Nepalese PM Girija Prasad Koirala has vowed to amend the country’s constitution to meet the key demands of Madheshi protesters from the country’s southern plains, BBC News reported on Feb. 8. He pledged to introduce a federal system of governance… Read moreNepal: Madheshi people reject marginalization
The current violent unrest in Bangladesh is generally portrayed (when the global media bother to take note of it at all) as a contest between the secular, left-leaning Awami League which governed until July 2001 and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party… Read moreTaslima Nasrin: fundamentalism “destroying” Bangladesh
Since the beginning of the year we’ve been keeping track of ghastly acts of (non-Muslim) terrorism from around the world which the media have largely played down or completely ignored. The latest entry is from India’s restive Northeast. From BBC… Read moreIndia: more ethnic terror in Assam
Now this is pretty depressing. Pakistan finally moves to overturn the atrocious anti-woman Hudood ordinances, under which women are punished for “adultery” if they report a rape. The Islamist opposition links backlash against this long-belated bit of progress with (legitimate)… Read morePakistan: rape laws challenged, Islamists exploit backlash
Freedom’s on the march in the USA’s closest South Asian ally. From the New York Times, Oct. 14: KABIRWALA, Pakistan — Pursuing justice is not easy for a woman in Pakistan, not if the crime is rape. Ghazala Shaheen knows…. Read moreVendetta rapes persist in Pakistan
Freedom’s on the march in the USA’s closest South Asian ally. From the UK’s Independent, Sept. 12, via Common Dreams: In a setback for women’s rights in Pakistan, the ruling party in Islamabad has caved in to religious conservatives by… Read morePakistan: Musharraf caves in on rape law reform
From AndhraVision.com, Sept. 11: Satyagraha movement completes 100 years A hundred years ago today, Mahatma Gandhi launched the historic Satyagraha movement in South Africa to fight racism and colonial oppression in that country. Later, he used the same principles of non… Read moreGandhians remember September 11… 1906
From the Sept. 9 New York Times, buried at the bottom of page 4 (below a much larger “profile” piece on a New Age self-help book written by Slovenia’s president). Links added. Explosions Hit Indian Mosque, Stoking Fear of Further Violence NEW… Read moreTerror blasts at Indian mosque
From India’s Zee News, Sept. 5: Baluchistan on strike over tribal chief’s killing QUETTA — Parts of the troubled southwest Pakistani province of Baluchistan were paralysed today by a strike called by opposition parties to protest the killing of a… Read moreGeneral strike shuts down Baluchistan
A big step closer to the destabilization of Pakistan. From Reuters, Aug. 29: QUETTA, Pakistan – Security forces and gunmen clashed on Tuesday in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province after prayers for a slain rebel leader and one policeman was killed, while… Read moreBaluchistan explodes
This report from India’s northeastern Bihar state is analogous to situations we have noted in Colombia. Caught bewteen the government and guerillas, self-governing peasant communities are finding a voice of their own via village-based radio. From the Christian Science Monitor,… Read moreGrassroots radio empowers India’s peasants
Hard to say if this is more bizarre or terrifying. Talk about the banality of evil. What about the evil of banality? From Reuters, Aug. 21: MUMBAI, India – A new restaurant in India’s financial hub, named after Adolf Hitler… Read moreIndia’s Jews protest Hitler-themed restaurant
