt, Sundaresa Iyer, today said that the Mutt would be constrained to
initiate legal action against some Tamil magazines and a private television
channel if they continued to publish/telecast "malicious and baseless"
reports causing irreparable damage to the Mutt as well as to the Sankaracharya,
Sri Jayendra Saraswathi. .....
The Resounding victory of the BJP
in the civic polls has clearly established the party's supremacy
over the Congress in Rajasthan, three times in less than an year.
.....
The Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra
Saraswathi, is the first pontiff in the Sankara Mutt lineage to mingle
with the Dalits and other downtrodden sections. Hence, his arrest is regrettable,
Vai. Balasundaram, State president of the Ambedkar Makkal Iyakkam, said
here today. .....
Two high profile midnight swoops
within two and half years by the Tamil Nadu Police expose the double standards
in Indian public life. When Ms J Jayalalithaa's stormtroopers in uniform
had picked up the DMK top brass, Mr M Karunanidhi, there was countrywide
uproar across party and ideological lines. .....
Two high profile midnight swoops
within two and half years by the Tamil Nadu Police expose the double standards
in Indian public life. When Ms J Jayalalithaa's stormtroopers in uniform
had picked up the DMK top brass, Mr M Karunanidhi, there was countrywide
uproar across party and ideological lines. .....
Prominent religious leaders from
Karnataka today expressed "outrage" over what they called "ill treatment"
of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, arrested in connection
with a murder case, but said the law should take its own course.
.....
The smart money in south Asia's
parlour game of choice - Where is Osama? - places the al-Qaida leader deep
inside the tribal badlands that straddle Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
.....
According to reports, the Saudi
Arabian Embassy in New Delhi is pushing - somewhat tentatively - India's
Human Resource Development Ministry and Minorities Commission to set up
new madrassas (seminaries) in India. .....
On counter investigation we found
the case against the Sankaracharya slippery. Now it turns out that
the case is not just slippery, but actually groundless from day one.
Not just that, it involves a bit of fabrication too. Yes, fabrication to
fix the Acharya. The police are now running for cover. .....
All Assam Students' Union (AASU)
advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya today came down heavily on the Prime Minister,
Dr Manmohan Singh for his comment that the IM(DT) Act, 1983 should be implemented
all over India. He said that no 'patriotic Prime Minister' could make such
a comment, and by planning to take such a step, the Government wanted to
fill up India with Bangladeshis and ISI agents. .....
Sensationalism seems to be the
driving force for the media. Besides revelling in mindless muckraking,
dishing out conjectures, speculations and plain lies under the pretext
of unravelling facts behind an event has become the norm that mainstream
media, too, seems to be keeping with the unseemly trend, set by the gutter
press. And it is evident in the media coverage of the latest controversy
on the arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharya. .....
We had occasion to draw attention
to the fact yesterday that no Prime Minister of India other than Dr Manmohan
Singh had ever suggested that the IM(DT) Act be applied all over the country.
This is not to suggest that the scope for this does not exist. .....
Political parties in Parliament
are pressuring Muslim members to publicly disavow portions of Islamic sharia
law condoning stoning, whipping and the amputation of hands. .....
The attack on a provincial armed
constabulary convoy by Naxalites in Chandauli district of eastern Uttar
Pradesh on November 20 has not only come as a grim reminder that left-wing
extremism is alive and kicking in rural India, but also as a kick in the
face of lotus-eaters who now formulate policy in the ministry of home affairs.
.....
The Delhi edition of the "Hindu"
of today carries a five column story on the issue of the arrest of Sri
Kamakoti Peethadhipati Jagadguru Sankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal.
The story is entitled, "Case against Acharya gets strengthened: police".
The story is prominently displayed and forms the second lead on the first
page. .....
The Cabinet's decision to give
constitutional status to the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) and
extend the term of the inquiry into the Godhra massacre reveals the extent
to which the UPA Government is willing to go in appeasing votebanks. .....
George Fernandes may be 74, but
the former defence minister -- a veteran of numerous street protests since
the 1960s -- can still take to the streets he proved last fortnight when
he protested against the arrest of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, whom he
has known for 35 years. .....
The Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Swami
Jayendra Saraswati, broke a critical stalemate in the current controversy
over the merits of the Tamil Nadu ban on conversions by force, fraud or
inducement, by offering worship at a Dalit-run temple in Madurai (The Hindu,
12 Nov. 2002). .....
The head of Britain's race watchdog
urged Muslim leaders yesterday to speak out more against terrorism and
called on them to do more to support the rights of Muslim women. .....
The Pioneer editorial, 'Best fakery?'
(November 6), on Zaheera Sheikh's recanting her testimony has justifiably
pointed a finger at the credibility of NGOs masquerading as champions of
humanitarian causes. One of the organisations, ironically called 'Citizens
for justice and peace', has set off a chain of events culminating in adverse
publicity and vilification of Gujarat and demonisation of Narendra Modi.
.....
Two high profile midnight swoops
within two and half years by the Tamil Nadu Police expose the double standards
in Indian public life. When Ms J Jayalalithaa's stormtroopers in uniform
had picked up the DMK top brass, Mr M Karunanidhi, there was countrywide
uproar across party and ideological lines. .....
Life is indeed stranger than fiction.
One accusation of a murder has made the supreme seer of the Kanchi Kamakoti
Peetham a villain, while those who have lead men to murder in the thousands
are proclaimed heroes -- to paraphrase Beilby Porteus, the eighteenth century
evangelist and abolitionist. .....
Imagine my dismay when I opened
quiet a few English language Bharatiya Newspapers, India Abroad, Little
India,etc., published here in America. I was greeted by resoundingly pernicious
reviews about V.H.P.A; "Absurd Hindus, Saffron warriors, Fundamentalist
Hindus, etc., etc. Like Lemmings rushing to the sea, these intellectually
bankrupt pseudo secularists unanimously panned Hindus. .....
The Islamic cleric arrested from
Hyderabad in connection with the "ISI conspiracy case" has confessed to
his role in spreading terrorist network across the country and sending
youth for training to Bosnia and Chechnya, a senior police official said.
.....
It was an overtly combative Om
chant which reverberated Parlia-ment Street on Saturday morning, signalling
BJP's anger and anguish over the shabby treatment meted out to Kanchi pontiff
Jayendra Saraswati. .....
The platform may have been unfamiliar
but the cause was heart-rending enough for Sant Aasaram Bapu, as he sobbed
and prayed that ishwar grant sadbuddhi to jailors of the Kanchi pontiff
Jayendra Saraswati. Hundreds of followers gathered at Patel Chowk for the
upvaas-dharna on Saturday could not control their tears. .....
Whatever the reality, the sight
of the BJP brass trooping out of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday night and
sitting impassively on a dais in Patel Chowk on Saturday failed to convey
the magnitude of the occasion. To the uninitiated, they could well have
been demanding the inclusion of Maithili into the VIIIth Schedule or pressing
for compensation to the victims of Bihar's rampaging gangs. .....
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
president M Karunanidhi today said he suspected "personal vengeance and
motives" behind the way in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati
was treated after his arrest. .....
Stepping up their campaign in support
of the jailed Kanchi Shankaracharya, a delegation of Hindu religious leaders
today met President A P J Abdul Kalam and demanded his intervention to
secure the pontiff's release. .....
The UPA government's goal is not
restricted to achieving its common minimum programme. Part of its mission
statement is the extermination of the BJP Parivar. .....
I have been hearing recently that
there are proposals to take over religious institutions and use their funds
to pay for the UPA government's programmes. One of the first uses for these
funds would be to pay for the Rs 24,000 crores allocated to Jammu &
Kashmir. .....
Maybe we have become too inured
by predictable images of a dharna. Maybe our measure of outrage has
become unnecessarily conditioned by explosive images of Falujah and
Palestine. Or maybe the battering ram of aggressive rationalism has
pulverised our faith in institutions that personify faith and tradition.
.....
Due to the tragedy of 9/11, Indo-Pak
tensions, the Iraq war and the SARS threat, tourists had stayed away from
this fair for the past three years. .....
There was an allegation that Sankaracharaya
is likely to flee to Nepal, and he is making arrangements to leave India
from Pune by special aircraft. .....
Former president R Venkataraman
sought a probe into the arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya and said
the inquiry should unearth if 'private grievance' was the motive
for the treatment meted out to the seer. .....
Crucial files relating to Shari
S Nair, a young unwed mother who died Nov 13 alleging sexual exploitation
by political bigwigs, were found missing on Monday from a case diary submitted
by the police in Kerala. .....
Describing the murder charge against
the Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi as "outrageous", the Kanchi
mutt today expressed the hope that "the dark hour too shall pass". .....
The family of former sheriff Fakhruddin
T Khorakiwala was threatened with ex- communication from the spiritual
head, the Syedna, of their close-knit Bohra Muslim community. .....
The arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya
could prove to be a dangerous turning point for India. Chances are the
polity will never be the same again. The incident once again highlighted
that India has neither a capable government nor an effective Opposition.
.....
The case against the Sankaracharya
of Kanchi appears to be on slippery ground. Who are the witnesses against
him? Two of the several professional killers, habitual criminals, yes,
criminals, confessing to the crime as being at the instance of the Acharya.
It is no secret that these people say what the police want them to say.
.....
In the four years after his Electoral
College victory in 2000, George Bush rewarded his supporters on the religious
right with a National Day of Prayer, the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives
in the White House, and the diversion of foreign aid funds from overseas
organizations that promote or perform abortions. .....
Even as Pakistan's leadership was
expressing its unrestrained glee with President George W. Bush's thumping
re-election, the new Bush administration wasted no time in making its first
big move to reward Pakistan with advanced weaponry. .....
A special court trying the serial
blasts case on Monday sentenced five activists of the Deendar Anjuman
to undergo four years rigorous imprisonment for possessing explosive
substances. It also sentenced 38 activists of the organisation to
six months rigorous imprisonment for criminal conspiracy. They have
also been fined Rs 1,000. .....
In the first operation of this
magnitude in Uttar Pradesh; in the first major strike since the formation
of the CPI (Maoist), 17 policemen were killed in cold blood on November
21, 2004. .....
Whatever the reality, the sight
of the BJP brass trooping out of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday night and
sitting impassively on a dais in Patel Chowk on Saturday failed to convey
the magnitude of the occasion. To the uninitiated, they could well have
been demanding the inclusion of Maithili into the VIIIth Schedule or pressing
for compensation to the victims of Bihar's rampaging gangs. .....
Two words can aptly describe the
expression on the face of Shankara Vijayendra Saraswati, the junior pontiff
of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Stunned disbelief. .....
Tamil Brahmins may or may not have
come out in support of arrested Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchipuram,
but sections of the underprivileged Dalit classes have expressed anger
at the treatment meted out to the seer. .....
It would appear the Shankaracharya
has been convicted, not accused Murder in the Cathedral meets Template
of Doom. As soon as Jayendra Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Kanchi,
was arrested for alleged involvement in the murder of a temple official,
the great Indian punditocracy responded with its pet theories. .....
'Kanchi seer has to be released
immediately. Arresting him at mid-night and throwing him into jail
like an ordinary criminal is condemnable" said Dalit Hindu Makkal
Sabha". .....
Taking a "serious note" of the
killing of 17 police constables and wounding of several others by suspected
naxalites in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre on Saturday said the challenge posed
by armed activities of naxalites would be met firmly. .....
Vijayendra Saraswathi, junior pontiff
of the Kanchi Mutt, firmly believes that his spiritual guru, Jayendra Saraswathi,
is innocent of the charges of involvement in murder slapped against the
arrested seer. .....
Two years ago in October 2002,
I had written a column on rediff that was an open letter to our President
A P J Abdul Kalam. In that column, I had urged the President to visit Kashmiri
Hindu refugee camps in Mishriwala, Jammu. At that time, President Kalam
had already made a visit to Gujarat riot victims and provided them the
healing touch. And I wanted him to provide the same healing touch to Kashmiri
Hindu refugees as well. .....
Asaram Bapu joined the BJP leaders
in a fast to protest the 'uncivilised' treatment meted out to the Shankaracharya
of Kanchi mutt. "Those responsible for torture of holymen are cursed. Sant
Sataye Teeno Jaaye, Bal, Budhi aur Vansh," Bapu said on Sunday in his discourse
as his devotees heard him spellbound. .....
Is Gujarat sitting on a treasure
trove of history? When residents of Hathijan on the outskirts of Ahmedabad
stumbled upon a 'vav' (step-well) while digging for a wall recently, they
touched history, literally. .....
The entire polity of Tamil Nadu
except the BJP is ranged against him. Never in the history of the state
did the DMK and the AIADMK, whose leaders never meet, ever unite on anything
as they do on this issue and against him. .....
Those in the Western media as well
as members of the European Union Parliament Committee for Foreign Affairs,
Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy who were responsible for
dividing the Indian continent are bound to report against India. .....
Sometime back the Jammu & Kashmir
government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the state's
Chief Minister to work out the strategy for safeguarding the religious
shrines of Kashmiri Pandits. Though there has been little headway in the
committee's work, the local people have welcomed it because it is expected
to generate employment. There are reports that a number of temples and
shrines in the Valley will be renovated. .....
Guns might go silent in the Kashmir
valley with peace initiatives of Team Manmohan, starting with troop reduction
in the border state, but there seems to be no let-up in the cross-border
onslaught on Indian economy. .....
There are many biases and distortions
besides factural inaccuracies that are easily visible in the history text
books written by liftist historians. Some of the more controversial points
are discussed in the following pages. An overview will show that many of
the misinterpretations and misrepresentations are so dangerous to the Indian
nationhood that they had to be discarded by the NDA government. .....
We have traveled a long way from
safronization to communalization to talibanization to detoxification. These
words no longer surprise anyone and do not even make news. Therefore, one
has to resort something more outlandish in order to make a news and remain
in news. The advertisement issued by the Ministry of HRD, Government of
India, Published in several Newspapers (30.7.2004) does belong to this
category. .....
'A small body - but mighty glory'-so
runs a kannada proverb. It applies to several great men. Shivaji was not
tall. But like a magnet he attracted people, and organised and built a
great empire. Napoleon was short. But he shook the whole world. .....
Two events relating to Gujarat
happened almost simultaneously. The first, which still reverberates in
news columns, was Zaheera Sheikh's second volte-face in the Best Bakery
retrial. The second, largely ignored by our Hindu-hating media, was the
demand by Hyderabad Naxalites for the unconditional release of Maulana
Naseeruddin, recently arrested by the Gujarat police in the Haren Pandya
murder case. .....
The history of Indian Muslims is
so complex that their isolation from the national mainstream and consequent
socio-psychological confusion have remained a puzzle for social scientists.
A study based on the factual developments related to this distinct and
a unique religio-social group may help the reader to draw right conclusions.
.....
NDA convener George Fernandes on
Tuesday lashed out at the way Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested
and said all kinds of human rights had been violated with the Shankaracharya's
arrest. .....
"Sharanam. Aham Tav Abhivadanam
Karomi." Clad in white dhoti and kurta with a long tilak on forehead and
nicely combed hairs, students of Samarbar Sanskrit Vidyalaya enthral the
newcomer by greeting them in Sanskrit. .....
Q.: How did you get associated
with the 1984 riot cases?
A.: I was preparing affidavits
for the riot victims when an elderly person told me that in his family
only four minor girls are left. Their father, mother, brother and uncle
had been killed. His grand-daughters were sent to the Nari Niketan. He
wanted to take them in his custody but did not have any money to pay the
court fees. .....
The one lasting image of Sonia
Gandhi in the run-up to the general elections earlier this year was of
the Congress president, hair pulled back severely from her forehead, in
a white handloom sari, tense but determined as she travelled, largely by
road, reaching out to voters across the country, giving a face to the party
slogan 'Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath'. .....
Punukula was just another sleepy
village in Andhra Pradesh's Khammam district till word spread about a quiet
revolution taking place there. Now farmers from across the state are trooping
in to see for themselves: is what they have heard true? Can cotton really
be grown without spraying chemical pesticides? The farmers of Punukula
have many success stories to narrate but are getting tired of all the attention.
.....
Reeling under a wave of Naxal attacks,
especially after the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh effected a ceasefire
and called Left wing extremists for talks, worried state police chiefs
have sought clear directions from the Centre on how were they expected
to deal with the problem. .....
Barely hours after Shivraj Patil
claimed in Srinagar that there was a drop in infiltration from across the
border, the Army repudiated the home minister saying that Pakistan has
stepped up its efforts to push terrorists into the Valley. .....
Jammu & Kashmir will emerge
as one of the key areas of conflict and is likely to witness an increased
US interest during the second term of President George W Bush. The reasons
are not far to seek. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been Mr Bush's
strong ally in the war against terror and will continue to be so. .....
A CPM leader, who had fined an
alleged molester at a conciliation meeting, was shot and beheaded by the
accused and his men in front of his wife and daughter this morning. .....
Buddhists in Thailand have implored
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to end violence targeting them on an
almost daily basis in the south of the country. .....
Somewhat intrigued by the indirect
requests and appeals by visiting Pakistani MQM leader, Mr. Altaf Hussain,
to grant political asylum to his supporters in India, the Indian Home Ministry
has categorically rejected his emotional pleas. .....
Having decided to retain a discriminatory
and anti-people immigration law called the Illegal Migrants (Determination
by Tribunals) Act, 1983, the UPA Government at the Centre and the Congress
Government of Mr Tarun Gogoi in Assam are beginning to feel the heat of
strong public resentment and public rejection. .....
In May 2004, the persitent pressure
of envangelist instructors at the Mysore Medical College drove a
student to attempt suicide in Mysore, India. .....
MR Altaf Hussain travelled half
the world to reach India to speak his mind on the state of affairs in Pakistan,
which he last saw in 1992 before going into self-exile. In an interview
on the sidelines of the Hindustan Times' Leadership Initiative, which he
also addressed in New Delhi, he made remarks which cannot go unnoticed.
.....
When a newspaper prints truth about
Muslim killers international, it runs the risk of the author being killed
or the newspaper being taunted beyond measure. In that, the messenger,
not the murderers, is the villain. .....
Writers, critics and politicians
in this country report increasingly aggressive reactions from Islamic fundamentalist
circles in the national debate on Islam. .....
India's prime minister on Thursday
ordered the reduction of troops in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir,
saying a decline in separatist violence in the Himalayan region prompted
the decision. .....
Never before the results of a general
election have galvanised a select group of self-proclaimed secularists
as this year's election results. These darlings of the Left found themselves
in a position to bargain with their masters and took this position of power
to heart. No persuasions, only requests for immediate compliance, no questions
can be asked, no verification of facts permitted. .....
Islam could be the communism of
the 21st century if the West does not reform its secular democracy, Australia's
leading Catholic has said in a speech in the United States. .....
The RSS condemns unequivocally
the arrest of Sri. Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal. Considering that
Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal is a well known personality, being
the head of an ancient & revered Mutt, there is no question of
his avoiding or evading the process of law. .....
During the heady days of the run-up
to the 1996 parliamentary election, when the end of Congress hegemony over
national politics seemed imminent, the BJP found itself in a quandary.
Disgusted by the obnoxiously avaricious cash-and-carry government over
which P V Narasimha Rao had presided without lifting his little finger,
people were loath to vote for India's "natural party of governance". .....
He was considered insane by some
of the police officials in Vadodara, but on Wednesday, Shehajad Khan, the
third eyewitness in the Best Bakery carnage, deposed and identified 12
accused before additional sessions judge Abhay Thipsay in the Mazgaon sessions
court. .....
Now the minority institutions are
possessing enormous wealth. At present, the minorities or their religious
institutions possess key places in all cities and towns of Kerala. The
leadership of the minorities fears the proposed census of their religious
institutions, because their exact economic status will get published. .....
Shri M.G. Vaidya is a senior RSS
leader, journalist and former spokesman of the Sangh. A Delhi-based journal
sent a questionnaire to Shri Vaidya to interview him. He answered all of
them. But they carried only a few. Here we give a full text of the queries
and his answers, as they will help obtain a clear perspective of the Sangh.
.....
For three landless sharecroppers
of Dhamora village in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh, life was a hard
grind, but after meeting Sudhir Chadha, it looks promising. They are set
to earn Rs 1 lakh from their 2.6 acre rented papaya farm. Chadha's initiative
has brought them new opportunities. .....
For our 'liberal' press, good news
is bad news; it is not to be reported. But bad news is 'good' news, to
be reported in great detail and with a vengeance. That is why a story in
India Today (October 25) comes as a pleasant shock. .....
Violent clashes between members
of the Muslim Hui ethnic group and the majority Han group left nearly 150
people dead and forced authorities to declare martial law in a section
of Henan Province in central China, journalists and witnesses in the region
said today. .....
Alice Eriksson calls herself a
"Russian grandmother" and seems an unlikely threat to Sweden's Left Party,
a vital partner for the country's ruling Social Democrats. .....
Sonia Gandhi has washed her hands
of the fight involving her two allies from Bihar-railway minister
Lalu Prasad and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan. .....
What use is a gentleman Prime Minister
if he cannot ensure that the Government he heads follows certain constitutional
and political norms? The manner in which the Governors have been dismissed
by the UPA government underlines a scant respect both for the Constitution
and healthy precedents in this regard. .....
This week, light a candle in your
window. And whisper a silent prayer in memory of more than 4,000 Sikh men,
women and children slaughtered by Congress hoodlums 20 years ago. In Delhi
alone, 2,733 Sikhs were burned alive, butchered or beaten to death. .....
The army guy was scattering handfuls
of Osama bin Laden leaflets from his Humvee as the heavily-armed convoy
bumped through a mudbrick village on the way to the Pakistan border, in
the unlikely hope that somebody with information would find them. .....
The Cuddalore police claim to have
busted a fundamentalist outfit - Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) located at
Nellikuppam - which has been allegedly converting Dalits into Islam and
imparting training to them in handling weapons and martial arts. .....
San Francisco, November 1, 2004-
A mob of Arab students at San Francisco State University attacked a group
of College Republicans on the San Francisco State University campus at
noon today during a "Turnout the Vote" event in front of the campus student
union building. .....
Tuesday's slaying of Theo van Gogh,
a Dutch filmmaker who criticized Islamic practices, reminds all of a nagging
truth: More than 15 years after the government of Iran issued a death warrant
against novelist Salman Rushdie, challenging Muslims remains a risky business.
.....
Around 100 journalists and non-journalists
affiliated to the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and
Kerala Newspaper Employees' Union (KNEU) on Tuesday took out a protest
march to the office of the Inspector General of Police (North Zone)
at Nadakkavu here, condemning the attack on mediapersons by IUML
activists, including a lady reporter, at Karipur International Airport
on Monday. .....
A key witness in the Best Bakery
case on Wednesday accused the nongovernmental organisation that was
helping her of "pressurising" her into making statements and naming
"innocent persons" during the ongoing retrial of the case at a special
court in Mumbai. .....
In a dramatic turn of events, the
key witness in the Best Bakery case Zahira Sheikh Wednesday alleged that
she perceived a threat to her life from human rights activist Teesta Setalvad,
who was instrumental in getting the trial shifted to Mumbai from Gujarat.
.....
David Horowitz is the conservative
polemicist liberals love to hate. His fierce attacks on political
cant and ideological certainties have provoked howls of outrage on
campuses across the United States and inspired sometimes angry and
occasionally stimulating debates about such issues as reparations
for slavery, political indoctrination by college faculty and professorial
antipathy for American foreign policies. .....
Naxalites have added their
voice to the Dasargah-e-Jehad-e-Shahadat's demand for Maulana Naseeruddin's
unconditional release, reports our special correspondent. .....
With its two state governments
in Tripura and West Bengal having to contend with ''terror from across
the border'', the Left leaders today told visiting Bangladesh Foreign Minister
M Morshed Khan that his country would have ''to dismantle camps and not
promote these separatist groups or anti-India elements at all''. .....
If General Pervez Musharraf means
what he says in calling for a national debate on ways to resolve Pakistan's
dispute with India over Kashmir, he might be taking the most far reaching
initiative of his military and political career. According to AFP, the
General told a reception of government officials, diplomats and media in
Islamabad that Pakistanis must discuss a ''change of status'' for Kashmir.
.....
Away from the talks table in Hyderabad,
Andhra's Naxal outfits, whose cadre strength had dwindled during the crackdown
by the former government of Chandrababu Naidu, have been going ahead with
recruitment and are busy stocking arms. .....
The chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh (RSS), the country's most influential Hindu group, has criticised
Christian missionaries for allegedly trying to convert tribals. .....
Have you ever tried to publish
a map of India omitting the regions North and West of the Line of Control
in Kashmir? Just try and see what happens! Without mentioning so-called
"Azad Kashmir", the Northern Areas located North of Kargil and Leh districts
of Ladakh are rightly considered as an integral part of the Indian territory
as this region belonged to the Jammu and Kashmir State when it acceded
to India on October 26, 1947. .....
The Shiv Sena chief may be full
of rhetoric but it is this police inspector and her team of 12 constables
who actually knock on hutment doors in the early hours of the morning in
their search for illegal immigrants. .....
Andhra Pradesh might soon lose
the sheen of Cyberabad as People's War leader Ramakrishna wants the lands
given to corporate houses in the city back. The Congress was confident
that it was voted to power by the people of the State due to their disenchantment
with the Telugu Desam Party. But then it has now to meet an extra-constitutional,
extra-legal authority who plans to dictate the Congress "people's" agenda.
.....
