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June Month Articles

June Month Articles


      International attention on Kashmir has invariably focused on the tensions and conflict between Kashmiri separatists and the Indian government. Any discussion on self-determination or human rights is routinely prefaced on the assumption that the situation in Pakistan-held Kashmir is "normal", that the Pakistani government is a "friend" of the Kashmiri people, and it is only the Indian government that is hostile to the "genuine interests" of the people of Kashmir. .....
     

      Turning the other cheek is not one of President Bush's best-known traits. But he is ready to forgive a lot in the case of Pakistan, where a skillful political alchemist is transforming a record of failure, extremism and betrayal into gold from the U.S. Treasury. .....
     

      Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf has received enough sugar-free, fat-free lollypop samples from President George Bush to go back home, jumping with joy on his controlled media, to convince confused Pakistanis that he was returning as a conqueror of Camp David and not a man put under greater scrutiny and pressure. .....
     

      A decision by Bandra's St Andrew's High School to ask 70 students to leave has stirred up a storm. School authorities on Friday explained that the students were expelled for their poor academic performance. .....
     

      Pakistan's President Musharraf warned the West yesterday not to allow India to develop a military superiority that would leave his country's nuclear arsenal as its only real deterrent. .....
     

      In the fifties a talented Muslim actor (Yusuf Khan) still felt it necessary to assume a Hindu name (Dilip Kumar) to survive in Hindi movies! Today there are more than a dozen Khans/ Muslim actors flaunting their Muslim name and identity and are doing well, with a large (including Hindu) fan following in a highly visible medium like Cinema! .....
     

      Eleven men, nine of them U.S. citizens, were charged with conspiring to join a Muslim extremist terror group that has been blamed for thousands of deaths in the disputed Kashmir (news - web sites) territory of India and Pakistan. .....
     

      Of the variegated forms of murderous assault that the Palestinian Arabs have unleashed against Israel since they began the Al-Aqsa Intifada - the Oslo War - in September 2000, none has proved so cruel or lethal, or so perfectly embodied absolute evil, as suicide bombings. Certainly none has exercised so hypnotic a spell upon the "learned classes." .....
     

      Militant Muslim imams are preaching a distorted, hateful form of Islam to U.S. soldiers and federal prisoners, creating a "dangerous situation," Sen. Charles Schumer charged yesterday. .....
     

      Oslo Western Europe is increasingly a house divided against itself.  While non-Muslim Europeans live in democracies, most Muslims in the  same countries inhabit theocratic enclaves where they are expected to  tread a narrow path or suffer the consequences. .....
     

      Whatever spin General Pervez Musharraf may give to his US visit, away from the media glare, a post-9/11 United Nations panel is turning the screws on Pakistan on the question of terrorism. And, in response, Islamabad is ducking for cover. .....
     

      The FBI Friday issued a 41-count indictment against 11 men charged with conspiracy to train for and participate in a violent jihad overseas. .....
     

      Some of General Pervez Musharraf's recent pronouncements about Pakistan's political future should end the illusion of those who see him as a well-intentioned soldier forced by circumstances to take over the country. His statements that ''Pakistan is not ready for democracy'' come on the heels of his declaration that, for national interest, he would not relinquish power. .....
     

      Since the much-hyped arrest of three  Thai Muslims with alleged links to an Islamic militant group in the region, the Muslim minority in southern Thailand has been in fear that Islamic schools there may soon face a lesson in survival. .....
     

      Q.: Both India and Britain want to play a positive and pro-active role in international affairs. Where do you see India placed in the post-WTC attack and Iraq war scenario?
      A.: India, being the largest democracy of the world, carries a lot of credibility in the international community. It is an emerging economic giant. It is seen as the voice of the region. But somehow, the ongoing tension with Pakistan has always over- shadowed the wider role India can play on the world stag. .....
     

      Three of the six British soldiers killed in Iraq were executed after surrendering their weapons, it was claimed today. .....
     

      A gathering of 50 Children was hardly a crowd at the Ayyappa temple in R.K. Puram, Delhi. It was Vishu, the Malayali New Year's Day, and thousands of them, expatriates in the kingdom of nostalgia, had thronged the temple from dawn. They came-and went-offering prayers and receiving the token one-rupee coin from the priest. .....
     

      The media, at least the 'secularist' media, it seems doesn't want to learn. Following the Godhra carnage we were bombarded with stories and theories about how a minor altercation with a tea vendor led to a spontaneous gathering of a mob of nearly 2000 men with weapons and incendiary materials within minutes who burnt down the Sabarmati Express killing scores of mostly women and children. .....
     

      The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that India being the larger country should show "magnanimity" and make more compromises if a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem is to be realised. .....
     

      New Delhi and the US State Department found themselves in the same  camp, trying to scuttle President Pervez Musharraf's hopes of  receiving F-16s and more at Camp David. .....
     

      The Vietnam War, waged for the sake of falling dominos, gave the chain reaction a bad reputation as a reason for public policy. .....
     

      An embarrassed CPM leadership in Kerala has decided to "publicly censure" party veteran and ideologue P. Govinda Pillai for "grave indiscipline" in criticising the late E.M.S. Namboodiripad, who headed the world's first elected communist government. .....
     

      The American mom who took refuge with her two children in an American consulate in Saudi Arabia was on her way home to California last night - but it was not clear whether the kids were allowed to leave with her. .....
     

      The Incident took place in 'Margundi' a small hilly town in Chickmangalur District of Karnataka which is famous for Coffee Estates all over. It has a Population of 4,000 People, out of which the Muslims dominate over 50%. .....
     

      There is an extremely disturbing and alarming trend amongst the Indian intelligentsia to glean from history what suits their bias. Rather than accept the historical fact that the Muslim invasion of India has, by almost all accounts (including the historical writings of the invaders themselves), been the bloodiest in the history of the World, these "scholars" try to project a more "respectable" account of the Islamic invasion of India. .....
     

      It can be safely predicted that China and India, two of the most populous countries and fastest growing economies in the world, will emerge as great powers in this century. It would also not be unreasonable to predict that China will attain that status before India. These trends will influence the foreign policies of both the countries as well as their mutual relations. .....
     

      A gathering of 50 Children was hardly a crowd at the Ayyappa temple in R.K. Puram, Delhi. It was Vishu, the Malayali New Year's Day, and thousands of them, expatriates in the kingdom of nostalgia, had thronged the temple from dawn. They came-and went-offering prayers and receiving the token one-rupee coin from the priest. .....
     

      Liberal thinkers among Muslims are strongly of the view that the Ayodhya dispute be resolved once and for all through negotiations between Hindus and Muslims. A section among the intellectuals, albeit a hopeless minority, has gone so far as to suggest that Muslims "gift" away the disputed land in a "grand gesture of generosity", thus eliminating the biggest source of friction between the two communities. .....
     

      Basra, Iraq: Still no luck in my quest to help the US administration find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. But meanwhile, I'm getting the impression that America fought Saddam, and the Islamic fundamentalists won. .....
     

      For once, Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee, once the firebrand follower of Jayaprakash Narayan, has spoken his mind on the draconian anti-conversion law recently enacted in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. And, true to style, he did not mince words. With the kind of drubbing the legislation has received from the highest law officer of the land, its continuation on statute book is no longer tenable. .....
     

      Hyperactive Muslim individuals, with leadership pretensions despite the fact that they have been roundly defeated in recent elections, are running around in circles in a state of desperation to find out the details of the proposals on Ayodhya the Shankaracharya of Kanchi has given to the Muslim Personal Law Board. .....
     

      'Destroy the minorities' sense of belonging so that they are forced to flee the country. after selling their property for a song. This strategy. will rid the country of not only the minorities. but also all the ethnic groups, and turn it into a monolithic, theocratic state..'' This is so true about the Sangh Parivar in India. .....
     

      The Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, has charged that the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board was getting ready to give up all claims to the disputed Babri masjid site in Ayodhya when the board's working committee meets in Lucknow on July 6 to consider the Ayodhya proposal of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati. .....
     

      In a volte face, the BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu today said he never favoured construction of mosque alongside the Ram temple at Ayodhya and termed media reports to this effect as 'misinterpretation'. "I did not mean that mosque can be constructed close to the temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram. It can built in a place which has concentration of Muslim population," Naidu said here. .....
     

      Benazir Bhutto has said that Pervez Musharraf, then Director General of Military Operations, had brought the Kargil Plan to her when she was Pakistan's Prime Minister and she had shot it down. .....
     

      Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his first ever interview since his exile in 1999, has said that he and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had decided on a deadline for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute but Kargil sabotaged the plans. .....
     

      Exiled Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif may have been badly mauled politically but he refuses to fade away. Having left Pakistan under an alleged deal with General Pervez Musharraf's regime, Sharif and his family are not supposed to either return to the country or create any political trouble for General Musharraf. .....
     

      There is a growing need to rewrite Indian history according to the latest linguistic and archaeological discoveries if Indian children are to understand who they are and where they come from. .....
     

      Pakistan's Islamic Opposition on Wednesday denounced a $3 billion US aid pledge secured by President Pervez Musharraf as a disgrace to the country and evidence of subservience to Washington. .....
     

      A senior Bush administration official described President Bush's June 24 meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as "historic," because, he said, the two leaders made a long-term commitment to build a fundamentally new relationship between the two countries. .....
     

      It may seem absurd and outlandish, but it's a fundamental question nonetheless: 'Why should India at all extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan?' .....
     

      As a House subcommittee (of the Committee of Education and the Workforce) holds  hearings Thursday on "International Programs in Higher Education and Questions of Bias," it is investigating the federal funding of campus-based area-studies centers and programs. The representatives might wish to consider a dismaying pattern that pertains to one of those areas, the Middle East. .....
     

      In his only interview till date this year, the media- shunning RSS-chief spoke on a wide range of issues in the context of the Atal-Advani leadership row and the VHP's raised pitch on the mandir issue. .....
     

      Farooq Abdullah lost his power when his brother-in-law, Ghulam Mohammad Shah, established his credentials of enjoying majority support in the Legislature.l He was an inefficient Chief Minister, who only took Kashmir to the brink of disaster by fuelling secessionist and divisive fires, polarising the entire polity on communal lines and harassing the minorities. .....
     

      Sri Dayananda Saraswathi Swami, head of Anaikatti Arsha Vidya Gurukulam condemned the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom having included India in its list of Countries of Particular Concern quoting the Gujarat riots,.  Citing laws to prohibit forcible conversions, the above Commission had concluded that there is no religious freedom in India. .....
     

      When Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan agreed to line up with the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, many Pakistanis who sympathized with al-Qaeda and the Taliban were outraged. Don't worry, Musharraf reassured them days later in a revealing TV address in the Urdu language not intended for American ears. .....
     

      PRESIDENT BUSH: Good day, Mr. President. Thank you so much for coming. Laura and I are honored that you and Mrs. Musharraf are joining us here at Camp David. .....
     

      Kuldip Nayar's June 20 assertion in Islamabad that India-Pakistan relations could not progress as long as Pakistan continued to sponsor cross border terrorism has sparked off angry reactions in Pakistan. .....
     

      Around 200 people were reconverted to Hinduism in the presence of Union Minister of State for Forest Dilip Singh Judeo at Parswani village in Mahasamund district today. .....
     

      With international pressure rising over Cuba's latest crackdown on dissidents, the country's high court upheld tough sentences against high- profile opponents of President Fidel Castro. .....
     

      Had it ended differently, Sun Zhigang's life might have been a testament to his country's progress. The 27-year-old carpenter's son had worked his way out of a remote village in China's central Hubei province to a university in the provincial capital of Wuhan. He graduated with an arts degree, then later moved to Guangzhou, landing a job as a graphic designer and the chance to make a home in new China's glittering boomtown. .....
     

      One irony of victory in Iraq is that Iraqis now enjoy more freedoms  than the rest of the Arab world that supported the U.S. liberation.  That includes Kuwait, staging ground for U.S. forces, where last week  journalist and political reform advocate Mohammed Jassem was arrested  for allegedly criticizing members of the Kuwaiti royal family. .....
     

      In Lahore's crowded Shahdara area, not far from the local police station, a "fun fair" is advertised by a large signboard. A signboard bearing the name and insignia of the military police, proclaims that the fair is out of bounds for all ranks, except for those on duty. .....
     

      If you ask anyone age 50 or older who has followed world events, even rather remotely, which nation is the closer ally of the United States, India or Pakistan, the near universal answer would be Pakistan. That answer is based on the Cold War framework, which defined our foreign policy for nearly half a century. India was in the Soviet orbit. .....
     

      Delegates from 28 countries across the Middle East and Africa gathered in Cairo yesterday to pledge their commitment to eradicating female circumcision, long considered a barbaric practice around the world. .....
     

      The Indian Parliamentary delegation visiting Pakistan on Monday said they were intrigued by the total lack of response from the Pakistan government to their visit. .....
     

      President Bush is expected to announce this week an aid package for Pakistan worth billions of dollars, not only to reward Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf for his cooperation in the war against terrorism but also to try to counter the anti-American sentiment driving a surge in support for Islamic radicals. .....
     

      It was a touching interview, and one that disturbed him, said Khalid Mohd, Group Editor-in-Chief of Utusan Malaysia, after interviewing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last week. Here is a translated excerpt from the Malay-language daily. .....
     

      There's trouble brewing in sleepy Kasauli.Residents of some 90 'old grant bungalows' in this quaint hill station, 55 km from Chandigarh, are up in arms over the Army's plan to acquire their properties and tide over an accommodation problem for its officers and soldiers. .....
     

      As worshipers at the Islamic Center of Long Island, in Westbury, Nasau County, chatted and rose from Friday Prayers last week, Ghazi Khankan stepped before a microphone and called for the crowd's attention. Mr. Khankan, ready with a box of voter registration forms, wanted to make voters of everyone present, as part of his effort to register 100,000 Muslims across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. .....
     

      On August 15, 1947, India became free. But the day before, nearly a third of the country had been cut away from it to form Pakistan. .....
     

      One of the leading lights of the Ramajanmabhoomi movement, Sri Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Math says he disagrees with the statement of Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, that there were only three parties to the Ayodhya dispute- the Sankaracharya himself, Muslim organisations, and the Union Government. .....
     

      The only time I ever met General Musharraf was in Agra during the failed summit. I had been - almost from the start - a critic of that summit. When A.B. Vajpayee invited Musharraf to India, I wrote, on this page, that the summit was doomed. Our approach was: let's be friends, and once we've built up an atmosphere of trust, we'll discuss Kashmir. His approach was: let's settle Kashmir, and only then can we be friends. .....
     

      Let me emphasise, however, that it is not necessarily the case for India to be forever wedded to Israel, or indeed, to anyone else: all tactical alliances are fluid and based on expediency. Indians, naïvely, go for lifetime commitments, when a light-hearted affaire de coeur is the right answer. .....
     

      Edward W Said's debunking of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilisations theory ('The Clash of Ignorance'; The Pioneer, June 9, 2003) conceals a bitter irony. Israel-baiter Said is no different from our Hindu pseudo-secularists and proxy- Islamists who preach "secularism" safe in India defended by a Hindu-Sikh army. .....
     

      Bowing to political pressure, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court judgment that allows women to retain their status of "Permanent Resident Status" (PRS) of Jammu and Kashmir even on marrying a non State-subject. .....
     

      ""The Hindus remained under double jeopardy ¡V from their not only being non-Muslim but also sharing the religion with the Indian majority. During times of tensions with India ¡V as over Kargil during 1999 ¡V they became even more vulnerable. The plight of the so-called scheduled castes adds a third jeopardy of extreme poverty. .....
     

      An American by name Jim Yost had filled in the guest register at  the US India Friendship website http://www.usindiafriendship.net which meant he wanted to be included on my mailing list on updates and action alerts relating to US-India relations. .....
     

      The Islamic Republic of Iran has obtained design information to develop and construct gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment from Pakistan's nuclear program, according to Western intelligence sources. .....
     

      Democracy, the unchallenged signpost of modernity, the apotheosis of all who are progressive, has become the target of a sharpshooter. We all know the rhetorical power of the word democracy. It is the modern world's "open sesame", clearing the path for all on whom it showers its approbation, be he a Bush, a Modi or a Laloo. .....
     

      Pakistan is actively fomenting terrorism and militancy in different parts of the world including South Asia and has emerged as the chief promoter of so-called Islamic militancy. .....
     

      Murders, armed dacoities, gang-rapes and bloody violence have unnerved the people of West Bengal. The state was once lauded for showing respect for the weaker sex but has earned notoriety for savage incidents of molestation and rape. The police have failed miserably to deal with outlaws, quell violence and uphold law and order. .....
     

      A Kashmir-born naturalised American citizen has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges that include plots against trains and perhaps the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Iyman Faris pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support, according to the documents that were unsealed in a district court in Alexandria, Virginia, today. .....
     

      The city police seized several Video Compact Discs (VCDs) containing speeches of Osama-bin- Laden and visuals of the training camps run by the terrorist group, Al- Qaida, posters with provocative messages from Shaik Fareed, an old associate of Asgar Ali, who is the prime accused in the killing of the former Gujarat Minister, Haren Pandya. .....
     

      Britain is undergoing a slow transformation but is still not equipped to deal with the growing menace of Islamic terrorism in the country. This was my impression following a two-week lecture tour when I visited several cities in England including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Leicester. .....
     

      At Punjab University last month, professors of English literature were flabbergasted when they learned that a top administrator had ordered their curriculum reviewed for un-Islamic texts. Among the books deemed offensive to public morals: "Gulliver's Travels" and "Tess of the d'Urbervilles." .....
     

      There is a drift in Islamabad's mood. All the upbeat peace talk has given place to a tougher attitude. Musharraf admitted that Pakistan regulars fought in the Kargil war and there is no certainty that another Kargil would not emerge. .....
     

      So much has been said and written about settling the Jammu & Kashmir issue once and for all but the general public has not a clue as to what is happening on that front. Talks at various levels have been held. Prime Minister Vajpayee has met many world leaders who have given lip service and praise to India. .....
     

      Q.: Do you think Tripura is in turmoil?
      A.: No Tripura is not in a turmoil. An elected Government is in place. So why should the State be in turmoil? .....
     

      Barely two months after it was launched at Srinagar, India's nth effort to sign peace with Pakistan has gone kaput. Or so it should be via by the insulting interview of Pakistan's President to an Indian television channel last week. .....
     

      Islamic extremists in Bangladesh may be trying to make a radioactive "dirty" bomb. On May 30, Bangladeshi police arrested four suspected members of a militant Islamic group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, at a house in the northern village of Puiya. .....
     

      The peace process initiated by India has given a fresh momentum to the movement of the people in PoK to free themselves from the yoke of Pakistan's military dictatorship, intelligence sources here indicated. .....
     

      One of the national problems we inherited at the birth of India is Kashmir. The origin of the problem and its continuance till today as a millstone round the neck of the country in a way underline the naïve nature of Hindu society, which refuses to learn anything new from the history. .....
     

      Sir-In his letter, 'Study in contrasts' (June 9), Mr G Hasnain Kaif makes a baseless accusation: "The Hindu brigade is bent upon saffronising ... minority educational institutions." He adds that madarsas educate people about the Quran and the Hadith, and are thus not "seminaries of jihad". .....
     

      China is being touted as a land of opportunities for Indian companies just before Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit. .....
     

      Intelligence reports have warned of a possible threat to the peace of this riot-ravaged city and a few other places in Tamil Nadu. The `alert messages' have turned Coimbatore into a fortress with gun-toting policemen manning checkposts and stepping up vigil. .....
     

      The Function of some Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), alleged to be funding banned Maoist groups in the State, is being probed by the state intelligence department. .....
     

      A student of a madarsa in Bulandshahr who was being kept in chains was rescued by the police on Wednesday afternoon. The police swung into action after a photograph of the boy appeared in a local daily on Wednesday morning. The child has been identified as 12-year-old Rizwan. .....
     

      Indian Americans are up in arms against the Chicago Tribune for its "distorted" coverage of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani's U.S. visit last week. .....
     

      The Bush Administration on Wednesday shot down reports that it intended to resume supply of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, and that it would make an announcement to that effect during military ruler Pervez Musharraf's visit to Washington next week. .....
     

      It looks like Hollywood at its special- effects best. But the scene was produced in a studio 16 time zones - and a cultural world - away, in Bangalore, India. .....
     

      In an exclusive interview with The Pioneer inside dense forest areas of Adilabad, senior CPI(M-L)-People's War (PW) leader Malkapuram Bhaskar alias Chandranna admitted that his group has close ideological, political and military links with Maoists in Nepal and 10 other Maoist organisations operating in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. .....
     

      Pakistan's efforts to stop cross-border terrorism are disappointing, Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said Thursday in Chicago. .....
     

      Defence minis­ter George Fernandes will visit Surankote in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday to review the army's ongoing Operation Sarp Vinash against terrorists in the Hill Kaka area. .....
     

      Many may not be aware that a centuries old rare commentary on the four Vedas is available in the libraries overseas.  The author of this exceptional body of work is none other than Sri Maadhava Tirtha, one of the four direct disciples of Sri Madhwacharya, exponent of the Dwaita philosophy.  This preceptor expounded the Dwaita philosophy based on the tenets of the Upanishad. .....
     

      The United States has informed Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani during his recent visit to the country that it is preparing an F-16 fighter deal with Pakistan, Defence and Foreign Affairs Daily reported. .....
     

      It would be staggering to imagine there will be permanent enemies and permanent friends in politics. Yet, the statement made by Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh yesterday on Sonia Gandhi's ''Indianness'' must send tectonic waves in the political field. .....
     

      The Indian embassy in Dhaka issues something like 2,000 visas a day! Thus, we have half a million of our Bangladeshi neighbours visiting us each year. .....
     

      They never taught this history in school, thanks largely to the textbooks that Leftists wrote. High school students across India will now learn the other history - of the demonic side to Lenin, Stalin and Mao - that may rattle communists and their academic sympathisers in Calcutta and Delhi. .....
     

      Barely a month after the president of BJP's Diu unit, Laxman Punja Charaniya. recovered his fishing boat 'Gangotri', which was taken away by the pakistan Marine Agency, He lost it again . Mr.Charaniya had spent Rs 2.5 lakhs on its repairs. .....
     

      Yousef Jameel, whose family firm bought the British business Hartwell in 1990, is named in papers claiming more than $1 trillion damages from defendants accused of helping to fund Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaida network. .....
     

      Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani received an unscheduled visitor soon after his arrival here, when US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called on him at his hotel room. But a personal friend never showed up as expected: Former Pakistan envoy to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, currently his country's envoy here. .....
     

      Khalid Shaikh Mohammed looked more like a loser in a T shirt than a modern-day Mephistopheles. But "KSM," as he is always referred to in FBI documents, held the key to unlock the biggest mystery of the war on terror: is Al Qaeda operating inside America? .....
     

      The innate decency of the Hindu ethos precludes India from ever subscribing to Prof Samuel Huntington's vulgar formulation regarding the clash of civilisations. Essentially a euphemism for armed conflict between the White Christian and Arab- dominated Muslim worlds to conclude the unfinished medieval Crusades, this simplistic, yet vituperative doctrine would be laughed out of court in any civilised society; it succeeds in America only because it is an intellectually immature and emotional society. .....
     

      The State Government has initiated yet another defamation proceeding against The Hindu, this time taking exception to an editorial about the controversial anti-conversion ordinance promulgated on October 5, 2002. .....
     

      A Muslim terror suspect has confessed to plotting to bomb embassies in the Thai capital during an upcoming summit of Asian and Pacific Rim leaders, which President Bush is due to attend, Thailand's prime minister said yesterday. .....
     

      "So much good grows from sponsorship. For a child - health, hope, friendship and confidence. For a sponsor - joy, satisfaction and pride. Nothing can replace the importance of your role as a sponsor! As you get to know your sponsored child through cards and letters, you'll bring (and receive) such joy." -- Christian Childrens Fund. .....
     

      After seeing my first article on Kashmir appear in Free Press Journal issue dated May 13, 2003 I would like to invite the attention of the people of India to the background realities of the Kashmir issue in my observation, not only does the world, inclusive of our own statesmen not comprehend the issue of Kashmir fully but the two generations born in the last 50 years lack the information too. .....
     

      Facing an unexpected challenge to his power from Islamic fundamentalists in the provinces and defiance from the parliamentary opposition, President Musharraf may counter-attack .....
     

      Tension has been brewing here in the serene woods bordering Nepal following police allegations linking the missionaries and converted Oraon tribals with the Maoist Communist Centre. .....
     

      For a sense of the new forces stirring inside Mexico today, consider the Legion of Christ. The once obscure religious order, founded 62 years ago in the basement of a Mexico City town house, ranks as the world's fastest-growing branch of Roman Catholicism. It attracts more recruits to the church's aging priesthood than any other Catholic congregation on the planet, per capita. .....
     

      "Bhojshala is a temple, it is no masjid and the Central Government is trying to bring back the idol of Goddess Saraswati from the London Museum and have it installed in the Bhojshala temple,''said Smt. Bhavana Chikhalia, Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture while talking to Organiser after her recent visit to Bhojshala at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. .....
     

      From an ordinary person like me, we look at India and Pakistani leaders, like yourself, and they still seem to choose the sublime or the ridiculous to discuss - impossible issues like Kashmir or trivial issues like cricket. But the real issues like trade, how we can help each other economically, those are tractable, solvable problems. What happens if you say. Chalo, this is impossible, we won't discuss it. The trivial too, we won't. Let's just get down and fix the machinery here. .....
     

      Considering the influence that America exercises over our lives and our national sense of direction, we should have a right to vote for the president of the United States. But we did not even vote for our own president. He seems to have been 'elected' for us by the present American administration. At the same time, democracy is said to be the name of the game. .....
     

      The Bangladeshi Atomic Energy Commission has confirmed that a football-shaped package recovered by the country's police last month near its northern town of Patnitala contains semi-processed uranium. .....
     

      Thousands of pro-reform demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Iranian capital Tehran for the fifth successive night. .....
     

      Five suspected terrorists and five Saudi security officers have been killed in a clash in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, a government-run Saudi newspaper has reported. .....
     

      War on terror. Now, that's a good phrase: What a shame, then, that it's been weeks since we heard anybody utter it. It's a little like that other phrase: 'weapons of mass destruction'. Of course we hear the expression a lot these days but never from the people who originally popularised it - George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and even Tony Blair - but from the other side: people who doubted that the 'weapons of mass destruction' ever existed. .....
     

      Is Kashmir our core issue? Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines 'core' as "the basic and most important part of something". If that something is Pakistan then is Kashmir Pakistan's "most important part" (or was East Pakistan our most important part)? In a more commercial sense 'core business' is defined as "the most important or the largest part of a company's business activities which it depends on in order to continue trading". .....
     

      Five more policemen have been taken into custody for alleged links with militants involved in the killing of former Jammu and Kashmir home minister Mushtaq Ahmad Lone and attacks on security forces in the state. .....
     

      Next week, leaders of the European Union will meet in Greece to vote on a proposed constitution that will govern the lives of 450 million Europeans. The most agitated debate at the convention that produced the draft focused on the preamble, specifically whether God in general, and Christianity in particular, ought to be mentioned among the sources of the "values" that produced a common European culture and heritage. .....
     

      President Pervez Musharraf has alleged that two opposition parties were taking instructions from abroad and that "they were the architects of various problems in the country" reports UNI. .....
     

      The residents of Jamalia Nagar Cross Road now feel vindicated. After almost going through the equivalent of hell in the last few months as a construction of a church had brazenly encroached on the public road causing them lot of hardships, they are now heaving a sigh of relief after authorities demolished the upcoming structure yesterday. .....
     

      That was the husband's verdict after he learnt that his wife had taken their six-month-old son to a health camp to get him administered the polio vaccine. .....
     

      Amonth or so ago, I was in Kurigram and talking to an NGO worker. She was young and pretty and although the ostentatious sindur was not there on her sinthi, the white sankha on her hand told me that she was married. She proudly told me that she is considered to be the best worker in her office, and I could see that she possessed those ingredients of management that set leaders apart from the others. .....
     

      The proposed conversion of some one lakh Dalits in Gujarat to Buddhism has again being postponed. The programme scheduled to be held in Vadodara on Sunday has been deferred till October 5, the Buddha Purnima day. .....
     

      At long last a Pulitzer Prize committee is looking into the possibility that the Pulitzer awarded to Walter Duranty, the New York Times Moscow correspondent whose dispatches covered up Stalin's infamies, might be revoked. .....
     

      In a significant statement that could create a row, Union minister of state for culture Bhavnaben Chikalia has asserted that no mosque existed inside the disputed complex at Bhojshala. .....
     

      Maintaining that Islamabad does not trust New Delhi, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has declared he would be more than willing to lead any talks between India and Pakistan aimed at normalising ties between the two countries. .....
     

      In his letter, 'Tipu Sultan: Eye of the tiger' (May 31), Mr Obaidur Rahman Nadwi alleges a section of religious fanatics (read Hindus) has launched "a campaign to denigrate Muslims, particularly those who played a leading role in India's struggle against the British. A recent publication. .....
     

      As the clerical authorities tuned down their previous harsh rhetoric against demonstrators, the Democratic Front of Iran called on the people to continue the protest movement "until the regime falls". .....
     

      The government of Saudi Arabia said today that it has fired several hundred Islamic clerics and suspended more than 1,000 others for preaching intolerance, part of a broader campaign against terrorism. .....
     

      When the joint  family system is becoming extinct, a family consisting of 127 members live at one place jointly.  It is a phenomenon. .....
     

      The terrorists have struck against Israel once again. Yesterday witnessed yet another suicide bombing, this one on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens more. .....
     

      Several NGOs based in Assam have come under the scanner with police recovering sheaves of Ulfa documents containing information on links between the militant outfit and various organisations, including one that claims to be a human rights watchdog. .....
     

      Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has warned student protesters not to expect any pity from the authorities in the country. .....
     

      Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to resign after his failure to prevent an escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian insurgency war. .....
       

      A mass grave, containing hundreds of Buddhist monks and civilians executed in Stalinist purges in the 1930s, has been found in the Mongolian capital. .....
       

      Q.: Have you really distanced yourself from the Ayodhya issue, as media reports seem to suggest?
      A.: Yes and no. I'd like to distance myself from the politicisation of the Ayodhya issue. By making my position on this clear, at least I've been saved from having to field questions on the politics of the mandir-masjid imbrogli. .....
       

      'Secular liberals must be proactive to prevent India from skidding into an era of violence, intolerance, authoritarianism and economic slowdown that experts now derisively call the Hindutva rate of Growth,' says Anita Pratap (outlook April 29, 2002). .....
       

      An influential US foreign policy scholar has issued a ominous warning that Pakistan's nuclear weapons and materials could soon fall into the hands of forces allied with al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. .....
     

      In a move to popularise Vedic maths, the World Academy of Vedic Mathematics, a private promotional body would train professionals to inculcate the traditional concept among students, reports PTI. .....
     

      L K Advani received an unscheduled visitor soon after his arrival here, when US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called on him at his hotel room. But a personal friend never showed up as expected: former Pakistan envoy to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, currently his country's envoy here. .....
     

      After issuing diktats on a "dress code" and imposing a number of socio-economic curbs on women, militants have now "banned" the singing of the national anthem in educational institutions. .....
     

      Early this year, executive director J. B. Lee of Hyundai Motor India, the Indian subsidiary of the Korean car giant wrote to his 70-strong suppliers urging them to add a new clause on "product liability" in the supplier agreement. This clause was meant to make suppliers liable for any product recalls that Hyundai might have to make anywhere in the world as a result of a faulty component supplied by them. .....
     

      Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday declared that India wanted to start talks with Pakistan .as soon as possible' but made it clear that for a meaningful dialogue cross-border terrorism should end and terror infrastructure dismantled. .....
     

      Leaders of the UK Hindu community today strongly protested the statement made by the Earl of Mar and Kellie in support of a claim by the Christian Medical Fellowship's pastor Juge Ram that Hindus were ''lost, spiritually blind and Hinduism is a false religion''. .....
     

      The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is understood to have intervened in the Crime Branch investigation into the Marad carnage, as the party felt that a proper probe would land it in deep trouble. .....
     

      The Congress tried to walk the tightrope in obliquely opposing Kanchi Shankaracharya's remarks commanding P.V. Narasimha Rao for installing a make-shift temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya without expressly refuting or criticising him. .....
     

      Pope John II is peeved and perturbed but obsessively persistent - about his declared mission of harvesting umpteen souls in India. According to an Associated Press report from Vatican City published in The Times of India, Mumbai, on June 4, 2003, he told a group of visiting Indian bishops to 'courageously' proclaim the gospel in India notwithstanding .....
     

      The Andhra Pradesh unit of the People's War Group has established a direct link with procurers who bring in arms from Bangladesh-based ISI agents via the riverine Sunderbans route. .....
     

      Australian-born Muslim convert Jack Thomas, who was arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of training with terrorists, has left his Melbourne home and is still in hiding. .....
     

      Tonight for the first time, students were joined by parents and other family members in a spontaneous, massive protest in Tehran. .....
     

      The method of animal slaughter used by Jews and Muslims should be banned immediately, according to an independent advisory group. .....
     

      The bailiff and police Friday recovered leading film actress Noor from her father's house who had detained her for allegedly contracting marriage with a Hindu in Dubai. .....
     

      The day the fundamentalism will end in Pakistan, that day, Pakistan will be divided. To sustain fundamentalism, terrorism is a must. And hence the Prime Minister of Pakistan says that nobody would believe that Pakistan would abandon the terrorism. .....
     

      None of us will live to see it, but before this millennium is over, Islam is likely to have joined the myths of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome as a religion that was tested and failed. .....
     

      The Harvard Divinity School is considering whether to return a $2.5-million donation to the president of the United Arab Emirates after questions were raised about his connection to a controversial Middle Eastern think tank. .....
     

      Greenhorn as she is in the wonderland of Indian politics, Ms Sonia Gandhi has the added disadvantage of having been born and brought up in an alien land and culture. No wonder most of the time she is still a 'reader' and not a 'leader' and frequently underscores the sad reality (through her words and silence as well) that she is yet to mature and strike roots in the Indian tradition. .....
     

      Dr Ajay Chrungoo, the Jammu-based chairman of "Panun Kashmir", a representative body of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, was in Srinagar to meet New Delhi's interlocutor Mr N.N. Vohra to put across views on various issues facing the community. Shortly before the two sides closeted at a guest house on the banks of the Jhelum. .....
     

      Somewhere in the bylanes of Byculla, resides 20-year-old Sakina in her mother's home. Mother of two boys and divorced last year by the single sitting of the triple talaq, young Sakina is petrified of the future. Her mother Noreen says, "It is a sinister word. We would like Sakina to get married again and so we are hunting for men who are divorced themselves." .....
     

      1. Islam is a totally MISSIONARY religion committed to making EVERYONE Muslim, according to the Koran the world is divided up into 2 parts, Dar-as-Islam (House of Faith) a title which applies to all Islamic countries and Dar-al-Harb (Household of War), land not yet surrendered to Allah, which is the rest of the world. .....
     

      Have empathy. The Pope has genuine problems. The Papacy was born to convert the world to the only true religion, Christianity. This Pope merely continues this 2000 year tradition to cleanse the world off 'false faiths'. Turn it exclusively Christian. He did not start the war to exterminate 'false faiths'. He just inherited it; has no authority to change it. .....
     

      On December 2, 2002, a blast in a stationary double-decker bus in Ghatkopar, northeast Mumbai, killed 3 persons and injured 28; the same day, another bomb was defused in Andheri, northwest Mumbai. On December 6, an explosion in Bombay Central injured 25. .....
     

      Working, as I have been for the last couple of years, on a short biography of Jawaharlal Nehru, I became conscious of the extent to which we have taken for granted one vital legacy of his: the creation of an infrastructure for excellence in science and technology, which has become a source of great self-confidence and competitive advantage for the country today. .....
     

      Param Poojya Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji yesterday danced to the rhythmic beats of the tassa as he rejoiced in "heavenly bliss" at the consecration of his vision-the 85-foot-tall Sri Karya Siddhi Hanuman. .....
     

      Ava Bruce, 12, is not even Hindu, but she topped all the other primary school pupils to get full marks from the preliminaries to the finals in a Ramayan Quiz. .....
     

      Every time the spectre of a Shariat act is raised in Pakistan, women are the first to shudder. Despite the rush of burqa humour clogging the Net, these jokes conceal a fear as visceral as it is real. Irrespective of its content, there are widespread fears that the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government's adoption of a Shariat bill could result in serious curbs on women's mobility and freedom. .....
     

      The new Imam of the Grand Mosque of Rome, the largest in Europe, called for the "victory of Islamic fighters in Palestine, Cechnya and other areas of the world" in his sermon Friday, June 6. He called for Allah's help in "the destruction of the homes and destruction of the enemies of Islam". He called for their "annihilation" and "the victory everywhere of the Nation of Islam." .....
     

      As it nears the end of its fifth year in office as the head of a coalition government, India's Bharatiya Janata Party is preparing to put its mandate on the line in national elections due by October 2004. Little surprise that the party has recently shown signs of backing down on some planned economic reforms in areas like taxation, foreign investment and privatization. .....
     

      The trappings of a typical high school prom were all there: the strobe lights, the garlands, the crepe pineapple centerpieces and even a tiara for the queen. In fact, Fatima Haque's prom tonight had practically everything one might expect on one of a teenage girl's most important nights. Except boys. .....
     

      Pakistan cannot end its support to militants as it serves as a defence line for the country, says Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Sayed Salahuddin, reports PTI. .....
     

      Militants have killed three of the four persons they abducted in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir while the whereabouts of the fourth is unknown, sources said in Jammu on Sunday. .....
     

      Two features of the evolving strategic environment stand out. The first is the contemporary phenomenon of ''jehadi'' terrorism. The second is the danger of the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and their means of delivery by deviant states and/or radical non-static formations. A third - which impacts on our political environment very differently but nevertheless forms part of the strategic calculus - is an increasing unilateralism in the use of force. .....
     

      Far removed from zero line and international glare, nearly 500 Bangladeshi migrants continue to languish in the 20-odd jails of WB. To all, they are forgotten - Bangladesh has shown no interest in getting them back, and India seems to be in no hurry to deport them who are often pawns in the state's politics. .....
     

      The Centre today maintained before the Justice Liberhan Commission that the V.P. Singh Government issued an ordinance on October 19, 1990, by which the disputed structure and the land around it were acquired for handing it over to the VHP. .....
     

      One person was killed and five others, including a police official, were injured in sporadic incidents of violence in Afzal Sagar and Mallepally area on Thursday. .....
     

      Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested two of their colleagues for their involvement in attacks on security forces, a top police official said today. .....
     

      Appearing before the court of District and Sessions Judge on Saturday filmstar Noor blamed her parents for forcibly detaining her at home. .....
     

      Many residents of the Jamalia Nagar Cross Road in Perambur are, these days, pretty cross. Over what? Er, a church that is coming up on that 40-feet road. .....
     

      Recently married Sabita Halder, (a young minority woman) was visiting her family home in the rural village of Bahurbunia in Morelganj in Bagerhat district. She was there with husband, Pijush, and their six-month-old son Pintu. That's when the terror struck Her young life was cut short by a group of brutal gang rapists and murderers. .....
     

      Down an unmarked dirt road in a hilly corner of eastern Pennsylvania, Sankar Sastri calls out to his nine cows who, after a moment, charge around an old stone fence and romp around Sastri like children at play. .....
     

      Every morning for two years, Samira Makhlouf removed her Islamic-style head scarf before entering her public school in the southeastern French city of Lyon. .....
     

      In his 'Letter from Islamabad' (IE, May 29) Congress ideologue, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has said: That ''weaning the Kashmiri away from the causes of his discontent will decisively determine the course and content of the external dialogue''. .....
     

      I started reading books when I was a teenager. At that time I was living in Hyderabad, Sindh, now in Pakistan. I was 14 years old when I joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The first question put to me by Rajpal Puri, then prant pracharak (RSS provincial head) of Sindh, was whether I liked reading books. .....
     

      A Muslim woman who cited religious reasons in refusing to remove her veil for a driver's license photo must show her face for the camera if she wants her license reinstated, a Florida judge ruled Friday. .....
     

      The World Trade Organisation has clearly become the most important multilateral forum in the world, being far more pervasive and effective than even the United Nations. Even China, which had long stayed aloof from all such entities lobbied ferociously to get into it and has finally achieved its aim. India has been one of the founding members of WTO and is today in the thick of the various debates that go on within the WTO. .....
     

      The BJP president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, today denied that he had suggested that a mosque be constructed beside the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. .....
     

      The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is not at all pleased with the assertion of the Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, in Rampur on Wednesday that his party would be prepared to allow a mosque to come up next to a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya for a peaceful resolution of the issue. .....
     

      Muslim leaders in Italy are demanding the removal or destruction of a priceless 15th century fresco in Bologna that they say offends Islam by showing the Prophet Muhammad being cast into the flames of Hell. .....
     

      After massive electoral victory in tribal dominated areas of central Gujarat, the Sangh Parivar has now decided to make a fresh bid to expand its influence to the tribal areas of south Gujarat. .....
     

      Robert Antoine-Pierre, 28, is the first foreign suspect implicated in the attacks that killed 43 people. He was taken into custody in the northern city of Tangiers, where he had been living with his Moroccan wife, security officials said. .....
     

      The Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, has said that the Kashmir "dispute" could not be resolved by converting the Line of Control into a "permanent" border. .....
     

      Pakistan says it is not in a position to stop infilration even if it wanted and added it was taking place despite government efforts. ''We are not in a position even if it is completely wanted,'' Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said in an interview to a private television channel. .....
     

      Congress ka haath, Garib ke saath is an eloquent slogan, but unfortunately it is obsolete. The age of daridra narayan passed with the demise of socialism. The evidence in India was that not a murmur of protest greeted the U-turn the PV Narasimha Rao Government took in 1991. Though the Congress had won the election on a socialist manifesto, it went liberal without checking out the views of a single voter. .....
     

      A round of ruthless attacks in Tripura in early May claimed the lives of 32 people, including seven children and eight women. Militants belonging to the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) launched simultaneous attacks on three predominantly Bengali villages in West Tripura as part of their efforts to get all post-1949 non-tribal residents vacated from the hilly regions of the State. .....
     

      London's prophets of doom don't have to dig out their old files anymore. They point to the new ring of concrete around the houses of Parliament as validation of their claims that British policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are far more likely to encourage terrorism than eradicate it. .....
     

      Sir, - This is in response to Mushirul Hasan's article, "Madrassas in India," (May 21). The Madrassa curriculum is unsuited to the demands of the present day. The syllabi is Islamic in content. It is devoid of all scientific and rationalist learning. .....
     

      What do the Japanese do when their nation's economic slide throws more people out of work and cuts into their savings? They go in for a hug from none other than Kerala's Mata Amritanandamayi Devi who is on the Japan leg of her world hugging tour. .....
     

      Israel Television Channel Two News correspondent Ehud Yaari showed a tape this evening of the meeting Yasser Arafat held in Ramallah with children to mark International Children's Day. .....
     

      They've seen Nisha Sharma, a girl in their neighbourhood in Noida, send back her groom and his family from the wedding because they wanted dowry; they've seen a groom die accidentally in some celebratory shooting. Now Gujjars in the area have announced a ban on dowry and ostentatious weddings. .....
     

      The anti-auto theft squad of North-West District Police have arrested six Bangladeshis while they were planning to commit dacoity in the Azadpur Subzi Mandi. .....
     

      Saturday, February 26, 1966, 11-10 am. God called back another of His favourite sons, one of His choice gifts to Mother India, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, He was 83. .....
     

      A Muslim MP has recently disgraced Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, epitome of pride and patriotism for crores of Hindus. Sultan Salauddin Owesi, MP from Hyderabad made a provocative statement that Shivaji Maharaj was the first terrorist in the world. .....
     

      As a Bharatnatyam dancer, Narthagi Nataraj often acts out the roles of various mythological characters. Her favourite is Amba-the vengeance-seeking princess in the Mahabharat. Spurned by her lover after Bhishma kidnaps her to become a wife for his brother, Amba commits suicide. But she is reborn as a woman who later becomes a man and avenges her humiliation by Bhisma. Nataraj wholeheartedly identifies with Amba. .....
     

      India has come a long way since Independence. If there is a dispute, it is all about the pace, not about the progress. One of the fastest growing economies in the world, the country, in its own peculiar ways-ah, blame it on the vibrancy of the great Indian democracy-has an identifiable, and reasonably decisive, place in the global free market. And geopolitically too the voice of India is audible and is listened to. .....
     

      London's prophets of doom don't have to dig out their old files anymore. They point to the new ring of concrete around the houses of Parliament as validation of their claims that British policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are far more likely to encourage terrorism than eradicate it. .....
     

      A Tamil version of the now famous Nisha Sharma saga was today played out in Chennai with a 26-year-old bride from the conservative West Mambalam walking out of the marriage hall to seek an appointment with the police as she was unable to bear the mental 'torture' inflicted upon her by the groom's family with too many dowry demands and a threat to call off the marriage at the eleventh hour if the demands were not met. .....
     

      The Army is in the process of fine-tuning its biggest ever operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir after getting the nod from the top political leadership. .....
     

      Attempts have been made by Pakistan-based terrorist groups to create a network in Ladakh, but the geographical nature and the climatic conditions of the Himalayan region have prevented militants from spreading their tentacles, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Chairman Thupstan Chhewang has said. .....
     

      The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) has demanded that Ladakh be given special status within Jammu and Kashmir wherein people from other parts of the State do not have the right to own land or property, till the Himalayan region is granted the status of a Union Territory. .....
     

      Beleaguered British MP George Galloway may have another problem, in addition to be investigated by his own Labour Party for a possible relationship with Iraqi intelligence. Now the British government has frozen the assets of a Muslim charity with links to Galloway. .....
     

      More than a year after communal violence hit Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the incidents had had no effect on economic growth of the state. .....
     

      Under a successful operation code-named Sarp Vinash (Snake Eradication), the Indian Army has smoked out a large number of terrorists belonging to different Pakistani jihadi organisations, which are members of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front, from a secret launching base in the Hill Kaka area of Surankote in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). .....
     

      The Anglo-Saxon war on Iraq has revealed much, not just about Iraq and its government, but also about the Arab psyche. The stereotype of the Arabs as a divided people is only partially true. For whether they are ordinary people chatting in cafés or pundits opining on the new satellite stations, the Arabs generally agree about two things: that (a) the United States will not create democracy in Iraq, and that (b) even if this were to happen, democracy achieved at the point of a US bayonet is unacceptable. .....
     

      Bali bombing co-ordinator Imam Samudra has cited 13 reasons for the fatal blasts, singling Australia out for its role in a "conspiracy" to separate East Timor from Indonesia. .....
     

      Over the past decade, Islam has become Italy's second-largest religion yet it has never achieved official government recognition. But now Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu is launching negotiations with Muslim leaders that would sanction religious holidays, schools, weddings and the right to receive state funding. .....
     

      In the land of enlightenment, it's worship for the  goddess of learning. At Bodh Gaya, 113 km from Bihar capital Patna,  adjoining the massive pagoda shrine with its giant statue of the  praying Buddha, a tiny Hindu temple has emerged. .....
     

      Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tonight said if talks were to resume with Pakistan on Kashmir issue, it has to be on the one-third portion of Kashmir which was under Pakistani occupation. .....
     

      "Al Qaeda's goal is the use of [chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons] to cause mass casualties," the CIA stated in an internal report produced last month. .....
     

      Thank you for informing me of your opposition to the appointment of Professor Romila Thapar to a Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress. Thank you also for directing my attention to the Internet petition that opposes her appointment. .....
     

      Despite international pressure, Kashmir would remain an  "inseparable" part of Pakistan's national policy and a key  component of Islamabad's overall strategy, Vice Chief of Army  Staff Gen Mohammad Yusuf Khan has said. .....
     

      A feisty female has the plaint that this columnist is atavistic in matters related to Jammu and Kashmir. But when media elite and policy pundits repeatedly distort or ignore the critical facts of history for millions in India and elsewhere, what is one to do but retreat into time in an effort to surgically remove the malignant misinformation? .....
     

      Standing in the leafy courtyard of the US Embassy here, it is hard to imagine this country may be the most dangerous posting in the world for American diplomats. .....
     

      India on Monday opted for an image change-over from being an aid-taker to an aid-giver even as Prime Minister Vajpayee ended his meetings at the G-8 Evian summit as the head of government of one of the select developing countries with big impact on global economy. .....
     

      On May 9th, a Saudi student at Arizona State University, Muhammad Al-Gurashi was arrested for direct connections to terror. He personally drove convicted terrorist supporter Faisal Al-Salmi on numerous occasions to President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch apparently on a pre-terror reconnaissance mission. .....
     

      The southern Philippines has become the training center for Al Qaeda's Southeast Asia affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah, drawing recruits from a number of countries, according to Western and Philippine officials. .....
     

      More and more children in Aligarh district are ending up with twisted limbs as organisations like the WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International and the district authorities find that their concerted campaign against the disease is proving to be hopelessly inadequate. .....
     

      The Islamist alliance governing the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan has introduced a Shariah Bill in the provincial Assembly prescribing a strict code of conduct for Muslims. .....
     

      The controversial Domicile policy, which has claimed about one dozen lives across the state in the last one year, has not only brought the political parties under the cloud but the role of missionaries is also being questioned. .....
     

      Five-time CPM member of Parliament Radhika Ranjan Pramanik was expelled from the party today, largely because of his association with Mamata Banerjee. .....
     

      Yoga has been in vogue for some time among the likes of pop queen Madonna and celebrities like Sadie Frost but this month, it officially goes mainstream in Britain. It's a come-on cue for yoga instructors in India and fashion designers like Rohit Bal, Adarsh Gill and Ritu Beri. .....
     

      On a dusty byway in a busy city neighborhood stands an innocuous single-story house. It could use a coat of paint, and its small patch of lawn needs mowing. A two-wheeled scooter, a symbol of lower middle-class India, is propped against a peeling wall. The door has no sign, just an electric bell. .....
     

      May 21 marks the death anniversary of two contemporary leaders of the Kashmir scene. Both had fallen victims of the gun culture they abhorred. `The mehman terrorists', as Abdul Gani Lone used to address these `gun wielding jehadi groups,' gunned down Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq at his residence in 1990. .....
     

      Since the publication of "The Source of Bias against Hindus" at IndiaCause, I came to know more of the affront to the Indian community and also of the depths which western and Indian "secular" academicians traverse just to paint a miserable picture of Indian culture and religion. .....
     

      From secure fortified bases 35 km deep inside Indian territory in thick jungles near here, militants mostly foreign mercenaries, for over three years used satellite phones to make hundreds of calls to apparent modular cells all over the country raising concerns of the intelligence agencies. .....
     

      Illegal migration has caused a serious demographic imbalance in the North-Eastern region. The North-East apprehends the danger of losing its geo-ethnic identity due to long-term evil designs by international terrorists. If the BJP-led government continues to neglect the border security of these states and does not take immediate steps as recommended by experts, this region might face the Kashmir like situation, writes Mozaffar Islam. .....
     

      Philippine officials say more than 90 Muslim rebels have surrendered, and at least 100 have died during the military's latest offensive. .....
     

      In a nation where collective finger pointing at politicians, grieving at the slowness of democracy and deriding India itself is fashionable, Rangaswamy Elango is an object lesson. He is an engineer for whom the outer world lay open. He chose to return to his village. He was born a Dalit, a people who have many justified grievances with Indian society. .....
     

      A barber by profession stunned a social worker Sri Sriram who came to the saloon for hair-cut after completing his vow to memorize Bhagavad Gita, by reciting Soundarya Lahari, Trisadi (A collection of 300 names of Goddess Ambal), Raja Rajeswari Ashtakam, Gayatri Mantram, Mrutyunjaya Mantram, Navagraha Stotram, etc. in Samskrit apart from Thevaram, Tiruvachakam in Tamil. .....
     

      Preceptor should follow what he preaches. Karunanidhi is one who preaches something to others but does not follow in his own life.  He preaches atheism to all, teases those who wear kukum on their foreheads, ridicules firewalking in temples. but he wears yellow shawl, approves his family going to Guruvayoor temple for tonsure of his grandson's head ! .....
     

      Al Qaeda is not a monolithic, hierarchical organisation; it operates through like-minded subsidiaries. The support structures of its affiliated organisations in India have been constructed by the al Qaeda-Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) combine, with financial support from west Asia and from expatriate Muslim communities in the west. .....
     

      American President George Bush's war on terror and al Qaeda's war on America are swirling around two parallel universes, both of which at times seem streaked with fantasy. For the US, if terror had been the only cause, then Iraq would never have been an issue. The accusations of links with al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction remain unproven. .....
     

      Operation Sarp Vinash has unearthed documents that show the Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau failed to sense the scale of activities in Hill Kaka for about four years. .....
     

      In the midst of a singularly lacklustre election campaign, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot showed undue panic by floating the balloon of reservations for 'economically needy' sections of the forward castes. Brahmins dismissed the move as gimmickry since additional reservations require Central legislation, and demanded that the State include them among the Other Backward Classes so that they can immediately avail of the benefits of Government employment. .....
     

      Indian foreign policy today stands at a crossroads. In the years following independence, India, suspicious of the United States, maintained a stance that was ostensibly non-aligned, although in practice favorably inclined towards the Soviet Union. It also adopted a rhetorical stance supportive of the Palestinian cause and contrary to Israel. .....
     

      The Cambodian authorities announced on May 30, 2003, the arrest of two Thais and an Egyptian on suspicion of having links with the Jemaah Islamiyah(JI), an extremist organisation of South-East Asia, which is alleged to be associated with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda. The JI has been blamed by the Indonesian authorities for last October's explosion in Bali. .....
     

      Not too long ago, whenever people wishing for an Islamic utopia would argue with me, they would invariably cite Saudi Arabia as an example of the closest thing you could get to heaven on this earth. .....
     

      The country recently witnessed a most unfortunate controversy over the installation of the portrait of the great freedom fighter and revolutionary V.D. Savarkar in Parliament. It is sad that the Congress, Communist and other parties should have opposed the move without assessing the supreme sacrifice of Savarkar during our struggle for independence. .....
     

      Weeks after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called for a probe into madarsas for "training jihadis", the National Commission for Minorities has done something very similar: it has convened a meeting of madarsa board chiefs across the country and asked them to "bring along" copies of their syllabi. .....
     

      Moving to ensure that personal appearances do not disclose an individual's religion or lead to bias, the IAF has ordered its men in uniform not to sport "tilak/vibhuti on the forehead, thread on wrists and trinklets and earrings." .....
     
  •  Amrozi's sorry - but not for all the victims

    • For four hours in a Denpasar Court he was unmoved by the plight of Hindu and Christian victims of his terror campaign, telling the court impassively that he understood their moving testimony but had no idea whether it was true or false. .....
     

      As Algeria begins to clear away the debris from a devastating earthquake -- the government there is prohibiting Muslim fundamentalists from collecting donations to help survivors. .....
     

      Five women were arrested on charges of trying to convert forcibly in Ranganathapuram near Bodinayakanur in Theni Dist.  They are Nagercoil Santhakumari (42), Jayaneedhi @ Radhika (18), Ariyalur Sofia (19), Tambaram Surya (63), Kirubai (58).  The modus operandi of these is to go on door-to-door canvassing, distributing pictures and books on Christianity and gifts. .....
     

      Cambodian police shut down an Islamic school near the capital yesterday as part of a crackdown on outside Muslim influences prior to a visit next month by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. .....
       

      Seeking to put at rest the controversy over its stand on the Ayodhya issue, the BJP today categorically told its cadres from the minority community that it favoured construction of a grand Ram temple at the Ram Janambhoomi site and a mosque outside a five kilometre radius of the disputed site- a demand echoed by Sangh Parivar. .....
       

      Section 153 B (1) (a) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (as amended by the Information Technology Act, 2000) stipulates that 'Whoever, by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, makes or publishes any imputation that any class of persons cannot, by reason of their being members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community .....
       

      For the first time in years, Kashmiri militants say Pakistani authorities are trying to stop them from crossing into Kashmir, and accuse Islamabad of betraying their bloody struggle. .....
       

      An estimated Rs.10 billion of federal funds meant for the development of India's northeast goes instead into the coffers of separatist guerrillas annually, a minister said Saturday. .....
       

      United States Congressmen Frank Pallone and Sherrod Brown have expressed concern over the plight of Kashmiri Pandits and urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to create a 'political and economic' safety net for them. .....
       

      Engineers at Texas Instruments' Bangalore-based development centre have delivered the world's first single-chip solution for high-speed modems used for broadband communication applications. .....
       

      A majority of multinational corporations operating in India have rated the country as a better investment destination on various parameters than China, Brazil, the UK, France, Australia and Singapore. .....
       

      The first Garwhali-Kumaoni feature film on the horrific 1994 Muzzafar Nagar massacre which is set for release in Uttaranchal tomorrow has created a controversy with the Samajwadi Party (SP) taking exception to its contents. The film allegedly shows SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav in bad light. .....
       

      Dennis Roman was spiritually hooked on to India long before i-flex Solutions' senior management made a secular pitch to him - to join them as chief marketing officer for the Americas and Japan, and establish the i-flex brand there. .....
       

      When the United States revealed last October that Pakistan had supplied uranium enrichment technology to North Korea, the Bush administration did not pin the blame on the U.S.-backed military ruler in Islamabad, General Pervez Musharraf. Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Musharraf's claim that he had stopped the nuclear transfers to Pyongyang initiated by his civilian predecessors. .....
       

      Since the BJP-led coalition came to power, the Indian left has done the greatest damage to India's image abroad. In conjunction with radical groups in the US, it has launched innumerable petition drives and approached partisan human rights groups. They have carped about Indian minorities being in danger and assailed the rulings of India's courts. .....
       

      Even 158 years after their arrival in Trinidad and Tobago, Indians have "preserved and cherished" their distinct cultural traditions and emotional bonds with the country of origin, Indian High Commissioner Virendra Gupta said on Thursday, reports PTI. .....
       

      Communist China is known to do it. Does Communist Bengal do it too - inflate economic growth data? Bengal's economic growth has been above 7 per cent from the mid-nineties till now, well over the national average and second only to Karnataka's. .....
       

      As India and Pakistan inch towards peace, the great game, as its being played out on the subcontinent, is being watched keenly in the United States. .....

      Several organisations representing Kashmiri Pandits living in the region today have taken strong exception to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh for his reported remarks terming the exodus of Pandits from the valley nearly 13 years ago a "big mistake." .....
       

      Do you believe that a "post-Sept. 11 backlash" has resulted in a nationwide wave of violence and bigotry against Muslims in America? The hype artists and book-cookers at the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee want you to think so. The group's new report purports to document "a massive increase" of hate crimes targeting Arab-Americans. .....
       

      Six top Pakistani militants were shot dead on Thursday in Pir Panjal mountain ranges in the border district of Poonch, official sources said here. .....
       

      In the first sign that it has already wearied of the public debate over the possible roots of extremist thought in Saudi Arabia, the government ordered the removal today of the the editor in chief of Al Watan, the daily newspaper which had been most outspoken on the subject. .....
       

      The figures on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India were, till recently, a source of embarrassment for the government. .....
       

      It was the  2 nd of May , sundown under a crescent moon at the Marad beach. The Hindu fishermen, most of whom had just hauled their daily catch and were resting on the beach, never knew what hit them. Three teams of about a hundred armed men climbed out of their fiberglass boats on to the shore. .....
       




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