clips are sponsored by the Indian American Center for Political Awareness and are archived at www..com com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--- South Asian News, November 9&10, 2002 ---(Weekend)

Talks on the formation of the government in Pakistan remain inconclusive as no consensus is reached. Many Sikhs arrive in Pakistan to commemorate the anniversary of their founder. There will be neither a ceasefire nor any random checking of civilians in Indian Kashmir for the month of Ramadan. The first editorial focuses on the importance of AIDS awareness in India and the other traces the strategies used in war, past and future and its dire consequences.

Top Stories
-------------
* Pakistan coalition talks remain deadlocked (Washington Post) (CNN) (MSNBC) (Reuters Alertnet) (ABC News)
* Islamic cleric insists on Pakistani premiership (Washington Post) (ABC News) (MSNBC) (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Sikhs arrive in Pakistan for birth anniversary of Guru Nanak (NY Times) (LA Times) (Washington Post) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) (Press Enterprise) (News Observer) (News Day) (Las Vegas Sun) (The State) (San Francisco Chronicle) (Sacramento Bee) (Boston) (MSNBC)
* Chief prosecutor in slain Wall Street Journal reporter's case hands in resignation (Wall Street Journal) (NY Times) (Washington Post) (ABC News) (KREM. com) (MSNBC) (Voice of America) (San Francisco Chronicle) (Star Tribune)
* Foreign Afghan security force closes Pakistan base (MSNBC)
* Attackers in Pakistan fire rockets (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) (KREM. com) (Fox News) (San Francisco Chronicle) (Star Tribune) (The Buffalo News)
* Pakistan PM candidate vows support for US war on terror (Wall Street Journal)
* Pakistan court blocks extradition (Washington Times)
* Police reject witness version of Delhi mall shootout (MSNBC) (CNN)
* Indian army stops frisking Kashmiris in Ramadan (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post) (ABC News)
* Larson urges India to improve protections of intellectual property (International Information Programs, U.S)
* Infiltration of Pakistani militants into Indian Kashmir decreases (Voice of America)
* Sri Lanka govt, Tamil rebelsnormalization talks (Wall Street Journal) (Voice of America)
* Bangladesh crime-crackdown death toll rises to 23 (Wall Street Journal)
* Bangladesh denies Al-Qaida activity in its territory (Wall Street Journal) (Voice of America)
* Local guard with U.S. embassy shot dead in Nepal (Washington Post)
* Thousands of Nepalese demand immediate parliament vote (Wall Street Journal)

Editorial/Op-Ed
------------------
* Slowing the spread of AIDS in India (NY Times)
* Outside view: Mind wars and Iraq (Washington Times)

Business/Technology
------------------------
* Microsoft head to visit India to promote infotech (Wall Street Journal) (Hoovers Online)
* Iran, India sign accord promoting science, technology (Wall Street Journal)
* Korea loans Bangladesh $58M to improve telecom, rail system (Wall Street Journal)

Other Stories
---------------
* As AIDS preads, India struggles for a workable strategy (NY Times)
* Hindu God exhibit in D.C. (Washington Post) (The News Tribune) (Star Tribune) (South Florida News)
* Among India's rich, an imperative: Have a boy (Star Tribune) (Seacoast Newspapers) (Seattle Times)
* Celebration unites Hindu sects (Charlotte Observer)
* A woman's work (San Francisco Chronicle)
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Top Stories
-------------

* Pakistan coalition talks remain deadlocked

Islamabad -- Pakistan's main pro-military party and the religious right remained divided during coalition talks on Friday on who should run the country's first civilian government in three years, but agreed to meet again. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, vice president of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of hardline Islamic groups, stuck to its insistence that it should lead the future coalition government, even though it came in third in October elections.

(Registration Required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov8.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/11/08/pakistan.politics.reut/index.html
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters.asp?reg=ASIA
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/547992
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20021108_73.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Islamic cleric insists on Pakistani premiership

Islamabad -- The pro-Taliban leader of Pakistan's religious right insisted on Saturday he should be the country's next prime minister, further complicating protracted efforts to form a new civilian government. Fazal-ur-Rehman, prime ministerial candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance of hardline Islamic parties, also said he hoped the anti-military Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto would support his bid.

(Registration Required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov9.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20021109_90.html
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters.asp?reg=ASIA
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/09/MN54510.DTL
------------------------------------------------------------

* Sikhs arrive in Pakistan for birth anniversary of Guru Nanak

Lahore, Pakistan -- Nearly 100 Sikhs arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for a two-week tour of religious sites to mark the 533rd anniversary of the birth of the founder of their faith. The group of 94 people - all British nationals of Indian descent - flew from England to the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, said Dr. Sardar Gulab Singh, an official of the Pakistan Sikhs Gurdwara Parbandak Committee.

(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Sikh-Anniversary.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-sikh-anniversary1110nov10,0,1263738.story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov10.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Sikh%20Anniversary
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/International/Pakistan_Sikh_Anniversary_36075I.shtml
http://newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/614224p-4730354c.html
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-sikh-anniversary1110nov10,0,6115488.story
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2002/nov/10/111000210.html
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/4488586.htm
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/11/10/international0937EST0434.DTL
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/614224p-4730354c.html
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/314/world/Sikhs_arrive_in_Pakistan_for_b:.shtml
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap.asp?reg=ASIA
------------------------------------------------------------

* Chief prosecutor in slain Wall Street Journal reporter's case hands in resignation

Karachi, Pakistan -- The government said Saturday it had received a resignation letter from the chief prosecutor in the trial of the kidnappers of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Raj Quereshi did not say why he wanted to step down, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said, but his assistants told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Quereshi had received threatening letters and phone calls.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021109_000075,00.html
(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/international/asia/10STAN.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov9.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20021109_115.html
http://www.krem.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D7N6FN3G0.html
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap.asp?reg=ASIA
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectid=20DE288F-5408-4FF9-8905C280F0B28A2F
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/11/09/international0612EST0486.DTL
http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3420669.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Foreign Afghan security force closes Pakistan base

Karachi, Pakistan -- Pakistan said an international security force in Afghanistan closed its supply base in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Friday, a few days ahead of schedule. A spokesman of Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority told Reuters the International Security Assistance Force, which used Karachi airport and other facilities on commercial terms for almost 10 months, had vacated the airport building.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters.asp?reg=ASIA
------------------------------------------------------------

* Attackers in Pakistan fire rockets

Peshawar, Pakistan -- Two rockets were fired at a building where U.S. personnel are believed to be helping hunt for Taliban in a remote tribal area, residents and officials said Saturday. There were no reports of casualties. Residents of Pakistan's Miran Shah area near the Afghanistan border said the first rocket landed late Friday, about 250 yards from the guarded government building.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021109_000097,00.html
(Registration Required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov9.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Rockets%20Attack
http://www.krem.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D7N6IU6G0.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,69743,00.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/11/09/international1037EST0506.DTL
http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3420818.html
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20021110/4035420.asp
------------------------------------------------------------

* Pakistan PM candidate vows support for US war on terror

Islamabad -- A candidate for prime minister whose party supports Pakistan's military government said Friday that he would back the U.S.-led war against terrorism in the region. "It suits the world over. It suits every citizen of Pakistan," Zafrullah Khan Jamali said about the anti-terror campaign during an interview with The Associated Press.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021108_005578,00.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Pakistan court blocks extradition

Islamabad -- A court in Pakistan ordered the government Friday not to extradite a Pakistani physician, detained on suspicion of links with al Qaida network, without its permission. Pakistani newspapers reported this week that the United States asked Pakistan to extradite Dr. Amir Aziz for interrogation. The provincial high court in Lahore gave the government until Tuesday to explain the detention of Aziz, who has been in police custody for more than two weeks without charges being filed.

(Registration Required)
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
------------------------------------------------------------

* Police reject witness version of Delhi mall shootout

New Delhi -- Indian police said on Saturday that a man who challenged their account of a shootout with alleged Islamic militants at a shopping mall in New Delhi was not a witness to the gun battle. Hari Krishna, a medical doctor, told television news channels he had seen police kill two unarmed men in the basement parking of the mall last Sunday.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters.asp?reg=ASIA
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/11/10/india.terror.claims/index.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Indian army stops frisking Kashmiris in Ramadan

Srinagar, India -- Indian soldiers have stopped frisking people in the disputed Kashmir region during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, a senior army official said on Saturday. But Defense Minister George Fernandes was quoted in a Press Trust of India report as saying no cease-fire offer would be made to militants in the region during the holy month.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021109_000080,00.html
(Registration Required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov9.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20021109_162.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Larson urges India to improve protections of intellectual property

Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs Alan P. Larson has urged India to take action to improve protection for intellectual property rights (IPR) to spur economic growth, commercial and scientific innovation, foreign investment, and job creation. "More than any other developing country, India has the building blocks in place to create a vibrant, knowledge-based economy.

http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=02110806.nlt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
------------------------------------------------------------

* Infiltration of Pakistani militants into Indian Kashmir decreases

New Delhi -- India's army chief says infiltration of Islamic militants from Pakistani territory into Indian Kashmir dropped by more than half this year. The issue of crossborder infiltration continues to cloud relations between the two South Asian rivals. General S. Padmanabahan told reporters that incursions by Muslim militants across the line of control that divides Kashmir has fallen substantially following a ten-month military standoff between India and Pakistan.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectid=A2C5B7D8-31D9-4E49-B12DA916C6AEC497
------------------------------------------------------------

* Sri Lanka govt, Tamil rebelsnormalization talks

Colombo -- Representatives of Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil Tiger rebels began talks Sunday on normalization and de-escalating violence in the war-ravaged north and east as the country strives to end its 19-year civil war, a defense official said. It was the two sides' first meeting since they held a second round of peace talks in Thailand last weekend and appointed a joint committee of nine members from each side.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021110_000013,00.html
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectid=FF397BFA-18A8-4644-9CBEB4F9B276CBB3
------------------------------------------------------------

* Bangladesh crime-crackdown death toll rises to 23

Dhaka -- The death toll from a monthlong army campaign against rising crime in Bangladesh rose to 23 after a political worker died in army custody, police said Sunday. Abu Sufian, 35, a member of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's governing Bangladesh Nationalist Party, died late Saturday, a day after soldiers picked him up from his house in Dhaka's Mohammadpur district, said a police official on condition of anonymity.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021110_000067,00.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Bangladesh denies Al-Qaida activity in its territory

Dhaka -- Bangladesh on Sunday rejected an Indian leader's allegation that members of al-Qaida terror network were increasingly being sheltered in this Muslim-majority nation. "We reject accusations that al-Qaida elements are getting refuge in Bangladesh ," foreign ministry official Shamser Mobin Chowdhury told reporters after he summoned the Indian ambassador.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021110_000105-search,00.html
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectid=D471400E-5E58-4ED2-855F56397AD10CDB
------------------------------------------------------------

* Local guard with U.S. embassy shot dead in Nepal

Kathmandu --Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Nepali guard working for the U.S. embassy at his home in Kathmandu on Saturday, police and embassy officials said. The official said Dipak Pokharel was shot and killed in the Buddhanagar residential area in the heart of Kathmandu.

(Registration Required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov9.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Thousands of Nepalese demand immediate parliament vote

Kathmandu -- Demanding immediate parliamentary elections, around 2,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Nepal's capital on Saturday protesting against the king's sacking of an elected prime minister last month. Political leaders, teachers and students joined in the peaceful demonstration organized by the Nepal Students Union, a student wing of the opposition Nepali Congress (Democratic) party.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021109_000074,00.html
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Editorial/Op-Ed
------------------

* Slowing the spread of AIDS in India

India is well on its way to becoming a global economic superpower. Its economy has significantly outpaced much of Asia in recent years, its internationally competitive information technology and pharmaceutical industries are projected to grow dramatically this decade, and the country's purchasing power is now the fourth largest in the world, after the United States, China and Japan.

(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/opinion/09GATE.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Outside view: Mind wars and Iraq

Manipal, India -- After World War I, the great powers imposed a peace on Germany that led to a fresh conflagration just two decades later, one far more virulent in its scope and effects. The coming military campaign against Iraq promises to be a duck shoot, given that country's eviscerated war machine. However, unless equal attention is paid to the "chemistry" of the campaign -- its "mind" factor as well as its "mechanics," the straightforward military aspects -- the very victory over Iraq may create the conditions for an intensification of the terror war against secular democracies.

(Registration Required)
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Business/Technology
------------------------

* Microsoft head to visit India to promote infotech

New Delhi -- Microsoft (MSFT) chief Bill Gates says his tour of India this week is to promote information technology in the country. His critics, though, say the visit is over-hyped and has no relevance to most Indians. In an article in The New York Times, published Saturday, Gates affirmed faith in India's competitiveness in information technology and wrote the South Asian nation is "well on its way to becoming a global economic power."

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021110_000097,00.html
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR_edff50
------------------------------------------------------------

* Iran, India sign accord promoting science, technology

Tehran -- Iran and India on Saturday signed an accord to promote scientific and technological cooperation during a visit by the Indian minister of science and technology, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The accord deals with cooperation and exchange of information in communication technology, energy, industrial and food technology and environment, IRNA reported.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021109_000105,00.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Korea loans Bangladesh $58M to improve telecom, rail system

Dhaka -- South Korea will grant a $58 million loan to Bangladesh to improve its telecomunications and railway systems, a senior official said Saturday. Two agreements worth $58 million were signed following talks between visiting South Korean Prime Minister Kim Suk Soo and Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Saturday in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20021109_000088,00.html
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other Stories
---------------

* As AIDS preads, India struggles for a workable strategy

Chennai, India -- This is the sight of a wave, years in building, crashing onto shore. Women with H.I.V. - plump women, skeletal women, always frightened women - fill two wards of the Tambaram tuberculosis sanitarium in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. With few exceptions, they are not the commercial sex workers who helped spread the epidemic in its early stages and who have since been taught that condoms can help curb it.

(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/11/international/asia/11INDI.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Hindu God exhibit in D.C.

Washington -- In an exhibit billed as "The Sensuous and the Sacred," the Smithsonian Institution introduces the public to a Hindu deity called Shiva. Worshipped in southeast India as the Lord of the Dance, Shiva plays a variety of roles in Hinduism - both destroying the universe and creating it anew.

(Registration Required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ANov8.html
http://www.tribnet.com/24hour/entertainment/story/612007p-4720079c.html
http://www.startribune.com/stories/675/3419271.html
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/news/wire/sns-ap-sensuous-diety1108nov08.story
------------------------------------------------------------

* Among India's rich, an imperative: Have a boy

New Delhi -- The sign stands outside a doctor's office in a leafy New Delhi neighborhood, a hand-painted warning that the law is upheld in this enclave of walled-off homes, imported cars and private clubs. "Here prenatal sex determination [boy or girl before birth], is not done. It is a punishable act," the sign says, in both English and Hindi. The law, though, clearly has its loopholes.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3418105.html
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/11102002/world/33809.htm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134573131_indiagirls10.html
------------------------------------------------------------

* Celebration unites Hindu sects

Mathews -- If one theme came through Saturday at the Charlotte area's largest Hindu festival, it was this: Age doesn't matter. From 8-year-old girls who buttered bread, to 16-year-old boys who built stages, to 70-year-old grandmothers who stayed up all night preparing sweet and spicy traditional dishes, to 60-year-old men who taught the young boys their skills, everyone participated in the Annakut Festival, which celebrates the Hindu New Year and thanksgiving.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4486139.htm
------------------------------------------------------------

* A woman's work

It's Friday morning and Kavita Ramdas has just gotten a call from the World Economic Forum in Geneva. The news is good: The international body has named Ramdas one of the world's top 20 social entrepreneurs and wants her to fly to Europe for a meeting of the chosen few.That's how it is these days for the Palo Alto resident. If it's not the World Economic Forum, it's Mills College in Oakland asking if she'll address its fall convocation (she will) or the "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer'' requesting a lengthy sit-down interview about Sept. 11 (she accepts) or the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation saying they're awarding her organization $750,000.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/10/CM148265.DTL

================================================================================================