The minister suggested that Ghouri’s associates might have been to blame for the attacks on Christians.But southern India’s Christians were not having it. Protests were organised and when Mr Naidu arrived to see the damaged churches they chanted slogans demanding that he withdraw his support from the government. The regional party Mr Naidu heads, the Telugu Desam, is numerically the most important prop of the BJP-led coalition. The protesters made plain they believed Mr Naidu was trying to exculpate his Hindu nationalist friends at the centre.Many Christians believe the attacks are part of a campaign of persecution and intimidation by Hindu chauvinist organisations determined to destroy India’s secular fabric. Their activities include rewriting school history books with a Hindu slant, “reconverting” tribal Christians to Hinduism and sending Hindu missionaries to evangelise abroad.. “This is the crowning moment in Mr Vajpayee’s life,” an Indian Muslim journalist murmured on a balmy afternoon 17 months ago in the beautiful Pakistani city of Lahore as the Indian Prime Minister madea long and poetical speech, full of pregnant pauses, on Indo-Pakistani friendship.

“This is the crowning moment in Mr Vajpayee’s life,” an Indian Muslim journalist murmured on a balmy afternoon 17 months ago in the beautiful Pakistani city of Lahore as the Indian Prime Minister madea long and poetical speech, full of pregnant pauses, on Indo-Pakistani friendship.
It was the climax of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s “bus diplomacy”, seizing the opportunity of a new Delhi-Lahore service to embrace Nawaz Sharif, then Pakistan’s Prime Minister, and proclaim a new start for the troubled relationship.One of the brave initiatives of the time was the publishing in Pakistan of a book of Mr Vajpayee’s poems, translated into Urdu. But now the man who published the book has fled to India and is asking for political asylum.This is believed to be the first time that a Pakistani has made such a request and it has put the Indian government on the spot as it seeks subtly to improve its now appalling relations with Islamabad.Aftab Hussain, a poet in his own right, published Mr Vajpayee’s verses after an Indian Muslim poet who had translated them sent them to him. But after Mr Sharif was overthrown in a coup in October, the military, he says, began to harass him.”After the coup, security agencies descended on my house, asking me to explain the reason for publishing the book,” he said. “They asked me to implicate Mr Sharif, but my conscience did not allow it.” Mr Hussain told Indian journalists this week: “I have approached the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs for granting me political asylum in India, as the situation in Pakistan under General Pervez Musharraf is worse than ever.”He said he was assured by Jaswant Singh, Foreign Minister, that India would look favourably on his request. “But so far I have not received any reply, and my 90-day visa will end on June 15.”The Ministry of External Affairs denied Mr Hussain had met Mr Singh. On Thursday a Home Ministry official said the government was “treading with extreme caution” in the matter.Mr Hussain said he had no regrets about seeking asylum in India when he could have slipped into an Islamic country such as Iran or Dubai with less trouble.”My decision for India was natural, as we share the same culture, literature and other values, which the Britishers could not divide,” he said.. A chemical plant exploded Saturday north of Tokyo, killing four workers, injuring at least 27 people and shattering the windows of nearby homes.

A chemical plant exploded Saturday north of Tokyo, killing four workers, injuring at least 27 people and shattering the windows of nearby homes.
The four workers killed were inside the plant run by Nisshin Chemical Co., and the four other workers in the plant at the time of the blast were hospitalized, police said.One person lost an ear from the blast in Gunma Prefecture, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) north of Tokyo, they said. Many were cut by flying pieces of glass.The city of Ojima was not issuing evacuation orders because the fumes were not toxic, city official Eiichi Kanai said.The chemical that exploded was hydroxylamine mixed in a water solution, Kanai said. Hydroxylamine is used to remove oxygen from another substance.The workers were processing semiconductors, an electronic part used in transistors and computers, Kyodo News agency said.The explosion also caused power failures at more than 200 households, Kyodo said. Police would not confirm the report.A fire set off by the blast was brought under control late Saturday, police said The cause of the explosion was under investigation..