South Asia Citizens Web

Military and para-military forces as well as all civil law enforcement agencies must be compelled to respect, without exception, the rule of law and the paramount obligation to protect and respect people’s right to life and liberty. The time to end impunity and enforce accountability for undermining people’s right to security and peaceful existence is now! JAC believes that a transparent scrutiny by the Parliament of military budget and spending must be one step in the direction of restoring the state to the people of Pakistan.

The Ayodhya Judgment, based on the “Faith and belief of the Hindus”, has forsaken the established principles of law of evidence and cannot therefore be said to be based on a fair - trial.

Husain’s death has left India face-to-face with one of its greatest shames — its cowardly surrender to violence that cites religion as its pretext. When politicians mouth banalities about the “national loss”, they conveniently gloss over the disgraceful fact that the nation did nothing for Husain except hound him out. The persecution of the artist was a direct attack on his right to freedom of expression. His nude paintings of Saraswati and Bharat Mata were the source of Hindutva-soaked nationalist anger, and gave rise to a series of criminal cases against him. But organized thugs have never waited for the law, and they attacked his home, his exhibitions here and abroad, vandalized his paintings and threatened his person. The cases against Husain remain; the thugs go free.

I never met M.F. Husain. And I am not among those lucky ones, of whom there are quite a few, who received as a priceless gift from him a sketch or a drawing to hang with pride on their walls.

June 12, 1996 — it was the day of the national election in Bangladesh, an occasion marking/celebrating democracy. Yet, the Chittagong Hill Tracts was under occupation. In some ways, it still is. Democracy is not the rule of the game here. People pay terrible price here for speaking up, for resisting tyranny, and for simply struggling for their right to exist.