Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • The Borderland and Its Zero People

    by Aveek Sen, 8 December 2008

    The shooting of a girl in a border village in West Bengal and questions about the possibility of justice in no man’s land

  • India’s tragedy

    by Q. Isa Daudpota , 8 December 2008

    Dawn, December 8, 2008 I FAIL to be impressed by India’s ‘progress’ though by most counts it has done better than the country I live in. It only goes to show how poorly Pakistan has fared.
    India’s endemic problem to create a truly pluralistic society and shed itself of its caste system has now been overtaken by the tragic events in Mumbai. The illusion of prosperity that has come to the middle class and the upper ranks of the privileged few masks serious problems of poverty and (…)

  • Pakistan Presidents Call for Nuclear Weapons-free South Asia Should be Welcomed

    by M B Naqvi, 7 December 2008

    The Daily Star, December 5, 2008
    Out of the box
    by M.B. Naqvi
    PRESIDENT Zardari shocked the Indians by his reversal of the traditional Pakistani stance on nuclear deterrence, but has also drawn flak from rightwing bigwigs, both religious and military-linked.
    Zardari has left many wondering why he chose to speak so unexpectedly. He said he hated atomic weapons and wanted a nuclear weapons-free South Asia; and that Pakistan would never use nukes first.
    Few are sure that his reversal (…)

  • Clinical trials sustain Ahmedabad’s riot victims

    by Ravleen Kaur, 7 December 2008

    Down To Earth, November 30, 2008
    Corporal lab
    In the dusty lanes of Juhapura, clinical trials made breadwinners of poor women
    When her husband took chronically ill after communal riots drove them to Juhapura, a ghetto on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, poverty made life seem unmanageable. Free will then became a matter of Rs 8,000 for 40-year-old Zainab Bi. For a sum like that she was willing to swallow an unknown pill once in three months. It wasn’t much they were asking for really, so (…)

  • The Mumbai Terror Attacks: Need For A Thorough Investigation

    by R.H., 7 December 2008

    In all the confusion and horror generated by the ghastly terrorist attacks in Bombay, a dimension which has not received the attention it deserves is the circumstances surrounding the death of Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare and two of his colleagues, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte. The major pattern of operations involved well-organised attacks on a few high-profile sites in Colaba – the Taj, Oberoi and Trident Hotels, (…)

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