Former Maoist rebels and indigenous protesters demanding greater rights under the new constitution have staged weeks of civil strikes across Nepal, repeatedly shutting down large areas of the country, including Kathmandu.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of five of the six men accused in the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai—the woman whose refusal to remain silent about the 2002 crime won international acclaim for her courage.
At least one was killed as officers fired on protesters who overran a police station near Jaitapur, site of a proposed nuclear plant in Ratnagiri district of India’s Maharashtra state.
A special court in India sentenced 11 Muslims to death in connection with the Godhra train burning in 2002 that killed 59 Hindu nationalists and started the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who called for revision of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, reveals escalating polarization between secular and Islamist forces.
Up to 3,000 villagers are facing arrest after taking part in a “silent protest” against the planned Jaitapur nuclear power project, occupying the construction site in India’s Maharashtra state.
Members of the indigenous Dongria Kondh tribe dance in India’s Orissa state. In an unprecedented move, India’s Environment Ministry blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kond.
Photo: Survival International
While assistance is being provided to hundreds of thousands of flood-stricken Pakistanis, the UN says relief supplies are reaching only a fraction of the millions who need help.
Thousands of protesters again filled the streets in Indian-controlled Kashmir after security forces killed four people and injured at least eight others for defying a curfew.
Just as weeks of deadly riots subsided in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the territory was hit by disastrous flooding, leaving some 130 dead, many displaced, and rescue efforts ongoing.
Two people were killed as Indian security forces fired on protesters at various places around the Kashmir Valley. Local Muslim leaders have called a campaign of civil disobedience.
Indian troops fired on hundreds of protesters who threw rocks at security forces in Srinagar, Kashmir. One protester was killed and at least five wounded.
