South Asia Citizens Web

India has failed to fashion a coherent, balanced and self-confident response to its turbulent neighbourhood. Leave aside Pakistan, India’s policy towards Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar and Nepal looks confused, indecisive or inept. This has eroded India’s influence and legitimacy in these ‘Gujral Doctrine’ countries, with whom it pledged to “go the extra mile” to improve relations without demanding reciprocity.

Instead of the death penalty, the protesters at Shahbag should be demanding fair trials for those accused of war crimes in 1971. A peaceful mass secular protest involving people from all walks of life, spearheaded by a tech savvy young generation, apparently independent from political parties, seeking accountability for war crimes committed in 1971. This has been Shahbag, a square in the centre of Dhaka, Bangladesh, an (almost) non-stop protest since February 5.

Hindustan Times, March 02, 2013
Having keenly observed the Tahrir Square revolution and the eventual victory of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists in Egypt, I no longer get easily impressed by crowd-sourced movements.
So when crowds gathered at Shahbagh in Dhaka, I was apprehensive. Since February 5, protesters at Shahbagh have been demanding the death penalty for Abdul Qader Mollah, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes committed during the 1971 War of Liberation. The (…)

Text of statements by NTUI, NAPM and Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements and National Alliance of People’s Movements to Protest Land Grab and Neglect of Agriculture

The stain of genocide that still haunts Bangladesh can’t be erased with stains of revenge and show trials. Or by our refusal to acknowledge the ‘others’ amongst us, be it the adibashis or voices of dissent. We cannot challenge intolerance with intolerance, parochialism with more parochialism. We can and should do better