Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
IMPLICATIONS OF THE RECENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN INDIA
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Although the performance of Congress in the Assembly elections in five states including the most populous state of UP were far from impressive, state elections still reflect regional and not national concerns. Congress can still hope to win the parliamentary elections due in 2014 and prevent Hindutva forces represented by Bhartiya Janata Party coming to power. Read more…
INDIA, IRAN, ISRAEL, AND THE U.S.
Vinod Mubayi
Despite the travails of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) regime in India, which makes it appear as a battered boxer barely hanging on to the ropes, it has discovered a rare backbone in itself by adopting an independent stance geared to India’s interests with regard to the crisis brought about by the sanctions imposed on Iran by the U.S. and Western Europe coupled with Israeli threats to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. Read more…
TEN YEARS AFTER ‘GUJARAT’: THE MAN ACCUSED OF SANCTIONING IT IS POISED TO BECOME INDIA’S PRIME MINISTER
Stephanie Nolen
Crouched beside her husband waist deep in a rooftop water tank at 2 in the morning, Anjuman Bano listened to her Hindu neighbours debate. Would they smuggle the pair to safety? Or toss them to the mob howling for Muslim blood below? Read more…
GUJARAT: STATEMENT OF HONORABLE JUSTICE HOSBET SURESH
Sabrang Trust/ Citizens for Justice and Peace
How does one live with the recurring memories of a gruesome past? Of the hideous acts of mass murder, rape and destruction of properties and livelihood? We have recorded all such stories, as each one, the victims, and all kith and kin of the dead, narrated with tears in their eyes and with no hope of any future, in our report, Crime Against Humanity. Read more…
MUSLIMS ARE GUJARAT’S NEW OUTCASTES: SURVEY
Roxy Gagdekar
The 2002 communal riots not only drove Muslims into new ghettos all over the state, they also reduced them to the status of second-class citizens who do not seem to exist for the government. This is the finding of a city-based NGO, Janvikas, which conducted a survey on the status of the minority community in the state after the riots. Read more…
GUJARAT 2002: WHAT JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS?
Christophe Jaffrelot
Ten years after the 2002 violence, the results of judicial proceedings have been very few in Gujarat. Read more…
TEN YEARS OF GUJARAT CARNAGE, CITIZENS COURTED ARREST IN AHMEDABAD
DEMANDING AMAN- EKHLASH-INSAAF
March 9, 2012: Today Movement for Secular Democracy (M.S.D.) and Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties organized a very spirited demonstration at Paldi Cross Road for Peace, Harmony and Justice in the state as a part of remembering of 10 years of Gujarat Carnage-2002 and the leading citizens of Gujarat courted arrest defying the police. Read more…
SPIRITED DEMONSTRATION IN NEW YORK ON 10th ANNIVERSARY OF GUJARAT POGROM
Vinod Mubayi
New York’s Union Square, a traditional arena for progressive groups, witnessed a spirited demonstration on March 3 commemorating the 10th anniversary of the pogrom when over 2000 Muslims were mercilessly massacred in Gujarat, the state often labeled as the “laboratory” of Hindutva and ruled by the BJP for a long time. Read more…
SAVING FACE – WITH GRACE
Kiran Omar
Pakistani Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary on the despicable practice of disfiguring women by throwing acid on their faces as an assertion of male supremacy and the efforts of a team of Pakistani and British doctor to restore their dignity. Read more…
THE SHAFIA TRIAL: A QUESTION OF ASSIMILATION
Tamkinat Mirza
Afghan immigrant to Canada Mohammed Shafia with the complicity of his son and second wife orchestrated the murder of his three daughters—Zainab (19), Sahar (17) and Geeti (13), as well as his first wife Rona Amir Mohammad, just because they violated strict family discipline. This medieval concept of family honor is not uncommon among South Asians and needs social disapproval. Read more…
NINE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE WOMEN ‘KILLED FOR HONOUR’ IN 2011
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)’s annual report, many people became victims of extrajudicial killing in 20111. Read more…
THE NORM OF THE PATRIARCH
Ram Puniyani
Hindu fascist organization Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) claims to build moral character but its cadre who now occupy important positions in governments in many parts of India including Karnatka were caught displaying lowest levels of conduct during the Assembly session. RSS’s political wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is busy doing damage control. Read more…
BRINGING BACK WHAT’S OURS
Arun Kumar
It is very likely that Indians hold over $500 billion of illegal money abroad. What are the facts and how to retrieve this asset, which indeed belongs to the people of India? Read more…
FIGURES BUST MYTH INDIA’S BUREAUCRACY IS “BLOATED”
Praveen Swami
Contrary to popular view, India does not have a high ratio of public servants relative to its population except in the conflict-torn or border regions. Read more…
THE SRI LANKAN CASE: RHETORIC, REALITY AND NEXT STEPS?
Centre for Policy Alternatives
The plight of Tamil civilians and surviving LTTE recruits represents on of the horrors of wars of attrition. Both the democratic forces of Sri Lanka and the world over have been urging the Sri Lanka government to abide by the internationally recognized norms of human rights. However, the steps taken by the government of Sri Lanka to restore basic rights of Tamil civilians have been too little and recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission(LLRC) have not been implemented. Read more…
SRI LANKA: AWAKENING CALL FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The resolution introduced by Human Rights organizations of 40 co-sponsoring countries calling upon the government of Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been approved by a majority. Read more…
MADNESS IS NOT THE REASON FOR THIS MASSACRE
Robert Fisk
The massacre of 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar by 38-year-old staff sergeant is being dubbed as an action of a “deranged” soldier rather than a manifestation of the policy of NATO against a poor country. Read more…
DON’T NORTHWOODS IRAN
Jacob G. Hornberger
America and its allies hyped American for the need to attack Iraq; now they are doing the same for an attack against Iran. In the first case it was the questions of weapons of mass destruction and now a scare is being created about Iran developing nuclear weapons. Read more…
LIVES OF MILLIONS HINGE ON SUPREME COURT’S RULING ON GENERIC DRUGS
Daya Varma
India’s generic drugs are a life-line for millions of sick in India and Africa because they are a lot cheaper than the brand name drugs sold by the giant pharmaceutical companies. For example, India’s generic anti-AIDS drug cost $120 per patient per year in contrast to the same drug, with brand name, which costs $1200 per year. Read more…
US SPECIAL FORCES STATIONED IN NEPAL
Rajan Pokhrel
Kathmandu: A top Pentagon Commander has said that the United States has stationed its Special Forces team of the US Pacific Command in Nepal to contain violent extremist forces. Read more…
LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA BY EMINENT DEVELOPMENT ECONOMISTS
Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India (March 12, 2012)
Dear Prime Minister,
We welcome the tabling of a National Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha as an important step towards the elimination of hunger and under-nutrition in India. However, we feel that the Bill in its current form has some serious shortcomings. We are writing to propose a simpler and more effective framework for the Public Distribution System (PDS), which requires only minor amendments of the Bill. Read more…
SLAIN INDIAN POLICE SERVICE OFFICER HONORED
Aligarh Alumni Association (DC, USA) honors AMU alumnus, slain IPS officer, Narendra Kumar Singh by establishing a scholarship in his name. Read more…
CPI (ML) SEVERELY CONDEMNS ABDUCTION OF TWO ITALIAN TOURISTS BY MAOISTS
The abduction of two Italian tourists by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) [CPI-Maoist] is yet another example of diverting people’s attention from the crises faced by the ruling system. Read more…
ARREST OF THE JOURNALIST S.M. KAZMI PROTESTED
All India Left Coordination’s Statement
The arrest of senior journalist Syed Mohammed Kazmi in connection with the attack on an Israeli diplomat’s wife last month is condemnable, based as it is on accusations that carry little credibility. Read more…
MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADERS CONDEMN JOURNALIST KAZMI’S ARREST
Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims
New Delhi, 7 March 2012: Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims (CCIM), after an emergency meeting here at the Jamaat-e Islami Hind headquarters this evening, forcefully condemned the arrest of Journalist Muhammad Ahmad Kazmi by Delhi Special Police. Read more…
OBITUARY: MADELEINE PARENT (1918-2012)
Rima Elkouri
I see her, once again, at 82 years of age, taking the microphone so as to encourage thousands of women gathered in front of Place des Arts to continue taking up the struggle. I had imagined a giant. I saw a frail, soft-spoken old lady appear. But one shouldn’t judge by appearances. Activist Madeleine Parent, who left us this week, was a real giant whose courageous voice has marked history. Her legacy is immense. Read more…
MADELEINE PARENT (1918-2012)
Rick Salutin Columnist
During the Cold War, rumours were spread that she was Russian. Read more…
OBITUARY: PETER NOVICK (1935-2012)
Dennis Hevesi
Peter Novick, a history professor at the University of Chicago who stirred controversy in 1999 with a book contending that the legacy of the Holocaust had come to unduly dominate American Jewish identity, died on Feb. 17 at his home in Chicago. He was 77. Read more…
PETER NOVICK 77: AN APPRECIATION
Michael Berenbaum
Peter Novick argued that the Holocaust had been overemphasized in American culture and manipulated by prominent Jewish organizations to preclude any criticism of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians. He asserted that it was used to strengthen Jewish identity by making a long-defeated enemy central to that identity at precisely the point when Jews have gained full acceptance in American national life. Novick saw this as a fixation that allowed Jews to see themselves as oppressed when they have, in fact, become privileged. Read more…
OBITUARY: Dr. GOPAL MOHAN BHATNAGAR 1937- 2012
Zafar Iqbal
Rahe.n naa rahe.n ham, mahka kare.n gey…
[Whether I am around or not I shall be like a fragrance in the air] Read more…
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