South Asia Citizens Web

The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) came under severe criticism at a press conference on Thursday at the Karachi Press Club where speakers highlighted their concerns on the proposed nuclear power plants and described the entire process of holding a public hearing on the project’s Environment Impact Assessment Report (EIA) as farce.

RANA PLAZA Victims of Fashion (Shorter version: 9min. 44 Sec.) On April 24, 2013 a building in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed and killed 1034 garment workers and injured over 2500. The film “Rana Plaza Victims of Fashion” commemorates the victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse and looks into the greater issues of worker, worker’s safety and collective bargaining in Bangladesh. A Canadian delegation hear the stories from workers, the Bangladesh government and the International community supporting the workers in their efforts to gain the ability to collective bargain a fair wage and a safe work place, through The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

When I joined Campus Law Centre, Delhi University after completing B.A, (Hons). Philosophy from St. Stephen’s College in 1984, I was much mesmerized by Public Interest Litigations (PILs). At that time I thought that after becoming a lawyer I would only do PIL work as some present day PIL stalwarts – then just beginners – tried to indoctrinate us into the PIL realm. We were much influenced, if not brain washed by the media blitzkrieg centering around the court proceedings and pronouncements upon PILs filed by our professors! When I became a lawyer in 1989 I started a small group called ‘Legal Support Group’, which provided free legal aid to the poor and needy, but refrained from filing PILs for reasons not clear in my conscious mind then.

A two-day dharna, on 23 and 24 April 2015, was called at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, by the Right to Food Campaign, the National Alliance of People’s Movements, the Pension Parishad and the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information. The aim was to draw attention to the fact that "the politics of this Government undermines the poor and pro-people policies and is out to attack people’s rights and natural resources ...."

Using Sufism as a tool in a game of ideologies will only result in more attacks of this nature. Far better to let the Sufi saints rest in blissful ignorance of what the state might make of their legacy.