I have seen more dissolute goings-on at a Forest School's camp.But of course, that was not the real issue. The naked sadhus who set the ball rolling when they sat down in protest outside the Cox & Kings camp, calling it "an imposition of outside values on an ancient Hindu ritual", were merely re-enacting Hinduism's ancient paradox. This most tolerant and inclusive of religions is also capable of bitter bigotry.It was not the only manifestation of the fanatic strain on view. Among the thousands of self-styled holy men and the 5,000 ashrams represented here was an inconspicuous tent housing a polystyrene model of the Ram Mandir. This is an enormous temple, more than 500ft (150m) long, which does not yet exist.

If its promoters, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council), get their way, one day soon it will stand on the ruins of the mosque destroyed by Hindu extremists in 1992. The demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque, which the VHP claims stood on the spot where Ram (a mythological figure) was "born", was followed by riots in which many hundreds of Muslims and Hindus died across India.The leader of the VHP, Ashok Singhal, who was camping at the Mela, told me: "It will take one and a half to two years to build the temple's ground floor. We have created a freedom movement to get out of the clutches of the so-called secularists. Hindus must assert themselves in this country." Is Hinduism's vaunted inclusiveness an indication of strength or weakness? Hindus constitute more than 80 per cent of the population of India; yet in the mouth of Mr Singhal they come across as a persecuted minority. What threat do a few bean-nibbling palefaces with a penchant for pedestal loos pose to 70 million pilgrims? A religion with a truly broad back would accommodate us without a murmur. Nor would a religion that truly harnessed the spiritual power of 850 million people be seriously bothered by the persistence of a few reminders of the long-ago days of Muslim domination.Hinduism is inclusive, all right: lacking all structure, itaccommodates every selfproclaimed believer, from the conman to the fascist to the solid gold sage. Lacking all governance, it has no way of resisting the bully boys, naked or otherwise.

As the Cox & Kings brochure proclaims, the Kumbh Mela is "the greatest spectacle on earth", no doubt But it's got a mean streak, too.. Survivors of Korean refu-gees killed by American soldiers at No Gun Ri have angrily denounced a US Army report that said there was no evidence the soldiers were ordered to shoot They are demanding a new inquiry. Survivors of Korean refu-gees killed by American soldiers at No Gun Ri have angrily denounced a US Army report that said there was no evidence the soldiers were ordered to shoot. They are demanding a new inquiry. "The Pentagon report is a whitewash aimed at dismissing the severity of the No Gun Ri incident and we cannot accept it," Chung Eun-yong, 80-year-old head of the survivors' committee, told reporters in Seoul. "We demand the Pentagon reinvestigate." Survivors had been pressing for an explicit apology, as well as compensation for their suffering, butreceived neither.President Bill Clinton expressed regret that Korean civilians lost their lives at No Gun Ri, but stopped short of a formal apology. He said a memorial would be built to honour "these and all other innocent Korean civilians" killed during the 1950-53 war and said the United States would establish a scholarship fund in their memory."We don't need the scholarship and monument," said 62-year-old Chun Choon-ja. "We want a more sincere apology, not a vague statement of regret, from the US government."President Clinton doesn't know what we went through at No Gun Ri.".

The Filipino gang that snatched the six-year-old step-daughter of Douglas Grant may be the same men who abducted and possibly murdered an ethnic Chinese woman two months ago, say officers leading the kidnap investigation. The Filipino gang that snatched the six-year-old step-daughter of Douglas Grant may be the same men who abducted and possibly murdered an ethnic Chinese woman two months ago, say officers leading the kidnap investigation. Eiman April Grant was taken from her home at gunpoint by four men on the island of Basilan in the southern Philippines on Wednesday. Military sources say the gang may be experienced professional kidnappers allied with two Islamic guerrilla organisations. Last November they kidnapped Marilyn Tiu, the 43-year-old wife of a Chinese-Filipino businessman and demanded a ransom equivalent to £3,000.They are led by Ayub Ismael, a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf), the 13,000-strong guerrilla army fighting for independence for the Muslim-dominated southern island of Mindanao.Commander Ismael's superior, Usman Lidjal, is said to be holding Mrs Tiu in Basilan, although reports a fortnight ago said she had been murdered. Confusingly, the Milf in Basilan frequently co-operates with Abu Sayyaf, a smaller and more extreme group that has ransomed dozens of hostages in the past 18 months, including the foreign tourists snatched last April from a Malaysian diving resort and released in return for millions of dollars."They trade hostages between each another," said a senior Filipino officer.

"One group grabs the victim, then another group holds them and negotiates the ransom. When it's been paid, they give a percentage to those who did the kidnapping. If we go after the Milf, then they'll pass the hostages onto Abu Sayyaf for a while until the pressure eases. This is what makes the situation so difficult for us."Abu Sayyaf released all but two of its foreign hostages last September. Then the Philippines army launched an air, sea and land assault that has proved indecisive, although it appeared to discourage kidnappings for a while.But the abduction of April, whose 50-year-old stepfather, Douglas, comes from Inverness, is part of an increasing series of new incidents.This week Filipino soldiers were in a gun battle with Abu Sayyaf members trying to escape to Malaysia in a motorboat with three Chinese captives. The troops caught up with them by a reef close to the island of Tawi-Tawi and rescued two of the captives, a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy.But the third, a businessman named Steve Chua, remains in captivity. Ethnic Chinese are frequent victims of extortion in South-East Asia, because they often control local businesses and are resentfully assumed to be more affluent than the indigenous populations.Douglas Grant, who married Eiman April's mother five years ago and has lived in Basilan since 1998, is in Inverness caring for his sick mother.His Filipino wife, Mina, said the men who took April spoke a local Muslim dialect.