South Asia Citizens Web

Ho tribals lose hold of Saranda as mining is set to take over the pristine sal forest. A report and photographs by Sayantan Bera

More than 5,000 people packed Colombo’s Sugathadasa stadium for the inaugural conference of the Peratugami Samajawadi Pakshaya (Frontline Socialist Party – FSP) on 9 April 2012. Most were members and sympathisers of this new Left party – a breakaway from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (Peoples’ Liberation Front – JVP); but many representatives of other radical Left parties, Left intellectuals, and progressive social activists were also in attendance. The emergence and consolidation of the FSP is an important and hopeful development for the revival of peoples’ movements in Sri Lanka in the post-war era, following decades of retreat of the labour and left movements.

We, the undersigned, welcome the decision of Pakistan government to release 26 Indian fishermen on humanitarian grounds. They were in Pakistani prison for more than two years for allegedly violating territorial border. The Pakistani gesture came in the background of a meeting, which took place in New Delhi, between the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh & the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on last Sunday. The poor Indian and Pakistani fishermen find it extremely difficult to recognize other country’s territorial border in the mid-sea.

Government wants to use the threat of "national security" or "public morality" to undermine our digital rights. Tell your lawmakers that we won’t stand for censorship, monitoring or dangerous, unsupervised information sharing in this law or any law like it.

Incidents where people are stopped, identified and killed for their religious beliefs are increasing in Pakistan, the only country where it’s a crime for Ahmadis to practice their religion. Forced conversions, attacks on Christian churches and false cases under blasphemy laws (including against Muslims of various sects) are becoming more and more common. The space for free practice of religion and civil public discourse is shrinking.