South Asia Citizens Web

People’s Union for Civil Liberties is shocked at the incidence of brutal violence, on 31-1-2012, at Tirunelveli, against people’s representatives of PMANE (People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy), including twenty women, opposing the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), by democratic and peaceful means, to preserve their right to life, livelihood and safe environment. The attack was reportedly carried out by local thugs, members of Hindu Munnani and the local Congress. It occurred just prior to a scheduled fourth meeting between representatives of PMANE and members of the Central Government Expert Panel on KKNPP.

On January 24, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon vented his frustration
at Pakistan’s determined opposition to a treaty that would limit
fissile material production for use in nuclear weapons. For three
years, Pakistan has single-handedly — and successfully — blocked the
Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva from discussing an effort
that would reduce nuclear weapons globally. Consequently, within
diplomatic circles, Pakistan has acquired the reputation of an outlier
that opposes all efforts towards this end.

The future of Indian democracy depends a great deal on a revival of Dr. Ambedkar’s visionary conception of democracy. This vision also needs to be enlarged and updated in the light of recent experience.

The Express Tribune, 29 January 2012
by Sana Iqbal
When I was studying at university, during a discussion over an economic issue, my professor (a PhD) uttered these words:
“Alhamdulillah, I am a Sunni, I am a Muslim.”
These words took me and many other students by surprise. The bizarre logic of uttering those unnecessary words in the midst of a discussion, especially when the class comprised of students from diverse religious backgrounds, was unfathomable. Even if she considered (…)

We, the delegates of the Eighth Joint Convention of the Pakistan ‘India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), held in Allahabad from December 29 to 31, 2011, note with concern that the relationship between India and Pakistan has deteriorated since the last Convention, which took place in New Delhi from February 25 to 28, 2005. The past seven years have seen the Mumbai terror attacks and a continuing assault on Pakistani sovereignty by NATO forces headed by the United States. Against this backdrop, it has become incumbent on the peoples of the two countries to restore India-Pakistan friendship and revive the cooperative relationship that prevailed seven years ago. . . .