South Asia Citizens Web

A bench comprising Justices Dalip Singh and Sajjan Singh Kothari of the Rajasthan high court has stated that marriages based on the right to choose, more generally known as love marriages, are examples of “lust and greed”! Such insensitive statements by the distinguished judges can only reinforce the prevailing mindset of those who wish to confine society in its strong caste-based compartments.

The academic focus on Muslim politics in pre-Partition India has contributed to the quality “divisive” becoming almost synonymous with “Muslim”. This paper analyses the politics of Punjabi Hindus from the early 1920s onwards to suggest that their many schemes for partitioning the Punjab coexisted with demands for separate electorates and reservations for minorities. Partition, however, was not as deadly and tormented a proposal in the 1920s as it became two decades later. The critical, operative factor was safeguarding minority rights and, in striking contrast to contemporary debates in Europe, did not entail population transfers.

The 40th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh is special not simply because it marks the passing of decades, but because of the current passionate attempt to recapture the founding spirit of the nation. The recent debates on the Constitution and an attempt to return it to its original secular character of 1972 are vital to the future survival of the country. But the hurried changes made, with an ultimate outcome of keeping Islam as the state religion, have disappointed many. In contrast, the war crimes trials that are underway still offer hope.

Some 150 individuals and organisations from civil society in Pakistan, from prominent non-governmental organisations, labour organisations, academia, women’s rights bodies, and media expressed deep concern over the current political situation in the country and said a crisis was being manufactured on frivolous grounds in the name of the so-called ’memogate’. In a joint statement issued, “The civil society activists appealed to the people of Pakistan to stand united and firm in support of democracy and to resist all attempts aimed at its subversion. They said the people of Pakistan have made great sacrifices for the cause of democracy and they should not let any vested interests trample their right to have a democratic country.

Devolution signalled the rude awakening over the dangers of running women’s policies as never-ending ‘development schemes’ rather than as permanent policy with regularised staff. Some critics observe that despite high moments, the MoWD ran for too long as a glorified NGO and from project to project. Since they were not permanent schemes, the SBBWCs in three provinces hung in limbo as governments attempted to absorb them into the provincial administrative set-ups. Punjab, meanwhile, refused to own the SBBWCs and made a technically reasonable, if misguided, case over the historically disinterested attitude of the federal government itself with regard to these centres.