Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
DEPORTATION OF NAWAZ SHARIF REVEALS LAWLESSNESS OF MUSHARRAF
Daya Varma
Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minsiter of Pakistan who was ousted by the current President General Pervez Musharraf in a coup in 1998 and exiled, returned, as promised, to Pakistan on September 10. But he could not come out of the airport and was put on a plane along with his associates for Saudi Arabia.
PAKISTAN: WE HAVE TO REMAIN THE WATCHDOGS
Nirupama Subramanian
(The Hindu, September 09, 2007; source SACW Sep 8-10, 07)
Asma Jehangir, Supreme Court lawyer and chairperson of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, is internationally renowned as a tireless activist of the rights of women, children and religious minorities; a fearless voice against military rule and a dogged campaigner for democracy in her country.
INDIA’S RESPONSE TO DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL
The Home Ministry alerted all the five states along Indo-Nepal border (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim) and asked the para-military forces to step up vigilance on the 1,751-km boundary in the wake of Maoists withdrawing from the government and starting a new agitation.
NEPAL MAOISTS QUIT GOVERNMENT, START NEW PROTEST MOVEMENT
Life in Kathmandu comes to a grinding halt, people out in the street demanding republican government. More than a lakh vow to rewrite Nepal’s political hope.
IT IS A MATTER OF SECULARISM AND NOT A MATTER OF FAITH
Irfan Engineer
[Some Hindu religious zealots believe that in ancient times, monkeys built a bridge on the Indian ocean between India and Sri Lanka to facilitate the passage of the army of their god Rama to go to the land of Ravana; in the confrontation between the state and the fundamentalists, the spineless United Progressive Government of India has backed down. The article below by Irfan Engineer presents an analysis of this episode. Ed.]
CPM BREATHES SACHAR FIRE
[The article below was supplied by Kaleem Kawaja with the following note: “On behalf of a large number of Indian-Americans, especially those who happen to be Muslim, I wish to thank CPM (Communist Party of India – Marxist) for their honest and principled stand in taking to task the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government (led by Congress) for doing lip service to the Sachar Committee report, but doing very little to implement it. This has been the signature behavior of Congress party for 60 years whenever they are faced with a matter of principle. No matter who are the needy community they play this charade. They say one thing and do the other. What a decline for the 100 plus years old party that gave India its freedom from colonialism. It is refreshing to see CPM take a principled stand.” ed.]
INDIAN DIASPORA’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN US ARE TRULY REMARKABLE
Kaleem Kawaja
Kaleem Kawaja (KK), a Mechanical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, is an engineering manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington DC. He is the founder and President of the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), Washington DC.
MORE ON THE INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
With the formation of a joint committee by the Congress and the left parties charged with reviewing the Indo-US nuclear deal, the overt political rift among the members of the UPA has been temporarily papered over, pending the output of the deliberations of the committee. Furthermore, the somewhat positive statements of Jyoti Basu and Buddhadev Bhattacharjee regarding nuclear energy have revealed differences in the left’s own camp. How this will play out over the next few months and what impact it will have on the survival of the UPA regime and the prospects for fresh elections remains uncertain.
THE CRACKDOWN IN MYANMAR
Daya Varma
The military junta in Myanmar (Burma) has resorted to what it is good at – killing and imprisoning its citizens who are demanding democracy, no more. The fate of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for almost 18 years is not known. Monasteries have been locked, access to the internet has been curbed and cell phones are nonfunctional, and several newspapers have stopped publication.
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