South Asia Citizens Web

A public statement by concerned citizens to protest against the attempt in India to revive the archaic concept of "sedition" as a tool to censor dissenting points of view.

You do not have to like or agree with Geelani or Arundhati Roy to defend their right to speech. They are threatened with criminal proceedings for sedition (section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code).

When Gandhi was charged with sedition, he told the trial judge that this was the “ prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code… to suppress the liberty of citizens”.

In their resolution of February 4, 1948, the Government of India declared their determination to root out the forces of hatred and violence that are at work in our country and imperil the freedom of the Nation and darken her fair name. in pursuane of this policy the Government of India have decided to declare unlawful the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the Chief Commissioner’s provinces. Similar action is also being taken in the Governor’s provinces.

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,"