South Asia Citizens Web

Bangladesh Watchdog
SALEEM SAMAD
BANGLADESH, A Sunni Muslim majority country in a dramatic u-turn from secularism will adopt Islam as state religion and allow religion-based political parties to function.
Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday has expressed herself in favor of retaining Islam as the state religion, moving away from the secular provisions in the constitution that were incorporated when country gained independence in 1971, writes Indo Asian News Service. The (…)

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed grief and indignation at the brutal murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad, calling it a vile attempt to muzzle the media and demanding that the government make sure that the murderers are apprehended and prosecuted.

The excessive curtailment of civil liberties by Jammu and Kashmir government, thankfully so far in not so violent ways, simply by invoking the doctrine of ‘prevention of agitations’ on the pattern of 2010 summer are anything but justified. The government has gone overboard in putting separatist leaders under house arrest even when there is no inkling of any kind of a major campaign for ‘azadi’ or anything else building up.

The white flag of the ’Islamic Emirate’ of Afghanistan flies again in Nuristan province.

Sri Lankan government officials have touted the Sri Lankan "model" of counterinsurgency to other countries. However, the expert panel, confirming earlier findings by Human Rights Watch, other national and international organizations, and the US State Department, concluded that government forces killed civilians through widespread and indiscriminate shelling, attacked known hospitals and medical clinics, and deprived civilians in the war zone of humanitarian aid. The panel also found that government forces summarily executed detainees, raped women in custody, and forcibly disappeared others.