Author page: SAHR

R. KRITHIKA

With a certain Standing Committee so much in the news, let us look at what is happening with another Standing Committee looking into a Bill to protect children from sexual abuse by adults. Author-activist Pinki Virani, a National Award winner for Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse in India, has been lobbying for a comprehensive law on this issue for more than a decade. Here, she opens up on the detailed letter she has sent the Standing Committee on what more needs to be fixed before the Parliament votes it in as a landmark law. Excerpts from an interview…

IMPHAL, October 1: The Save Democracy: Repeal Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 will organized a peaceful march demanding repeal of the AFSPA on October 2, starting from Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg, New Delhi from 11:30am onwards, stated a statement of the organization.

It has stated that Gandhi, the father of the nation and the epitome of peace and non-violence taught the world a way of protest unheard of before in the history, a path of love and tolerance, that would gradually soften the heart of the perpetrator when adorned with a sense of rationale and informed logic.

David Barsamian, activist, writer and founder of the national radio show “Alternative Radio,” was deported from New Delhi, India on Monday. Barsamian was on his way to Srinagar, the capital of Jammu Kashmir for a three week long investigation into reports of mass graves found in the area. His trip was prompted by the Indian State Human Rights Commission’s release of a three year long inquiry and report which found over 2,000 bodies buried in 38 different unmarked graves in Kashmir. While the Indian Government stated that Barsamian was deported because he had violated his Visa stipulations on his previous India trip in 2009, others in the human rights community suspected that the real reason was to avert attention from the ongoing allegations of abuse and torture by Indian security forces in response to a rebellion in Kashmir that began in 1989 and continues today.

LUDHIANA, Punjab (September 26, 2011)–The mass level of human rights abuses in Punjab by police and para-military forces finds a Wikileaks link. A recent “expose” by Wikileaks mentions the existence of “Alam Sena” (Army of Black Cats responsible for mass tortures and killings) deployed by Mohammad Izhar Alam, a senior Punjab Police officer and a very close affiliate of Punjab CM Parkash Badal.

The communication, referred to as a “cable,” sent by the New Delhi based US Embassy on December 19, 2005 and released by Wikileaks, mentions the existence of “Alam Sena.” This cable is in response to certain issues and specific questions relating to the extradition of Kulbir Singh Barapind from the US to India.

NEW YORK (US): Hundreds of Kashmiris and Sikhs staged separate demonstrations in front of the United Nations building when the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was addressing the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly, reports KMS.

The demonstrators urged the international community to raise its voice against human rights abuses by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir and Indian state of Punjab. The Kashmiris carrying placards and raising slogans called on the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to implement resolutions of the World Body that gave the Kashmiris the right to decide their fate by themselves. They also demanded an end to the atrocities being committed by Indian police and troops in the occupied territory.

Lamka, Sep 9: The Zomi Human Rights Foundation today rallied behind the icon of public resistance, Irom Sharmila Chanu, saying the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, is more of a nuisance than a solution.
A statement of the rights body as well suggested, “Irom Sharmila Chanu’s protest and campaign to repeal the AFSPA must be heard and consider as a democratic non-violent protest.” The Act which gives extra-ordinary power to the security forces was imposed in some States of North East India with the noble intention of controlling militancy but ended up leasing an undeclared State of emergency for undefined reasons and for an unlimited period, it alleged.

Calcutta, Sept. 9: The “abduction” of children from a school to feed the supply chain of a rally has shed light on how an “enlightened” Bengal has learnt to live comfortably with the abuse of the moral and legal rights of its children.

A day after 45 children were plucked out of their school and made to march through the heart of the city, police split legal hairs, some parties found leaving children alone “absurd” and others seemed to suggest that children’s inalienable rights could be trampled with the consent of parents.

Rajdeep Sardesai

‘Why don’t you cover Irom Sharmila’s decade-old fast with the same intensity as you did Anna Hazare’s 12-day fast?’ asked Binalakshmi Nepram, the founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network with characteristic passion. On stage in a live programme, there was no escape. “Perhaps, it’s because Ramlila Maidan is closer to television studios than Imphal,” was my feeble response.
The ‘tyranny of distance’ can only be a part-explanation for why a 39-year-old Manipuri woman’s fast that began in November 2000 for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has not resonated across TV channels and the nation in the manner that Anna Hazare’s did.