South Asia Citizens Web

It is highly unfortunate that sports continues to be one of the victims of political and military tensions between India and Pakistan. The Indian government appears to be tacitly complicit in these moves. Earlier this month, Pakistan’s hockey players were sent back home from India after extremists protested against their participation in a professional hockey league there. And now our women’s cricket team faces extra pressure as it hopes to makes its presence felt in the World Cup, despite receiving a hostile reception in India. It is apparent that a vast majority of people on both sides of the border are in favour of improved relations between the two countries. They also overwhelmingly support a long-term revival of bilateral sporting ties.

New Delhi - 26 Jan 2013: An estimated 1000 people staged a " Freedom Parade" from Mandi house to Jantar Mantar in the heart of Delhi demanding gender equality and speedy implementation of recommendations of Justice Verma Committee set up after a Delhi gang-rape incident.

Students from Delhi University, IGNOU, JNU and Jamia Milia Islamia and scores of citizens of Delhi took part in the parade.

The call had come on a platform through Facebook group called "Freedom Without Fear — Bekhauf Azadi" to stage the protest in the capital on Republic Day in order to " Reclaim The Republic".
The march was supported by student and women organisations All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) and All India Student’s Association (AISA) among others. Photos by Mukul Dube and Harsh Kapoor

Was it the establishment who used Tahirul Qadri but failed, or was it Qadri who used the establishment and succeeded?

Before the recent French intervention in Mali began, 412,000 people had already left their homes in the country’s north, fleeing torture, summary executions, recruitment of child soldiers and sexual violence against women at the hands of fundamentalist militants. Late last year, in Algeria and southern Mali, I interviewed dozens of Malians from the north, including many who had recently fled. Their testimonies confirmed the horrors that radical Islamists, self-proclaimed warriors of God, have inflicted on their communities.

We will not be frightened; we will not hide in our homes. Sexual harassment is a social disease that has been rampant for years, used by the regime to intimidate girls and women. But we must know that sexual harassment is a social issue, not merely a political one, and what takes place during festivities and crowded places attests to that. I do not know if this testimony will make a difference or change, for the violations are still ongoing… but this is the least I can do.