South Asia Citizens Web

Irom Sharmila is protesting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives Indian soldiers impunity in the insurgent northeastern states. She has been fasting and in solitary confinement for about 13 years

What happened to the aspirations of Tamil women in the national liberation struggle which lasted nearly 30 years? Rahila Gupta covered the conflict in the mid-80s, and reflects on the situation today when the war appears to be decisively over, but the post-war reality remains as harrowing as ever, particularly for women.

On 23rd February, Senior Journalist and former Editor of The Hindu newspaper, Siddharth Varadarajan and his wife Professor Nandini Sundar were indirectly threatened when four goons beat up their flat’s caretaker and told the caretaker: “Tell your sahib to watch what he says on TV“. The couple weren’t at home when the incident occurred.

Each time I go to the Kashmir Valley – and that is often – I make it a point to engage with the men in uniform. At first, they are wary, even surprised to have a civilian walk up to their bunkers to talk to them. The reaction is the same, irrespective of whether they are from the paramilitary forces or from the army.
Trained to watch out for ‘enemy’ bullets, the soldiers are always on alert; their weapons forever cocked. “We don’t know which side the bullet will come from,’’ is the common refrain. They stay in these bunkers for most of their posting – a minimum of two years – with little or no contact with the civilians around them.

THAT Bangladesh has had a woman prime minister and a woman leader of the opposition in parliament since 1991, save the two years of illegal rule by an unconstitutional interim government in 2007-2008, has often been showcased as an indicator of stupendous ‘progress’ of women’s empowerment, especially by the political parties of the ruling class and their crony intellectuals. The Awami League-led government has sought to sustain such ‘progress’ in women’s empowerment by electing the first woman speaker of Jatiya Sangsad and appointing the first woman foreign minister in its previous tenure. Just a few days ago, the incumbents appointed the first woman vice-chancellor of a public university. However, the ‘progress’ in women’s empowerment, as showcased by the ruling quarters over the years, seems to have been more about style than substance — for more reasons than one.