Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • India: Sahmat and CJP Press Statement on Supreme Court clean chit to Narendra Modi

    15 July 2013

    In an interview to the foreign news agency Reuters that was published on July 12 2013, Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief minister has made a desperate attempt to creat an impression that Supreme Court has given him a clean chit through the SIT which was appointed by it to investigate the criminal complaint of Zakia Jafri and Citizens for Justice & Peace (CJP) on 27.4.2009. A section of the media, without verifying the facts has allowed this impression to gain credibility. The facts in relation to Supreme Court and SIT are as follows:

  • Daily Rockwell’s Book review of ’The Pity of Partition: Manto’s Life, Times, and Work across the India-Pakistan Divide by Ayesha Jalal

    14 July 2013

    In her new biography of her great uncle (The Pity of Partition: Manto’s Life, Times, and Work across the India-Pakistan Divide, HarperCollins India, 265 pages, Rs. 599), historian Ayesha Jalal does little to dispel the notion that Manto should be lionised as a unique writer who need not be considered in the context of a literary milieu. Though she does nod at his many contemporaries, this is only to showcase Manto’s place as a combative genius among lesser figures. This tendency is particularly noticeable when she discusses his relationship with the Progressive Writers’ Association, which blacklisted him in 1948 for being a ‘reactionary’ writer.

  • India: The murder of Ishrat Jahan

    by Praful Bidwai, 14 July 2013

    India’s Central Bureau of Investigation has charged eight Gujarat policemen, including senior officers DG Vanzara and PP Pandey, with premeditated murder for the 2004 ’encounter’ killing of teenager-student Ishrat Jahan and three others. They were falsely accused of plotting to kill Narendra Modi. The police abducted and unlawfully detained the victims, blindfolded and drugged them, and pumped 70 bullets into them. The First Information Report had already been fabricated.

  • Thousands of women across Nepal are still seeking justice for war time rape (Toofan Neupane)

    14 July 2013

    true peace will come only when the rapists are tried and put behind bars.

  • Pakistan: ‘Here I stand, one girl’

    14 July 2013

    Without hesitation, I confess that I cried listening to Malala Yousufzai when she addressed a special session of the United Nations on Friday evening. I could see that many in the audience were also overwhelmed by emotion. This was a moment in history that could not have been imagined. And considering what we have made of Pakistan, do we deserve a Malala?

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