South Asia Citizens Web

That the staging of a play written by the renowned writer and activist, Mahasweta Devi, would lead to questions, inquiry and ‘trouble’ for two teachers of the English department of the Central University of Haryana, Snehsata and Manoj Kumar is very hard to digest and must be condemned in the strongest of terms.

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders, is deeply concerned about the postponement of the 19th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit which was scheduled to be held in Pakistan in November 2016.

The proposed amendment to India’s Citizenship Act, 1955 has raised grave concern among democratic circles in Assam and in other parts of the country.

In February this year the authorities in Bangladesh took Shamsuzzoha Manik, a 73-year-old publisher, into custody for publishing a book titled “Islam Bitorko” (“Debate on Islam”). His arrest and the shutting down of his stall marked a sour moment in the nation’s largest book fair, Ekushey Boi Mela, held annually at Bangla Academy in honor of the International Mother Language Day. While the book, deemed to be offensive to Islam, has been taken out of circulation, seven months later the publisher remains behind bars.

We, the members of the creative community of India, belonging to various languages, regions and religions, feel deeply moved and anguished by the suffering our Kashmiri brothers, sisters, children are undergoing. It is most unfortunate, undeserved and uncalled for. We are confident that if Kashmir bleeds, it amounts to the whole of India bleeding; the Kashmiri suffering and pain, hurt and indignity are all that of India in equal measure. We wish to emphasise that India is much larger than its governments, both of State and the Centre, its security forces and its political outfits. The Kashmiri people are Indian people and we are all struggling together for making freedom, equality and justice real for everyone.