South Asia Citizens Web

URLS to reports from France, Switzerland, Belgium and the UK (in French and English) and also protest photos

There is an old adage that every people gets the government it deserves; this is true except when nations are subdued by force, say foreign occupation or military dictatorship. The same is true of communities. Arguably, the Sinhala-state and chauvinism was an imposition on the Tamils of which the LTTE was a manifest excrescence; but also had the Tamils chosen another path such as Karalasingham pleaded for in Way Out for the Tamil Speaking People their destiny would have been different. I see no other liberal-democratic options for the Tamils than what they tried from 1948 to 1983 culminating in disaster. The alternative was the left which they rejected. To say the left "betrayed" the Tamils is a post-1972 narrative, for 25 years before that the left tried but the Tamils were immune; stone-deaf and midnight-blind. But yes, two wrongs don’t make a right.

They say there is no business like God business. Reports claim this ’guru’ amassed some Rs 10,000 crores.

How a few wealthy dynasties dominate the nation’s [Pakistan] politics, and get even richer.

A month after storming to power in Delhi following a spectacular electoral debut, the Aam Aadmi Party has tarnished its image by taking three false steps. First, its law minister Somnath Bharti and women and child welfare minister Rakhi Birla indulged in obnoxious vigilantism. Second, AAP’s top leadership, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, defended their conduct and even commended Mr Bharti’s actions. Third, AAP’s official Hindi organ “Aap ki Kranti” on January 24 recorded on its website “shortlisting of Bangladeshi infiltrators” as one of the 15 achievements of its government.