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

--- South Asian News, October 29, 2002 --- (International)

U.S urges India and Pakistan to resume dialogue even as bloodshed continues in Indian Kashmir where 17 people have been killed in separate clashes. Polling dates announced for riot-scarred Gujarat state of India. In other stories, a British Airways flight makes an emergency landing in New Delhi airport due to a bomb scare.


Africa

* Gift bag sparks bomb scare on flight (News 24) (Independent Online)

Americas

* 17 killed in troubled Indian Kashmir, despite peace pledge (The News Mexico)

Asia-Pacific

* Pakistan denies being informed by India of flight resumption (Xinhuanet)
* Militants killed in clashes in Kashmir (Australian Broadcasting)
* Pakistani arrives home from Cuba (Malaya Star)
* Search for militants continues in India's Assam state (Xinhuanet)
* Government-rebel fighting leaves 51 dead in Nepal (Japan Today)
* India's Gujarat state election set for Dec 12 (Malaya Star) (Japan Today)
* 'Suspicious' toothbrush sparks emergency landing in India (Australian Broadcasting)
* Kashmir's new leaders pledge peace (Straits Times)
* Pakistan's Islamic mullahs abandon election demands (Australian Broadcasting)

Europe

* US urges India-Pakistan talks (BBC)
* Kashmir pledges get mixed response (BBC)
* Pakistani MP to be freed (BBC)
* Nepal climber held to ransom (Guardian)

Middle East

* Legislators wary of power sharing (Arab News)
* New change will have an impact on political scenario in Kashmir (IRNA)
* Pakistani prisoners to be released from Guantanamo soon (IRNA)
* Gujarat to go to polls on Dec. 12 (Arab News)
* Court upholds EC's right to set poll date (Arab News)
* Indian cabinet approves 10th Five-Year Plan recommendations (IRNA)
* Indo-Iranian scientific relations to expand (IRNA)
* Indian defense team off to Paris for submarine deal (IRNA)
* Musharraf to discuss regional issues with Saudi King Fahd (IRNA)
* Pakistan Muslim League (N) spokesman arrested (IRNA)
* Indian troops on alert following militant attacks in Assam (IRNA)
* British Airways aircraft makes emergency landing at Delhi airport (IRNA)
* Coalition offers new Kashmir peace hope (Gulf Daily News)
* 32 rebels killed (Gulf Daily News)
* 14 die in India blast (Gulf Daily News)

Editorial

N/A

Business/Technology

* India drops arms export blacklist (BBC)
* India cuts rates and growth target (BBC) (Bloomberg)
* Mauritius gets Infosys disaster HQ (BBC)

Africa

* Gift bag sparks bomb scare on flight

New Delhi -- A British Airways flight from Singapore to London carrying 178 passengers made an emergency landing in the Indian capital on Tuesday after a package containing a toothbrush sparked a bomb scare, police said. "A crew member saw a suspicious packet on the plane and thought it was a bomb," said SK Kain, New Delhi's special police commissioner. "But it was found to be a gift packet containing some items like a toothbrush." Kain said the aircraft landed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and was taken to a "cooling pit". Passengers on the flight, which originated in Sydney, were asked to leave the aircraft and security officials conducted a search.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Asia/0,1113,2-10-20_1277603,00.html
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=126&art_id=qwB264&set_id=1

Americas

* 17 killed in troubled Indian Kashmir, despite peace pledge

Srinagar, India -- Six suspected Muslim militants were among 17 people killed in separate overnight clashes in the Indian-administered zone of Kashmir, officials said Monday. The violence followed a pledge to restore peace in the Himalayan territory made by a political coalition which is poised to assume office in the Kashmir state assembly. An Indian defense ministry spokesman in Jammu, the state's winter capital, reported the killing of six militants Monday by Indian security forces in two separate frontier-zone encounters.

http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=38600

Asia-Pacific

* Pakistan denies being informed by India of flight resumption

Pakistan has not got any official information from India about resumption of flights between the two countries, the Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan said here on Monday at the weekly press briefing. "We have not heard from them," the spokesman said when questioned on the resumption of flights between the two countries, which were suspended early this year after India deployed troops along its borders with Pakistan. "We were not the ones who recalled the ambassador or closed the flights," the spokesman added. Pakistan, he said, has always favored a dialogue to settle outstanding issues between the two nuclear rivals.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-10/29/content_611138.htm

* Militants killed in clashes in Kashmir

Officials say six suspected Muslim militants were among 17 people killed in separate overnight clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir. An Indian defence ministry spokesman says the alleged militants were killed by Indian security forces in two separate frontier-zone encounters. He says all six entered Indian Kashmir from Pakistan. The violence followed a pledge to restore peace in the disputed Himalayan territory, made by a political coalition poised to assume office in the Kashmir state assembly.

http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_713535.htm

* Pakistani arrives home from Cuba

Pakistan said yesterday that the first of its citizens had arrived back in the country overnight from US custody in Cuba, the start of a process that would return more people in the near future. "The process is on. It is just a beginning," said Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, chairman of the interior ministry's National Crisis Cell. He said that Muhammad Sagheer arrived back in Islamabad on Sunday night from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, where the US government has been holding al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects captured in Afghanistan in the past year.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/10/29/asia/guanta&sec=asia

* Search for militants continues in India's Assam state

October 28 -- Search operations continued for the second day Monday to track down the militants of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland who massacred 22 people and injured 14 others in Kokrajhar district, east India's Assam state on Sunday. Local officials said that intense combing operations were on in the Indo-Bhutan border areas in Assam as per the directions by Director General of police H K Deka, who rushed to the site Sunday. ¡¡¡¡

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-10/28/content_611029.htm

* Government-rebel fighting leaves 51 dead in Nepal

At least 46 Maoist guerrillas, three police officers and two soldiers were killed in fighting between the government forces and rebels in the past 24 hours in Nepal, the Defense Ministry said Monday. Ministry officials said the bodies of 32 Maoist guerrillas were recovered from the Rumjatar airport of the Okhaldhunga district in eastern Nepal.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=236356

* India's Gujarat state election set for Dec 12

India's Election Commission, which had rejected plans for an early election in riot-scarred Gujarat state, said yesterday the poll would now be held on Dec 12. "The date of the poll will be Dec 12," Election Commission chief J.M. Lyngdoh told a news conference, adding the vote would be completed in one day using electronic voting machines. "Counting will take place on Dec 15," he said.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/10/29/asia/guja&sec=asia
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=236292

* 'Suspicious' toothbrush sparks emergency landing in India

A British Airways flight from Singapore to London has made an emergency landing in the Indian capital New Delhi after a package containing a toothbrush sparked a bomb scare. Indian police say a crewmember saw a suspicious packet on the plane and thought it was a bomb. The aircraft, which originated in Sydney, landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the early hours of the morning, where passengers were evacuated and security officials conducted a search. The packet was later found to be a gift containing a toiletries bag, including a toothbrush.

http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_714054.htm

* Kashmir's new leaders pledge peace

A coalition of political parties set to take power in Indian Kashmir has offered historic means to end Islamic militancy which has claimed 37,500 lives in the disputed region since 1989. 'We emphasise that we have to win the hearts of the people without any discrimination and that will be our challenge,' said chief minister designate Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. India's main opposition Congress party and the PDP overnight stitched together the ruling coalition in Kashmir after September/October polls in the frontier region produced an inconclusive verdict. The coalition pledged to end 13 years of separatist violence and said the new government would try to rectify the mistakes of the past.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,151623,00.html?

* Pakistan's Islamic mullahs abandon election demands

October 28 -- The mullahs of Pakistan's newly-powerful Islamic party alliance have reportedly abandoned the hardline demands of their election campaign. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a key leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance, has told reporters the group is flexible on US troop presence, constitutional changes and Islamic laws. The expulsion of US troops from Pakistani airbases, where they are based for operations in Afghanistan, was a key pledge by alliance clerics in the campaign before the October 10 general elections.

http://abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_713059.htm

Europe

* US urges India-Pakistan talks

A senior US official, Richard Haas, has urged India and Pakistan to start talking - despite on-going infiltration by militants in the disputed Kashmir region. Mr Haas, currently visiting India, says the announcement by the two neighbours that they would withdraw troops from the borders offered a "breathing space" and an opportunity. Mr Hass, who heads the State Department policy planning unit, said although militants were still entering Indian-administered Kashmir, talks could be resumed nonetheless. He is scheduled to meet senior Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Wednesday when he is expected to express US concern over continuing infiltration.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2371091.stm

* Kashmir pledges get mixed response

October 28 -- Separatists in Indian-administered Kashmir have welcomed plans by the territory's incoming chief minister to resolve the conflict - but have questioned whether he can deliver. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is to head the new administration in Kashmir after the recent assembly elections. Leading separatist Maulvi Mohammad Ansari said whatever measures he took for peace would be welcome. Mr Sayeed announced a series of measures aimed at tackling militancy and curbing abuses after talks in Delhi. The change of guard after years of rule by the National Conference party has raised hopes among ordinary people of steps to improve life in Kashmir, wracked for over a decade by a violent anti-Indian insurgency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2369161.stm

* Pakistani MP to be freed

October 28 -- The High Court in the Pakistani city of Lahore has ordered the release of the former leader of the banned Sunni organisation, Sipah-e-Sahaba, and newly elected Member of Parliament, Maulana Azam Tariq. He was taken into custody almost a year ago under a public order law, which allows imprisonment for three months without formal charges. The High Court had allowed the extension of his confinement on three occasions, but refused a request from the provincial government of Punjab for a further extension of three months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2369899.stm

* Nepal climber held to ransom

One of Britain's leading mountaineers has been trapped while climbing in Nepal by armed Maoist rebels who have blocked his route down and demanded a ransom. Stevie Haston, 45, and his wife, Laurence Gouault Haston, were in a party of mountaineers who had scaled the 6,750-metre (22,000ft) Ramtang Chang peak in the Himalayas near the border with Tibet. The group had reached the summit and was heading back from their base camp towards Kathmandu when they were cut off by the rebels at a narrow valley pass. It is understood that the rebels had ambushed some of the climbers on the way up the mountain and had only allowed them to continue their ascent on the proviso that they paid a fee of £3,000 on the way down.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,821358,00.html

Middle East

* Legislators wary of power sharing

Congress party lawmakers in Kashmir voiced concern Monday over a power-sharing deal for the disputed state hammered out by their national leaders at the weekend. The Congress and the regional People's Democratic Party (PDP) agreed in New Delhi to form a coalition government in the state, with the PDP to head the assembly for the first three years before handing over to Congress for the remaining three years. But Congress lawmakers expressed doubts that the PDP, whose leader Mufti Muhammad Sayeed is to be chief minister initially, will play ball.

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=19909

* New change will have an impact on political scenario in Kashmir

October 28 -- A new change has occurred in Kashmir with the recent Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls held under virtual international supervision have thrown new political combinations in the state, which will have its impact on the overall political scenario borne out of long impasse and instability. It is very difficult to draw a likely future scenario in the given situation. If APHC and militants continue to show fissures and follow different agendas the resultant confusion will only help New Delhi whose best bet this time is Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in saddle with semi-separatist agenda. The voices of regionalism in Jammu and Ladakh have further confounded the situation in which separatists can do nothing.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Pakistani prisoners to be released from Guantanamo soon

October 28 -- Pakistan Monday said that all Pakistani prisoners in the American base in Guantanamo, Cuba will be freed soon. Talking to reporters Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said arrests of Pakistanis were made in unusual circumstances in Afghanistan and Pakistan has taken this matter up which the United States. A Pakistani prisoner in Guantanamo was released and was shifted to Islamabad in a US plane on Sunday. "We presented a report to the US government and discussed our perception about the whole situation," Foreign Office spokesman said. "As a consequence one innocent person has been released and expressed the hope that all other detainees, who in our view are innocent, will be gradually released," Khan said.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Gujarat to go to polls on Dec. 12

Elections to choose a new assembly in riot-shattered state of Gujarat, where over 1,000 people died in sectarian violence this year, will be held on Dec. 12, the Election Commission announced yesterday. The commission finally decided to hold the polls after a "substantial number" of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the violence were re-included in the electoral rolls, Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh told a news conference at his office here. The commission also announced tough security measures for the conduct of free and fair polls, saying it had sought 400 companies of security forces, or about 40,000 troopers, for deployment in Gujarat during what many believe would turn out to be the mother of all state elections.

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=19911

* Court upholds EC's right to set poll date

New Delhi -- The Supreme Court held yesterday that the Election Commission (EC) had the prerogative to decide poll dates and that a state assembly need not meet within six months of its last session if it was dissolved prematurely. "The Election Commission is empowered to fix the schedule of elections and this power is not subject to any law," the court maintained. A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice B.N. Kirpal and judges V.N. Khare, K.G. Balakrishnan, Ashok Bhan and Arijit Pasayat were ruling on the presidential reference on the Gujarat polls.

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=19910

* Indian cabinet approves 10th Five-Year Plan recommendations

The Indian cabinet on Tuesday approved the 10th Five-year Plan recommendations with an outlay of Rs6710.09 billion for the states involved in the gross budgetary support to the tune of Rs7060 billion, the local media reported today. India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who chaired the meeting, gave its nod to the document which was cleared by the full Planning Commission earlier this month, unveiling a tough six-point reform agenda to push the annual growth from a stagnant 5.5 percent to a high 8 percent, official sources said.

http://www.irna.com/en/head/.ehe.shtml

* Indo-Iranian scientific relations to expand

India and Iran have agreed to strengthen and expand scientific and technological relations between the two sides. According to a press release of India's Press Information Bureau (PIB), a copy of which was received by IRNA earlier on Tuesday, the idea emerged at a meeting over the weekend between Iranian Minister for Science, Research and Technology Mostafa Moin, who attended the General Conference of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and Minister for Human Resource Development and Science and Technology Murli Manohar Joshi. The two leaders reviewed the progress made so far in scientific cooperation between both sides and agreed that it needs to be toned up.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Indian defense team off to Paris for submarine deal

India's Defense Secretary Subir Dutta embarked on a visit to France to "further strengthen" defense ties between the two nations, the local media reported on Tuesday. According to Indian defense sources, during the visit he would be holding talks on further strengthening ties between the two nations and also discuss details of the forthcoming joint air force exercises between the two nations, besides the proposedng of assembly lines of the French Scorpene submarine in India, currently awaiting cabinet approval. Dutta, who is heading a high-level delegation which includes naval submarine experts, left on Monday.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Musharraf to discuss regional issues with Saudi King Fahd

October 28 -- President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf is paying a brief visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on October 29-30, it was officially announced on Monday. During the visit, the president would apprise the Saudi leadership of the latest position in Pakistan-India relations and have discussions on developments, in and around the Middle East, Afghanistan and bilateral matters, a Foreign Office statement said. The president would have meetings with King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Pakistan Muslim League (N) spokesman arrested

The Pakistan Muslim League's (Nawaz) Central Information secretary, Siddiqul Farooq, was arrested by agencies on Tuesday morning here, party officials said. Talking to IRNA, an office-bearer of the PML media office said that the information secretary was held while he was on his way to the party office located in Islamabad's F-10 sector. "Apparently, his arrest is in connection with the press conference he held on Sunday during which he accused some senior government officials of corruption," he said in response to a question.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Indian troops on alert following militant attacks in Assam

October 28 -- Central troops were put on high alert in India's northeastern state of Assam following a string of separatist attacks that claimed 22 lives, officials on Monday said. "Army, police, and paramilitary soldiers have been put on red alert across the state with troops taking vantage positions and carrying out massive operations to foil militant attacks," a senior Assam police official said.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* British Airways aircraft makes emergency landing at Delhi airport

A British Airways aircraft, overflying India, made an emergency landing at Delhi airport early on Tuesday when the crew spotted an unclaimed packet and suspected it to be a bomb, the local media reported today. Joint Commissioner of Police (Operations) A.S. Khan said the Singapore-London flight--BA 061--made an emergency landing at 1:57 a.m. at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after the pilot sought permission citing detection of the packet kept on a seat. A full emergency was declared at Delhi airport, he said, adding that the aircraft was taken to a separate bay.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Coalition offers new Kashmir peace hope

A rare window for peace in Kashmir with the formation of a new coalition government after two weeks of wrangling, analysts said yesterday. The alliance of India's main opposition Congress Party and Kashmir's People's Demo-cratic Party (PDP), which advocates unconditional peace talks with separatists, must act quickly to heal the scars of 13 years of revolt and lift living standards, analyst Amitabh Mattoo said. The coalition, expected to be sworn in on Saturday, wants talks with separatists and has pledged to free political prisoners, investigate custodial deaths and "heal the physical, psychological and emotional wounds" of the anti-India revolt.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=35829&Sn=WORL

* 32 rebels killed

Security forces in Nepal killed at least 32 Maoist rebels when they tried to storm a rural airport, an army official said yesterday. Two soldiers also died in the fierce overnight gunbattle with the guerillas who are battling to overthrow the country's constitutional monarchy, he said. Hundreds of rebels, who specialise in nighttime hit-and-run attacks, raided the airport in Rumjatar in Okhaldhunga district, 250km east of Kathmandu, but guards repelled them at the perimeter. "No harm has been done to the airport," an army official said, adding, "We have found more bodies and now have 32 rebels confirmed dead."

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=35828&Sn=WORL

* 14 die in India blast

An explosion killed 14 people and collapsed a house in eastern India where crude bombs were being assembled, police said yesterday. Police in West Bengal state were investigating whether the explosion in Dakhal Bati village was linked to an outlawed rebel group that has been active in the area, 150km north of Calcutta. Separately, an explosion at a fireworks factory killed 10 people and injured six in Chomu, a suburb of Jaipur, the capital of northwestern Rajasthan state.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=35830&Sn=WORL

Editorial

N/A

Business/Technology

* India drops arms export blacklist

October 28 -- India has scrapped the blacklist of countries it does not export weapons to, hoping to boost arms sales and subsidise domestic orders. Defence Minister George Fernandes told the Press Trust of India news agency that the new policy would allow the country's arms manufacturers to export more sophisticated weapons. "Several countries have evinced interest in Indian made electronic warfare systems, new rage of 5.56mm small arms, special ammunition, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), aircraft and warships," he said. Exports are currently worth less than 1bn rupees (£13.4m; $20.7m), but Mr Fernandes expects them to grow to 10bn rupees by the end of this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2367431.stm

* India cuts rates and growth target

India's central bank has cut its key interest rate and lower its economic growth target for the financial year to March 2003. After its mid-year review, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its bank rate to 6.25% from 6.5% and said it expected it to remain at that level until the end of the year. "In nominal as well as in real terms, it is reasonable to observe that the bank rate, call money rates as well as yields on government securities are now quite reasonable," it said in a statement. The forecast for growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) has been cut by one percent to a range of 5% to 5.5%. The inflation target rate was retained at about 4% for the year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2370805.stm
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=South%20Asia%20News&tp=topfin&T=as_storypage99.ht&s=APb5fQRT4SW5kaWEn

* Mauritius gets Infosys disaster HQ

Infosys Technologies is setting up its first disaster recovery centre on the island of Mauritius. The Nasdaq-listed firm, India's second largest software exporter, said it would invest $25m (£16m) in a centre able to accommodate 1,500 people to take over client projects in an emergency. As world delegates gathered in the Indian state of Karnataka to attend the annual Bangalore IT.com conference, the Mauritian information technology minister announced the project. Infosys' chief financial officer, Mohandas Pai, explained that the company had chosen Mauritius as its emergency base for several reasons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2369419.stm

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