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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2014 INTERNATIONAL Effort to recognize the Virginia tribe draws ire WASHINGTON: Several members of the was rooted in Virginia’s culture of racism. Congressional Black Caucus are urging the “Racial intermixture was raised repeatedly Obama administration to withhold federal as a rationale to divest us of our reservation recognition of a Virginia Indian tribe and our Indian status,” he said. because of its history of banning intermar- Brown cited Dr. Walter Plecker, registrar riage with blacks. In January, the Interior of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics in Department proposed recognizing the the first half of the 20th century, who Pamunkey tribe in southeast Virginia, ordered that Indians be classified as “col- which would make members eligible for ored” on birth and marriage certificates. special benefits in education, housing and “His rationale was, of course, racial inter- medical care - and allow the tribe to pursue mixture among the Indians,” Brown wrote, a casino. A decision on recognition, which adding that the “antiquated and now would be the first for a Virginia tribe, is due repealed” tribal law was an attempt to pro- by March 30. tect Indian identity. “It was never an attack The Congressional Black Caucus mem- on, or reflective of, ill will toward African- bers urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Americans.” Asked if Brown’s letter changed and Attorney General Eric Holder to hold anything, Thompson’s spokeswoman, off until the Justice Department investi- LeMia Jenkins, responded in an email: “We gates any discriminatory practices by the are looking forward to a response to the tribe. Neither department has responded concerns raised in the letter to DOI and to the request, made in a Sept 23 letter, DOJ. The issues have not been satisfactorily according to a spokeswoman for addressed by BIA and require attention.” Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, The tribal intermarriage law was who signed the letter. The letter cited a repealed two years after the tribe had sub- report by the Interior Department’s Bureau mitted materials to the Interior of Indian Affairs that quoted tribal law: “No Department for its bid for recognition. “We member of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe shall have members on our rolls who are mar- intermarry with anny (sic) Nation except ried to African-Americans,” Brown said. White or Indian under penalty of forfeiting Earlier this year, MGM National Harbor and their rights in Town.” Stand Up for California also raised concerns The bureau said it had no indication the about the tribe’s intermarriage ban and tribe had changed its ban, but Pamunkey challenged the Interior Department’s find- Chief Kevin Brown responded in a letter to ings that the tribe deserved recognition. the CBC that the ban has been repealed. He MGM Resorts is building a casino at KASHMIR: An injured Kashmiri father (left) holds the hand of his injured child as they receive medical treatment on their arrival at the city’s said in an interview that the change was National Harbor in Maryland’s Prince main hospital following a grenade attack in Srinagar yesterday. At least seven persons were injured in a grenade explosion triggered by sus- made in 2012. The Bureau of Indian Affairs George’s County, near Washington and pected militants at the busy Lal Chowk in the heart of the city. — AFP said that the significant number of about 120 miles north of the Pamunkey Pamunkey-Pamunkey marriages and reservation. Stand Up for California is a efforts to encourage them helped satisfy a nonprofit group that’s pushed for limits on criterion for federal recognition: that a pre- gambling in that state. Pakistan agencies ‘still dominant portion of the group comprises a “MGM doesn’t want any competition on distinct community and has existed as one the East Coast, and we would become from historical times to the present. gaming-eligible,” Brown said, adding that The black lawmakers called the govern- the tribe has no plans to open a casino but backing terror groups’ ment findings disturbing. “The BIA seems will take a look at it. Gordon Absher, a to justify the discrimination and surprising- spokesman for MGM Resorts International, ly cites this as a reason” to recognize the said that the company isn’t opposed to tribe, their letter said. In addition to Indian gambling. “Given the increasingly Indian minister accuses Pakistan of ‘destabilizing’ India Thompson, the letter was signed by 10 oth- competitive environment for both tribal er Democrats. Interior Department spokes- and commercial casino gaming, these NEW DELHI: India’s home affairs minister yester- Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as Indian investiga- woman Nedra Darling said the agency had advantages should not be indiscriminately day accused Pakistani “state actors” of attempt- summit held earlier this week in Nepal that was tors interrogated a 23-year-old Mumbai-area received the letter and was developing a bestowed upon entities that cannot ing to destabilize India, reiterating an accusation overshadowed by India and Pakistan’s rivalry man who returned home Friday from the Middle response. The Justice Department didn’t demonstrate, through long-established commonly leveled by the South Asian giant at and ended with little progress towards regional East. respond to requests for comment. Brown procedures, that they meet the basic criteria its northern Muslim neighbor. Home Affairs integration. Muslim-majority Kashmir has been a The man is believed to have spent nearly six told the CBC that the intermarriage ban for tribal acknowledgment,” he said.— AP Minister Rajnath Singh told a security confer- flashpoint in relations between the nuclear- months fighting for the Islamic State, according ence in India’s northeast that Pakistan was still armed neighbors, which have fought two of to Indian police. “Even though ISIS was born in supporting militants fighting New Delhi’s rule in their three wars since independence from Britain Iraq and Syria, the Indian subcontinent cannot Muslim-majority Kashmir. Singh pointed to a over the picturesque region. stay untouched by it-we need to be aware of UK reporter awaits verdict guerrilla attack earlier this week on an army The divided Kashmir region is held in part by that reality,” Singh said. Muslims make up some patrol in Indian-administered Kashmir in which Pakistan and India, but claimed in full by both. 14.4 percent of majority Hindu India’s popula- over Bangladesh’s war toll at least 10 people were killed. “It is unfortunate Since 1989 about a dozen rebel groups, seeking tion, accounting for about 176 million people, Pakistan does not mend its ways,” Singh said, sin- independence or a merger of the territory with according to a report by the Pew Research DHAKA: A Bangladesh court is expected to other articles were in contempt of court. The gling out Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence as Pakistan, have been fighting Indian forces-a bat- Center, a US think-tank. More radical forms of rule tomorrow on whether an award-win- court accepted the plea and initiated the one of the “state actors” seeking to roil India’s tle that has left tens of thousands of people Islam have not gained much of a foothold in ning British journalist is guilty of contempt case against him in April after rejecting his security. dead, most of them civilians. Indian politicians India, despite the Muslim minority lagging after he questioned the assertion that three assertion the articles were “accurate”. “The “I do not hesitate in saying Pakistani state have called the recent militant attack in Kashmir, behind the Hindu population economically. “A million people died in the 1971 independ- three million death toll in the war is a settled actors have a role in destabilizing India,” Singh which came as the state is engaged in elections, few Indian youth are getting swayed towards it ence war. In a case seen as a test of the issue. For 43 years there was no issue about said, repeating a longstanding Indian demand a deliberate attempt to upset relations between (ISIS), which is a matter of concern,” the home country’s commitment to free speech, these figure. Yet David has tried to unsettle it that Pakistan rein in Islamic militants. Singh’s India and Pakistan. Singh also voiced concern minister said. India was ready to deal with such judges will decide if David Bergman acted by raising questions,” Azad told AFP ahead remarks come on the heels of the South Asian about Indian young people joining the Islamic security challenges, he added.— AFP unlawfully by doubting the official version of Monday’s hearing. of one of the most contentious issues in Bangladesh’s short history. Different narratives Bergman is the author of a popular blog While the 49-year-old Bergman declined Taleban raids foreign guesthouse in Kabul about Bangladesh’s International Crimes to comment for fear of prejudicing his case, Tribunal, a domestic court which has found analysts said the case seriously undermines KABUL: Taleban suicide bombers and gunmen firmed the ongoing attack on the guesthouse, at least 11 Afghan soldiers in southern Helmand several opposition supporters guilty of mass reporters’ bid to highlight independent nar- attacked a foreign guesthouse near parliament but declined to comment further. The Taleban province, including one on a base once held by murder over their role in the 1971 conflict. ratives of the war. “This case is very impor- in the Afghan capital yesterday, the latest said in a statement that it had launched the sui- NATO forces, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose late tant for the country’s freedom of speech,” assault targeting foreigners as NATO troops cide attack on “a secret missionary center” in the the provincial governor.

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