2010

It is a truth universally acknowledged that India, Pakistan and Afghanistan share bonds and linkages that transcend the immediacy of the present. Often, we are also treated to the refrain that India-Pakistan issues have impeded the collective progress of the region. There are those who maintain that for peace and stability in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan should resolve all their differences. The complexities in such equations are not resolvable through the application of simple formulae, (…)

Bibek Brata Sarkar died on May 16, 2010 in Delhi, aged 75. A teacher of Political Science, he had lectured at Ramjas College (1963-64), Dyal Singh College (Evening) (1963-64), Kirori Mal College (1964-83), and then in the Department of Political Science (1983-99)—all in the University of Delhi. He retired as a Professor in 1999.
Known for his teaching of and abiding interest in Western Political Thought and Liberal Political Theory, his long-held belief was that it was possible to (…)

From the beginning of this year President Hamid Karzai has been pursuing an active policy of preparing for the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan with the objective of bringing the Pathan majority to power. At the same time the Karzai policy aims at weakening the mujahideen influence in the country. For that purpose he is insisting on the approval of a law wherein the members of the Election Commission come under the control of the President’s office alone. The relevant Bill was (…)

A friend of ours sent this SMS message late on June 7 following the judgment of a local court in Bhopal on the world’s worst industrial disaster that happened in the night of December 2-3, 1984: “The Bhopal verdict proves the Indian state—government, poll parties and judiciary—is slave of global capital. If Bhopal victims now take up arms, they’ll surely be called ‘terrorists’ and Green Hunt may be launched against them. Twentysix years, but should we forget?” The essence of what this friend (…)

COMMENTARY
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s visit to India offered the Union Government with an opportunity to highlight the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the island state as well as demand the resettlement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and successful implementation of a reconciliation plan for the war-ravaged state, apart from urging for concrete steps to guarantee an overall political settlement of the ethnic problem. The widespread protests in Tamil Nadu (…)

There is no country in the world—perhaps in history—like Israel. It has done wonderful things like turning deserts into lush agricultural farms. It has also turned itself into a singularly evil state. Its resort to cruelty against Palestinians has few parallels in modern history. Its nuclear hypocrisy is unparalleled too.
Israel’s greatest exceptionality is the immunity it commands in the world. It can do pretty much what it likes—and get away with it. Other countries get damned by (…)

After the massacre of 76 security persons in Dantewade in Bastar, a part of the Chhattisgarh State, a sort of war began between the government and the Maoists which, according to the Union Home Minister, was started by the latter, more so in the mindset of the combatants. Since then the situation has been aggravated. Forty persons travelling in a police bus in the same area were killed. The latest is a train blast in Jnaneshwari Express in the Midnapur area of West Bengal, alleged to be the (…)

Human rights are those rights and freedoms by acquiring which one achieves one’s potential in various fields. Since the dawn of human civilisation, human beings have been striving for human rights. Undoubtedly, there has been a marked progress since the time of slavery when human beings were no better than chattel, yet a lot is yet to be achieved in this field.
In pre-modern cultures, the concept of human rights did exist but it suffered from serious limitations. Aristotle, the Greek (…)

DOCUMENTS
(A daylong People’s Convention on IDPs, Detainees and War Crimes in Sri Lanka was held in New Delhi on June 7, 2010 just before Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s visit to India beginning June 8. It was jointly organised by several organisations and institutions. The Convention finalised a Letter to the PM (which was thereafter signed by the participants and sent to him), and adopted a Statement on the Sri Lankan Situation (alongwith a Roadmap for Dignified Resettlement, (…)

The immediate threat to any country arises in its neighbourhood. That is why the maintenance of peace, stability and friendship with neighbouring states is considered basic to a nation’s foreign policy. India’s relations with its neighbours therefore constitute a critical component of its foreign policy. The specific geo-strategic location of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean and ethnic affinity of the Indian Tamils with the Sri Lankan Tamils have been the most important factor in their (…)