News Alerts – India

By Giles Hewitt

NEW DELHI — India rolled out the red carpet Friday for Myanmar President Thein Sein, on a visit that followed his government’s release of 200 political detainees — the latest in a series of reformist moves.

The former general, who arrived in India on Wednesday and spent two days touring Buddhist pilgrimage sites, was given a full state welcome in New Delhi for the official leg of his three-day trip.

He then began a round of extensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The visit coincided with Myanmar’s release on Wednesday of nearly 200 political prisoners, in another tentative sign of change in the authoritarian state after decades of military rule and repression.

Traditional dress for men in Myanmar combines an Indian-influenced sarong with a Chinese-style coat — fitting, perhaps, for a nation trying to balance ties with two giant neighbours as it looks outwards and relaxes decades of tightly buttoned rule.
Wedged between India to its west and China to its east, Myanmar will need to work hard on that balancing act as its military-backed government heads down the path of political reform to end the nation’s pariah status and revive its economy.

By Sana Altaf

SRINAGAR, India, Oct 10, 2011 (IPS) – “Is Afzal Guru really the person that so many Indians supposedly want dead? Or are they taking out their frustrations on an easy target?” asked Human Rights Watch, referring to the death sentence handed down to the Kashmiri man who was convicted of conspiracy in the 2001 suicide attack on the Indian Parliament.
“For many, Afzal bears the burden of representing all those who dare to oppose Indian rule in restive parts of the country, because the attack on Parliament was an attack on India,” said the statement by Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia researcher for global rights watchdog HRW.
“Conversely, many Kashmiris would say that Afzal is a freedom fighter, planning an attempt at the symbol of Indian oppression,” adds the statement, titled ‘Life, Not Death: Why Afzal Mustn’t Hang’. “Both views are flawed. For this multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural state to survive, Indians have to believe in equal justice for all. And in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, there has been consistent failure to deliver on this promise.”

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.