South Asia Citizens Web

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed alarm at torture against students of Punjab University’s Philosophy Department by armed activists allegedly belonging to Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) on 26 June 2011.

The Planning Commission of Government of India commissioning the World Bank to review key anti-poverty schemes of the government such as Public Distribution System (PDS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Rashtriya Suraksha Bima Yojana (RSBY), Indira Awaas Yojana among others is most shocking and unacceptable. We oppose and reject it in strongest possible terms. It is shocking to see how the UPA II government is undermining India’s sovereignty. In 2004, the UPA government had tried to induct the World Bank into the decision making of the Planning Commission directly, and had to back track following the strong public outcry against the move.

A report by Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights to expose and halt the regular rape of young Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi women workers at a garment factory (part of Classic Group of factories) in Jordan that is owned by an Indian and managed by a Sri Lankan.

The Indian government’s first-ever effort to accommodate civil society concerns on corruption has ended. This was a roller-coaster ride for the government-civil society joint drafting committee on the Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill. It left both sides injured. The two will present their separate recommendations to a proposed all-party meeting in July. This is a good time to draw up a balance-sheet of the process.

Tariq Ali’s book review of Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite and A Long Goodbye: The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan by Artemy Kalinovsky