Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • Gujarat Carnage: Seven Years On . . . Seven Major Concerns and More

    by Fr. Cedric Prakash sj, 27 February 2009

    It’s exactly seven years since Gujarat witnessed one of the worst horrendous chapters of Indian history. The burning of the S6 compartment of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra Railway Station and the subsequent carnage has left an indelible impact on the lives of many. Plenty has happened since 2002 and many indeed would like to move on.....even perhaps, to forget that 2002 ever existed !!! The fact however, remains, that the Gujarat Carnage was not only too traumatic for words but (…)

  • Class Dismissed in Swat Valley: The Death of Female Education

    by sacw.net, 26 February 2009

    A short documentary profiling an 11-year-old Pakistani girl on the last day before the Taliban close down her school.

  • Editorial - Peace Now, March 2009

    by Peace Now, 26 February 2009

    Peace Now, March 2009, Bulletin of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) journal The interregnum since the last issue, brought out in early August, has been a truly eventful one.
    First of all, the spirited battle waged by the anti-nuclear peace movements, at both national and international levels, against the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, under way since July 18 2005, has suffered a decisive setback despite intermittent moments of considerable hopes. The India-specific (…)

  • Challenging Police Use of Pseudo Scientific Technologies in India: Selected Resources

    by Amar Jesani, Girish Shahane, P A Sebastian, PUDR, Sriram Lakshman, 26 February 2009

    1. Narco-analysis, Brain Mapping and other frauds
    by Girish Shahane (Shoot First, Mumble Later) (26 February 2009)
    News has just come in that S Malini, the Assistant Director of Bangalore’s Forensic Science Laboratory, has been sacked after it was found that her credentials were forged. I’m not surprised at all. I’ve written more than once about how the narco analysis and ’brain mapping’ pioneered by that facility were voodoo techniques. What’s shocking is how long the media swallowed (…)

  • Pakistan: Triumph of Taliban in Swat Likely to Stimulate Other Bigots in the Region

    by Susanne Koelbl, 26 February 2009

    Spiegel Online, 21 February 2009
    Islamists Triumph in Swat Valley Bowing Down to the Taliban
    By Susanne Koelbl
    Pakistan is capitulating to the Taliban in the picturesque Swat Valley, where the Islamists have introduced Sharia law. Now the militants’ triumph threatens to encourage radicals throughout the region.
    The defeat was celebrated as if it had been a victory. The chief minister of the North-West Frontier Province greeted a delegation from the local Taliban. The Taliban (…)

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