This Bulletin is being relayed to you as a part of ACHA's South Asian community service program.  It is sent out on the first Wednesday of each month. It goes to individuals in Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, India, Kenyya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Sweden, U.K., and USA, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Please let us know (pritamr@open.org),  if you want to have your name removed from our email distribution list. Also, please let us know if someone should be added to the list. Comments, letters to editor, and short articles are also welcome and can be sent to the same address.

ACHA Bulletin consists primarily of material selected from the printed and the electronic media. It aims  to highlight the news of peace and harmony,  to shed light on issues of concern to South Asians, and to bring together information of general interest. 

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 At war with the Khan on the street by Ashwin Mahesh (From Rediff on the NeT 7/30/99)
 "For I must live in my own world too, one to which I have been born and bred. In it, there are people on the other side of the fence, in whose name jawans from my neighborhood are slaughtered. In my reality, I am suddenly a Hindu, without knowing or believing the tenets that go with it, and it gets harder to remember that ‘Allah-o-Akbar' is not merely the battle-cry of the enemy, for my own people are wont to rally themselves to this tune in defence of the motherland. In my universe, I avoid some people without knowing why, suspended between shame and pride."
 
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GREETINGS

 * Long Live India!     Long Live Pakistan!

PRAYER

* My loving thoughts and actions help create harmony in a world of diversity - From Daily Word, July 21, 1999.

Our world sparkles with the wonder of diversity. Regardless of differences in appearance, affiliation, or heritage, we live and work and play together.

Accepting one another's uniqueness and recognizing individual's contribution, we enrich our homes, communities, and work environments with harmony. 

We create a world of harmony and love when we recognize the importance of reaching out to others with prayers of peace. Our faith-filled prayers unite us in a sacred network that inspires us not only to honor what we have in common, but to honor our differences as well.

From right where we are, we contribute loving thoughts and actions that help to create a world of harmony and peace. 

POETRY

* Put down your gun by Lalit Kundani, UCLA (From India West, 7/16/99)

The elders say there was a time when we were all one,
Hindus and Muslims basked in the same sun
Of inequality, dishonor, defeat, and disgrace. 
Their country was taken over by the dreaded awful face
Of Britain, the enemy, the nation that ruled
Over my people, your people, slaughtering them in pools
Of their own blood, their guts, their honor, their shame.
Was this all just a lie, was it all just a game?

But the elders insist that we would not run,
From the pain, the torture, nor even the gun 
Which the Englishmen pointed into our face.
We stood by one another, to finish the race.

Stories exist of Muslims and Hindus fighting side by side,
Shoulder to shoulder, accepting the tide
Of bullets, of pistols, of rifles, of bombs,
In the name of Allah, in the name of Ram. 

The elders confirm that this was all true, 
There was nothing in the world that Britain could do. 
Together, India would win, would conquer, would regain
Her independence, her freedom, her beautiful name.

Hindus and Muslims fought hand in hand,
United together by their love for the land.
They were friends, they were, these two different groups,
They fought bravely, courageously against the same troops.

They fell in an ocean of tears, sweat and blood,
Dying by the thousands, their bodies filled with the mud.
Muslims were buried, Hindus were burned,
So much the elders remember, so much they have learnt.

But what I don't understand is how the elders could lie,
Why tell me the stories of men who would die
for their desh, their land, and their sacred home?
It was all just a lie, it was just a poem.

Because today we are here and our people are free,
Yet we are divided and full of misery.
Hindus and Muslims today are at war. 
Allies we were once, yet not anymore.

We have pointed weapons at each other's eyes,
We have forgotten the past, we speak only lies.
Why die in the millions 50 years ago,
If all we do now is just a show?

India and Pakistan, what will you gain?
There will be no victory in who will be slain. 
Follow your hearts and listen to your mind:
By killing one another, you kill your own kind.

Hindus, open your hearts! Let go of your pain!
Do not let the deaths of your ancestors go by in vain.
Muslims, open your arms! Do away with your hate!
If we embrace each other now, it will not be too late.

To the people in the hills, high in Kashmir,
Gripping your weapons, gripping your fear.
Remember that there was once a time, when we were all one.
So what are you waiting for?
Put down your gun.

EDITORIAL

* Resolving disputes between enemies is hard, but easy between friends, by Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D.

According to some authorities, you should look at how the person you are interacting with deals with disagreements,  if you want to find out what kind of an individual really he or she is.  From this point of view, in spite of all the agreements (including those signed at Tashkent, Shimla and Lahore) and occasional pronouncements about mutual friendship, the governments of India and Pakistan have behaved like enemies.

Resolving disputes between enemies is not easy. Of course, one side can  completely overwhelm and subjugate the other side and compel the other side to submit to the former's point of view. But to be able to use this course one has to be very strong like Britain against Argentina  in the Falkland War.

As an alternative, one can attract the support of other nations. But for this to happen, the issue has to be  ver clear and obvious, like Apartheid in South Africa and one's supporters have to be strong and organized like the Allies in the World War II. Also, the supporters will have to make sure that in helping you they do not aggravate their own internal problems.

If one is not strong by oneself, and is not able to attract adequate support from others, one does what Pakistan has done,  that is to try to  make things difficult for the other side, hoping that eventually the other side will cry "Uncle"  and give in. North Vietnam successfully adopted this strategy and eventually won. Such methods, however,  often take a very united and dedicated nation, a very long time and their outcome is not always certain. 

Resolving disputes between enemies is difficult, very time consuming and very expensive.  If one were to add up all the costs, human as well as financial, direct (like the cost of maintaining armies and arsenals) as well indirect (like the loss of resources which could have been put to better use) that India and Pakistan have incurred over the Kashmir issue in the last 52 years, I am sure it will be a gigantic figure. 

Let's suppose the Governments of India and Pakistan dedicate one-hundredth of the money they use to buy additional fighter jet, to develop a nuclear device or to acquire any other equipment of war on promoting good will among people of the two nations. Let's also imagine that they recruit one-hundredth of the individuals they hire for their armies, border security forces, and mujahideens to serve as people-to- people ambassadors of goodwill in the other country. I am confident  we can resolve not only the Kashmir issue but also any other issue between the two neighbors and improve the living condition of our people at the same time. 

People of India and Pakistan have a lot more common between them than all their differences. Our history, our languages and literature, our modes of dress, food, marriage customs, and political practices, and even the blood that courses through our veins, are quite similar. No other two neighbors deserve to be friends more than India and Pakistan.

Let us then on the 53rd Independence Day of our two nations resolve to be friends. Even if nothing else happens, at least resolving disputes among friends will be easy, less time consuming, and less expensive.  

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS

* June, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: While the two countries were involved in an intense, heated battle in Kargil, a Pakistani woman and an Indian man were exchanging wedding vows here, according to a news story filed by Sonia Chopra  "I guess we'll always remember the time we got married. It's ironical, historical, but in a way completely irrelevant to us. It's not an issue," said Mona Ali, 24, who is a graduate student and lives in New York. "Our religion, the war, all that was never an issue," she declared. Her husband Amitava Kumar, 36, a post-doctoral fellow, is now a professor at a Florida university. Talking about India and Pakistan, he said, "We need everything we can get to stop war. It needn't be love... And marriage... But, for this to happen, there have to be fewer restrictions on travel and exchanges between the people.." He continued: "It is nothing short of a tragedy that we allow only 11 men in white flannels from both countries to meet each other. Only to bowl a ball or swing a bat." 

* June 23, Dhaka, Bangladesh: "REGIONAL COOPERATION can remove poverty from South Asia and lead the nations towards economic prosperity," said Prime minister Sheikh Hasina. She was speaking at the opening of the 3-day celebration to mark the Golden Jubilee Awami League.

* June 26, Mohali, Punjab, India: The government of India plans to start a new train, Guruparikarma Express, which will connect the three important SIKH religious places of Patna Sahib, Nanded and Anandpur Sahib.

* July 7, Lome, Togo: Following an over-night summit here of regional leaders, SIERRA LEONNE's president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, and Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh, today, signed a peace accord with rebels to end a n eight-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands in this West African nation.

* July 11, Erez Crossing Point, Gaza Strip: Gripping hands and grinning after their first summit, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pledged to rebuild trust and to carry out U.S. brokered accords. "Both sides have suffered enough," Barak said, "It's about time to find a way to nurture mutual respect, a kind of partnership, to make peace together."  Arafat smiled broadly and responded, "I reiterate my commitment that we will work jointly as partners to implement the peace of the brave."

* July 15, Islamabad, Pakistan: According to a 10-year schedule prepared by the International CRICKET, Pakistan will host India for a full test series in 2001. 

* July 20, Agartala, Tripura, India: Celebrating the unity and harmony between tribals and non-tribals, the week-long, 687-year-old KHARCHI festival began here with prayers by thousands of devotees at Khaerpur temple at Puratan Agartala. The festival was inaugurated by Tripura Industries Minister Pabitra Kar, while Chief Minister Manik Sarkar offered his greetings to the people.

* July 26, Jerusalem: Ahmed Korei, the head of the PALESTINIAN legislature, visited Knesset, the Israeli legislature, at the invitation of its de facto speaker, Avraham Burg. Korei's 8-1/2 mile trip from his place of work, "crossed a world of psychological and historical barriers," according to a Los Angeles Times, report. Korei, also known as Abu Alaa, was te chief negotiator of the landmark Oslo peace accord. "The readiness of both sides to enhance the peace process in every possible way is very sacred to both of us," said Burg. 

* July 27, New Delhi, India: India has decided to extend the ceasefire with the Nagaland militants for another year. The modalities of the ceasefire are yet to be worked under the ceasefire.

*August 3-8, Canada & USA: Some of the best names in cricket from India and Pakistan, who would not have played CRICKET opposite each other just a few days ago because of the Kargil war, are joining hands to face a team of cricket stars from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and West Indies, Zimbabwe, Kenya and England. Among the players are Mohammed Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram and Moin Khan, Brian Lara and Steve Waugh. The Asia-XI team also consists of Sri Lanka players. The matches, sponsored by India Post weekly, are being played at 3-Com Park in San Francisco on August 3, at the Giant Stadium in New York on August 7, and the Sky Dome in Toronto on August 8. More info from 800.848.7678.

FEATURE

* Camp David for Kashmir by Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan (From the New York Times, 6/8/99)

As tensions between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir once again boil over, world security is threatened by the very real possibility that war will breakout between two politically unstable nuclear powers.  This week, air strikes by Indian helicopter gunships and MIG jet fighters further increased the chance that Kashmir could spark yet another, and far more dangerous, confrontation.

For years, foreign policy analysts had been predicting that the Serbs would move against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and for years the world did little to prevent it.  Like Kosovo, the possibility of a nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan is predictable, dangerous, but clearly preventable.  It is time for the world, and especially the United States, to turn its diplomacy to crisis prevention.

As the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, I observe events in Kashmir with keen interest.  Indeed, one of my principal regrets is that my policies actually fed the tensions.  Then I believed that holding Indian-Pakistani relations hostage to the single issue of Kashmir would highlight the cause of the Kashmiri people.  That policy certainly did not advance the cause of peace in South Asia.

Recently, I met with Shimon Peres, the former Foreign Minister of Israel, at the University of California at Berkeley and realized that the process of reconciliation now going on in the Middle East - particularly between Egypt and Israel, and Jordan and Israel - may provide a replicable model for conflict resolution between India and Pakistan.

The Camp David peace accords postponed the hardest, most delicate negotiations on the most sensitive issues until the very end of the process and did not try to tackle seemingly intractable issues at the beginning.  For 50 years we in Pakistan thought Kashmir had to be resolved before any normalization could occur between the two great powers on the subcontinent.  That approach may have been self-defeating.

In the developing peace between Israel and Jordan, genuine confidence was built with deliberate, incremental advances, and they quickly triggered extraordinary and rapid progress.

Following these models suggests that the two sections of Kashmir should have open and porous borders.  Both sections would be demilitarized and patrolled by either an international peacekeeping force or a joint Indian-Pakistani peacekeeping force.

Both legislative councils would continue to meet separately and on occasion jointly.  The people on both sides of divided Kashmir could meet and interact freely and informally.  None of these steps would prejudice or prejudice the position of both countries on the disputed areas.

Simultaneously, the borders between Pakistan and its South Asian neighbors, including India would be opened for unrestricted trade, cultural cooperation and exchange.  Tariffs and quotas between the nations would be eliminated.  Educational and technological exchanges on the secondary and university levels would be initiated on a broad scale.  Discussions would commence on the creation of a South Asian Free Market Zone, which would expand unrestricted and untaxed trade to include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives - a free-market zone modeled after the European Community and the North American Free-Trade Agreement.

Only after all of these confidence building mechanisms were in place, and only after a significant set period of time (Camp David called for a five-year transition), would the parties commence discussions on a formal and final resolution to the Kashmir problem, based on the wishes of its people and the security concerns of both India and Pakistan.  It would be our hope that, as with Jordan and Israel, after a period of open border and open trade there would follow a period of open hearts and open minds.

Kosovo warns us that the world should try to put out a potentially dangerous fire before it explodes.  We cannot afford to allow a South Asian armageddon to take place.  India and Pakistan, like Jordan and Israel, must discover that they have more in common than in divergence and that mutual trust and cooperation will avoid war and build a peace that makes both parties more secure and prosperous.

The clock is ticking.  The time to act is now.

OPINION

* Darkness on the edge of war by Dilip D'Souza (From Rediff on the NeT, 7/8/99)

A cough was what it took, one wet night near Bargi in Madhya Pradesh, to let me know I was bang in the middle of a village. Nearly treading on the cougher's toes. I had not known. You see, even though this village is spitting distance from the gigantic Bargi dam on the Narmada that supplies  electricity bright and visible to the nearby town of Bargi Nagar, this village remains without electricity. Remains dark like under a blanket. So dark that while trudging through, I could not see twelve inches in any direction. I had no idea this man was right next to me. That his house was a few feet away. Thus the revelatory character of his cough. 

That dark. 

A recent Outlook magazine article features another village. This is Johragaon, near Aligarh. It is home to the family of Yogendra Singh of the Rajputana Rifles, killed in action in our ongoing Kargil war. The Outlook correspondent accompanied his body to his village. The last 20 km to the village is along a kutcha, an unfinished, road. Johragaon also has no electricity. "Through the pitch black," writes Outlook's correspondent, "we hear an eerie howling. The primal sound of community mourning." 

That eerie; that pitch black. That dark, too. 

Here's the situation I'm trying to wrap my fingers around. In 1999, India has large dams that supply their electricity to people like me who sit at our desks and work, hundreds and thousands of miles away. But also in 1999, there are tiny villages next door to some of those dams, villages whose residents can actually see the magic that electricity wreaks, only minutes away. But they cannot share in it. We do not care to supply them the stuff. This is how we have developed our nation, brought it to the brink of the 21st century. 

In 1999, we also have a war raging with Pakistan, just the latest in a long series of battles we have fought with them for half a century. We applaud the sacrifice of the men who die for us on the frontlines. We race to contribute money for their devastated families. But we hear no jarring note
as their bodies come home from the war along roads of mud, to villages without electricity, dark as they have always been. This, too, is how we have developed our nation. To the point where even though a country cannot be bothered to lay roads or electrify their homes, it expects its soldiers to die for it. 

We build huge dams, but we route their benefits firmly away from Indians too poor and silent to matter. In life, that's how contemptuous we are of them. But let them just enrol in the army -- it is a good job, after all, and those are hard to find -- let them just do that, let them just wait for a war, let them just die in it. In death, we will sing the glory of their sacrifice, turn them into heroes for a few minutes, then forget them. 

There's something bitter and obscene about all this. That's what this war is really about, isn't it? The elites of two horribly poor countries send some of their poorest to their deaths because the elites cannot be bothered to look at, let alone do something about, the way those poor live. And we tell them they are dying for the glory of the country: the very country that has no  time for them unless they die in our war. We should be ashamed. 

Yes, that's just what this war is really about. Just one more way we have found to tell several hundred million Indians that they must keep waiting for their concerns to be addressed; that the country has higher priorities than their aspirations to a dignified life; that they must be willing to "sacrifice in the national interest." The same meaningless phrases we have been offering them for 52 years. 

And of course, it is never the right time for their concerns. We never get around to their priorities. It is always them, and never us, who "sacrifice in the national interest." Sometimes their homes and land to development thatleaves them behind, other times their lives in a war. What's the difference,
really? Whose interest, really? 

I don't know how long this war will last. When it's over, I hope we will pay attention to two things. It's not much of a hope, but I'll list them here anyway. 

First, Kashmir and its people. Tempers are high, positions are rigid, much empty-headed rhetoric has been flung about; but there is one very simple truth about Kashmir. It is the single greatest obstacle to peace between India and Pakistan. Anyone who says otherwise has his head buried in the Line of Control. What's more, and worse, India and Pakistan have spent these 52 years caring two hoots about the people of Kashmir. "Kashmir will remain part of India," someone once yelled in my ear, "regardless of what its people want." This is a solution? This is foolishness that calculated to lose Kashmir to India, no more and no less. How about negotiating real peace, real answers, in Kashmir? That will take into account what all its people -- Kashmiri Hindus driven from their homes as well as other Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC -- want. That will mean serious compromise, not holding stubbornly to positions that only slaughter more Indians, even if we glorify their deaths. Let's find the wisdom, maturity and statesmanship to make such compromise, however hard the path, so we can also find peace. 

Second, our own shameful inequities. Fine, the war-buffs have got their war, tended to that highest priority they tell us the country faces. Fine. Please may we now get to everything else we have neglected? Can we start by at least recognising the miserable lives millions of Indians are condemned to live? The great shame in having more desperately poor Indians today than Indians who found freedom in 1947? I hear so often that we will not rest until the last intruder is flung out of Kargil. I long to hear that we will not rest until the last Indian is literate. There is glory in dying for the country, they say. But there is greater glory, surely, in living for the country, in living in dignity and hope. Let's make that mean something. Let's find glory not in death, but in life. 

The two may seem like utterly disparate goals. They are also profoundly linked. It took a conversation with a tribal man in Satara district recently to remind me just how linked. He said: I don't want to lose Kashmir. I want it to remain part of India. But both our countries have taken such rigid positions that we will keep on fighting wars. We will never solve the problem. As long as we don't solve it, people like me will remain poor and there will be all this caste and religious trouble in the country. 

How astonishingly perceptive, I thought. Yet how easily we brand people like you ignorant criminals. Unless you die in the war. 

 "From your articles," I get scolded often, "it's clear that you hate everything about India." Not at all. Instead, I weep. I weep for all we might be, could be. I weep for the India those who went before must have dreamed of in the euphoria of 1947. The India that is today trapped in a mire of wars and
bombs and hatreds and misery and phony patriots hiding behind security men. I cry, as Alan Paton did elsewhere with such tragic eloquence, for the beloved country. 

This beloved country. 

* At war with the Khan on the street by Ashwin Mahesh (From Rediff on the NeT 7/30/99)

In late 1995, when my culinary shortcomings first began to disgrace the term home-cooked meal, I ventured out into the veritable global food counter that runs through the heart of the University district here in Seattle (Washington, USA). Quickly learning that my own performances with the skillet would finish fourth in a three horse race, I settled down to world-traveler mode, savoring the foods of every continent in turn, and growing contented by the meal. 

In doing so, I met chefs and restaurateurs from around the planet, assembled in the neighborhood to cater to every conceivable taste. Guys working the sizzlers at Greek delis, the batter-dippers at the seafood places, Thai maestros of the veggie world and Chinese superchefs for the carnivorous bent of mind. And inevitably, desi joints of every kind, from the "bonded-labour" Bengali who held his employees' passports in his custody, to classy third generation Guj places mixing aroma and style in equal measure. 

Nadeem Multania waited tables at a desi place up the street in those days, and after a few tours of his employers' offering, I had his passing acquaintance. He is a simple man, willing to work hard to ensure a better future for his children, cast in quite the American immigrant mold. He worked his tables quietly and diligently, and spoke a few words from time to time with customers who recognised him. Sometimes, in the afternoons between the busy lunch and dinner hours, he'd stand outside the restaurant with his cigarette dangling from his mouth. 

He must have packed quite some energy and thought into his labour, for in a few years, he put together a tidy sum of money to open his own place a little farther along the street. By now his wife was pregnant again, but despite the accompanying limitations, she worked the place with him, and they soon got up a fair trickle of folks who set store by their cooking, myself included. People who left the restaurant seemed happy more often than not, and from chatting with Nadeem from time to time, I understood that business was shaping up just fine. 

And then the war came along, and something changed in the recesses of my mind, in a place which I wished didn't exist. The Multanias are fantastic people, the kind of folks you'd want your kids to look up to and respect, and if I'd ever thought different before the war, I must have been a fool to do so. But now, I began to remind myself that for all the things I liked about them, there is one detail that puts the Multanias on the other side of the human fence from me. They're Pakistanis. 

Predictably, the battles of the frontier came home, not only in images of body-bags and fanatical mujahideen holed up in the heights, but in different shades of antagonism that made it to the media as well. On the one hand were the Shourie-clones, reminding us repeatedly that the minds of regular Khans across the border are held hostage to the schemes of mullahs and generals, and that no amount of extending the hand of friendship will ever overcome that hurdle. Nuke the buggers, this argument runs. 

Counter to them is the elaborate optimism of those who imagine a different frontier, with parades of music and sport going back and forth across a seamless cultural mosaic. In their worlds, the little guys on the streets of Peshawar and Lahore have no more antipathy toward India than to a friend; they insist that the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis want little more than neighborly relations with their brethren across the border. They light candles at Wagah and urge us to look away from disemboweled jawans and murdered officers. 

There are plenty of places to eat around here, and for a while, I told myself that I was merely spreading the wings of my taste-buds. But with each passing day that I walked past Nadeem's place on my way to lunch, looking away from the truth became a little harder. I thought very little of boycotting the other Pakistani place around here; not knowing the owners of that joint, I was quite happy to stay away, and when friends at work suggested the place, I refused without qualms. But Nadeem's was a different plate of curry. 

And so I sat myself down to seek the answers to questions I barely understood. Why? This seemed the most obvious question, the one that jumped out at my senses. The little voices in my head were a din. "These are good people, Ash. You've got no business doing this, it defies every notion of decent behavior you ought to uphold." 

But does it? It's the principle of the whole thing, I tell myself. Way off in the background from our nodding acquaintance, the Multanias send money to family back home, buttressing a political economy that supports the war. Their folks, whoever they may be, might be holed up in Drass for all I know, and my friend Sanjay Bhatia could be up there with his regiment, risking life and limb to ward off these people. They're obviously devout Muslims -- Mrs Multania must be the only woman around here who can't tell it's summer from behind her whole-body attire -- who's to say if they identify with the jihadwallahs? 

And so on and so forth. The truth be told, though, I know that the economic and political arguments behind these thoughts have little bearing on the Multanias' lives. Like everyone else, they merely exist in the worlds to which they have been born and bred, and the consequences of their actions and choices on people elsewhere are beyond their ability to comprehend or alter. They're interested in uncles and aunts, uniforms and weddings, things like that. 

Knowing this hasn't made quite the difference it might, however. For I must live in my own world too, one to which I have been born and bred. In it, there are people on the other side of the fence, in whose name jawans from my neighborhood are slaughtered. In my reality, I am suddenly a Hindu, without knowing or believing the tenets that go with it, and it gets harder to remember that "Allah-o-Akbar" is not merely the battle-cry of the enemy, for my own people are wont to rally themselves to this tune in defence of the motherland. In my universe, I avoid some people without knowing why, suspended between shame and pride. 

The tragedy is also that not very many decades ago, Mrs Multania was born in a quiet corner of Bangalore only a little distance from home. Things change. 
 

LETTERS

Yes I would like to remain on the ACHA net-work.  Communal harmony and  peace can be promoted only if there is acknowledgment of truth by all sides and search for acceptable solutions.  Pritam Sahib, in your historical background in this bulletin (7/7/99) you have not given the complete background of Anglo-Indian duplicity in dealing with the princely states in India post partition. The recommended advice from the Anglos was that the ruling princes give consideration to the religious allegiance and political sympathies of the people of these autonomous States before deciding their accession to India or Pakistan.

However, in the case of the Muslim rulers of Hyderabad and Junagarh,   India used arm forces to stop their dilly dallying about accession on  the basis that the majority population was Hindu and therefore the ruling princes had no right to decide anything else but to join India.  But in  Kashmir, the Indians started secret dialogue with the Hindu ruler to accede to India, although the huge majority of the population of Kashmir is Muslim. It was because of this secret negotiations with India that  Kashmiris with the help of their northern Muslim brothers revolted.  The Hindu prince now asked for Indian military intervention and formally acceded to India.  The rest is history.  So the story of Kashmir, Hyderabad and Junagarh, as far as India is concerned is head I win tail you loose.

Moreover,  India never allowed the UN to send in a peace keeping force to  hold free plebiscite, and then later formally incorporated Kashmir into the Indian Union.  This act has not been accepted by the international  community formally.  These truths have to be first recognized,  acknowledged, and  UN accepted as the neutral party, to allow the Kashmiris - as determined by the UN as to who is Kashmiri- to decide their own future.  India and Pakistan have to accept that Kashmiris have a  right to self-determination.  Perhaps under these conditions the issue can be resolved and some semblance of peace in SA can prevail. Riaz. Ahmed

HOLIDAYS: August 14 Pakistan Independence Day, 15 India Independence Day

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

* August 7, Mountain View, California, USA: NORTH INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERT  by masters Aashish Khan on sarod, Shujaat Khan on sitar, and Swapan Chaudhuri on tabla at 8 p.m. at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street. Tickets and more info from 650.903.6000 or 925.828.6127.

* August 7 & 8, Portland, OR, USA: TAAL, a Hindi movie starring Anil Kapoor, Amir Khan, and Madhuri Dixit at 3:30 p.m. Roseway Theater, 7229 NE 72nd at Sandy Bvd. Tickets at $7 ($5 for children under 12). More info from 289-2480.  

*August 8, Seattle, WA, USA: KATHAK DANCES by Urmila Nagar, accompanied on Tabla by  Visha Nagar, at 7 PM, Brechemin Auditorium, Room 126 Music Building, UW. Suggested donation: $10 general; $5 students/seniors. More info from 206-522-4404.

*August 12, Melbourne, Australia:   INDIAN TRADE TEXTILES, an illustrated talk by Michael Abbott, QC, as a part of Asia Society's Classical AsianArt Lecture Series, 5:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., at Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Casselden Place, Level 14, 2 Lonsdale Street. More information from kater@asiasoc.org.au or (61 3) 9650 0998.

* August 14, Artesia, CA, USA: GRAND INDIA DAY MELA to celebrate India's Independence Day will be organized by he Federation of Indo-American Associations of Southern California from 10 a.m. to midnight at Artesia Park on Pioneer Bvd. More info from 562.925.8287, or 310.530.0347.

* August 14, Berkeley, CA: 2ND EAST BAY CLASSICAL DANCE FESTIVAL will be hosted by the Nupur Dance Company at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Tickets and more info from 415.974.4313.

* August 14, Cerritos, CA, USA: INDIAN MELA, organized by the Federation of Indo-American Associations of Southern California, 10 a.m.-12 midnight, at the Cerritos Regional Park at Bloomfield and 195th. More info from 714.964.7743 or 323.257.3002.

* August 14, Portland, OR, USA: PAKISTAN DAY CELEBRATION 6:30 - 10:30 p.m., Pacific Northwest College of Art, 1241 NW Johnson. More info from 503.612.9152, 503.645.9316, 360.574.5216.

* August 15, Portland, OR, USA: INDIA FESTIVAL 1999: Celebrating the Subcontinent, a presentation of India Cultural Association, featuring live music, dances and food 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Admission is free. More info from <www.icaportland.org> 

*August 21, Seattle, WA, USA: RANGA PRAVESH, a solo debut in Odissi classical dances by Sachiko Murakami, a presentation of India Arts & Heritage Society, at 7:00 p.m, at the Museum  of History & Industry, 2700 24 Ave E. More info from 253-520-3130, or  206-364-4448.

* August 21 & 22, Portland, OR, USA: HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, a Hindi movie at 3:30 p.m. at Roseway Theater, 7229 NE 72nd at Sandy Bvd. Tickets at $7 ($5 for children under 12). More info from 289-2480.  

* Till September 14, Bombay, India: An EXHIBITION of the work of M F Husain, Anjolie Ela Menon, Jehangir Sabavala, Navjot and other artists is on display from 10 a.m. to 00 hours to 8:00 p.m. at Sophia Duchesne Gallery, Sophia Polytechnic, Bhulabhai  Desai road. More info from  022-3674904. 

OTHER EVENTS

* Week of August 4, New York, NY, USA: KASHMIRI PUNDITS, a discussion with and on them will be hosted by Asia Society. More info from alyssaa@asiasoc.org.
Holy yatra to Amarnath 

* July 25-August 26, Kashmir, India:   The annual Amarnath yatra in Kashmir will begin on July 25 and will end on August 30 with the first day of darshan being July 28 and main day being August 26..
The pilgrimage begins from Pahalgam, which is 96 km from Srinagar. The 16 km journey between Pahalgam and Chandanwari will be covered by jeep. From Chandanwari it is a four day trek to the Amarnath caves with overnight stops at Sheshnag and Panchtarni. The Jammu and Kashmir tourism department has organized night accommodation in tents at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni at Rs 50, per head, per night. Langars will be organized at various points for thedevotees between Chandanwari and the Amarnath temple. For those not wanting to make the journey on foot, ponies can be hired from Chandanwari. The journey between Jammu and Pahalgam takes about 12 hours by road.The journey between Srinagar and Pahalgam takes about four hours by road. Regular buses are available from Jammu and Srinagar to Pehalgam. Application forms are available at the J & K tourism office and should be mailed to J & K Tourism, 25 World Trade Center. Phone: 022-2189040. New
Delhi: 202, Kanishka Shopping Plaza, 19 Ashok road. Phone number is: 011-3345373. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

* Entries are invited from film-makers of the Subcontinent and the world for FILM SOUTH ASIA 99, a competitive festival of South Asian documentaries on South Asian subjects to be held September 30 - October 3, in Kathmandu, Nepal. This biennial event, organized by Himal, brings together the best non-fiction films of South Asia. It provides a visible platform for new works and helps promote a sense of community among independent film-makers. Entry is free.  More info from <www.himalmag.com/fsa>.

*The ASAM SAHITYA SABHA invites entries from writers for its Ambikagiri Roychoudhury Award, Sitanath Brahmachaudhury Memorial Award and Mahananda Barua-Sashiprabha Barua Award for the current year. For the Ambikagiri Roychoudhury Award books written in Assamese on patriotism with a humane and creative literary touch and published between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1998 will be treated as viable entries. The Sitanath Brahmachoudhury Memorial Award would be for books in Assamese language written on the unity of the Assamese society. The Mahananda Barua-Sashiprabha Barua Award is meant for short stories written by the writers below the age of 25 years. More info from the Assam Tribune; Guwahati; Assam, India.

* World Sindhi Congress invites paper for the International Conference on "Sindhis? Right of Self-determination, Human Rights and the Rise of Fundamentalism in Pakistan" to be held on  Sunday, August 29th, 1999 in Conway Hall,25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London, WC1 R4RL
Send proposals in U.K. to Umed Laghari,769 Manchester Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, BD5 8LN (Phone: +44-1274-742609 Email: ual@globalnet.co.uk) and in USA to Safdar Sarki, 2603 Colonel Drive Louisville, KY 40242 USA (Phone: 773-368-5180 Email: Geanums@aol.com). More info from  WSC, 769 Manchester Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, BD5 8LN (Phone: 01274-742609 ~ Email world_sindhi_congress@yahoo.com) in U.K., and from WSC, 2603 Colonel Drive, Louisville, KY 40242 (PHONE: +1-773-368-5180 ~ FAX: +1-708-585-4284 ~ URL:http://wsc.findhere.com) in USA.

PEOPLE 

* Having ruled Morocco for 38 years, KING HASSAN II of died in Rabat of a heart attack on 7/23.  He had played a significant role in Israel's 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, and Israel's later agreements  with Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan. 

* Dr. NEELAN TIRUCHELVAM, a reputed Sri Lankan parliamentarian, scholar and civil society leader has been killed. In his intellectual, political and activist life, according to a press release by (Sri Lankan) Social Scientists' Association,  Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam gave expression to a range of key values and ideals that are essential for the re-building of Sri Lankan society torn asunder by a multiplicity of crises of which the ethnic conflict is most intractable manifestation. He was uncompromising in his commitment to ethnic reconciliation, inter-ethnic peace, pluralist democracy, human rights, social justice and decency in public affairs. He created and nurtured the International Center for Ethnic Studies and the Law and Society Trust. He worked closely with policy-makers and officials in creating and strengthening  such key public accountability institutions as the Human Rights Task Force, the Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Official Languages Commission.

* Nobel Laureate AMARTYA SEN has used his prize money of $400,000 to se up a trust head-quartered in Boston, USA, to fund projects to deal with problem in India and Bangladesh ofillitracy, health and gender bias.

* The world's most powerful X-ray telescope, Chandra, which was released on July 25, during the last mission of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia, is named after India-born scientist CHANDRA SEKHAR. Reputed to be one of the foremost astrophysicists of the 20th century, Chandra Sekhar  taught and did research at the University of Chicago from 1937 until his death in 1995, and won a Nobel prize in 1983. During its five-year voyage, Chandra, which cost $1.5 billion to build, will search for black holes and peer at galaxies, quasars, and exploded stars. 

* The former prime minister of India, I. K. GUJRAL, has been appointed the first chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University by president K. R. Narayanan. 

* TANSEEM AHMED SIDDIQUI, a Pakistani reformer, and ANGELA GOMES, a Bangladeshi women's organizer were among those named in Manila on July 26 as winners of the Magsaysay awards, each consisting of a gold medallion an $50,000.

* AZIM HASHAM PREMJI, the chairman of Wipro Ltd., with an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion, was th ehighest ranked Indian among 465 billionaires listed by Forbes magazine. The list also included 7 other Indians including LAXMI NIWAS MITTAL, chairman of the Rotterdam-based Ispat International, DHIRUBHAI AMBANI, chairman of Reliance Industries, SHIV NADAR, chairman of HCL Ltd.,  KUMAR MANGLAM BIRLA, chairman of A.V. Birla Group, ADI GODREJ, chairman of Godrej Ltd., the HINDUJA brothers SRICHAND and GOIPCHAND and SANJIV SINDHU, chairman of Texas-based i2 Technologies. 

* Businessman TARSEM SINGH, the India-born Labour Party leader from West Midlands was appointed, by prime minister Tony Blair, to the British House of Lords.

* Having passed all the six examinations in the first attempt, GOVIND JAJOO, the 14-year-old boy from Jaipur, became the youngest Microsoft certified system engineer in India. He passed the senior  secondary board examination at age 13 and is currently a B. Com student at the University of Rajasthan. 

* In recognition of his work to save the Ganga River, VEER BHADRA MISHRA, a Varanasi priest and a hydraulic engineer, was named by the Time  magazine as one of its "Seven Heroes for the Planet."

DID YOU KNOW

* In 1998, EXECUTIVES of Indian descent managed 7% (774) of the firms in the Silicon Valley, according to the study, "Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs," by University of California at Berkeley's city and regional planning professor, Anna Lee Saxenian. These firms did sales of $3.588 billion, and employed 16,598 individuals. Together with the Chinese executives, Indians  managed about 29 percent of the high technology companies in the area between 1995 and 1998.  The author remarked that the claim that "Silicon Valley is built on IC's" people are referring not to integrated circuits but to Indian and Chinese engineers.

* The Export Promotion Bureau of PAKISTAN has drawn up a plan to boost export of software to one billion dollars in next three years and for this purpose it would promote computer education in collaboration with technical institutes in the country, according to M. A. Wajid Jawwad, Minister of State and Chairman Export Promotion Bureau.

* Some 200 of the Fortune 500 U.S. companies outsourced their SOFT-WARE requirements to India, last year, according to Dewang Mehta, president of India's National Association of Software and Service Companies. 

* Since 1998, INDIAN OIL CORPORATION, with revenues of $14.71 billion, improved its ranking, from 297 in  to 278, among the Fortune 500 companies according to the August 2 issue of Fortune.

* Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif inaugurated work on 7/31/99 on a Japanese-backed project to build a 1.9-kilometer-long  Kohat tunnel about 130 km northwest of Islamabad. The Tunnel, which is part a 1,200 km highway being constructed on the west side of the Indus River between Peshawar, located near the northern border with Afghanistan, and Karachi on the Arabian Sea.

* In 1996-97, non-resident Indians in the Gulf countries collectively remitted $3.41 billion as compared to $1.02 billion by Indians in USA, and $628 million by them in Britain. 
Ninety percent of the money was in lots of less than $285 (Rs. 10,000). 

* India's LITERACY rate has increased to 62 percent, a 10 percent increase since the 1991 census , according to the latest National Sample Survey.

* Khanna, Punjab, has Asia's largest GRAIN MARKET.

* India exported $1.63 billion worth of leather goods in 1998-99, registering a decline of 1.6 percent from $1.65 billion in 1997-98. 

* India's wholesale price index of inflation fell to 2.53 percent in the week ending June 19 over that of 7.6 percent for the same week last year.

*The Center for Development of Advanced Computing, a pioneer in developing software in Indian languages has launched 'Leap Office,' a Tamil interface software with spell-check and e-mail features. 

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

* NORTHEAST VIGIL, an e-zine consisting of published and unpublished material pertaining to the issues relating to Northeastern India is now available.  Free subscription and mor info available from NortheastVigil-subscribe@Onelist.com.

*An interactive TIBETAN language multimedia tutorial (adapted from William A. Magee and Elizabeth Napper; Jeffrey Hopkins, general editor. Fluent Tibetan: A Proficiency Oriented Learning System, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1993) is available from <www.lib.virginia.edu/dmmc/ FluentTibetan/>

* <http://www.angelfire.com/me/Bhangra> is the new BHANGRA web site. Using Real Audio/Video format one can listen to one's favorite Daler Mehndi songs, or one can use MP3 format to download  them on one's hard disk. But, according to the law, these files must be deleted within 24 hours.

* CALCUTTA-ONLINE, DHAKA-ONLINE, and NEW DELHI-ONLINE are three e-commerce  websites launched by Research Engineers, Inc., a California-based company. These special interest sites feature a variety of services including airline and hotel reservations, shopping and local news. 

* Technopak Media Creations (TMC), a Singapore based organization have come up with a first of its kind interactive, multimedia CD-ROM on the legendry FAIZ AHMED FAIZ. Titled, 'Faiz - Aaj Kay Naam' is a seven hours duration of high quality audio and video delights from the life times, and works of Faiz. More info in Karachi is available from Phone numbers 578958, 5862086, and Fax: number 5862087.

* <http://ori.nic.in/jagannath>, the web site for  Puri's JAGANNATH Temple, has information available on the history and legends associated with this 12th century Hindu holy place  in Orissa, as well as the details of festive occasions, maps, accommodations, beaches, arts, crafts and shops. The site was developed by the National Information Center.  

* <www.domain-b.com is the web site for India's first online BUSINESS MAGAZINE. It is edited by Kiron Kasbekar, the former managing editor of Business India. It is suposed to cater to internet subscribers' need for business information. 

South Asian EMBASSIES in USA
* Embassy of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 2201 Wisconsin Ave NW #300, Washington, D.C. 2007, Phone 202.342.8372, Fax 202.333.4971
* Embassy of India, 2107 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, Phone 202.939.7000, Fax 202.483.3972 Webpage <www.indianembassy.org>
* Royal Nepal Embassy, 2131 Leroy Place NW, Washington, D.C., 20008., Phone 202-667.4550
Fax 202.667.5534
* Embassy of Pakistan, 2315 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, Phone 202.939.6200, Fax 202.387.0484, Webpage <info@pakistan-embassy.com>
* Embassy of Sri Lanka, 2148 Wyoming Ave NW, Washington, D.C., Phone 202.483.4025, Fax 202.232.7181, Webpage <piano.symgrp.com/srilanka/>

TRAVEL

* Foreigners will not now need permits to hike or raft in most areas in NEPAL, according to a July 17 announcement by the country's Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministry. 

* In the last few months, Jet Airways has introduced new flights between Imphal and Jorhat, Madras and Calcutta, Madras and Cochin, Madras and Port Blair, New Delhi and Hyderabad, Calcutta and Bagdogra, Baroda and Bombay, Bombay and Rajkot and Bombay and Bhuj. Also, JA has started one extra between Bombay and Calcutta, Bombay and Goa, Bombay and Mangalore, Bombay and Bangalore and  Bombay and Jaipur. Besides, JA has tied up with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to introduce a through-Check-in facility and benefits for frequent flyers of the two.

CORRECTION

* The URL (www.bombay.oriental.cam.ac.uk.) given in the last issue of ACHA Bulletin for MAHABHARATA on the Internet prepared by a team of researchers from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute at Pune, Maharashtra, India, and the University of Cambridge, UK, is incorrect. The correct URL does not contain www and should be <http://bombay.oriental.cam.ac.uk>