At least two were killed and 80 wounded in renewed repression in India-controlled Kashmir Sept. 12. Police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds in two towns near Srinagar after separatist leaders issued a call for Muslims across the region to protest Indian rule following Friday prayers. A curfew is in force in Shopian, where one protester was killed. A second was killed in Baramulla. Mohammed Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was injured when police used tear-gas and batons to break up protests in Srinagar. (AlJazeera, Sept. 12)

Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was elected president of Pakistan Sept. 6 by a wide margin. Zardari—who spent 11 years in prison on corruption charges that remain unproved—succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month under threat of impeachment. He is expected to be sworn in next week. The day of his election, a suicide car bombing on a police post in Peshawar killed at least 30 people and injured dozens others. Elsewhere in the city, a suicide attack on a military checkpoint killed 16 people. At Tehsil Matta village in the Swat valley, 24 people were killed as residents foiled an attempted kidnapping by local militants. (IHT, Sept. 7; AP, Australian Broadcasting Co., Sept. 6)

Pakistan opened an investigation Sept. 1 into the killings of five women in Baluchistan who tried to choose their own husbands, after a federal lawmaker from the province defended their deaths, asserting that "only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." Sen. Israr Ullah Zehri told the parliament chamber Aug. 30, "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them."

Jumma man Ladu Moni Chakma was hacked to death Aug. 26 by a group of Bengali settlers at his home in the Sajek area of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. His wife, Shanti Bala Chakma, who was also attacked, was taken to hospital. Local people believe that Ladu Moni Chakma was targeted because he had given information to members of the recently reformed Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission about settlers stealing land from the indigenous tribes of the area.

India's Border Security Force has launched a new initiative to combat "illegal" infiltration of peasants from Bangladesh into Assam and other northeastern states. The Assam Assembly witnessed noisy scenes last month after the state government announced that Bangladesh and neighboring Indian states were encroaching on the state's land. Assam authorities said nearly 500 acres of land was being encroached on by Bangladesh along the border while 87 hectares of land was illegally occupied by the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and a small stretch by West Bengal. Scientists warn that low-lying Bangladesh, if inundated by sea-level rise and flooding, could send millions of refugees into neighboring countries. (Daily Green, Aug. 26; Assam Tribune, Aug. 25; Zee News, July 15)

Food riots erupted Aug. 27 in eastern India, where more than 2 million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,000 houses destroyed in the worst flooding in 50 years. One person was killed in Madhepura district when villagers clashed over limited supplies of food at overcrowded relief centres. The Kosi River in Bihar state smashed through mud embankments and changed course last week, inundating hundreds of villages and towns and killing nearly 50. The devastation has strained India's ties with Nepal, since the disaster is apparently due to deforestation and failure to maintain enbankments upstream in Nepalese territory. (Reuters, PTI, Aug. 27; Times of India, Aug. 28)

Indian authorities have deployed 3,000 police at Tata Motors' plant in West Bengal as protesters defied a threat from the company to halt production of the Nano model ultra-compact automobile in the communist-ruled state. About 30,000 local residents have occupied the plant since Aug. 23 to protest the confiscation of farmlands for the project. The Trinamool Congress, leading the protest, is demanding that 162 hectares of land be returned to farmers. Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee said "if someone tries to blackmail us we will not bow our heads." (Bloomberg, Aug. 27; BBC, Aug. 23)

Hindus and Christians clashed in Barakhama village in Kandhamal district of India's Orissa state Aug. 25 and the ensuing gunbattle resulted in the death of four local residents, including one woman. A curfew has been imposed in much of the district, and paramilitary police have been sent in. Sporadic incidents of arson attacks on churches continue to be reported across the district. An orphanage run by Christian missionaries in Khuntpali village, Bargarh district, was set ablaze on and a woman was burnt alive inside. A paralytic patient was also lynched and burnt. India's bishops have announced a day of prayer and fasting for peace. (CathNews, Aug. 27; IBN, Aug. 25)