Tag Archives: human rights

“Whether it is a hydro electric project, Indus water treaty, it is the people of Kashmir who have to live with the consequences”

Beyond the visible causes for September 2014 deluge in valley, lie the subtle reasons rooted in the network of occupation. The recently released document by Coalition of Civil Society (CCS), entitled ‘Occupational Hazards’ has brought to fore the uncounted repercussions of militarization of Kashmir. In conversation with Saima Bhat, the researchers behind the report, have…

India rejects US panel report on religious freedom

India has rejected a US government panel report that claims direct link between the 2014 general elections and the spike in attacks on religious minorities in the country. The report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says that since the 2014 elections, religious minority communities in India have been “subject to derogatory…

‘Ask India to rebuke religious leaders for insulting remarks’

Washington: A US Congress-established panel has asked the Obama Administration to press the Indian government to publicly rebuke officials and religious leaders who make derogatory remarks about communities and to boost religious freedom standards in the pluralistic country. The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its annual report urged the US government to…

Pakistan hunts clues to activist’s murder as free-speech fears grow

Pakistani investigators have found no match for casings of bullets that killed a prominent human rights activist, dashing hopes for quick answers to a murder that has raised fears for the safety of dissenting voices. Gunmen on a motorcycle attacked activist Sabeen Mahmud late last Friday in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi, as she was…

Over 1000 Hindu girls abducted, converted and forcibly married in Pakistan: Human Rights Activists

Addressing a meeting in New York human rights activists Raj Kumar Wanjara and Asad Chandio have said that in Pakistan conditions of Hindus is going from bad to worse. Unprecedented atrocities are being heaped on Hindus. They said that that last year in Pakistan 1265 Hindu girls were abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married…

Mohamed Nasheed’s trial a sham, says Amnesty

Amnesty International on Thursday slammed the deteriorating human rights situation in the Maldives and termed the trial of former president Mohamed Nasheed “a sham”. Nasheed was sentenced on terrorism charges to 13 years in prison in March. “Mohamed Nasheed’s imprisonment came after a sham trial, but he is far from the only one locked up…

Rajya Sabha passes private bill protecting rights of transgenders

In a rare legislative action, a private member’s Bill seeking to protect the rights of transgenders was passed unanimously by voice vote in Rajya Sabha on Friday. The “Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014”, moved by Tiruchi Siva (DMK) was passed after leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it would not…

REFILE-Pakistani security agencies to investigate activist’s murder

Pakistan’s military intelligence agencies will investigate the murder of a human rights activist, shot after she hosted a talk on disappearances and killings in Baluchistan province where the army is fighting separatists, the military said on Saturday. Sabeen Mahmud was leaving her Karachi cafe, where she holds art exhibitions and talks, when gunman on a…

Malala condemns female activist’s murder in Pakistan

Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has condemned the killing of female human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi and demanded the earliest arrest of the assailants, a media report said on Sunday. Mahmud, who founded the social forum T2F, was shot dead on Friday night minutes after the end of an interactive discussion on…

Millions of poor uprooted by World Bank-funded projects – journalists

More than three million of the world’s poorest people have been forced from their homes, land and jobs over the past decade by World Bank-funded projects, an investigation showed on Thursday as the global lender vowed to review its policies. The World Bank, which aims to end extreme poverty, has repeatedly violated its own policies…