South Asia Citizens Web

We strongly condemn the rising tide of intolerance and hate speech that led to the attack on the residential premises of the writer and social activist Arundhati Roy.

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) has expressed shock and disappointment at the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s statement in Lahore yesterday terming the policy of nationalization of education undertaken in 1970s as "wrong and mistake".

"The statement comes from the elected Prime Minster of a country that has one of the lowest spending on education in the world at 1.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product. The sentiments expressed by Mr. Gilani are appalling and completely out of sync with the Constitution as well as his position as democratically elected Prime Minister of the country, whose job it is to protect the interests of the people of the country,"

Posted below is a statement issued by Arundhati Roy after a slogan shouting mob turned up outside her house and tried to ransack her residence on 31st October 2010 in the full glare of TV.

In a condemnable move, Union Law Minister and Attorney General have betrayed the supreme national interest of Indians to protect US corporate interests. US double standard in the handling of BP’s oil spill disaster and Union Carbide Corporation’s disaster in India is quite manifest. Indian Parliament must act and support our government which is under tremendous pressure from the US Corporation and the US government.

"Patriotism,” Samuel Johnson said nearly 250 years ago, “is the last refuge
of a scoundrel.” These days in India, the adage can be safely applied to
nationalism. There is no other explanation of the threat to arrest and try
Arundhati Roy on charges of sedition for what she said at a public meeting on Kashmir