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• The Struggle Against POSCO Needs Wider Support

  26 February 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  The month of February has brought a new wave of repression against the villagers threatened by the grant steel project of the POSCO multinational company.
  This project has been widely debated and steadfastly resisted with great courage by villagers. They have been arrested, beaten up and threatened repeatedly, but many of them have continued their opposition against extremely heavy odds for several years. Even among those who accepted compensation, many villagers say that (…)

• Where Are We Heading?

  18 February 2013, by SC

  Several disturbing developments over the last few days have cast further shadow on the credibility of the ruling coalition at the Centre.
  First came the allegation that the CBI’s special prosecutor in the 2G scam had advised the accused Unitech’s MD how to weaken the CBI’s case against the company; this was based on a conversation between the two taped on CD. The CBI had to remove the special prosecutor from the trial and preliminary inquiry was registered to probe the matter. (…)

• Importance of Listening to Afzal’s Story

  18 February 2013, by Nandita Haksar

  Afzal Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013, two days before the death anniversary of Maqbool Bhatt which is celebrated as Martrys’ Day in Kashmir. Both the Kashmiri men are now buried in unmarked graves in Tihar Jail, the biggest jail in South and South-East Asia.
  I remember reading about Maqbool Bhatt’s hanging in the newspapers in 1984; I was then already a human rights lawyer but I had not understood the political significance of the hanging and like most patriotic Indians had not given (…)

• Killing Afzal — Hanging My Head In Shame!

  18 February 2013, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  Hanging my head in shame. No, not my form, for that’s what the state can do. Hang and bury in absolute secrecy, without informing the family and without being sensitive to any of the basic human rights and also towards that bigger picture that looms large.
  No, I did not know Afzal Guru and had never met him. Nor can I claim to be a legal expert. Then, why did his hanging hit? The basic reasons could perhaps be these:
  I have read lawyer, well-respected activist and human (…)

• Afzal Guru Case: Pancholi and Haksar’s Press Statement

  18 February 2013

  We are giving this statement on why we have decided to withdraw as the Guru family’s counsels. We would have preferred to have withdrawn quietly but due to subsequent events it is not possible to represent them any further.
  Both of us have been engaged with the Kashmir question since the 1990s and were part of fact finding teams which exposed the human rights violations committed on the people of Kashmir in the wake of the insurgency.
  Our stand was at the time and continues to be that (…)

• In Defence of Afzal Guru

  18 February 2013

  After the execution of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the demand for hanging Parliament attacker Afzal Guru gets louder. The 11th anniversary of the Parliament attack in December gave fresh impetus to this demand which insisted that hanging the attacker is the only way to pay tribute to the sacrifice of the martyrs. But in this article I will argue why it is not by hanging Guru, but by giving him a fresh and fair trial, the country can protect its democratic values and pay proper tribute to its martyrs.

• Benefits of Diesel Subsidy: A Story from Mumbai

  18 February 2013, by S G Vombatkere

  The government has announced that bulk diesel consumers like Railways and State Transport Corporations have to purchase diesel at market-determined rates, while diesel purchased at fuel outlets will continue to receive subsidy. Assuming diesel subsidy as Rs 10 per litre, let us examine the effects of the recent government order.
  Mr Suresh Kumar (not his real name), living in Bandra, Mumbai, maintains three cars, but we will keep the discussion to the SUV that only he uses. Mr Kumar’s SUV (…)

• Communalism Legitimised

  18 February 2013, by Kuldip Nayar

  No doubt, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is less rhetorical than before in its references to Muslims. There can be two reasons for this. One, the party has its eyes fixed on the scenario after the parliamentary elections in early 2014. It would need the support of secular parties to have a majority in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament. Any adverse remark against the Muslims may cost the party and endanger its chances of constituting a viable coalition.
  Two, the BJP feels that (…)

• Five-point Formula for a Riot-free India

  18 February 2013

  by Asghar Ali Engineer
  India’s legacy of communalism and communal violence is here to stay, if one goes by the activities of the Rightwing Hindutva forces and the government’s total inaction, nay, paralysis. Communalism in India is taking long strides and the lull in communal violence after the Gujarat riots has been broken and now communal riots are more frequent. The Assam riots had shaken the country like Gujarat did and a series of riots have been taking place one after the other or, (…)

• Tamils in Sri Lanka: Losing Relevance

  18 February 2013, by Apratim Mukarji

  Sri Lankan Tamils were the least surprised and shocked when President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his Independence Day address on February 4 quite bluntly ruled out granting any kind of political autonomy for the Northern Province.
  This also marked his quietly reneging on his oft-repeated assurance to the Tamils and the international community that he remained fully committed to facilitating the “13th Amendment plus” approach to solving the ethnic issue. The 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan (…)