South Asia Citizens Web

February 2009 audio recording from The British Library

artition did not mean quite the same thing for Punjab and Bengal – the two provinces that got divided on the eastern and western borders of India – but there was one aspect that was common to both: most ordinary citizens found it difficult to accept the fact of partition and their lives changed beyond recognition once they became refugees.

According to some reports, about 1,000 women have been killed across India in the past decade for "practising witchcraft". According to the Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rockybul Hussain, at least 77 persons were killed and 60 others were injured in witch hunting incidents across Assam since 2010, and 35 of them were women. Though official cases have been filed against witch hunters, not much progress has been made due to absence of witnesses.

. . . gender stereotypes posed particular challenges for workers demanding compensation. In the eyes of lawyer in question, it seem impossible to call attention to Shahnaj’s undeniable suffering without reproducing images of passive female victimhood.

Ten years after signing a peace accord, successive Nepali governments have failed to deliver on its central human rights promises, Human Rights Watch said today. The international community, and particularly the United Nations, should press the government to fulfill its pledges as victims wait in vain for information about missing family members and accountability for crimes committed during the war.