World Watch

Sunday, Sep. 21, 2003 By ADAM SMITH

Indian soldiers guard the bodies of rebels

RAFIQ MAQBOOL/AP

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Kashmir Quagmire
INDIA A year ago, when Indian Kashmiris elected a state government in the first genuine vote in memory, many Kashmiris dreamed of peace between the Indian army and Pakistan-backed militants. Some guerrillas renounced violence, India and Pakistan began tentative rapprochement, and tourists returned in droves. But since Aug. 30, when Indian security forces in Srinagar shot dead Gazi Baba, the Kashmir chief of Pakistani militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad and suspected mastermind of the December 2001 attack on India's parliament, violence has returned. More than 230 people have now died in a frenzy of battles and assassinations. The toll includes several high-profile figures: in addition to Gazi Baba, Jaish-e-Muhammad lost two other senior leaders, while India mourned Kuka Parray, a former rebel leader who switched sides. Hawks such as Indian Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani are again vowing revenge. "We have to fight it out," he said last week. As a Srinagar civil servant lamented: "We're back to square one." — By Alex Perry. With reporting by Yusuf Jameel/Srinagar

Blowing in the Wind
U.S. At least 23 people were killed and more than 3 million left without electricity after the Category 2 Hurricane Isabel whipped up the East Coast of the U.S. Downgraded from the maximum Category 5 — the first in the Atlantic since 1998

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The Trial Of Bureaucracy
In the land of Kafka, one small village is fighting back against ubiquitous, omnipotent bureaucracy. Provoked by a steep rise in paperwork in recent years, the Bohemian hamlet of Jindrichovice pod Smrkem (pop. 630) has declared itself out of bounds to all uninvited employees of the Czech central government and its various subsidiaries. Signs at entrances to the village and its train station depict the crossed-out pictogram of a civil servant, and




Bureaucrats aren't welcome in Jindrichovice

bear the legend attention bureaucrats!!! entry forbidden. Mayor Petr Pávek imposed the ban Sept. 12 after he found his staff of three spending as much as 80% of their working hours complying with countless (and he says "nonsensical") requests for information from the Czech Statistical Office and other state bureaus. "It drains our resources and doesn't leave enough time for work in the community," he says. In addition to the ban, he plans to charge an hourly rate for compliance with requests that he deems nonessential to the functioning of his community. Pávek's initiative has won cheers from dozens of mayors who share the predicament, but the state administration is unimpressed. Calling the new rules unconstitutional, it has given him a month to scrap them. (Several lawyers have offered pro bono services if the matter ends up in the Constitutional Court.) That's not the mayor's only problem, either. Two government departments have launched fresh audits on Jindrichovice: one into its 2001 finances, the other into its compliance with health-insurance guidelines over the past nine years. That's a twist Kafka would have loved. — By Jan Stojaspal

— on its approach, the storm's 160 km/h winds still caused damage worth an estimated $1 billion, prompting President George W. Bush to declare Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina disaster areas. The hurricane was expected to peter out over Canada by Sunday.

Bad Omen For Blair
U.K. Tony Blair's Labour Party lost one of its safest seats to the Liberal Democrats in a parliamentary by-election in the London suburb of Brent East. The 29% swing against Labour was the largest for almost a decade. The vote came amid the inquiry into the suicide of weapons expert David Kelly and mounting frustration over Blair's policy on Iraq. The opposition Conservative party came in a poor third.

For Stability's Sake
GUINEA-BISSAU Three days after being ousted in a bloodless military putsch, President Kumba Yala formally resigned his post. Coup leader General Verissimo Correia Seabra accused Yala of causing "political instability" in the impoverished former Portuguese colony in West Africa. Seabra promised to cede power to a transitional government that would oversee elections. Yala, who remained under house arrest, dissolved parliament in November and canceled polls four times.

Stop the Press
ZIMBABWE Police prevented staff of the country's only independent newspaper, the Daily News, from returning to work, despite a High Court ruling that the paper be allowed to resume publishing. A week before, it was shut down by the government for refusing to register under new media laws. The paper had argued that the laws were designed to stifle the press, but it has now applied for a license. About 100 people were arrested in Harare at a protest in support of the News.

Don't Blame Us
COLOMBIA Leftist rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) denied it was holding eight tourists kidnapped two weeks ago while trekking in a northern mountain range, as thousands of soldiers searched the notoriously dangerous region. FARC regularly kidnaps foreigners for ransom; it is currently holding more than 70 people, including three Americans. Two other rebel groups operate in the area.

MEANWHILE IN VENEZUELA ...
Jurassic Pet
Scientists announced the discovery of a giant guinea pig weighing 300 kg that roamed South America 8 million years ago. Goya, as it was nicknamed by paleontologists who excavated its 3-m long skeleton, is the largest rodent ever found — 700 times heavier than its fluffy modern-day cousin. Experts speculated that Goya died out because it was too slow to escape predators and was too big to dive into burrows like its more petite relatives.