--- South Asian News, September 27, 2002 --- (US)

Breaking News/Newswire

* Diaspora work to improve India-US educational ties (IANS): Indian and American educational institutes might soon come into contact with each other more frequently, with the Indian diaspora initiating efforts for various exchange and information sharing programmes. The initiative is part of five proposals related to the diaspora that have been endorsed by the office of B.K. Agnihotri, the ambassador-at-large for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs). The areas include: institutional cooperation in health care, research in PIOs roots project, electronic library initiatives and the creation of chairs in selective study areas in major American universities. http://in.news.yahoo.com/020927/43/1vqc4.html

* Plan could add foreign doctors to rural areas (LA Times Newswire): Hundreds more foreign doctors would be allowed to stay in the U.S. under a House-passed measure designed to help communities where physicians are in short supply. Foreign medical students who train in the U.S. must return home for two years under the terms of their visas. However, the government frequently waives the requirement in exchange for three years of work in rural areas or other places where attracting doctors is a struggle. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-briefs27.1sep27,0,4504976.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection

* Hundreds Rally over Pakistan Christian Deaths (reuters) Hundreds of Christians staged demonstrations in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Friday, the second day of protests against the killing of seven charity workers earlier in the week. About 100 people staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club on the second day of a three-day period of mourning for the dead Christian workers which began on Thursday, the day after the attack. Wearing black armbands they chanted slogans against the government for failing to protect Pakistan's tiny Christian minority, the target of a series of deadly attacks by suspected Islamic militants in recent months. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/world/4163722.htm

* Indian Police question two men over temple attack (reuters) : Indian authorities said on Friday they had detained two men for questioning about this week's massacre by two gunmen at a Hindu temple in western Gujarat state. A senior Home Ministry official in New Delhi declined to comment on a Press Trust of India report that the two Muslims who attacked the temple on Tuesday and shot dead 28 people before being killed by commandos, were Pakistanis. The news agency, citing unidentified highly placed sources, said one of the gunmen was from Lahore and the other from Attock city, west of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/world/4161065.htm

--- South Asian News, September 27, 2002 ---

Top Stories

* 25 dead in Pakistan bus accident (LA Times) (MSNBC)
* Pakistan hardliner vows to oppose U.S. in Afghanistan (MSNBC)
* Pakistan President plays down India war threat (NY Times) (ABC News)
* Pakistan arrests organizer of Christian attack protest (Wall Street Journal)
* After attack, Pakistani Christians demand security (LA Times) (Boston.com) (Las Vegas Sun) (ABC News) (San Antonio News) (Miami Herald)
* High intensity bomb defused in Lahore (CNN.com)
* Officials cite al Qaeda presence in Kashmir (Washington Times)
* Indian police question two men over temple attack (NY Times) (CNN.com) (ABC News) (MSNBC) (Reuters)
* India slams Pakistan for Karachi killings accusation (MSNBC)
* Hardline Hindu leader says may leave Indian govt (MSNBC)
* 17 wounded in Kashmir attacks (Wall Street Journal) (NY Times) (LA Times) (Washington Post) (ABC News) (Las Vegas Sun) (Freesnobee.com) (Anchorage Daily News) (Bayarea.com) (Philadelphia Inquirer) (News Tribune) (Monterey Herald)
* India seeks help getting alleged terrorist from Portugal (Wall Street Journal)
* India on strike to protest Hindu shootings (United Press International)
* India on alert after Hindus slain (Salt Lake Tribune)
* Thousands fast to honour dead Sri Lankan rebel (MSNBC)
* Bangladeshis protest Israeli attacks on Palestine (MSNBC)
* Police vigilant in India (San Jose Mercury News)
* Pakistan eyed in temple attack (Boston Globe)

Editorial/Op-Ed

* Bhopal's victims (NY Times)
* Motive for massacre (Wall Street Journal)
* Thousands gone without a trace in Kashmir's war (SF Gate)

Business/Technology

* New system will speed up dollar check clearance in Sri Lanka (Wall Street Journal)
* CDMA an attractive option for India/Gartner (Wireless Week)

Other

* UCD will head Asian American cancer project (Sacramento Bee)


Top Stories

* 25 dead in Pakistan bus accident

Mirpur, Pakistan -- A passenger bus careened off a mountain road in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir Friday and plunged 500 feet into a ravine, killing 25 people, the state-run news agency reported. Twenty-seven other passengers were injured, 11 of them seriously in the accident, the Associated Press of Pakistan said.

(Registration Required)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-bus-accident0927sep27,0,6473277.story
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap.asp?reg=ASIA

* Pakistan hardliner vows to oppose U.S. in Afghanistan

Nowshera, Pakistan -- The leader of one of Pakistan's main hardline Islamic groups said on Friday he would oppose U.S. military action in Afghanistan if his party formed part of a coalition government after October polls. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), said also that religious parties would not rule out forming a coalition with secular parties after the October 10 general election, which is supposed to return the country to civilian rule.

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

* Pakistan President plays down India war threat

Islamabad -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Friday there was no danger of the country going to war with neighboring India, but that Pakistani forces would be ready to repel any aggression. Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals were raised this week by the massacre of 28 people by two Muslim gunmen at an Indian temple. India said it suspects the gunmen had links to Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups.

(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-southasia-pakistan-war.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20020927_23.html

* Pakistan arrests organizer of Christian attack protest

Karachi, Pakistan -- A protest organizer was arrested for instigating demonstrations demanding government action after the massacre of seven Christian office workers in this volatile commercial port city, police and organizers said Friday. Baseer Naveed was taken into custody on Thursday and held overnight at a Karachi police station. The city's Christian minority has staged several peaceful demonstrations since Wednesday, when two men walked into the third floor office of the Institute for Peace and Justice, bound and gagged its occupants, and shot them execution-style.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20020927_000577-search,00.html

* After attack, Pakistani Christians demand security

Karachi, Pakistan -- Angry and frightened after another deadly attack, Christians took to the streets Thursday demanding protection from Islamic militants believed behind the massacre of seven Christian charity workers who were bound, gagged and shot execution-style in their office. Black flags flew over churches, and Christian schools were closed in mourning, while relatives began burying those killed in Wednesday's attack, the latest brutality against Christians and Westerners since President Pervez Musharraf began a crackdown on Islamic extremists and threw his support behind the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

(Registration Required)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-christian-attack0926sep26,0,4020825.story
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/270/nation/Christians_protest_sectarian_attacks+.shtml
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2002/sep/26/092604116.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20020926_1347.html
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=190&xlc=823834
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2002/09/27/news/world/4159780.htm

* High intensity bomb defused in Lahore

Lahore, Pakistan -- A high intensity bomb was discovered and defused at a Lahore police station Thursday morning, just a few minutes before it would have exploded, police said. Police believe the station was targeted because the officers stationed there arrested some 16 al Qaeda suspects nearly three months ago, according to Lahore police superintendent, Zubair Nawaz Chatta.

http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/26/pakistan.bomb/index.html

* Officials cite al Qaeda presence in Kashmir

Jammu, India -- Indian military officials say they have intercepted communications that indicate al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have entered Indian-controlled Kashmir from across the border with Pakistan-based militants. The Indian army's Northern Command in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, said it intercepted a radio message believed to be part of an instruction to militant groups operating in Kashmir from their high command across the border.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/.htm

* Indian police question two men over temple attack

Ahmedabad, India -- Police in the western Indian state of Gujarat detained two men on Friday for questioning over this week's attack on a Hindu temple in which 28 worshippers were killed. Gujarat's Home Secretary K. Nityanandam told Reuters the two men were picked up in Ahmedabad, the state's main city, and were being questioned.

(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-india.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/27/india.temple/index.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20020927_58.html
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters.asp?reg=ASIA
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1504557

* India slams Pakistan for Karachi killings accusation

Kuala Lumpur -- India rejected on Friday Pakistani police charges that Indian agents may have plotted this week's killings of seven Christian charity workers in Karachi. Relations between neighbours Pakistan and India, both nuclear powers and deadly rivals since independence more than 50 years ago, have steadily worsened in the months since last December's attack by gunmen on India's parliament complex.

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

* Hardline Hindu leader says may leave Indian govt

Bombay, India -- A hardline Hindu leader said on Thursday he might pull his party out of India's ruling coalition if Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee does not crack down on what he called ''cross-border terrorism'' from Pakistan. ''Deliver the goods, not words,'' right-wing Shiv Sena party chief Bal Thackeray told reporters in Bombay, saying that otherwise: ''We can leave this government.''

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

* 17 wounded in Kashmir attacks

Srinagar, India -- Suspected Islamic militants fired at the convoy of an election candidate and triggered several explosions Thursday, leaving at least 17 people wounded ahead of the third round of voting in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. The attacks were reported in neighboring Anantnag and Pulwama districts, where voting in elections to the state legislature is scheduled for next Tuesday.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20020926_004965,00.html
(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Kashmir-Violence.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-kashmir-violence0926sep26,0,5577754.story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7186-2002Sep26.html
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20020926_1842.html
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2002/sep/26/092604595.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/24hour/world/story/551726p-4352619c.html
http://www.adn.com/24hour/world/story/551726p-4352619c.html
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/4157429.htm
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/4157429.htm
http://www.tribnet.com/24hour/world/story/551726p-4352619c.html
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/4157429.htm

* India seeks help getting alleged terrorist from Portugal

New Delhi -- The Indian government is seeking diplomatic help from the U.S. to persuade Portugal to extradite alleged terrorist mastermind, Abu Salem, who was arrested in Lisbon last week, Indian officials said Thursday. Salem, an Indian Muslim, is wanted for trial in India as a prime suspect in a deadly bomb attack in 1993, which killed 257 people and wounded more than 1,000 in the country's financial capital, Bombay.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20020926_006296-search,00.html

* India on strike to protest Hindu shootings

New Delhi -- A few incidents of minor violence were reported Thursday during the nationwide strike called to protest the shooting of 30 Hindu worshipers in India's western Gujarat state earlier this week. Thousands of police are on an alert across the country to check sectarian clashes but two Muslims were stabbed in Surat district by an irate Hindu mob after they refused to shut their shops as part of strike called by Hindu nationalist groups.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=r

* India on alert after Hindus slain

New Delhi -- India rushed 3,000 troops to the troubled western state of Gujarat on Wednesday to deter a feared Hindu backlash after gunmen killed 32 people at a major Hindu temple. The state capital of Gandhinagar was quiet but tense after Tuesday's attack, in which two gunmend fire indiscriminately on hundreds of people gathered at the Akshardham Temple. The gunmen were shot dead when Indian troops stormed the temple at dawn Wednesday, ending a 12-hour siege.

http://www.sltrib.com/09262002/nation_w/1500.htm

* Thousands fast to honour dead Sri Lankan rebel

Jaffna, Sri Lanka -- About 5,000 people in Sri Lanka's war-battered northern Jaffna peninsula fasted on Thursday to commemorate the death of a Tamil Tiger rebel 15 years ago, witnesses said. Thileepan, then leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political wing, refused food until his death in 1987 to protest against the presence of Indian soldiers, who controlled the peninsula at the time.

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

* Bangladeshis protest Israeli attacks on Palestine

Dhaka -- Bangladesh demanded on Thursday unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from the besieged headquarters of Palestine President Yasser Arafat. ''We demand an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of siege around Palestine President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah and end to aggression on Palestinian people,'' Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed told a protest rally in Dhaka.

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

* Police vigilant in India

Late Tuesday night, as gunmen were still battling police forces inside a Hindu temple complex about 20 miles from here, this city's police commissioner, K.S. Kaushik, called a meeting of his top officers.His instructions were clear and unequivocal: The police were to keep the peace, and ``effective force should be used without any hesitation.'' If that meant clubs and tear gas, so be it. If firearms needed to be used, use them, he said. The instructions bore tremendous significance in a city devastated by violence seven months ago. Then, the police largely stood by as Hindu mobs killed, burned and looted, their anger provoked by the death of 59 Hindu activists in a train car set on fire by Muslims. Some 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the rioting throughout the state of Gujarat.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/world/4162296.htm

* Pakistan eyed in temple attack
An enemy of India meticulously planned the attack on a well-known Hindu temple in western India to inflame hatred between Hindus and Muslims, a top official said yesterday, in a dig at rival Pakistan. ''They could be from an enemy country ... from outside India,'' Chief Minister Narendra Modi said, using India's typical way of indirectly blaming its longtime rival, Pakistan. Pakistan has repeatedly denied any involvement in Tuesday's assault, which left 33 people dead and 76 wounded. Pakistan has also condemned the attack, which occurred in the western state of Gujarat, where Modi is the top elected official.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/270/nation/Pakistan_eyed_in_temple_attack+.shtml

Editorial/Op-Ed

* Bhopal's victims

Frustrated by the lack of appropriate medical response after the terrible 1984 industrial disaster, gas victims' organizations in India invited the assistance of the International Medical Commission on Bhopal, a consortium of physicians from various countries, in 1993. On the basis of clinical testing and a survey, the commission made recommendations to address the chronic gas-related effects.

(Registration Required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/27/opinion/L27BHOP.html

* Motive for massacre

On Wednesday, gunmen entered a Christian charity in Karachi, Pakistan, separated Christian from Muslim workers and methodically shot seven Christians in the head. Although this massacre is the sixth in a series of attacks aimed at Christian targets in Pakistan, much of the media has played down religion's role in favor of a secular storyline.

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

* Thousands gone without a trace in Kashmir's war

Srinagar, India -- Javed's portrait hangs on the walls throughout the modest house in Srinagar's Batamallu neighborhood, black and white snapshots of a young boy who has forever remained 17. Each photo is labeled Aug. 18, 1990 -- the day Indian security forces arrested him and the last time his family saw him.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2002/09/27/MN12504.DTL

Business/Technology

* New system will speed up dollar check clearance in Sri Lanka

Colombo -- LankaClear Ltd. will launch a new clearing facility for U.S. dollar checks in October that is expected to greatly speed up the transaction process. LankaClear Ltd. is the check clearing arm for Sri Lankan commercial banks. "The new facility will pool all U.S. dollar checks to a central point where they will be cleared for transaction via an automated system," a spokesman for LankaClear told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

(Subscription Required)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20020927_000504-search,00.html

* CDMA an attractive option for India/ Gartner

In the raging debate between which constituency - Global System for Mobile (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is likely to prevail in the wirefree world, research and consultancy firm Gartner has thrown up an interesting perspective where it holds the view that CDMA is "particularly attractive for India". Gartner's research director based in Brisbane, Australia, Geoff Johnson who is currently in Mumbai for the Nasscom-Gartner summit points out that while GSM has the advantage of greater number of users and more countries using it, CDMA is more popular in specific markets like South Korea where they "chose CDMA exclusively and planned to be a major supplier of CDMA to the world."

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleId=NEa0926473.6iw&verticalID=223&vertical=Technologys

Other

* UCD will head Asian American cancer project

UC Davis School of Medicine is the new national headquarters for a project undertaken to curb cancer in Asian Americans, university officials said Thursday.

The Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Treatment (AANCART) is funded by the National Cancer Institute as part of an effort to reduce ethnic disparities in cancer nationwide. The project is funded at $7.6 million for five years. The UC Davis Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and UC Davis Cancer Center will coordinate the efforts of researchers at six other cancer centers around the nation.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/4566199p-5585373c.html

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