India
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | May 30th, 2001 | Trackback
Fears of terrorist attacks on India’s Republic Day were upstaged by the catastrophic earthquake that hit Gujarat state near Bhuj the same day. The death toll continues to mount, supplies are short, and all travel to the area including the city of Ahmedabad, except for humanitarian missions, should be deferred.
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India
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | May 30th, 2001 | Trackback
Ethnic tensions could flare up again over the site in Ayodhya that caused Hindu-Muslim hostilities in 1992. At that time, Hindu nationalists incited followers to destroy a mosque and begin to erect a Hindu temple on the site sacred to both Muslims and Hindus. Rage over the action swept across India, killing hundreds. Recently, comments by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee produced a surge of Hindu enthusiasm for building the temple, and work has resumed. Should the zealots ignore court orders against any construction until it decides which group, if any, has the right to build a temple, trouble could erupt and spread.
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India
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | May 30th, 2001 | Trackback
Hopes for peace in Kashmir are increasing. The first village elections in more than 20 years proceeded peacefully, with high voter turnout, in some places as much as 80 percent. The Indian army supports extending the cease-fire that remains in place, and the largest alliance of Kashmiri separatist groups has chosen a peace team to travel to Pakistan for talks with the government and militant groups there. But until agreements are in place and working, travel here remains risky. A bomb exploded at the main telephone exchange in central Srinagar Jan. 9 when hundreds were lined up to pay their bills, injuring five people critically. In other incidents, two grenade attacks on government ministers occurred over a three-day period, but failed to reach their targets.
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India
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | May 30th, 2001 | Trackback
As if to prove that intolerance begets intolerance, Hindu nationalists desecrated a mosque in Amritsar and burned copies of the Koran, the Muslim sacred text, saying their actions were a protest over a slaughter of cows by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Taliban said they had to slaughter the cows to atone for taking so long to destroy the ancient statues of Buddha blown up in March to the consternation of the international community. The desecration in Amritsar came a few days after unrest between Muslim protesters and police in Kanpur left 14 people dead. That violence began in protest over a Hindu fundamentalist’s burning of a Koran in Delhi to protest the TalibanĀ’s destruction of the buddhas. Tension remains high in Amritsar.
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