The 22nd session of the 13th Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was held in May 2010 and continued for 10 working days after commencing on 3rd May 2010. Legislation, call attention notices, resolutions, motions, discussions on issues of public interest…
A spate of exceptionally brutal rapes in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has shocked India. Many of the victims were young girls. The BBC’s Geeta Pandey reports from Lucknow.
For Sarika, 16, it was like any other day when she went out to the fields for her evening ablutions with her friend Chhaya.
It was a cold February evening and it was pitch dark. “I was feeling a little scared so I wanted to get back quickly,” she tells me.
On the way back, she says, she was attacked by Shivam and three other men from the village.
We the citizens of India and Pakistan strongly condemn the inhuman and dastardly serial blasts in Mumbai on 13th July 2011 in which 21 innocent people were killed and over 140 injured. We offer our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and pray for quick and complete recovery of all those injured.
It is clear that these blasts are a well orchestrated heinous conspiracy to derail the resumption of the dialogue and peace process between India and Pakistan that was stalled following the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008.
With the resumption of dialogue in the last 6 months both the countries had made significant progress towards normalisation of relations and resolution of a number of outstanding issues through a series of high level meetings and exchange programs. The all important meeting of the foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan is scheduled at the end of this month to address a number of crucial issues and the blasts seem to be engineered to disrupt this meeting and derail the peace process once again. It must be remembered that the terror attack in Mumbai in November 2008 was also carried out about two weeks before the scheduled meeting of the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in mid December 2008.
I. A. Rehman
HOWEVER strong the temptation for the PPP to call MQM’s bluff, the problems involved in this week’s sweeping changes in several key areas of governance need not have been ignored, for this is not a matter between two parties only; it affects the entire population of Sindh.
No doubt there were problems with the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 but there were problems with the legislation of 1979 too, and perhaps more serious ones. Replacing the edifice created by one authoritarian ruler with the handiwork of the dictator preceding him does no credit to anyone with democratic pretensions. The Zia system has been overtaken by events during the past 32 years. The most important development has been the realisation that good governance is impossible without consolidation of local bodies as the third tier of constitutional government with all necessary administrative and financial powers.
BIMAL GAUTAM
KATHMANDU, July 13: The newly drafted National Human Rights Commission bill, which is expected to pass into law shortly, has provisions for making human rights violators liable to pay compensation to their victims.
Provisions in Sub-Clauses 7 and 8 under Clause 17 of the NHRC Bill-2068 BS states that those involved in human rights violation deliberately or with ill intent have to pay compensation to the victims or their families as per the findings of the NHRC.
“A person who is found guilty of human rights violations has to pay cash compensation to the victim or victims from his or her salary or any other source of income,” reads the relevent provision.
The Dang District Court on Sunday convicted 10 people on the charge of raping an 18-year-old woman following her abduction in Tulsipur on June 29, 2010. Among the convicted seven are in police custody, while the remaining three are still at large.
The court handed out 10 years jail sentence and a fine of Rs 50,000 each to four of the defendants—Buddi Prakash KC, Sunil Wali, Yadav Tandan Khatri and Suresh KC—and prison term of two years each to Sachin Yogi, Krishna Sagar Wali and Minketan Giri. The court gave four years jail term and a fine of Rs 5,000 each to three absconding convicts—Nabin Basnet, Chandra BM and Rajiv Koirala—for aiding and abetting.
Shahani Singh
UL 09 – It was in April this year when three worried adults in Humla submitted a letter of appeal to the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB), a statutory body under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare. Humble words requested for help in repatriating girl children from Tamil Nadu, India- “…a place wherefrom it is impossible to learn of their well being and condition…and where our children have expressed over the telephone their inability to continue staying”-the letter states in Nepali.
Guardians Dhan Maya Lama, Saraswati Lama and Krishna Lama (names changed) of Humla had entrusted the responsibility of their children to a local politician in the year 2004, convinced of his promises to educate them in a boarding school in Kathmandu, away from the conflict-ridden place that Humla was in those years. But in the year 2006, the parents came to learn that their children had been taken all the way down to Tamil Nadu, and they were not even informed about it. “When he first took them, we gave him money for taking our children to a better place. But it has been seven years now and he refuses to bring them back to us,” said Dhan Maya over the telephone from Humla.
B G Verghese
BJP-parivar is preparing to take power from what it believes is a tottering Congress. Battleground of choice is to be the UP.
The prime minister has spoken belatedly and, rather than address a televised press conference, done so through a select group of print editors. This admittedly was not the ideal choice but it was a genuine effort at communication by an essentially reserved and soft-spoken leader. The outcome has been greeted with dismay by critics. But, despite the reservations expressed, it would be fatuous to dismiss Manmohan Singh’s remarks.
He warned against creating a climate of cynicism and despair, amplified by a media often prone to playing God’s magistrate.
The 23rd session of the National Assembly of Pakistan was held in June 2010 and continued for 24 days after it commenced on 3rd June 2010. Although, it was mainly a budget session for the fiscal year 2009-10 and…
The 21st session of the 13th Constituent Assembly of Pakistan continued for seven working days. The session commenced on April 1, 2010 and ended on 9th of the same month. Business conducted during the House proceedings includes legislation, call…