MUSHARRAF WINS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: Gen. Pervez Musharraf won a vote of confidence on Jan. 1 from Pakistan’s electoral college that allowed him to legally remain president into 2007. A day earlier, on Dec. 31, Gen. Musharraf had signed the 17th constitutional amendment bill in Rawalpindi, approving the amendment that endorsed his right to stay on as president until 2007 and allowing him to seek a vote of confidence from lawmakers.

INDIA, PAKISTAN TO RESUME DIALOGUE: In a meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Islamabad, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf agreed on Jan. 5 to resume a “composite dialogue” in February, in which they would discuss all issues bedevilling their relations, including the dispute over Kashmir. Musharraf said the decision was “history in the making,” and that it had been possible because of Vajpayee’s vision and statesmanship.

A.Q. KHAN ADMITS HAVING SOLD N-SECRETS: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, granted a full pardon on Feb. 5 to Abdul Qadeer Khan, left, founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, a day after Khan appeared on television and confessed to sharing nuclear technology with Iran, North Korea and Libya. As a result, Dr. Khan, 67, will not face prison, a fine or any other punishment.

Satya N. Nandan

INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY: Satya N. Nandan of Fiji elected to a third 4-year term as Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a U.N. body in charge of mining in the world’s oceans.

CANADIAN ELECTIONS: Ujjal Dosanjh, left, former premier of British Columbia, Canada, appointed Minister of Health on June 28, after being elected from Vancouver South riding (district). Gurbax Malhi, second from right, re-elected from Bramalea-Gore-Malton in Ontario, assumed charge as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Human Resources, Skills Development. More than 36 South Asians contested the elections.

DEUBA REINSTATED: It proved third time lucky for Sher Bahadur Deuba who was reinstated as prime minister of the Himalayan kingdom by King Gyanendra on June 2. The 58-year-old fellow of the London School of Economics was sacked by the monarch in October 2002 for failing to hold elections and control the Maoist insurgency.

ELECTED TO ASSEMBLY IN ALBERTA: Three Indo-Canadians elected to the assembly in Canada’s Alberta province in elections on Nov. 22. The victorious trio among a dozen Indo-Canadian candidates in Edmonton and Calgary constituencies included Raj Pannu and Shiraz Shariff, both of whom retained their seats, while Bharat Agnihotri made his entry into the provincial legislature. Pannu, at 70 is the oldest Indian lawmaker in the state and belongs to the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) which won official party status in the just concluded elections.

QUEEN ELIZABETH VISITS LONDON GURDWARA: Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prince Philip, made her first visit to a Sikh temple in London on Oct. 15. The British monarch was garlanded at the entrance to the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Hounslow, west London. The Queen’s visit coincided with the launch of a $4.5-million expansion program of the Sikh temple.

Vikram Seth

VIKRAM SETH AT BRITISH MUSEUM: Prime Minister Tony Blair on Feb. 11 appointed Vikram Seth as a trustee of the prestigious British Museum. Kolkata-born Seth, 52, who was educated at Oxford, Stanford and China’s Nanjing University, will hold office for four years.

FLOODS CLAIM OVER 450 LIVES, JULY: Four weeks of the worst flooding in years killed nearly nearly 1,300 across South Asia and economic costs are rising with the casualties. Over 450 people were killed in Bangladesh alone. The U.S. provided $50,000 as emergency assistance to Bangladesh.

OXFORD UNION PRESIDENT: The Oxford Union elected a president by rejecting allegations that Ruzwana Bashir, 20, an undergraduate at New College, had engaged in electoral malpractice. She is the first British-born Asian woman to hold the post.

Ruzwana Bashir

MYANMAR PM OUSTED, OCT. 19: Myanmar Prime minister Khin Nyunt was ousted, put under house arrest and replaced by Lieutenant-General Soe Win, a conservative in his mid-50s.

Amjad Farooqi

DANIEL PEARL ASSASSIN, SEPT. 26: Security forces shot dead Amjad Hussain Farooqi, described as one of the principal members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, in a gun battle on Sept. 26 in the southern city of Nawabshah. Farooqi, who had a price of Rs. 20 million ($338,000) on his head, was wanted in a failed bid on President Pervez Musharraf’s life and the killing of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl.

LARGEST GURDWARA IN ITALY: The new building of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in the northeastern city of Castel Gomberto in Vicenza province, was inaugurated on Nov. 9, making it the largest Sikh shrine in the country.