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Lawyers Collective Sri Lanka Urges Govt to Control Armed Forces

The Lawyers Collective in Sri Lanka issued a statement Saturday, condemning the violence unleashed on civil protesters and the killing of a number of the same. The statement called on the Government of Sri Lanka to control its armed forces whilst strongly condemning the Government’s continuous ferocity against peaceful protesters.

‘The Government has displayed total disrespect to the constitutional guarantees on civil liberties of its own citizens.  Evidence clearly establishes that deplorable levels of force including live bullets were used on the unarmed villagers. The assailants also assaulted journalists and grabbed their cameras by force when they were doing their job covering the event. Lawyers Collective urges stern actions against those responsible for ordering and carrying out this brutal attack.Description: http://www.southasianrights.org/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif

The legal fraternity urges the Government to control its military and ensure that they are used for legitimate purposes only. In a constitutional democracy, attacking peaceful unarmed protesters or disrupting legitimate civil activities of the citizens is not a legitimate objective of the Armed Forces or the law enforcement authorities.

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Pakistan: Governance sans thinking

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.

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India – Keep Promises on Human Rights: HRW

(New York) – India should immediately implement its laws and policies to strengthen its human rights protections as a new member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch said last week in a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. When it presented its candidacy to the Human Rights Council, India pledged to uphold the highest standards to promote and protect human rights.

“India has made significant promises outlining its human rights record and commitments,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Now it’s time for India to keep those promises.”

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