Free Republic

Military tensions in the disputed region of Kashmir have erupted in recent weeks, with India and Pakistan painting different versions of events. One thing we do know for certain is that an Indian pilot, identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan, was captured by Pakistan after his plane was shot down in a dogfight earlier this week between Pakistani and Indian warplanes over the ceasefire line in Kashmir. He was due to be handed back to India on Friday afternoon, at a famous border post in the village of Wagah. While Indian-controlled Kashmir and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir are separated by a 435-mile de...

Railway police said 60 people died in a "freak accident" which happened when the sound of fireworks at the Dussehra festival on the outskirts of Amritsar made it impossible for people to hear the commuter train bearing down on them. At least 50 injured people were admitted to hospital. A witness said the train did not even sound its whistle as it sped past the site. "Why did authorities allow the fireworks display so close to the railroad track?'" he asked. Punjab's Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he was rushing to Amritsar to supervise relief and rescue operations. "District authorities...

The only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombings that killed 331 people is now free, Canada's parole board said Wednesday. Inderjit Singh Reyat had been ordered to live at a halfway house following his release from prison one year ago, after serving two decades behind bars. That condition has now been lifted and Reyat may return to a normal life, including "living in a private residence," parole board spokesman Patrick Storey said in an email. The onetime Sikh extremist, an immigrant from India, was convicted of making bombs that were stuffed into luggage and planted on two planes...

Britain's involvement in the massacre of hundreds of Sikh separatists in an Indian temple in 1984 will be urgently investigated, David Cameron has ordered. Previously secret documents released by the Government have shown that a SAS officer was drafted in to help the Indian authorities with plans to remove dissident Sikhs from the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Sikhism's holiest shrine. The plan was ordered with the full knowledge of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the documents say. Hundreds of Sikhs were killed in the attack. Yesterday Sikh leaders said the revelations amounted to the British Government ‘backstabbing” and have called...

NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama will not visit Amritsar during his stay in India next month. While there was no official confirmation from the government, sources said the proposal to visit Amritsar had been dropped owing to reservations of US officials over the kind of scarf Obama would have to wear to visit the Golden Temple. The decision was yet to be communicated to the government till late on Tuesday. However, sources said Obama, who will arrive in Mumbai on November 6, will directly come to Delhi now after a day's stay in the country's commercial capital. Earlier, he...

NEW DELHI — The Golden Temple, a sprawling and serene complex of gleaming gold and polished marble that is the spiritual center of the Sikh religion, is one of India’s most popular tourist attractions. Revered by Indians of all faiths, it is a cherished emblem of India’s religious diversity. So it was no surprise when the gold-plated marvel was touted as the likely third stop on President Obama’s visit to India, scheduled for early November. But the United States has ruled out a Golden Temple visit, according to an American official involved in planning. Temple officials said that American advance...