Snippets ii [Quick Read!]....

Does Democracy Help Pakistan?

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/weekinreview/08ROHD.html?tntemail0

Western diplomats say they will wait and hope. In the best outcome, they say, religious parties would fail to produce the jobs, better schools and clean government Pakistanis desperately want while economic reforms by Mr. Musharraf's government show results.

Until then, the general is in a precarious position — leading a fragile government trapped between American demands that F.B.I. raids continue and rising anti-Americanism among Pakistanis, with religious parties claiming a democratic mandate.

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Below are links to the findings of the blue ribbon independent Committee on the Gujarat disturbances. Those of you who have been keeping up with the news from India know this report has created quite a stir there to the point of a threat of a legal suite from the VHP. This might be of interest to those researching contemporary India and issues of communal harmony.

"The political backdrop of the Gujarat carnage is not insignificant given the cynical use of communal violence by political parties of all hues in the past." Excrepts from "Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002: An inquiry into the carnage in Gujarat"

Volume I
Crime against Humanity
Incidents and Evidence
http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/volI/index.html

Volume II
Crime against Humanity
Findings and Recommendations
http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/vol2/index.html