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SOUTH ASIA NEWS




STRING

     US NEWS SOURCES - June 28&29, 2003 (Weekend)

---IN WEEKEND NEWS---


In a major development reported by Newspapers all over the world, India has turned the tables and has become a creditor by joining the pool of lenders of IMF, shedding its decades-old image as a borrower. Pakistan’s President asks his country to consider recognizing Israel. Pakistan's religious right promises to organize massive nationwide street protests, if its soldiers are deployed in Iraq. A large protest against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s wide-ranging powers failed to garner enough votes in the National Assembly Saturday. Two suspected Islamic militants storm an army camp in Indian-held Kashmir and kill 12 soldiers. Federal prosecutors yesterday indict a group of Muslims with plotting against India. Pakistani authorities arrest a suspected al-Qaida operative and seize a video cassette purportedly of Osama bin Laden warning of attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia. In the business news, India offers major tariff concessions to Beijing in a bid to boost bilateral trade. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf hopes to woo information technology firms to invest in his country – he would make a pitch to that effect in Los Angeles Friday when he meets the Industry executives.

HEADLINES

TOP STORIES
India becomes lender to IMF, sheds role as borrower (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required) (Daily Camera) (Charlotte Observer) (Chicago Tribune - Registration required) (Washington Post) (San Francisco Chronicle) (Star Tribune)
Pakistani President asks country to consider recognizing Israel (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required) (New York Daily News) (Anchorage Daily News) (Washington Post) (New York Times - Registration required) (San Francisco Chronicle) (Star Tribune)
Pakistan religious right denounces sending troops to Iraq (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required) (New York Times - Registration required)
Pervez Musharraf protest fails (Washington Times)
14 die in militant attack on Indian army camp (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required) (Washington Post) (New York Times - Registration required) (Boston Globe) (San Francisco Chronicle)
Kashmir security tightened; 2 gunbattles kill 6 rebels (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)
Group of muslims charged with plotting against India (New York Times - Registration required) (Washington Post)
11 indicted in alleged Virginia Jihad network (Washington Post) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) (Houston Chronicle - Subscription required)
Pakistan finds video on al-Qaida suspect (Chicago Tribune - Registration required) (Washington Post) (Baltimore Sun) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Pakistani court sentences two to death (Washington Post) (Centre Daily) (New Jersey Online) (Star Tribune) (San Francisco Chronicle)
Kuwaiti charity halts opportunities after Pakistan freezes bank accounts (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)
Western India court acquits 22 accused of bakery massacre during religious riots (Daily Camera) (Washington Post) (Seattle Times) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Christians besieged in Pakistan (Washington Times)
Minorities leader says Pakistan must repeal its blasphemy law (Washington Times)
Protesters shut down Bangladesh schools, shops, traffic (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required) (Hoovers)
Investigators say Norristown man trained with weapons in Pakistan (Philadelphia Inquirer) (The Intelligencer)
Kenyan police hold Pakistani security suspect (Washington Post) (New York Times - Registration required)
Bangladesh police find huge ammunition stash (Washington Post) (Hoovers)
Student at risk after visa misstep (Hartford Courant)
Valley Sikhs want justice, tolerance (Arizona Central)
Sikhs proclaim loyalty (Hartford Courant)

STORIES

TOP STORIES

*

India becomes lender to IMF, sheds role as borrower
  June 29, New Delhi -- India has joined the pool of lenders to the International Monetary Fund, shedding its decades-old image as a borrower from multilateral bodies, the country's central bank said. The IMF has selected India for the first time to become a member of its Financial Transaction Plan, which helps bail out poor countries facing currency crisis or risks of defaulting on foreign loans, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement released Saturday. The statement attributed the IMF's decision to India's strong balance of payments and its high level of foreign exchange reserves, which stood at $82.12 billion in the week ended June 20.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030629_000332-search,00.html
  http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/nation_world_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2420_2077745,00.html
  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/business/6200199.htm
  http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ats-ap_business14jun29,1,2873375.story?coll=sns-business-headlines
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49256-2003Jun29.html
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/29/financial2251EDT0594.DTL
  http://www.startribune.com/stories/671/3962985.html
  http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/business/story/930932p-6489593c.html

*

Pakistani President asks country to consider recognizing Israel
  June 29, Islamabad -- As the Middle East struggles with its roadmap to peace, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf Sunday urged his countrymen to consider recognizing Israel, a position strongly opposed by religious hardliners. "This is the responsibility of the nation to decide. This should be seriously thought over. The media should have andebate on this," Musharraf said in an interview aired Sunday by the private Geo Television channel. "The debate should be serious. There should be no emotionalism of the extremists," he said. "What is our dispute (with Israel)? We should think," he said.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030629_000397-search,00.html
  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/96698p-87606c.html
  http://www.adn.com/24hour/world/story/930450p-6485150c.html
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48367-2003Jun29.html
  http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Israel.html
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/29/international1300EDT0464.DTL
  http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3962811.html

*

Pakistan religious right denounces sending troops to Iraq
  June 28, Islamabad -- Pakistan's religious right promised Saturday to organize massive nationwide street protests, if its soldiers are deployed in Iraq. Qasi Hussein Ahmed, head of Pakistan's strongest and best-organized Jamaat-e-Islami party, also had a warning for Pakistani soldiers: They would be condemned to hell if they died while serving under command of the U.S. military. "If any Pakistani soldier dies while under the command of a U.S. soldier he won't be a martyr," Ahmed said. He also said Pakistanis will be asked to treat soldiers who go to Iraq as social outcasts. Pakistan's religious leaders have been staunchly opposed to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030628_000091-search,00.html
  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/28/international/worldspecial/28STAN.html

*

Pervez Musharraf protest fails
  June 28, Islamabad -- A largely symbolic protest against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf failed to garner enough votes in the National Assembly Saturday. Opposition leaders tried to push through a recall of the speaker of the assembly, but the vote was boycotted by the ruling party and eventually dropped, Voice of America reported. Opposition leaders claimed the speaker violated his neutrality by supporting constitutional changes that gave Musharraf wide-ranging powers last year. Opposition leaders say the Legal Framework Order, as it is called, is illegal because it was not approved by the legislature, VOA said.
 

  http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20030628-103151-5111r.htm

*

14 die in militant attack on Indian army camp
  June 28, Jammu, India -- Two suspected Islamic militants stormed an army camp in Indian-held Kashmir, killing 12 soldiers before they were slain, as India's president wrapped up a three-day visit to the troubled Himalayan region. The guerrillas attacked the army brigade headquarters in Sunjwan, on the outskirts of Jammu, by scaling a wire fence early Saturday. They then detonated hand grenades andd fire, killing a dozen soldiers and wounding seven, said army spokesman Brig. B.S. Jind. The attackers were killed in an exchange of gunfire with troops that lasted more than two hours, Jind said. Al-Nasireen, a little-known Islamic rebel group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030628_000075-search,00.html
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44363-2003Jun28.html
  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/international/asia/29KASH.html
  http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/180/nation/12_soldiers_killed_in_Indian_Kashmir_attack_raiders_slain+.shtml
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/29/MN279802.DTL

*

Kashmir security tightened; 2 gunbattles kill 6 rebels
  June 29, Srinagar, India -- A day after 12 soldiers died in a militant attack on an army camp, forces stepped up security in the strife-torn Jammu-Kashmir state while six suspected militants were killed in two separate gunbattles Sunday, police and army officials said. Army soldiers killed four suspected rebels at Abhama, a village 45 kilometers southwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir on Sunday, an army official said on condition of anonymity. An army patrol challenged the rebels after receiving a tip about their presence in Abhama. The rebelsd fire and soldiers retaliated killing the four. One soldier was injured in the gunbattle.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030629_000390-search,00.html

*

Group of muslims charged with plotting against India
  June 27, Washington -- Federal authorities today charged seven men in the Washington area and an eighth in Philadelphia with stockpiling weapons and conspiring to wage "jihad" against India in support of a terrorist group in Kashmir. The F.B.I. arrested six of the suspects in morning raids in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania as part of an investigation into ties between American residents and the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is dedicated to the overthrow of Indian rule in Kashmir. Two other men who were also charged in the plot were taken into custody earlier this month, officials said, and three men are still wanted in Saudi Arabia.
 

  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/28/politics/28TERR.html
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40662-2003Jun27.html

*

11 indicted in alleged Virginia Jihad network
  June 28 -- Federal prosecutors yesterday announced indictments against 11 members of what they called a "Virginia jihad network" who are charged with training to work with terrorists to fight for Muslim causes in foreign nations. The 42-count indictment, returned by a grand jury Wednesday and unsealed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, charges that the men trained with and fought for Lashkar-i-Taiba, a group that is trying to drive India from Kashmir and has been named a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43265-2003Jun27.html
  http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/ap/jun03/ap-terrorism-arres062903.asp
  http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/1971022

*

Pakistan finds video on al-Qaida suspect
  June 29, Peshawar, Pakistan -- Pakistani authorities arrested a suspected al-Qaida operative and seized a video cassette purportedly of Osama bin Laden warning of attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, intelligence officials said Friday. The Egyptian national was arrested Wednesday in a raid on a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, said two intelligence officials. Found at the home were three video cassettes, including one allegedly of bin Laden warning of attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, according to one of the two intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
 

  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-pakistan-al-qaida-arrest,1,1027190.story
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40677-2003Jun27.html
  http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/attack/bal-te.pakistan28jun28,0,4629243.story
  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Al%20Qaida%20Arrest

*

Pakistani court sentences two to death
  June 29, Multan, Pakistan -- A Pakistani court sentenced two men to hang after they were found guilty of killing a woman by throwing acid at her, police said Sunday. One of the two men was the 34-year-old victim's ex-husband, Ghulam Mohiuddin, said Saifullah Gujjar, a police officer in Multan, eastern Pakistan, where the sentence was handed down. He said Mohiuddin and a second man threw acid at Azra Bono in 2001 after she demanded and received a divorce. The men have appealed the sentence.
 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46451-2003Jun29.html
  http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/6195616.htm
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/28/international0227EDT0410.DTL
  http://www.nj.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/international-1/105686874060080.xml
  http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3962318.html

*

Kuwaiti charity halts opportunities after Pakistan freezes bank accounts
  June 29, Peshawar, Pakistan -- Two months after its bank accounts were frozen because of suspected links to the al-Qaida terrorist network, a Kuwaiti charity closed down on Sunday ending 24 years of work in Pakistan and putting 1,800 employees out of work. Pakistan froze the accounts of Lajna al-Dawah al-Islami in May at the request of the U.N. former employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Arab and Afghan staff will leave Pakistan. While they haven't been ordered out of the country, he said they didn't expect the Pakistani authorities to renew their visas.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030629_000353-search,00.html

*

Western India court acquits 22 accused of bakery massacre during religious riots
  June 28, Vadodara, India -- Twenty-two Hindus accused of burning a western India bakery with 14 Muslims inside during religious rioting were acquitted of criminal charges Friday after most witnesses retracted their statements in court. The trial was the first stemming from three months of Hindu-Muslim rioting in Gujarat state last year that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. The riots were triggered when Muslims set fire in February 2002 to a train carrying Hindu nationalists, killing 60. On March 1, 2002, a Hindu mob torched the Best Bakery in Vadodara, 60 miles south of Ahmadabad, Gujarat's largest city. The 22 defendants were charged with murder, attempted murder, arson and looting. During the trial, 35 of the 60 witnesses — including the daughter of the murdered bakery owner — retracted statements they had made to police identifying the perpetrators.
 

  http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/nation_world_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2420_2074795,00.html
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40612-2003Jun27.html
  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/135116101_india28.html
  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%20Riot%20Verdict

*

Christians besieged in Pakistan
  June 28 -- The photos from Pakistan were anything but travel brochure material. One showed a 9-year-old girl with dark eyes, large black burns on her legs and a heavily bandaged right arm. Another showed a 14-year-old girl with a face partly melted away like candle wax. The right side was a mass of charred skin after an assailant threw acid into her eyes. Their attackers said the girls' injuries are payback for the American invasion of Iraq. Americans may not have seen much retaliation on their own soil because, several human rights groups say, Christians in Pakistan are taking the brunt of it. The 9-year-old, Razia Masih, was beaten and raped on April 26 in the town of Faisalabad, near Lahore, ending up in the hospital with multiple burns, a lacerated left eye, a broken right arm and rope marks around her hands and mouth. "She was working as a maid in a Muslim house," said Shabazz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance.
 

  http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030627-092413-5203r.htm

*

Minorities leader says Pakistan must repeal its blasphemy law
  June 28 -- The following is from an interview with Shahbazz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, which includes Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Balmeek, Bheel, Maingwal, Zoarastrian, Baha'i and Kelash communities. He spoke with journalists at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom offices, including Julia Duin of The Washington Times.

Q: What has been the situation of Christians in Pakistan after September 11, 2001?

A: Many of our churches and hospitals were attacked and we lost many innocent lives. Islamic extremists link Pakistani Christians to America, due to their commonality of faith. Because they believe all Muslims around the world are of one nation, all Christians are of one nation as well. Thus, raping and killing and victimizing Pakistani Christians is taking revenge on the West and on America.
 

  http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030627-092419-8736r.htm

*

Protesters shut down Bangladesh schools, shops, traffic
  June 28, Dhaka -- Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters Saturday, wounding dozens as an antigovernment general strike shut down schools and shops and halted traffic across the country. Bangladesh's main opposition Awami League ordered the strike to protest new taxes on food staples and rising crime. Violence broke out in Dhaka's central Dhanmandi district, close to the residence of the president of the Awami League and former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. Riot police used rubber bullets, tear gas and batons to stop some 1,000 protesters from rallying in the streets. The demonstrators responded by hurling bricks and shoes at security forces, witnesses said.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030628_000065-search,00.html
  http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR20030628140.5_e58f000650692d64

*

Investigators say Norristown man trained with weapons in Pakistan
  June 27, Philadelphia -- An electrical engineer who was respected by colleagues and liked by his neighbors was accused Friday of traveling to Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks to join a terrorist group trying to drive India from Kashmir. FBI agents arrested Muhammad Aatique at his Norristown apartment at 5:30 a.m. and in late afternoon brought him before a federal magistrate to answer charges including firearms violations and "commencing an expedition against a friendly nation." Aatique, a native of Pakistan, is among 11 men accused of conspiring to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Muslim group that has been behind attacks on thousands of Indian soldiers and civilians. Six other defendants were arrested Friday in Virginia and Maryland.
 

  http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/6187702.htm
  http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-06272003-115438.html

*

Kenyan police hold Pakistani security suspect
  June 29, Nairobi -- Kenyan police said on Sunday they had arrested a Kenyan-born Pakistani near the Somali border for questioning about what they called suspected terrorist activities. Kenya heightened security last week and rounded up dozens of suspects after the U.S. closed its embassy because of what it called a serious terrorist threat. Senior police officer Boniface Mwaniki said in a statement: "We have arrested a suspected terrorist (on Saturday). We are planning to transfer him to Nairobi for further interrogation."
 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47028-2003Jun29.html
  http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-security-kenya.html

*

Bangladesh police find huge ammunition stash
  June 28, Dhaka -- Bangladeshi police have seized more than 62,000 rifle bullets and 114 kilograms of suspected explosives in what they said was the biggest haul of its kind in the country. Police seized the materials hours before an opposition-led strike, called to protest over deteriorating law and order and tax rises, paralyzed much of Bangladesh on Saturday. Police said on Saturday they had found the Chinese-made ammunition and black explosive-like material during raids late on Friday in two hideouts of suspected militants in Bogra district, 150 km (90 miles) north of Dhaka. "This is the biggest ever haul of illegal ammunition and explosives in the country," a police officer in the area said.
 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44402-2003Jun28.html
  http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR20030628375.9_ec0b002861eaaa2a

*

Student at risk after visa misstep
  June 29, Newington -- Omar Habib's destiny was determined the day he was born, the only son of a second-generation poultry breeder in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. When he left home in July 2001 on a college student visa to the United States, he knew he would have only four years to absorb American know-how before returning to help run the family business. His father told him, "First, complete your studies, then come home and enjoy life," Habib recounted. So he immersed himself in his industrial technology classes at Central Connecticut State University, not even coming up for air over summer vacation, when he enrolled in courses to speed his degree.
 

  http://www.ctnow.com/news/nationworld/hc-omar0629.artjun29,0,1006254.story

*

Valley Sikhs want justice, tolerance
  June 29 -- Like many Sikhs, Harjit Singh Sodhi left his home in northern India and moved halfway around the world to the United States, where the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Following Harjit's advice, his brothers, Balbir, Sukhpal and Rana, also immigrated, but their thoroughly American epic ended in tragedy, cloaked in the hatred and intolerance their religion deplores. Four days after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, a gunman retaliated by shooting Balbir, 49, to death outside his Mesa gas station, a hate crime that reverberated around the globe.
 

  http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0629hatetrial29.html

*

Sikhs proclaim loyalty
  June 29 -- The last time Dilraj Singh Josen was heckled, he was shopping at the Sports Authority in Manchester. His tormentors eyed his beard and turban and hurled the familiar taunt, "Hey, Osama bin Laden!" Josen, 49, a civil engineer for the Department of Transportation, responded in his usual fashion. He tried to talk to the hecklers. He tried to explain that he is a Sikh, not a Muslim. It was no use. He recalled the story after marching with several dozen Sikhs Saturday through downtown Hartford to the state Capitol. They proclaimed their loyalty to the United States.
 

  http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-sikhs0629.artjun29,0,4664600.story
  http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-sikhs0629.artjun29,0,4664600.story

EDITORIALS / OP-ED

*

U.S.-Pakistan relations follow familiar pattern
  General Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, got the treatment reserved for the closest of friends this past week -- a visit, with his wife, to the presidential retreat at Camp David, only one step short of a trip to the ranch in Crawford, Tex. The audience was undisguised reward for Musharraf's cooperation in the war on terrorism, from the war in Afghanistan to the hunt for Al-Qaida terrorists who are still hiding in the tribal badlands along the Afghan-Pakistan border. The Pakistani leader was effusive about the "special gesture" in arranging the Camp David meeting, reflective, he said, of the "special relationship" between the two countries these days.
 

  http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/6196431.htm

*

Right deal with Pakistan
  June 28 -- President Bush has struck just the right chord with his offer of aid to Pakistan. The United States is indebted to Pakistan, which assisted this nation in its immediate response to the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001. That alliance helped root out members of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, an effort that is on-going. Yet troubling circumstances remain in Pakistan, including concerns about the degree of nuclear assistance Pakistan may be giving North Korea. It was only as recently as 1990, under former President George H.W. Bush, that sanctions were placed on Pakistan because of its position on nuclear arms. The weapons program in Pakistan has made the region one of the world's more sensitive spots, with Pakistan and India in a virtual stare-down over nuclear capabilities.
 

  http://www.tennessean.com/opinion/archives/03/06/35054361.shtml?Element_ID=35054361

*

Letters to the editor: A precedent for patience in the bin Laden hunt
  President Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf were well advised to urge patience for those who inquired about progress in the hunt for Osama bin Laden [front page, June 25]. One of Osama bin Laden's predecessors in the fundamentalist Muslim opposition to Westernization was Mirza Ali Khan, the faqir of Ipi, who, beginning in 1936 and throughout World War II, roused segments of the Wazirs and the neighboring Pathan tribes against India. That forced the diverting of troops, whom the British would have preferred to use elsewhere, to that desolate and ungoverned area. At the cost of some 800 dead and 1,900 wounded, the British Indian Army more or less succeeded in putting down the rebellion, although guerrilla fighting continued to claim lives until the British left India.
 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43462-2003Jun27.html

BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY / DEFENSE

*

India offers tariff concessions for Chinese goods
  June 28, New Delhi -- A day after Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's returned from a six-day visit to China, New Delhi on Saturday offered major tariff concessions to Beijing in a bid to boost bilateral trade, a news agency said. New Delhi has offered tariff concessions on 106 Chinese products, while Beijing would extend concessions on 182 Indian goods which was expected to push trade between the two Asia neighbors beyond its present annual figure of $5 billion, the Press Trust of India said. While details about the goods weren't immediately available, PTI said these could include chemicals, leather goods, textiles and diamonds.
 

  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030628_000114-search,00.html

*

Pakistan's Musharraf seeks U.S. tech investment
  June 27, Karachi, Pakistan -- Pakistan, fighting an uphill battle to attract foreign investors, will be hoping to woo U.S. information technology firms when President Pervez Musharraf meets industry executives in Los Angeles on Friday. The president, who is on a week-long visit to the United States, will be accompanied in Los Angeles by three senior IT and telecommunications officials. "The government is focused on promoting information technology," IT minister Awais Leghari told Reuters, adding that it was especially keen to see U.S. call centers in Pakistan.
 

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40066-2003Jun27.html

*

Measuring the time needed to succeed
  The secret to Jagdish (Jay) Patel's formidable stamina and reliability is a strong constitution, the ability to get by on six hours sleep and the jigger of scotch that he says he drinks every night before retiring. Clears the head, he says, and keeps a small businessman from "thinking too much" about his business. As owner of Henry's Fine Foods, an old-fashioned small grocery store in Verona, N.J., Mr. Patel, 43, keeps a schedule that would seem punishing to anyone but another small businessman. His store is every day of the week. And holidays, too, including Christmas. He is evenduring snowstorms, like the time last winter when Verona got hit with 29 inches. He slept in a cot in the back room andd the next morning, as usual, just after five.
 

  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/jobs/29HOME.html

OTHER STORIES

*

Calcutta homosexual group holds gay pride parade
  Calcutta, India -- Carrying a huge rainbow flag, a group of homosexuals Sunday marched in a gay pride parade through the streets of the eastern Indian city of Calcutta to assert their "right to an alternative sexuality." At least 35 men, many sporting earrings and bright lipstick, walked in silence holding the multi-colored flag which they said represented the gay and lesbian rights movement in India. The march was organized by "Integration Society," a Calcutta-based non-governmental organization which is working to spread awareness about homosexual rights in India.
  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030629_000377-search,00.html

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46382-2003Jun29.html

*

Fighting an army's empire
  "Ownership or death" is the slogan that farmers here have adopted in their fight for the title to land their forefathers first tilled nearly a century ago. But the farmers have a formidable foe: Their landlord is the Pakistani army. A contractual change instituted three years ago transformed the farmers from sharecroppers to renters. Many tenants are angered by the change, which they say is intended to drive them off the land at Okara Military Farms -- a 17,000-acre grain and dairy operation that is one of numerous Pakistani businesses run by the military. The tenants are refusing to pay their rent, and have staged a number of protests, several of which have turned violent.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45902-2003Jun28.html

*

Buddha's ashes draws crowd in Catholic Chile
  Santiago, Chile -- Hundreds of Chileans lined up on Saturday to view the ashes of the Buddha, brought to this predominantly Catholic nation as part of a pilgrimage for world peace. Buddhist monks, escorted by police and security guards, carried a large golden dome containing the 2,500-year-old cremated remains to an ornately decorated platform inside a Santiago cultural center, chanting solemnly and waving incense in their procession. Buddhists are a tiny minority in Chile and were surprised at the large turnout to see the exhibit -- a small gold bowl full of crushed bones inside a glass dome.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46124-2003Jun28.html

*

India's Ambassador, a shiny supermodel
  The white Amby is the plain vanilla vehicle of independent India. And the red one is its sacred carriage. Shortly before the photographer Raghubir Singh (1942-99) died, he wrote, "As I journeyed all over India, I came to understand that if one thing can be singled out to stand for the past 50 years of India . . . it has to be the Ambassador." This omnipresent Indian car, manufactured by Hindustan Motors beginning in 1957, is "the People's Car, the Politician's Car, India's Rolls Royce," the family car and also a part of "cow dung-coated India," Singh wrote. It is "a part of the Indian earth."
  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/arts/design/29BOXE.html

*

'Curzon': To the imperial manner born
  "My name is George Nathaniel Curzon,
I am a most superior person,
My cheek is pink, my hair is sleek,
I dine at Blenheim once a week."

Lord Curzon, the last Victorian viceroy of India, wasn't actually a weekly visitor at Blenheim Palace. But his conceited behavior inspired such stories. The unfortunate doggerel was composed by two Oxford contemporaries; and somehow, wherever he was the rhyme was sure to follow. Indeed, not since the grand old Duke of York -- who had 10,000 men, and marched them up to the top of the hill and marched them down again -- has a man's reputation been quite so damaged by a simple rhyme.
  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/books/review/29FOREMAT.html

*

'Curzon': First chapter
  George Nathaniel Curzon was born on 11 January 1859 at Kedleston, the Derbyshire estate his family had owned for more than seven hundred years. Proud of his birthplace, one of the finest country houses in England, and of his birthright, he once admonished an historian who had failed to trace the Curzons back beyond the fifteenth century. The family's descent, he wrote, went 'straight back to a Norman who came over with the Conqueror', while Kedleston had belonged to the Curzons, most of whom were buried in its church, since the twelfth century. 'I think there are only two or three families in England', he added, 'who can prove a similar descent. Each stage of ours was verified some years ago at the College of Heralds.'
  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/books/chapters/0629-1st-gilmourhtml

*

Bangladesh floods kill 45 people, maroon thousands
  Dhaka-- Monsoon floods battering parts of Bangladesh claimed 45 lives in the past four days, washing away many houses and displacing thousands of villagers, relief officials said Sunday. Twelve people drowned in flood waters in southeastern Chittagong district on Saturday, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another three died after drinking flood-tainted water in neighboring Khagrachari district. The latest casualties brought to 45 the death toll from floods and landslides in the southeastern region since Thursday. The region is 135 miles from the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka.
  http://www.boston.com/dailynews/180/world/Bangladesh_floods_kill_45_peop:.shtml

  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/29/international0428EDT0416.DTL

*

Pakistanis crack down on killer kites
  June 27, Lahore, Pakistan -- An old custom of flying "battle" kites in Pakistan is coming under increasing pressure after 14 children died in kite-related incidents. City officials in Lahore have banned the popular pastime after the children had their throats slashed by the metal wire, fishing line or glass-coated string used for kite-fighting. The rooftops of the crowded city are the scene of fierce battles between colorful paper kites in which each flyer tries to cut the string of their rivals.
  http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20030627-060235-8653r.htm

*

Mosh and meditate
  They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but this one bounces hard before finally coming to rest. Attracted to the live fast/die young creed of punk rockers, Noah Levine rebels against his parents (his father is meditation guru and author Stephen Levine) and embarks on an adolescence of drugs, violence and sex, a lifestyle that kills half his "crew" and almost kills him.
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/29/RV19940.DTL

*

Spice up your wardrobe with wraps, silks and bangles at local boutiques
  On Sunday afternoons, brides-to-be materialize out of nowhere, it seems, to crowd into the sari stores on University Avenue in Berkeley. Indian weddings are multiday affairs with many ensemble changes, so it's no wonder the boutiques are crowded. But you don't have to be an Indian bride to outfit yourself in silks and slippers and bangles and beads this summer.
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/29/LV268968.DTL


              --- South Asian News, June 28&29, 2003 (Weekend) ---

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