South Asia Citizens Web

South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), a regional network and Peoples’ SAARC on Tuesday (09 July 2013) launched a Campaign on ‘Demilitarisation, Democratisation and Social Justice’ and demanded all the states of South Asia to stop extremism within the region, cut the defence budgets to divert funds for social development and sign a No War pact.

Afghanistan’s record of complying with CEDAW is very poor, and the country’s human rights situation, especially for women, is showing signs of deterioration as international engagement in the country wanes. Expanded Taliban control and violence related to the ongoing conflict are major factors in human rights abuses. However, the Afghan government is also failing in many areas to comply with its obligations under international human rights law, especially for women.

With the publication of the updated Beyond the Fragments, Hilary Wainwright spoke to Rahila Gupta about the politics of knowledge and using her experience of the women’s movement to address the question of how to realise the capacities of each for the benefit of all as the basis for alternative, horizontal models of political organisation.

The death of E.Ilavarsan in Tamilnadu might be a single column report in our newspapers but it has reflected the mindset prevailing in India and deep rooted caste prejudices against the Dalits in our society. It has also proved that the Dravidian politics has not been able to overcome its own prejudices against Dalits and they large represent the politics of powerful politicized OBCs who at the social level have been at the loggerheads with Dalits.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is desperate and under pressure its slip is showing. In response to the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Ishrat Jahan case — which contains shocking quotes and details, including the fact that five cops of the Ahmedabad Crime Branch fired 70 rounds from automatic and semi-automatic weapons at 19-year-old Ishrat and three others — the BJP has chosen to show scant regard for judicial procedure.