South Asia Citizens Web

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

On 22nd June 2011, at around noon, the Assam police opened fire, killing four, on a demonstration led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) - a peasant organization of Assam. The protesters were demanding a halt to a massive ongoing eviction drive for more than a week around the hills in the city of Guwahati.

The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) is shocked and horrified at the recent incident in Mardan, where a young girl was first brutally stoned and later shot to death. This is the most gruesome act of violence against women in the country. This violent action was taken on the behest of Jirga, which decided this penalty for the unfortunate young woman, who wanted to live life of her own choice.

For the first time after 1975, Bangladesh has got the opportunity to correct calculated distortions to its original Constitution framed in 1972, following independence of former East Pakistan. The ruling grand alliance, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, holds a three-fourths majority in Parliament, more than the two-thirds required for bringing changes to the Constitution. Understandably, the huge majority of the pro-liberation ruling coalition has become an irritant to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami and their fundamentalist allies, which think that they may be weakened if the distortions are corrected and secular principles restored.

For decades, the victims of communal and targeted violence have been denied protections of law that the rest of us take for granted. It’s time to end this injustice.