South Asia Citizens Web

[The Guardian, 30 December 2008 >http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/30/bangladesh]
The outcome of the Bangladeshi election is a resounding vote for progress and secularism
Two miracles happened in Bangladesh yesterday. Firstly, 80% of the Bangladeshi electorate – a record number – voted in one of the most peaceful elections in the country’s history. Secondly, they voted for a party that believes in secularism and by a majority big enough for it to control 85% of the (…)

Mumbai and Malegaon have many things in common. Bomb blasts and communal riots make them almost unique in India. There is so much of violence and tension that the people genuinely wonder how to overcome it after the initial daze and fury of it are over.
The passengers who survived the attacks at the CST railway station as well as the widower manager of the Taj are at a loss to understand how swiftly they have been bereaved. Kavita Karkare’s anguish boils down to logic of her academic (…)

Cries of war are once again vitiating the atmosphere in both India and Pakistan. The governments, the media and the opinion makers are contributing to the hype and increasing the hysteria by the day. There is also silence.
But this silence is from the peace activists on both sides of the border- an unfortunate silence and inaction from that very same section of society that should have been the most vocal and proactive in these times of madness and mayhem.
In fact, many people, (…)

On the events of December 1971