South Asia Citizens Web

Tehelka Magazine, November 22, 2008
A Target Forever Acquitted by the Supreme Court, but suspected by people everywhere
AT 11.30 AM on November 6, 2008, I reached the Arts Faculty of Delhi University to chair a seminar on ‘Communalism, Fascism and Democracy: Rhetoric and Reality’. As I took my seat, I hardly knew that in just a few minutes I would be the focus of a brazen fascist attack. Barely had I sat down that a student approached me pretending to want to speak to me. But instead, he (…)

Human Rights Features, 7 November 2008 Emergency Treatment We have the cure, the world sang to Bangladesh
Gotterdammerung, Wagner’s moving death march, rather than Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was the concert for Bangladesh organised by certain democracies – with the UN providing backup vocals. And what a show it has been. The performers clamoured for a ‘change’ in Bangladesh’s turbulent politics, muttered darkly about the financial consequences of the bickering among the country’s two key (…)

Amnesty International India
In advance of the month-long elections to be held in the state of Jammu & Kashmir starting on 17 November and ending on 24 December, Amnesty International appeals to India’s security forces to act with restraint and avoid excessive use of force, in the wake of recent volatility in the state.
At least 40 people were killed in the state in June-August this year when the Central security forces and the state police used force against protestors defying curfew (…)

Dawn, November 13, 2008
THE shelter for women in distress is often described as a halfway house and one wonders whether Pakistani women are considered entitled to anything more.
Another case of extraordinary barbarism towards a young woman is in the news. It is said that before being shot dead, young Tasleem Solangi was subjected to a forced abortion and a dog was set upon her and bit her repeatedly. The emphasis in the story as told by the media has been on the use of a dog to torture (…)

A virtual melee has ensued in print and digital media over the selection of Ms. Sonal Shah, an American of Indian origin to the Obama transition team’s advisory board. Shrill accusations of Ms. Shah being a "racist and Hindu chauvinist" are being reciprocated by equally shrill attempts to portray anyone who raises serious questions about the selection as being anti-India, anti-Hindu, anti-progress, and recently, as against "liberal civility." We condemn such baseless and unfair statements. (…)