South Asia Citizens Web

Newsline, November 2008
Sounds of Silence
Infiltration of religious extremism has clamped down freedom of artistic expression in the NWFP.
They say it’s a war against terrorism, but for Pashtuns inhabiting Pakistan’s tribal areas and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), it extends beyond that. The conflict between the Taliban militants and Pakistan’s security forces has shaken the social and cultural foundations of Pashtun society.
Varied Taliban groups are waging a (…)

Dawn, November 17, 2008
India’s democracy locked in a life and death battle to survive
by Jawed Naqvi
IT IS not difficult to accept that Pakistani establishment, particularly its right wing politicians and entrenched India-haters within the army and bureaucracy, share a vested interest in the rise of Hindu religious zealots to the helm of power in New Delhi.
It serves their purpose in several ways. The growth of groups like Bharatiya Janata Party, the RSS and the Shiv Sena (…)

. . . a transformation where powerful counter-movements resist commodification of land and labour, and also groups that are set up precisely to divide society.
Economic and Political Weekly, November 15, 2008

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises homosexual relations, has no jurisprudential justification

Audiotape in Hindi produced in 1990 by the movement against communalism still remains a valuable resource for activists trying to raise their voice against communalism and Hindu fundamentalism in India [digitised by sacw.net]