South Asia Citizens Web

1. Abolish the death penalty and engage in international efforts towards a global moratorium;
2. Guarantee religious freedom and freedom of expression for all;
3. Bring to justice those who have committed attacks against minorities and human rights defenders.

kafila.org
Any discussion of Sri Lanka at the moment can not avoid discussion of the war. And at the heart of discussions on the war in Sri Lanka, is the question of what will come after the war, at least after an end to the war in its conventional mode with defeats faced by the LTTE on the battlefield. It is indeed important to grasp that the current state of anxiety is not only about the war but also what will come after the war. From the London based Economist to Tamil activists in (…)

The Indian Express, September 29, 2008
Moral policing
Being gay in India is to know the brute power of state and society in the most immediate, humiliating ways — the entire spectrum from police harassment to social ostracisation. Section 377 of the IPC contains the legal abomination that allows the Government to extend its tentacles into the intimate life of lakhs of its queer citizens. Now, a much deferred liberation movement, to strike down the part of Section 377 that criminalises (…)

Hindustan Times
Conversion, that old prop
‘Originally, we were animists. There were two tribes in Kandhamal: the Kandhas and the Panas, who were Dalits. The former converted to Hinduism while the latter to Christianity. Today, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal are forcing the Panas to reconvert to Hinduism. But we don’t want to do that,” a teacher told us at the Hathishala refugee camp in Orissa’s G Udayagiri area.
When we visited the camp, there were several thousand (…)

The Island
A group of academics, across the ethnic and political divide, have issued a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and for a negotiated political settlement. At this juncture, it is unlikely that this call will receive any favourable response from those in authority. Even many ordinary citizens, with access only to our media, believe that the defeat of the LTTE and the end of the war is just round the corner and there would then be peace. They would consider the call from (…)