Kashmir border keeps relatives separated after earthquake

Kim Barker, Chicago Tribune… Kashmir border keeps relatives separated after earthquake

Kim Barker, Chicago Tribune

TEETWAL, India – They used to live on the mountain just across the river valley, in mud houses and wooden ones, and they waved when they walked down the road and sometimes sent letters.

But now those houses are gone. Metal roofs have slid down the mountainside, and the mud houses have disappeared into the earthquake rubble. Gul Hassan Shah has no idea what happened to his cousins, even though they once lived within shouting distance.

The river between two mountain ranges marks the de facto border of disputed Kashmir, and no one can simply cross it to see family members because it is heavily guarded.

“They lived in the house next to the white house,” said Shah, who believes he is about 70, pointing across the valley to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and what remained of a white house. “You can’t see it now, because it’s crushed. I don’t know where they are.”

All the villagers can do is look across the river from Teetwal, where their houses are also ruined, where people also died.

The magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck Saturday, with an epicenter in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, has devastated the mountainous region, killing at least 23,000 in Pakistan and about 1,400 in India. But it’s also struck at the heart of a long-term conflict over the fate of the Himalayan territory, which both countries have claimed since independence from Britain in 1947. The quake has been particularly hard on families separated for decades by conflict, unable to see each other without a lot of money, effort and time.

Iraq’s leaders agree to changes in proposed constitution

Nancy A. Youssef and Ahmed Mukhtar, Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Key Iraqi government leaders agreed Tuesday to change some of the most controversial points in the proposed constitution, and the nation’s largest Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that if the National Assembly passed the changes, it would ask its followers to vote for the document.

The deal could mark a breakthrough in gaining broader support for the constitution in Saturday’s referendum, and raises hopes that Iraq’s struggle toward democracy could be taking an important step at a time when the country has appeared to be slipping deeper into violent conflict between minority Sunni and majority Shiite Muslims.

The agreement came on a day when insurgent attacks killed at least 54 people in a new upswing of violence. There are hopes that passage of the constitution will undercut the insurgency eventually.

However, it’s unclear how much influence the Iraqi Islamic Party will have on Sunni voters, and the proposed changes could weaken the document by making it appear that it could be easily subjected to further change.

Investigation into charges of discrimination at Stanford resumes

Lisa M. Krieger, Knight Ridder Newspapers

SAN JOSE, Calif. – After a four-year hiatus, the U.S. Department of Labor has resumed its probe into discrimination allegations at Stanford University, sending investigators onto campus to review employment records of women and minorities.

The investigators are reviewing files that contain information about salaries and promotions. They will then analyze their data to see if Stanford, a recipient of federal money, complied with federal anti-discrimination laws.

The investigation of four schools at Stanford, including the schools of medicine and law, was launched in 1998 when several dozen frustrated female faculty members brought a 400-page complaint to the government alleging gender discrimination. The complaint later expanded to include racial discrimination.

The delay means that some faculty members have settled their individual disputes with Stanford and withdrawn from the complaint. Although the federal investigation is proceeding anyway, based on the original complaints, some faculty members say they feel vulnerable and fear their case is diminished. Several have left Stanford.