South Asia Citizens Web

The following is an exchange based on a recent article “An Expedient Alliance? The Muslim Right and The Anglo-American Left,” by Meredith Tax (Dissent, February 26, 2013 -> http://tinyurl.com/arubude).

On International Women’s Day, Women’s Action Forum stands in solidarity with all sectarian and religious minorities against terrorist groups. WAF condemns all extremist, armed militant forces that invoke religion as their ideological justification for mass killings, terrorist attacks and brutalities against citizens of Pakistan.

Responding to criticism about the brazen manner in which the Italian Government had reneged on the commitment made to the Supreme Court of India, Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh stated in Parliament on 13.03.2013 that: “Our government has… insisted that the Italian authorities respect the undertakings they have given to the Hon’ble Supreme Court and return the two accused persons to stand trial in India. If they do not keep their word there will be consequences for our relations with Italy.” While this purported resolve on the part of the Government of India (GOI) is wholly welcome, it is, however, doubtful if the GOI would actually take all necessary steps to ensure the return of the said accused to India in the light of the GOI’s shameful past record in this regard.

This note prepared by the Peoples’ Alliance for Right to Land (PARL) Sri Lanka – a network of civil society organisations and individuals campaigning on issues of land-grabs and landlessness across Sri Lanka – highlights through selected case-studies from the North and East, the lack of respect for the final recommendations of the presidential Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on issues of land in the context of return and resettlement.