South Asia Citizens Web

High time to delink religious boards from secular state apparatus and insulate them against political manipulation

The personal ordeal of Dr Sen, winner of the prestigious 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights, appears to be temporarily over. But the issues thrown up by the Binayak Sen case go beyond an individual, his iconic status, or the suffering of his family. They raise inconvenient questions about India today, which can be dodged only at great risk. Acknowledging a citizen’s right to have and espouse dissenting views, in this context, is not only a sign of a liberal government, it is also the right strategy.

Action for a Progressive Pakistan
Healing the Wounds of the Past
On May 13, 2009, the Government of Bangladesh demanded an unconditional apology from the Government of Pakistan for war crimes committed during the 1971 army action in what was then East Pakistan. The Pakistani government’s response was to dismiss the demand, telling Bangladesh to ‘let bygones be bygones’. This was not the first time this demand was made, nor the first time it was dismissed with such flippancy by Pakistan. (…)

May 22-28, 2009
“Man does not live by politics alone”-Lenin
S Irfan Habib unveils the revolutionary Bhagat Singh’s literary side
Little is known about the revolutionary nationalists beyond their daring exploits leading to supreme sacrifice for the motherland. All of them were not merely bundles of emotion, ever ready to kill or die for the freedom of India. Quite a few of them were serious thinkers, besides being active revolutionaries. They read voraciously about the world politics (…)

a very urgent appeal that is to call upon the Government of India as well as all political parties within the country and their newly elected Members of Parliament to take a position during the upcoming Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka that is to be held on 26th May, 2009.