GO TO SOURCE KATHMANDU, NEPAL, July 21, 2001: For the past 300 years, a succession of small girls have been chosen to become Kumari, or Nepal’s living goddess — a job that entails living in an ornate cloister, appearing at religious festivals on a chariot and retiring at the age of 11 with a small pension. But human rights activists…
GO TO SOURCE SRINAGAR, INDIA, July 22, 2001: The Amarnath pilgrimage, suspended for a day after 13 persons were killed near Sheshnag on Saturday, resumed today both from Jammu and Srinagar, according to an official spokesman. Over one thousand devotees worshipped at the shrine today. A central government team, led by the Union Minister of State for Home, Mr. I.D.…
GO TO SOURCE KEIGHLEY, ENGLAND, JULY 13, 2001: Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley, near Bradford, has defended her controversial call for immigrants to be compelled to learn English before they are allowed into the UK. Cryer has said inter-continental marriages in the Asian community were resulting in immigrants who could not speak English. “This limits participation in mainstream…
GO TO SOURCE AGRA, INDIA, July 21, 2001: The India-Pakistan summit in Agra has raised new hopes among the Pakistani Sindhi Hindu migrants living in that city that the event may enable them to carry out trade with and travel to their former homeland. The city of Agra has nearly 60,000 Sindhi Hindus who fled to India from Pakistan after…
GO TO SOURCE BRADFORD, UNITED KINGDOM, July 13, 2001: A report issued by Lord Ouseley and eleven other panelists reflects the stark reality of the Bradford community in the U.K. In a community where multicultural diversity should be creating a sense of mutual respect and tolerance, exactly the opposite is happening. Differences have resulted in intolerance, fear of gang culture…
GO TO SOURCE BRADFORD, UK, July 21, 2001: Following criticism of Bradford’s “ethnically segregated” schools in the city’s race review, Rhodesway school in Bradford could be a prototype for the sort of multiculturally tolerant school Herman Ouseley wants to see more of in the city. Ouseley’s report said the fact that so many Bradford schools were overwhelming white or Asian…
Source: Asian Age NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 20, 2001: After eight long years, the Sahmat exhibition Hum Sab Ayodhya can now be displayed to the public. Extolling the evolution of Ayodhya, the public showing was originally put together by distinguished historians Mr. K.N. Panikkar, Irfan Habib, and Ravinder Kumar. Shortly after launching in 1993, the exhibition was banned by the…
GO TO SOURCE SRINAGAR, INDIA, July 21, 2001: Twelve people were killed in a big explosion near Sheshnag, 28 kilometers from southern Kashmir, on the heavily guarded route to the pilgrimage cave at Amarnath, victims of an attack by suspected Muslim separatist guerrillas. Among those killed were two police officers. The other casualties were a militant, three civilians and five…
Source: Religion New Service NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 21, 2001: More than a dozen members of the Shiv Sena party were arrested July 21 when they started to scrub the floors of the mausoleum with cow urine and water from the Ganges River, according to the Associated Press. Hindus hold both the river and cows as sacred. On July 15,…
GO TO SOURCE BOMBAY, INDIA, JULY 18, 2001: The Parsi community of Bombay — who leave their dead out in the open to be consumed by vultures — have turned to science to aid them in their centuries-old ritual. The Bombay Parsi council has installed giant solar reflectors to speed-up the process of decomposition of corpses because there are not…