South Asia Citizens Web

Bigotry has always flourished in South Asia. It has worsened whenever state actions have supported it overtly or covertly. In India, the states that enacted anti-conversion laws have witnessed more communal violence than those where local legislatures refused to interfere in religious matters. Sri Lanka experienced religion-based violence when its anti-conversion laws were being debated in its parliament in recent years. Once the draft law was dropped, communal violence disappeared.

With the increased public discussion of issues related to post-war accountability and truth in Sri Lanka that is likely to take place in the coming weeks and months, there is a great likelihood that statements and reportage will evoke charged emotions and potentially trigger further distress in affected people across Sri Lanka

Jagmati Sangwan is helping to organise the fight against "honour" killings and other crimes against women in India.

Intizar Hussain was one of Pakistan’s towering literary figures and his death is seen by critics as marking the end of an era.

Prof Randhir Singh (born on January 11 1922), an internationally renowned Marxist scholar of political science and one of the leading nationally known Punjabi intellectual died on January 31 in Delhi a few weeks after celebrating his 94th birthday.