February 9, 2008

Editorial
While the latest events in Mumbai have shocked the conscience of the country with a section targeting non-Maharashtrians in the cosmopolitan metropolis, it is equally shocking that 45-year-old Taslima Nasreen, the exiled Bangladeshi author and poetess, is in virtual detention in an undisclosed ‘safe’ house in New Delhi; this has been ostensibly to “protect” her from Muslim fundamentalists baying for her blood while the authorities are leaving no stone unturned to force her to (…)

The Prime Minister’s visit to China has falsified the wishful forecasts of his critics and adversaries at home who had pronounced in advance that it was going to be a non-event. If anything, it has turned out to be an event of positive significance.
The agreement on the maintenance of peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas has been justly characterised as a “landmark” along the long and tortuous road of India-China relations. It is (…)

‘Do we have democracy?’ This question has become most relevant after the recent nuclear deal between the Government of India and the US since the Indian Government and its spokesmen are taking the stand that the executive has the power to enter into deals, treaties and agreements with foreign governments and organisations, without the approval of and without even reference to the legislature and the people. The government’s contention, in other words, is that it has inherent powers to (…)

Hon’ble Home Minister,
We, the undersigned, are highly concerned about the health and well being of Ms Taslima Nasreen who is for the last three months being kept in a virtual detention in a secret place in Delhi. We are equally concerned about the implications of the treatment being meted out to her, for the values of freedom, human rights and human dignity enshrined in the Indian Constitution and for the international image and prestige of India as a democratic state founded on the (…)

Venerable Prime Minister,
I was pained to read about Madam Taslima Nasrin suffering de facto solitary confinement and remaining in incommunicado in the proud Indian Republic which promises to every citizen free speech, freedom of association, free movement and, above all, the right to life with dignity and security. You are the statesman Prime Minister under this great Constitution.
Taslima is no mean prisoner but a fine person with independent judgment of a high order, even if her (…)