South Asia Citizens Web

“SHE is no more,” said my daughter over the phone, giving us the tragic news of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. We were at a recording at Dawn studios. The news was shattering. My worst fears that she may not survive this time had come true. By that time, she had matured into a confident leader. She was clear that Taliban-style terrorism must be eliminated for Pakistan to survive, and was determined to take up the challenge.

On the eve of Republic Day, the NDA government struck a devastating blow to our Constitution by deciding to impose President’s Rule on Arunachal Pradesh even as a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court is examining developments in this sensitive northeastern state.

The ustads who plot the Afghan Taliban attacks in Kabul and the TTP attacks in Pakistan developed their skills in the old camps of Waziristan. In a sense they are all graduates of the same “terrorist university”. Both Taliban movements are still able to mount a terror campaign because they have used the time since summer 2014 to relocate themselves, reorganise their logistics, train new fighters and go back into action.

THE latest terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda is one more bloody event in a seemingly unending campaign against innocent young Pakistanis.

The video clip of a news-report about the recent gang-rape and death of an ASHA worker in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh (UP), was shared on the Medico Friend CircleE- group on January 14, 2016. The incident was seen as reflecting the inadequate arrangements for supporting frontline women health volunteers and their vulnerability to sexual assault and abuse. A fact-finding was suggested by several members of health e-groups and on January 16th a small team from Delhi went for a site visit to try and ascertain the facts of the case.