South Asia Citizens Web

The horrifying case of the killing and burning of a young Christian couple, Shama and Sajjad, by a mob in a village in Kasur could become a test case for the government to demonstrate — for once — its commitment to the rule of law in incidents where the vulnerable are attacked.

Prior to the October 2 Burdwan blasts, the Jamaat ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was notorious for the 459 near-simultaneous improvised explosive devices detonated all across Bangladesh in the summer of 2005. Bangladesh’s security forces subsequently arrested hundreds of its members and killed its entire top leadership, including its founder, Shaikh Abdur Rahman. But despite being seriously weakened, according to a March 2010 report of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), the JMB is still active and dangerous.

Suspected Islamic militants have hacked to death a university professor in western Bangladesh, several years after he led a push to ban students wearing full-face veils, police said Sunday.

Central to the resurgence of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism in post-war Sri Lanka is a redefinition of gender role and identities. Familial ideology is a key pillar of this discourse with serious adverse implications for women and gender equality

Whether one disagrees with the programme and solutions put forth by the left for organising society or not, there is no denying that the existence of a credible left wing in a country’s politics is essential for a political balance in national discourse. Even otherwise it is the left wing in any country that produces its intellectual and cultural voices and creates that very important space for dissent and alternative points of view.