South Asia Citizens Web

A video on you tube by People’s Archive of Rural India with photos and commentary by P. Sainath

I do not understand why there is so much ‘hulla gulla’ about bail to Z.Rahman Lakhvi- alleged to be the master mind of the terrorist attack of Mumbai (2008). Bail is part of legal process and a judge is not supposed to be influenced by popular perception or governmental or any other pressure. Every accused is deemed to be innocent till proved guilty. If a judge has erred in giving bail to an accused, remedy lies in appeal to the higher court. Indian Courts have given bail from time to time to large number of accused who were charged under terrorist or other equally serious offences.

It was the most deadly attack on any school by religious fanatics. 146 were killed in a Peshawar Army Public School, including 136 children, ages ranging from 10 to 17 years. They asked the children to recite Kalma and then fired at them. It was an attack on Muslim children by Muslim fanatics.

The slaughtering of over 140 children by the Pakistani Taliban is a grim reminder of how the religious right has no faith in democracy and its order. That they can kill any one at their own will and the authorities are left to react once they have done their ‘duty’ shows how powerful have they become so far.

Pakistan needs to counter not just those who come out on the street in support of Taliban Inc. but also those who support them tacitly.
Thanks to The Huffington Post for inviting me to write this opinion piece, published on Dec. 17, 2014.
By Beena Sarwar
The world looks on with horror at the Pakistani Taliban’s barbaric murder of 145 children and teachers at a school in Peshawar.
Although Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has termed the Peshawar attack a national tragedy, announced three (…)