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Updated on October 25, 2002 |
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--- South Asian News, August 15, 2002 ---(International)
As India celebrates its 55th Independence Day, the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee slams Pakistan's stand on terrorism using strong language in his address to the nation. In continued violence in Kashmir, three Indian soldiers were killed and 18 people wounded when a bus hit a landmine and was then attacked by suspected Islamic militants. In a Far Eastern Economic Review Editorial, read about theng of the A9 highway in Sri Lanka and what it means to the Tamils.
Africa
* Vajpayee slams Pakistan (News 24)
* Ten legal Tamil Tiger days (News 24)
Americas
* Indian PM takes swipe at Pakistan (Globe and Mail)
* Pakistani president vows to end extremist violence (Canada Broadcasting) (The Star)
Asia-Pacific
* Indian President: India ready for dialogue with Pakistan (Xinhuanet)
* India accuses Pakistan of continuing to promote terrorism (Xinhuanet) (Australian Broadcasting)
* Indian PM attacks Pakistan for double standard against terrorism (Xinhuanet)
* Three soldiers dead, 18 wounded in Kashmir attack (Australian Broadcasting)
* Security beefed up for Independence Day in India (Xinhuanet)
* Indian PM calls for "economic movement" to accelerate growth (Xinhuanet)
* Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers agree timetable for peace talks: Norway (Channel News Asia) (Australian Broadcasting)
* New Delhi accuses Islamabad of planning to sabotage Kashmiri polls (Channel News Asia)
* India ready for talks with Pakistan when atmosphere 'conducive': Vajpayee (Channel News Asia)
* Musharraf vows to root out terrorism (Malay Star) (Bangkok Post)
* India steps up security against militant attacks (Malay Star)
* Musharraf vows more security (East Day)
Europe
* Indian PM accuses Pakistan (BBC) (Swiss Info) (Ananova)
* Sri Lanka to lift ban on Tamil rebels (Swiss Info) (BBC) (RTE)
* Pakistan and India trade insults over Kashmir (Swiss Info)
* Pakistan talks hinge on 'conducive' conditions - India (Ireland Online)
* Musharraf condemns 'cowardly' militants (Telegraph)
* Indian president urges religious harmony (BBC)
* India Celebrates 55th Anniversary (Guardian)
Middle East
* Three soldiers killed in attack on bus (Gulf Daily News)
* Kashmir poll a farce: Musharraf (Arab News)
* Kashmir not global issue says Kalam (Gulf Daily News)
* Violence fears grip Bangladesh (Gulf Daily News)
* 15 militants held for terror attacks (Gulf Daily News)
* Pakistan Vows to Crush Militancy, Hails Arrests (Theran Times)
* Pakistan Election Commission sets off poll process (IRNA)
Editorial
* Highway of Hope (Far Eastern Economic Review)
* Vajpayee speech highlights (BBC)
* 'I never asked for power' (Guardian)
Business/Technology
* India industrial growth to fall (Gulf Daily News)
Africa
* Vajpayee slams Pakistan
New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, using his strongest language against Pakistan since the two countries pulled back from war in June, accused Islamabad on Thursday of "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir. Vajpayee's independence day speech followed an address by Pakistan's president on Wednesday - marking Pakistan's own independence day - which said polls planned in Indian-ruled Jammu and Kashmir in September and October were a farce.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Asia/0,1113,2-10-20_1242258,00.html
* Ten legal Tamil Tiger days
Colombo - Sri Lanka's government will lift a ban on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 days before peace talks in mid September aimed at ending one of Asia's most protracted ethnic wars. "It was always going to be at least 10 days before," Bradman Weerakoon, the prime minister's secretary said on Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who signed a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire with the government in February, had said they would not continue the peace bid with a ban in place.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Asia/0,1113,2-10-20_1241979,00.html
Americas
* Indian PM takes swipe at Pakistan
New Delhi - India's Prime Minister, using his strongest language against Pakistan since the two countries pulled back from the brink of war in June, accused Islamabad on Thursday of "cross-border terrorism" in disputed Kashmir. Atal Behari Vajpayee's speech appeared to be in response to an address by Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf who said India's plans to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir state in September and October were farcical.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20020815/wvayyy/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
* Pakistani president vows to end extremist violence
Pervez Musharraf spoke Wednesday during a ceremony in Islamabad to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Pakistan's independence from Britain. In his speech, he called attacks on Christians and Western interests "despicable and shameful." Pakistani officials say extremist groups are using violence to show their disapproval of Pakistani co-operation in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. American troops are still operating out of Pakistan.
http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/08/14/musharraf_020814
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=&call_page=TS_World&call_pageid=&call_pagepath=News/World&col=
Asia-Pacific
* Indian President: India ready for dialogue with Pakistan
New Delhi, August 14 -- President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Wednesday said India was ready for a dialogue with Pakistan once cross-border terrorism was brought to a complete end. In his address to the nation on the eve of the 55th anniversaryof independence, he also stressed that a "permanent solution" mustbe found to combat the menace of terrorism. He said, "I would like to reiterate that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. It is not an international issue." Observing that normal election process is on in India-controlled Jammu and Kashmir he said that it is essential to ensure its successful completion and dawn of peace there.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/14/content_524659.htm
* India accuses Pakistan of continuing to promote terrorism
New Delhi, August 14 -- India Wednesday accused Pakistanof continuing to promote violence and terrorism in the region and said Islamabad was displaying "every intention" to disrupt elections in Jammu and Kashmir. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao told reporters, "Everything Pakistan suggests in terms of its approach,position and policy towards Jammu and Kashmir elections indicate that there has been absolutely no positive shift in its position." Earlier Wednesday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf termed in Islamabad the election process in Jammu and Kashmir as "farcical."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/14/content_524682.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-15aug2002-96.htm
* Indian PM attacks Pakistan for double standard against terrorism
New Delhi, August 15 -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thursday attacked Pakistan for "continuing cross-border terrorism," saying "this is double standard." Addressing the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort on the occasion of Independence Day, he said while Islamabad claimed to fight terrorism, as part of the international coalition, it was promoting "terrorism" from across the border. He warned that nobody would be allowed to disrupt the coming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the elections would usher in a new era for the people there.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/15/content_525629.htm
* Three soldiers dead, 18 wounded in Kashmir attack
Three Indian soldiers were killed and 18 people were wounded when a bus hit a landmine and was then attacked by suspected Islamic militants in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. Police said the bus, carrying members of the army's counter-insurgency wing, hit the mine late on Tuesday in the village of Dangam, near Shopian township, 50 kilometres south of the Kashmir summer capital Srinagar. An army spokesman said the bus was also attacked by militants wielding AK-47 assault rifles.
http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s649015.htm
* Security beefed up for Independence Day in India
New Delhi, August 14 -- With terrorist threats looming large, an intense security blanket has been thrown across the country for Thursday's Independence Day celebrations, particularlyin Delhi, as well as in Jammu and Kashmir, according to governmentsources Wednesday. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will address the nation Thursday from the historic Red Fort after unfurling the national tricolor. Delhi has virtually been converted into a fortress with security having been beefed up immensely and checking of vehicles,suspected places and persons intensified as intelligence inputs have warned of a "determined" bid by Pakistan-backed terrorists todisrupt the celebrations through various means, including suicide attacks.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/15/content_524709.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/15/content_525832.htm
* Indian PM calls for "economic movement" to accelerate growth
New Delhi, August. 15 -- Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thursday called for an "economic movement" in the countryto accelerate the growth process. Addressing the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence day, Vajpayee said that the objective of economic reforms initiated by the National Democratic Alliance government was to remove poverty and generate employment. He said that power sector reforms and infrastructure development were key for achieving 8 percent economic growth during the next five years.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/15/content_525636.htm
* Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers agree timetable for peace talks: Norway
Peace broker Norway has clinched an agreement between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to start formal talks next month on ending their decades-long separatist war. Colombo and the rebels have agreed that peace talks would begin in Thailand sometime between September 12 and September 17, the Norwegian foreign ministry said.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/16106/1/.html
http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s649989.htm
* New Delhi accuses Islamabad of planning to sabotage Kashmiri polls
India has launched a verbal barrage at Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for dismissing as a farce its election plans in northern Jammu and Kashmir state. New Delhi accused Islamabad of planning to sabotage the polls set for September and October. The hard-hitting Indian reaction came after General Musharraf vowed that Pakistan would not compromise on the right of Kashmiris to self-rule.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/16099/1/.html
* India ready for talks with Pakistan when atmosphere 'conducive': Vajpayee
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said New Delhi is willing to hold talks with Pakistan over Kashmir as soon as the atmosphere is "conducive". "India is ready to hold dialogue with Pakistan and for further de-escalatory steps, but the atmosphere should be conducive," Mr Vajpayee said in a speech marking the 55th anniversary of India's independence. Taking a swipe at Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Mr Vajpayee said: "Those who call the Kashmir polls farcical, should look at their own affairs at home."
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/16118/1/.html
* Musharraf vows to root out terrorism
Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf yesterday tore into Islamic extremists blamed for bloody attacks on Christians and Westerners in Pakistan, pledging to "root out the scourge of terrorism" gripping his country on its 55th independence day. "The recent attacks on Christian brothers and sisters are the most shameful and despicable examples of terrorism," he said in a speech at an early morning flag-hoisting ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Islamic republic's 1947 foundation. "All this was in the name of Islam. These misled criminals and terrorists and their tutors even have the audacity to think their actions are the route to paradise?"
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/8/15/asia/prip&sec=asia
http://matrix.bangkokpost.co.th/afp_news/150802/.clnlzmcn.html
* India steps up security against militant attacks
New Delhi: India stepped up security in the capital yesterday following intelligence reports that militant groups planned attacks during Independence Day celebrations today. A Delhi police spokesman said police had "credible intelligence inputs" about plans by two outlawed Pakistan-based militant groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, to attack top Indian leaders during festivities to mark freedom from British colonial rule in 1947. Lashkar and Jaish are among a dozen Muslim groups fighting New Delhi's rule in Kashmir, which lies at the heart of a military standoff between nuclear India and Pakistan.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/8/15/asia/dayy&sec=asia
* Musharraf vows more security
Calling recent attacks against Christian minorities and Western interests "shameful and despicable," Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf pledged yesterday to intensify security measures throughout the country and announced that all Islamic militants involved in the most recent bloodshed "have been killed or arrested." "There are no quick-fix solutions to sectarianism and extremism," Musharraf said in his annual speech marking the 55th anniversary of Pakistan's independence from Britain. "We have to act in a systematic manner to meet this menace." Musharraf also took a swipe at India saying that upcoming elections in Indian-controlled Kashmir were rigged and "will once again take place without the participation of the people of Kashmir."
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/634/class000100003/hwz81862.htm
* Pakistan Election Commission sets off poll process
Islamabad, August 15, -- Pakistan Election Commission (PEC) has began receiving nomination papers from candidates to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections, officials said Thursday. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on October 10. "The nomination forms for the National and Provincial assemblies have been supplied to all returning officers for onward supply to the prospective candidates of national and provincial assemblies constituencies," an PEC announcement said.
http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml1
Europe
* Indian PM accuses Pakistan
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has attacked Pakistan's stand on terrorism in a traditional independence day speech. The prime minister accused Pakistan of double standards by supporting Kashmiri militants despite joining the global war on terrorism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2193313.stm
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1275720
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_650816.html?menu=
* Sri Lanka to lift ban on Tamil rebels
Colombo -- Sri Lanka's government will lift a ban on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 days before peace talks that will begin mid-September aimed at ending one of Asia's most protracted ethnic wars. "It was always going to be at least 10 days before," Bradman Weerakoon, the prime minister's secretary told Reuters. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which signed a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire with the government in February, had said it would not continue the peace bid with a ban in place.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1275689
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2194940.stm
http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0815/srilanka.html
* Pakistan and India trade insults over Kashmir
Nuclear rivals Pakistan and India have traded insults over India's plans to hold elections starting next month in the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf dismissed the polls in September and October as farcical in an address to the nation during independence day celebrations. The South Asian neighbours came close to war over Kashmir in May. "The government of India has organised such farcical elections in the past," he said on Wednesday.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1275027
* Pakistan talks hinge on 'conducive' conditions - India
India is ready to meet Pakistan over Kashmir as soon as the atmosphere is "conducive", Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee said in an Independence Day address today. "We want to live as good neighbours with Pakistan," Mr Vajpayee said. India is ready to hold dialogue with Pakistan and for further de-escalatory steps, but the atmosphere should be conducive". Taking a swipe at Pakistani President Mr Pervez Musharraf, Vajpayee said: "Those who call the Kashmir polls farcical, should look at their own affairs at home".
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2002/0815/breaking13.htm
* Musharraf condemns 'cowardly' militants
President Pervaiz Musharraf of Pakistan denounced Islamic militants yesterday as "cowards" holding the country hostage, and gave warning of a long struggle against religious violence. Gen Musharraf used an address marking the 55th anniversary of independence to lash out at the fanatics responsible for recent terrorism against the country's Christian minority.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2002%2F08%2F15%2Fwpak15.xml
* Indian president urges religious harmony
India's newly-appointed president, Abdul Kalam, has used his traditional address to the nation on the eve of India's Independence day, to appeal for an end to religious strife. President Kalam was speaking after his visit to the western state of Gujarat where he saw areas hit by this year's riots which claimed more than a thousand lives, mostly Muslim.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2193567.stm
* India Celebrates 55th Anniversary
India celebrated 55 years of independence from Britain on Thursday amid tight security against threats of Islamic militant attacks and accused its rival Pakistan of having ``double standards'' in its fight against terrorism. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee first paid homage to the father of India's freedom movement, Mohandas K. Gandhi, by placing flower petals at the eternal flame of his memorial.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-1948108,00.html
Middle East
* Three soldiers killed in attack on bus
Three Indian soldiers were killed and 18 people were wounded when a bus hit a landmine and was then attacked by suspected Islamic militants in Kashmir, police said yesterday. Police said the bus carrying members of the army's counter-insurgency wing hit the mine late on Tuesday in the village of Dangam, near Shopian township, 50 kilometres south of the Kashmir summer capital Srinagar.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30093&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25148
* Kashmir poll a farce: Musharraf
Islamabad/New Delhi, August 15 -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday dismissed India's plans to hold elections in its part of Kashmir as a farce while defending controversial elections at home later this year by insisting they would be free and fair. In a forceful speech to the nation to mark Pakistan's 55th anniversary of separation from India, he covered key issues from a tumultuous year in which his country teetered on the brink of war and was cast into the spotlight as a major troublespot. Musharraf vowed to stick to his pledge to the world after the Sept. 11 attacks to crush religious militancy, but also addressed the domestic audience by underlining support for the "principled" struggle of separatists in Indian-ruled Kashmir.
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=17771
* Kashmir not global issue says Kalam
Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam in a pre-Independence Day address to the nation yesterday said that the troubled state of Kashmir was an integral part of India and not an international issue. "I would like to reiterate that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India," Kalam said in a speech telecast live on state television, Doordarshan, on the eve of India's 55th Independence Day.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30085&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25148
* Violence fears grip Bangladesh
Fears of political violence gripped Bangladesh yesterday as the country's main opposition party prepared to observe the death anniversary of slain independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Mujib's Awami League, which lost last October's election to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, said it would make today's anniversary a show of defiance against a law it says is designed to downgrade the occasion.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30095&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25148
* 15 militants held for terror attacks
Islamabad: Pakistani police have arrested some 15 Islamic militants implicated in a chain of "despicable terrorist" attacks on Christians and Westerners, President Pervez Musharraf announced yesterday. Earlier, police reported that 16 militants of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamic extremist outfits had been arrested overnight in central Pakistan in the lawless interior of Punjab province.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30084&Sn=WORL&IssueID=25148
* Pakistan Vows to Crush Militancy, Hails Arrests
Islamabad -- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf vowed on Wednesday to crush militancy blamed for a wave of violence in recent months culminating in last week's attacks on Christian targets that killed 11 people, Reuters said. He said a series of arrests following the attacks on a Protestant missionary school for foreign children near Islamabad and a Presbyterian hospital showed that intelligence and security forces were starting to win the fight against extremism.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=8/15/02&Cat=4&Num=007
Editorial
* Highway of Hope
It was once known as the 'highway of death.' Today, with a ceasefire in effect, the A9 highway is filled with Tamil families returning to their homes after nearly 20 years of war.
http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0208_22/p046current.html
* Vajpayee speech highlights
It is 55 years since we became independent. Today, we pay our homage to all the martyrs of the freedom struggle. "Terrorism has become a festering wound. It is an enemy of humanity. "Our neighbour claims to oppose terrorism at international level, but adopts double standards in the context of our region. "Today, India stands proudly on the world stage - tall, self-reliant, and full of self-confidence. Our prestige is on the rise internationally. "Our aim is to free India from the curse of poverty and unemployment. It is to make India a developed nation by 2020. "Come, let us make development a powerful people's movement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2194921.stm
* 'I never asked for power'
She doesn't seem like the woman to unseat a military regime. Sitting on the sofa in her fourth-floor Kensington apartment, Benazir Bhutto is sipping on her Starbucks chai, a fond memory of the sugary, milky tea that is a mainstay of the Pakistani life she left behind long ago. To one side are dozens of well-thumbed copies of Hello! magazine. On another table a copy of the London Property News celebrates the surge in house prices. Water tinkles incessantly through a small mock-Japanese fountain in the fireplace and her children scamper through back rooms in the flat.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,774840,00.html
Business/Technology
* India industrial growth to fall
New Delhi: Forecasts for India's industrial growth have been lowered for the financial year to March because of the severe drought over the country's northern region, an economic research body said yesterday. "The failure of the rains in the first two months of the monsoon season has warranted a lowering of our forecast of growth of the index of industrial production for 2002 to 2003 to three per cent from 3.5pc said an outlook report by the independent Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=30042&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=25148
========================================================================================================
---South Asian News, August 15, 2002 ---(International)
The Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) is a national non-profit organization committed to the political empowerment of the Indian American community. For additional information on IACPA, please visit www..
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