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Updated on May 31, 2003 |
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SOUTH ASIA NEWS |
STRING |
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US
NEWS SOURCES -May 2, 2003 |
| EDITORIALS / OP-ED |
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N/A |
| BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY |
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Indian IT groups face changed
prospects (Hoovers) |
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India aims to become back office of the world (USA
Today) |
| OTHER STORIES |
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Snowfall on Mount Everest stalls
climbers (Philadelphia Inquirer) (San Francisco
Chronicle) |
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Immigration makes correct call on Queens
youth (News Day) (Queens Chronicle) |
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Missionaries bring aid, controversy to
Kashmir (Christian Science Monitor - Subscription
required) |
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Hindus looking to suburbs for a new temple (Chicago
Tribune - Registration required) |
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| TOP
STORIES |
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India restores
ties with Pakistan |
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New Delhi --
India will appoint a new ambassador to Pakistan and resume commercial
flights to its neighbor, restoring ties that were broken last year amid
the threat of war. India's Prime Minister on Friday also offered to hold
talks to end 50 years acrimony between the nuclear-armed rivals. "This
round of talks will be decisive," Atal Bihari Vajpayee told Parliament.
The two countries went on war footing last year after India blamed
Pakistan for an attack by Islamic militants on the Indian Parliament in
December 2001. Pakistan denied involvement. Tensions eased after intense
diplomacy by the United States and Britain. |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-India-Pakistan.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4111-2003May2.html |
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/-india-pakistan_x.htm |
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http://www.ctnow.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top13may02,0,7926652story |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/02/international0307EDT0457.DTL |
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India,
Pakistan say they will hold talks |
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New Delhi --
India and Pakistan said Friday they will soon hold their first talks in
almost two years aimed at ending five decades of war and acrimony between
the nuclear armed neighbors. "This round of talks will be decisive," Atal
Bihari Vajpayee told Parliament, "and at least for my life, these will be
the last." Vajpayee, 78 and ailing, has indicated he would like to leave a
legacy of peace between India and Pakistan. "Talks will begin very soon,"
Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated
Press in Islamabad. "Things are moving very fast." |
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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2003/may/02/050204254.html |
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http://www.ctnow.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top12may02,0,7467899story |
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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/5767310.htm |
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http://www.adn.com/24hour/world/story/875522p-6105701c.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4747-2003May2.html |
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http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3860248.html |
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India to
appoint envoy to Pakistan |
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New Delhi --
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Friday New Delhi would
appoint an ambassador to Pakistan and restore air links in the first
tangible steps to improve relations with Islamabad. Vajpayee made his
announcement after talking to Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan
Jamali by phone on Monday, the first high-level talks between the
nuclear-armed rivals since they came close to war over disputed Kashmir
last year. ``It has been decided to appoint a high commissioner to
Pakistan and to restore the civil aviation links on a reciprocal basis,''
Vajpayee told parliament. |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-southasia.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4182-2003May2.html |
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India's
Vajpayee promises Pakistan peace bid |
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New Delhi --
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Friday he would make a
decisive final bid to make peace with Pakistan -- the "last in my
lifetime." Vajpayee, 78, who held two failed peace summits with Pakistan
in 1999 and 2001, also said New Delhi would restore full diplomatic ties
with Islamabad and reair links in the first tangible signs of a thaw
between the nuclear-armed rivals. "How long will we keep fighting with
Pakistan? We want to give Pakistan one more chance, not out of weakness
but out of self-confidence," Vajpayee told parliament. "The third attempt
will be decisive and will be the last in my lifetime," he
said. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4649-2003May2.html |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-southasia.html |
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Pakistani
investigators question six al-Qaida suspects, expect further
arrests |
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May 01, Karachi,
Pakistan -- Pakistani officials interrogating a suspected al-Qaida
commander wanted in the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole
expect that more suspects will be tracked down soon. "We are optimistic
about the arrest of more terrorists," Col. Mohammed Akhtar of Pakistan's
paramilitary Rangers force said Thursday. "Initial investigations indicate
that these men were plotting terrorist attacks." Pakistani Rangers
arrested the suspected terror leader and five others on Tuesday in the
southern city of Karachi. They also seized a haul of explosives and arms
that officials said appeared to have been for a major
operation. |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/01/international2145EDT0868.DTL |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Al-Qaida-Arrests.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2805-2003May1.html |
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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/5764938.htm |
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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2003/may/01/050103741.html |
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http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/news/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0868_BC_Pakistan-AlQaidaArres |
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Al%20Qaida%20Arrests |
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-pakistan-al-qaida-arrests,1,614450.story |
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Musharraf:
Osama bin Laden may be in Pakistan |
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May 01, Islamabad
-- Osama bin Laden may be hiding in the rocky stronghold of Pakistan's
Islamic hardliners close to the Afghan border, President Pervez Musharraf
said in remarks Thursday. In an interview with a London-based television
channel, Musharraf insisted Pakistani forces are doing all they can to
track bin Laden down. But he said if the al-Qaida chief was part of a
small al-Qaida cell "he can hide anywhere." "They may be hiding in our
tribal areas, but I cannot say with certainty," Musharraf told satellite
channel ARY Gold. "Our army is operating there. We have asked tribesmen to
tell us if they know anything. The tribesmen have said they will do
it." |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Bin-Laden.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A126-2003May1.html |
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http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/122/nation/Pakistani_leader_says_bin_Laden_may_be_alive+.shtml |
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Bin%20Laden |
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-pakistan-bin-laden,1,4082100.story |
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http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3858443.html |
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Pakistan will
make own move on U.S. terror list |
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May 01, Islamabad
-- Pakistan said Thursday it would decide for itself how to deal with the
Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups the United States has put on its
watch list of terrorist groups. The State Department Wednesday added 11
Islamic organizations to a list of "terrorist groups" that included three
pro-Pakistan militant groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir
region. "It is not a question of endorsing what the United States has
done. We will look at our own circumstances," Interior Minister Makhdoom
Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters. "The foremost thing is to have credible
proof. If that is there, then certainly we will take action as we have
done," he said. |
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Al Qaeda
leader's nephew captured in Pakistan, U.S. officials
say |
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May 01,
Washington -- A nephew of senior al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
was among six people detained this week in Pakistan, U.S. officials said
on Thursday. The nephew, Ali Abd al-Aziz also known as Ammar al-Baluchi,
is in his mid-20s and was captured by Pakistani authorities in a raid that
also netted a suspected mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in
October 2000, U.S. officials said. Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of
the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on the United States that
killed about 3,000 people, was arrested in Pakistan on March 1 and handed
over to U.S. custody. His nephew was probably privy to any al Qaeda plots
that Mohammed may have been working on, officials
said. |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-attack-capture.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2508-2003May1.html |
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WHO says India
SARS-free |
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May 01, New Delhi
-- The World Health Organisationsaid on Thursday India had no cases of
SARS fitting its definition of the virus. "India has no cases (of SARS)
that fit the SARS definition," Dr. S.J. Habayeb, the WHO representative to
India, told a news conference. On Wednesday, the Indian government said
the number of SARS cases had doubled to 20 from 10 the previous day,
fueling fears about the country's ability to control the spread of the
illness. But on Thursday, Health Minister Sushma Swaraj told the news
conference that the government had been "very, very cautious and that
today the WHO is giving us this certificate." |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-sars-india.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64581-2003May1.html |
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Tamil Tigers
toughen stance on Sri Lankan army camps |
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May 01, Colombo
-- Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Thursday rejected a government offer
to relocate some of its troops in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna, deepening
a standoff over stalled peace talks that could threaten an aid conference.
The rejection comes a day after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that delays in rehabilitating
war-hit areas were unavoidable and urged the rebels to return to the
negotiating table. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64759-2003May1.html |
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Apprehension
grips northern Sri Lanka as Tamil Tiger rebels suspend peace
talks |
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May 01, Jaffna,
Sri Lanka -- For more than 14 months, the guns have been silent in Sri
Lanka's northern war zone after the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels
signed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire. But the rebels' sudden decision to
stop participating in peace talks last week has awakened fears that war
may soon return to this tropical South Asian island. "There is a certain
kind of stiffness that has engulfed people during this last week," said
Thiyagalingam Sivakumar, 32, a Tamil pharmacist in Jaffna, the main
northern city, which bears the scars of 19 years of
fighting. |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/01/international0200EDT0432.DTL |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Sri-Lanka-On-Edge.html |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3674-2003May2.html |
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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/5766977.htm |
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Two U.S.
diplomats charged with selling visas |
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May 01,
Washington -- A husband and wife who worked together at the U.S. Embassy
in Sri Lanka were indicted on Thursday in California on federal charges
related to an alleged scheme to sell U.S. visas, the State Department
said. The two former State Department employees, Acey Johnson and Long
Lee, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, along with seven
others after an eleven-month investigation, the State Department said. All
nine face charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and to bribe
public officials and to commit visa fraud. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3218-2003May1.html |
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http://oregonlive.com/newsflash/oregon/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?o0121_BC_OR--ImmigrationIndict |
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-visa2may02,1,3959682.story |
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Kashmiri
separatist leader sees hope, pitfalls |
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May 01, Srinagar,
India -- Facing visitors as they enter Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir
Shah's drawing room is a black and white poster of a child's face, with a
single teardrop in red and an old Urdu couplet: "For a mistake committed
in moments, Centuries were punished". To the man dubbed Kashmir's Nelson
Mandela after spending 23 years in Indian jails from the age of 14,
Kashmir has paid a bloody price for the decision by modern Kashmir's
founding father, Sheikh Abdullah, to seal its accession to India in 1975.
"Our former leadership committed this blunder which destroyed this
nation," said the quietly spoken moderate who leads Kashmir's
anti-violence Democratic Freedom Party. |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-kashmir-shah.html |
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| BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY |
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Indian IT
groups face changed prospects |
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Indian technology
services companies are reeling from a wake-up call after a spate of
full-year earnings results that signal the end of a decade of heady
growth. In spite of performances that beat anything in developed markets,
rising pessimism about the business outlook has chastened Wipro, Infosys
Technologies and Satyam Computer Services, the trio of listed companies
that lead India's $10bn information technology services industry.
Nasdaq-listed Infosys was the first to add a devastating rider to its
otherwise healthy results: a vastly lower-than-forecast profits outlook
that stunned investors. Wipro and Satyam followed with equally gloomy
forecasts. |
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http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20030501670.4_2da30027f0c53281 |
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India aims to
become back office of the world |
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May 01, Gurgaon,
India -- If China is the workshop of the world, then India is becoming the
global back office. From British companiesng call centers to U.S.
banks setting up number-crunching operations, more and more firms are
cutting costs by tapping India's deep pool of computer-literate,
English-speaking and — above all — relatively cheap graduates. The
explosive growth in such information technology-enabled services, building
on India's success in software and IT proper, underscores the growing
embrace of globalization by an economy that not long ago made a point of
turning its back on the world. |
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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-05-01-india-back-office_x.htm |
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| OTHER STORIES |
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Snowfall on
Mount Everest stalls climbers |
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Katmandu -- Snow
storms on Mount Everest have stranded hundreds of climbers at their base
camp as a record number of people try to scale the world's highest peak,
Nepalese tourism officials said Friday. Crowds of climbers hope to reach
the summit to mark the 50th anniversary of the Himalayan peak's conquest.
On May 29, 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and a Nepalese guide,
Tenzing Norgay, became the first to stand atop the mountain. The stranded
mountaineers and their Nepalese Sherpa guides and porters have been
waiting for the weather to clear, sitting in their tents at the camp some
17,400 feet above sea level. |
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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/5769149.htm |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/02/international0510EDT0491.DTL |
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Immigration
makes correct call on Queens youth |
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May 01 -- Threats
to national security come in many forms, but Mohammad Hussain is not one
of them. So the government's decision to drop deportation proceedings
against the 18-year-old Queens student from Pakistan was a just exception
to the new immigrant registration policy. By the rule of law, Hussain
should be on his way back to South Asia. He's a male illegal immigrant
who's older than 16, and hails from one of the Muslim countries considered
high-risk for terrorism. Hussain - an orphan who goes by his middle name,
Sarfaraz - was wise to register with the Immigration and Naturalization
Service. But imagine his surprise when he was scheduled for a deportation
hearing. |
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http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpins013262041may01,0,2218943.story |
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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7884557&BRD=1861&PAG=461&dept_id=152368&rfi=6 |
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Missionaries
bring aid, controversy to Kashmir |
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New Delhi -- For
a decade now, Christian missionary groups have been flocking to the
conflicted province of Kashmir, bringing medicine, school books, and
self-help programs. "Muslims and Hindus in Kashmir are fighting too much
... Christians help us to get jobs and they teach us love," says Zubaida
Hameed, a student at Srinagar University. "This is good for our people."
But some observers worry that the influx of Christian evangelists may be
exacerbating a volatile situation in India's northernmost state, where up
to 50,000 people have died in sectarian violence. Sandwiched between India
and Pakistan, this territory is the cause of two wars between the two
neighbors. Armed militants are alleged to sneak across the border from
Pakistan to foment trouble in the valley. Just last month 24 Hindus were
killed in Kashmir, allegedly by Muslim militants. |
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0502/p07s02-wosc.html |
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Hindus looking
to suburbs for a new temple |
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For years,
suburban Hindus have made a 45-to-60 minute trek to the Vivekananda
Vedanta Society of Hyde Park only to spend another 20 minutes searching
for places to park. That may soon end if the society meets its ambitious
goal of raising several million dollars for the construction of a new
temple in the southwest suburbs, following the migration of the Indian
community from the city into surrounding communities. The new temple--with
a 100-car parking lot--would be built on 15 acres in unincorporated Homer
Township. "The problem we face is most of our congregation is out in the
suburbs," said Swami Varadananda, manager of the society, adding that he
also expects the move will attract more members. |
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0305020126may02,1,5354289.story |
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--- South Asian News, May 2, 2003
--- |
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These links are provided for informational purposes only and no
representation is made for the accuracy of information posted on other
websites. Kapil Sharma manages, edits and distributes the list. E-mail
Kapil Sharma at kap if you have any
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