South Asia Citizens Web

The NIA has finally put the official seal on what many activists, the families of the accused and the people of Malegaon had been saying for long: that the arrest of nine Muslim men for the 2008 Malegaon blast was a result of a communal witch-hunt, which passes for investigations into terror charges. As a consequence of the investigating agencies’ hubris and prejudice, nine innocent men had to spend five long years in jail, while their families suffered and they were stigmatized.

A draft national broadcasting policy has barred private television channels, radios and Internet protocol TVs from broadcasting any program making derogatory comments about national figures like Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a high official said yesterday. The draft also forbids programs that may pose threat to national security and sovereignty and may seem satirical to national ideology, said the Information Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Considering the Fukushima nightmare, the police harassment and the DAE Chief’s announcement that the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) would go critical in September, we decided to embark on an indefinite hunger strike. We made it very clear that our strike would be completely nonviolent and we would follow the Gandhian ethos and practices. Some five to seven thousand people from Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts gathered in front of the St. Lurdes’s church at Idinthakarai.

Victim survivors and Citizens for Justice and Peace welcome the judgement passed by the Honourable Supreme Court in the Zakia Ahsan Jafri & Citizens for Justice and Peace SLP 1088/2008 today. The order is annexed to this press release.

The nation heaved a sigh of relief when Anna Hazare broke his fast (August 2011). The breaking of the fast with coconut water offered by a dalit and a Muslim girl was an attempt to project as if Anna’s upsurge represents all the sections of society and is not just having a narrow social base of elite middle class. Now as the matters stand a large section of dalits and Muslims are standing up to raise their voices against the ‘Anna claim’ that it is an inclusive upsurge. Congress in its frustration said that Anna Hazare is an agent of RSS, how far is this true?