November 21, 2019
WASHINGTON – In a strong defense of India’s move to abrogate special status for Jammu and Kashmir, a representative of the Kashmiri Pandit community told a Congressional hearing that those talking of human rights violations in Kashmir today cannot ignore the rights of the Kashmiri Hindus who were forced to flee by Islamic terrorists and radicals in 1990.
Testifying before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Nov. 14, writer and political commentator Sunanda Vashisht said while the world is expressing horror at the brutality of the Islamic State outfit’s actions in Syria and elsewhere, the Kashmiri Hindu community had witnessed it 30 years ago.
“We have seen ISIS-level of horror and brutality in Kashmir 30 years before the West was even…
Read moreNovember 21, 2019
This photo taken on July 1, 2018 shows Indian women whose relatives were murdered in a lynching incident being led away from the crime scene area by villagers in Dhule district, some 330 kilometres (205 miles) from Mumbai. Indian police said July 2 they have arrested 23 people after five men were bludgeoned to death by a crazed mob in yet another horrific lynching to rock the country. (AFP photo)
As many as nine states witnessed increased incidents of communal violence this year compared to last year in India, revealed intelligence agencies last week.
Uttar Pradesh state topped the list with 457 communal cases in 2019 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 30, as compared to 396 incidents the previous year during…
November 21, 2019
Thousands of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India, who were marching to parliament to protest the massive hike in hostel fees were detained and baton-charged, leaving some of them grievously injured yesterday. The students continued their march but were stopped at many places. The protesters said they would not relent until the government withdrew the fee hike. Officer-bearers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) were detained and taken to an undisclosed location.
There was massive police deployment near the university in a bid to prevent the students from marching.
“Twelve of us have been put in a bus and been taken to unknown location because we were peacefully marching for our right to education,” Aishe…
Read moreNovember 18, 2019
‘For Muslims, India is now a Hindu Rashtra, no matter what kind of Constitution is still in place,’ argues Mohammad Sajjad.
For Muslims in Independent India, two dates will be more important than many other important dates: December 6, 1992, already etched in memory as Black Sunday, and November 9, 2019.
True, there are many Muslims who were born after December 6, 1992, but they have grown up with its impact on their parents, neighbourhoods, kith and kin.
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Read moreNovember 13, 2019
The letter from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs arrived in September 2019. My mother sent me a WhatsApp message of the letter, informing me that the Government of India was revoking my Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI). India doesn’t recognize dual nationality and the OCI – a permanent visa for persons of Indian origin – is the nearest equivalent to dual citizenship and provided to millions of Indians around the world. I had 21 days to respond and to contest their claims; it was day 20 when I had received the letter. If I didn’t respond it would be presumed I had nothing to say in the matter and my OCI would be cancelled. I responded by email…
Read moreNovember 13, 2019
Writer Aatish Taseer’s Overseas Citizenship of India status has been revoked for not complying with “very basic requirements” and concealing information, the Home Ministry said on Thursday, disputing a media report suggesting the move was linked to a story published in the Time magazine in May.
The UK-born writer, however, countered the government saying he had not been given enough time to respond to the charges. Mr Taseer, according to sources, had “comprehensively replied” to the August 13 notice and now plans to legally challenge the revocation of his OCI status.
“Mr Aatish Ali Taseer, while submitting his PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) application, concealed the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin,” Home Ministry spokesperson Vasudha Gupta tweeted.
Mr…
November 13, 2019
NEW DELHI: The United States House of Representatives held a public hearing on October 22 on human rights in south Asia, whose first part saw congresspersons question their government on its position and policies in the region.
The hearing in front of a packed hall…
Read moreNovember 13, 2019
The Supreme Court judgment on the Babri Masjid title suit is a stalker’s dream. It documents more than 150 years of violence and intimidation and grants the title wholly to the harassing party. One can imagine the Supreme Court bench of judges retiring to their chambers after watching Darr, and then deciding that the girl should go to the psychopath.
The 1,045-page judgment again and again circles back to the fact that Hindus worshipped in the outer courtyard of the complex, and harassed Muslims going into the mosque in the inner courtyard. It also cites that Hindus used to frequent the mosque before the riots of 1856, which starts the evidentiary trail. Hindu worship in the outer courtyard was never…
April 16, 2018
Holding him responsible for the “terrifying state of affairs”, 49 retired civil servants, in an open letter, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reach out to the families of the Kathua and Unnao rape victims to “seek their forgiveness”.
“We have had enough of these belated remonstrations and promises to bring justice when the communal cauldron is forever kept boiling by forces nested within the Sangh parivar,” they added.
The Wire is reproducing here full text of the open letter below.
We are a group of retired civil servants who came together last year to express our concern at the decline in the secular, democratic, and liberal values enshrined in our constitution. We did so to join other voices…
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