South Asia Citizens Web

The undersigned scholars of Japanese studies express our unity with the many courageous historians in Japan seeking an accurate and just history of World War II in Asia. Exploitation of the suffering of former “comfort women” for nationalist ends in the countries of the victims makes an international resolution more difficult and further insults the dignity of the women themselves. Yet denying or trivializing what happened to them is equally unacceptable. Among the many instances of wartime sexual violence and military prostitution in the twentieth century, the “comfort women” system was distinguished by its large scale and systematic management under the military, and by its exploitation of young, poor, and vulnerable women in areas colonized or occupied by Japan.

Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD) strongly condemns the brutal attack in Karachi where 47 people including women were gunned down. The attackers targetted an Ismaili community bus. Jundullah, an anti-shia militia and a splinter group of Tehrik-e-Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The manner in which the state is intervening in higher education is causing concern and even alarm in the academic community. Both the unlamented UPA — II regime and the current NDA government have been remarkably similar in their authoritarian impatience to introduce wholesale changes without adequate or careful preparation. This position paper is the collective product of roughly six months of discussion among teachers of several central universities in Delhi. It is an attempt to participate in the process of critical self-evaluation of the university system as it is today. It is also our considered response to the many policy statements and directives issued by the MHRD and the UGC recently.

[select reports and commentary following the killing of Ananta Bijoy Das in Bangladesh] Another free thinker murdered (Daily Star) Slain blogger Ananta Bijoy Das’ last words in ‘devil’s world’ (bdnews24.com) Government must protect free expression (Dhaka Tribune Editorial) Why secular expression is being killed in Bangladesh, one blogger at a time (K. Anis Ahmed) Ananta Bijoy Das, Beloved by Humanity, Hacked to Death by Islamists The Guardian view on the murder of Ananta Bijoy Das: an (…)

An onslaught on justice is taking place in broad daylight. It is now clear that the Modi-led government finds India’s criminal justice system and independent judiciary to be an obstacle blocking its long-term plans. The incidence of prejudice in the courts is nothing new - the 1984 pogrom inaugurated a new era in the erosion of Indian justice. The NDA government has given impetus to this process. The ideological hooligans of the so-called ’Sangh parivar’ are convinced they are above the law. Corruption does not merely have monetary implications. The erosion of judicial independence taking place before our eyes is also corruption. Building trustworthy public institutions is a prolonged process that takes decades. But they can be destroyed very rapidly, especially when state power is used (covertly or openly), to intimidate judges like Ms Jyotsna Yagnik.