Human Rights – Page 13

Drowned Syrian Toddler Is Buried in Kobane

September 4, 2015 by Nasheman

Abdullah Kurdi (center), father of the drowned three-year-old boy, holds his son’s body during the funeral in Kobane. Photo via Dicle News Agency/EPA

by VICE News

The body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi has been laid to rest in the Syrian town of Kobane on Friday, alongside his brother and mother, who also died trying to reach Greece.

The shocking photographs of the drowned Syrian child, washed up on a beach near Bodrum, Turkey, have sparked international outcry this week. The images have reignited the debate as to how to help those fleeing from war and how to solve the European refugee crisis, where thousands have died trying to reach Europe by sea.

The child’s father, Abdullah Kurdi, buried his family in the ‘Martyrs’ Ceremony’ in the predominantly Kurdish town, near the border with Turkey.

Speaking at the border crossing, he called upon neighboring Arab countries to help Syrian refugees. Kurdi said: “What I want now is for Arab states, not the European ones, the Arab states, to see what happened to my children.”

In an interview with the BBC, Kurdi described how he lost his family at sea when the boat they were travelling by capsized: “I tried to steer the boat but another high wave pushed the boat over. That is when it happened,” he said.

“My children were the most beautiful children in the world. Is there anybody in the world for whom their child is not the most precious thing?”

It was initially reported that the Kurdi family was refused entry into Canada, yet an aunt in Vancouver clarified that she had tried to sponsor other relatives first.

Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his condolences to the family during a speech on Thursday, and promised to “do more” if re-elected: “We should be doing everything, we are doing everything and and we will do more of everything,” he said.

Yet opposition Liberal leader Justin Trudeau retorted: “You don’t get to suddenly discover compassion in the middle of an election campaign. You either have it or you don’t.”

Other world leaders have also been criticized for not taking in more Syrian refugees, including British Prime Minister David Cameron. He has now vowed to accept “thousands” more people from UN camps bordering Syria.

On Friday, the UN refugee agency announced that Britain will accept 4,000 refugees from Syrian camps.

Drowned Syrian toddler was denied asylum in Canada: report

September 3, 2015 by Nasheman

A Turkish police officer carries a young boy who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos. Photograph: Reuters

by Tamar Pileggi, The Times of Israel

The toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach Wednesday was a Syrian-Kurdish refugee whose family was desperately trying to reach North America, even though Canada had rejected their request for asylum.

The image of a policeman cradling the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach has triggered horrified reactions as the tragedy of Europe’s burgeoning refugee crisis hits home.

Aylan drowned along with his mother and five-year-old brother and at least a dozen others when the overloaded boat they were traveling in capsized during an attempt to reach the Greek Island of Kos. Images of Aylan lying face down in the surf at one of Turkey’s main tourist resorts sparked horror across the globe, with many demanding Europe ease the path for the thousands of refugees fleeing war.

Another 15 people were rescued from the boat, including the father of the family, Abdullah. According to the report, he said he now wishes to return to bury his family in their hometown.

Canadian legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press that a Vancouver-area woman had sought to sponsor the mother and two children but that her request was turned down by immigration officials.

The Ottowa Citizen quotes Aylan’s aunt, who immigrated to Vancouver over two decades ago, as saying that the Kurdi family’s privately funded refugee application had been rejected by Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Department in June, due to the catch 22-like dilemma displaced Syrians face.

Like thousands of other refugees in Turkey, they were not registered as refugees by the UN refugee agency, and the Turkish government does not to grant exit visas to unregistered refugees without valid passports.

“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbors who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat. I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there,” Teema Kurdi said.

Aylan and his family were traveling on a tiny boat built for four people but thought to have been carrying 15 refugees. The family is believed to be from the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani to have fled to Turkey last year to escape Islamic State extremists.

While the escalating migrant crisis has exposed deep divisions in the EU’s policy, the plight of Syrian refugees took center stage on the Canadian campaign trail this week, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisting that he would do more to help if his Tories are re-elected.

Harper has come under fire for not welcoming more Syrians fleeing their country’s deadly conflict. Canada agreed to resettle 20,000 refugees, but, as of late July, had only welcomed 1,002, according to government figures.

“As long as we have organizations like ISIS or the so-called Islamic State, creating literally millions of refugees and threatening to slaughter people all over the world, there is no solution to that through refugee policy,” Harper said. “We have to take a firm and military stance against ISIS and that’s what we’re doing.”

Canada joined the US-led coalition fighting the extremist group in November 2014, adding airstrikes on targets in Syria the following year.

‘Humanity washes ashore’ goes viral as photos capture horror of war, plight of refugees

September 3, 2015 by Nasheman

#KiyiyaVuranInsanlik

A Turkish police officer stands next to the body of the young boy. Photograph: Reuters

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

A series of heartbreaking photos showing a young boy—believed to be a refugee from Syria—washed up on the beach in Turkey after a failed attempt to cross the sea to Greece is being shared and discussed across the world on Wednesday after many media outlets decided to publish the images as a way to confront Europeans—and humanity at large—with a “stark reminder” that “more and more refugees are dying in their desperation to flee persecution and reach safety.”

A Turkish police officer carries a young boy who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos. Photograph: Reuters

Under the social media hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (which translates from the Turkish as “humanity washes ashore”), the photos have spurred a global outcry surrounding the plight of those families and individuals who have become victims to the “callous indifference” of western nations and what international aid groups have decried as a broken system for the world’s ballooning refugee population.

As the Guardian reports:

The full horror of the human tragedy unfolding on the shores of Europe was brought home on Wednesday as images of the lifeless body of a young boy – one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned attempting to reach the Greek island of Kos – encapsulated the extraordinary risks refugees are taking to reach the west.

The picture, taken on Wednesday morning, depicted the dark-haired toddler, wearing a bright-red T-shirt and shorts, washed up on a beach, lying face down in the surf not far from Turkey’s fashionable resort town of Bodrum.

A second image portrays a grim-faced policeman carrying the tiny body away. Within hours it had gone viral becoming the top trending picture on Twitter under the hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (humanity washed ashore).

The two images described can be see here and here. (Warning: these images are graphic and may be distressing to view.)

Though only one young life out of the nearly three thousand people estimated to have died so far this year while attempting to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, the pictures of the young boy appear to have captured the collective sorrow of those sickened by a world in which children—with or without their families—are forced to face such dangers in order to escape the threats of war and impoverishment that have made their homelands unlivable.

(Editor’s note: Despite agreeing with the sentiment that such images should be seen as a way for the general public to be confronted with the horrors wrought by endless war, a global assault on human rights, and the scourge of poverty and statelessness that results, Common Dreams has decided not to publish the images on our pages given their ubiquity elsewhere and in deference to the unidentified child’s family and anyone who may be needlessly traumatized by viewing such images.)

Responding to the impact the photo was having, Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, told the Guardian the “tragic image of a little boy who’s lost his life fleeing Syria is shocking and is a reminder of the dangers children and families are taking in search of a better life. This child’s plight should concentrate minds and force the EU to come together and agree to a plan to tackle the refugee crisis.”

Explaining why it published the un-edited photos prominently on its homepage, the UK-based Independent said it made the decision “because, among the often glib words about the ‘ongoing migrant crisis,’ it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees.”

While dramatic images of desperate refugees “emerge almost every day,” the newspaper continued, “the attitude of Europe’s policymakers and much of the public have continued to harden.”

In an open letter to “anyone who ever talked down the refugee crisis,” the Independent‘s sister publication, i100, went further on the necessity of the general public seeing the photos. Addressed to a cross-section of individuals and groups of people who have framed the plight of refugees seeking asylum in Europe as a “migrant crisis”—specifically [British Prime Minister] David Cameron, Theresa May, Nigel Farage, the Daily Express, protesters in Germany, Katie Hopkins, Philip Hammond, anyone who has ever written a disparaging comment on a Mail Online article, police in Hungary, the governments of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia, the people of Britain, Czech police, tourists in Kos, Tony Abbott, cartoonists, Ukip MEPs and people on Twitter—the letter chastises those who have disparaged and dehumanized those desperate enough to make the journey while “spreading anti-migrant and anti-refugee sentiment” across Europe and beyond. It states:

Some of you have hauled refugees off trains and written numbers on their arms.

Some of you have simply built a wall.

Somehow you’ve lost sight of the simple fact that our fellow humans are in dire need of help, having fled death and destruction in their homelands only to face an even more perilous journey into Europe.

Somehow you’ve stopped seeing refugees, and they are refugees, for what they are, and tried to deny them the assistance they are legally, and morally, entitled to.

But it has to end, and end now. It has to end because people are dying in their thousands, because Europe’s reputation as a champion of human rights is disintegrating, because if we don’t act now we will regret it for the rest of our history.

“Enough is enough,” the letter concluded. “Attitudes have to change. See the human and not the imagined danger that anything is under threat apart from these people’s lives. A refugee crisis unlike any other since the Second World War is unfurling on our doorstep and now is the time to help people who need it the most.”

Despite the distressing and repetitive imagery, the social media conversation surrounding the images continues on Twitter and other platforms.

The state of the right to life in India

August 27, 2015 by Nasheman

The right to life of at least 130,407 persons or 1,086 persons per month violated in India during 2004-2005 and 2013-2014

New Delhi: Releasing the report, The State of the Right to Life in India, the first ever study on the subject, Asian Centre for Human Rights today stated, “The right to life is perhaps the most violated right in India. In the last 10 years from 2004-2005 to 2013-2014, as per official records the right to life of at least 130,407 persons or 1,086 persons per month were violated either by the State agencies or caused by the failure of the State agencies to fulfill their responsibilities to prevent violations by the non-State actors. The majority of the victims are women (80,947) followed by victims of custodial deaths (16,465), encounter deaths (10,900), deaths in police firing (2,527), deaths of 10,219 civilians in militancy/Naxal related violence, deaths in caste related violence (8,138) and deaths in communal violence (1,211).

From 2004-2005 to 2013-2014, this report counts 16,465 cases of custodial death (with 1,389 deaths in police custody, 15,076 deaths in judicial custody and 23 cases of death in the custody of the army and the central paramilitary forces); 10,900 deaths in “encounters” (1,654 deaths involving police and 9,246 deaths involving the armed forces and para-military forces, of which 4,005 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,650 in the North East and 1,591 in the Naxal affected areas); and 2,527 deaths in police firing.

The State’s failure to safeguard the right to life of individual citizens, particularly those belonging to vulnerable groups, during the same period also resulted in the death of 80,947 women (79,404 dowry killings and 1,543 killings of those suspected of witchcraft); 10,219 civilians in militancy/Naxal related violence; 8,138 (1,646 Scheduled Tribes and 6,492 Scheduled Castes) in identity-related violence; and 1,211 persons in communal violence.

The report states that though the Supreme Court of India has gradually expanded elements of the right to life, it has not been immune from its role to diminish the right to life. The report criticized the Supreme Court for arbitrary imposition of death penalty and stated that the Guidelines to deal with encounter killings which among others barred mandatory registration of FIRs in encounter deaths issued by the Supreme Court on 23 September 2014 in the case of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties & Anr v. State of Maharashtra & Ors are fallacious. The guidelines limited the powers of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) both on reporting of encounter killings by the police and in awarding compensation and has direct bearing on pending case of A.P. Police Officers Association v. A. P .Civil Liberties Committee & Ors [SLP(C) NO. 5933/2009].

The fallacious nature of the Supreme Court judgement in the PUCL case stands exposed from the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 16 April 2015 to register FIR against the members of the Special Task Force for murder of 20 labourers dubbed as smugglers in a forest in Chittoor district on 7 April 2015.

The report stated that impunity is the root cause for violations of the right to life. In the highly unusual situation that an independent and timely investigation is secured and a chargesheet filed against State security force personnel, prosecution is virtually impossible to pursue since Section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) stipulate that prior permission must be sought from the government. There are well-known cases in which prosecution has stopped for want of permission from the government to prosecute the accused.

“Unless impunity is addressed, the violations of the right to life cannot be effectively reduced” – stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights.

Pakistan police officers held in child-abuse probe

August 13, 2015 by Nasheman

Three officers transferred amid scandal over abuse of hundreds of children for nearly a decade in Punjab province.

People have protested in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Three Pakistani police officers have been transferred to other districts over accusations of negligence amid a deepening scandal over a paedophile ring alleged to have abused hundreds of children for nearly a decade, officials say.

A prominent family in the central Punjabi village of Husain Khan Wala allegedly used guns, knives and axes to force children – some as young as five – to perform sex acts on video, which they then sold or used to extort money from the victims’ families, villagers said.

This weekend, the prime minister pledged an investigation after Pakistani media covered protests by parents claiming that police in the district of Kasur had not investigated their complaints.

The officers were removed from their posts “for their negligence on the Kasur sex scandal”, Nabeela Ghazanfar, a spokesperson for the provincial police, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

Rai Babar, the district police chief, and two deputy superintendents were reassigned out of the district. Police in Pakistan are rarely sacked.

Parents told Reuters that police had refused to register some complaints and treated some of the victims “like criminals”.

The police have arrested 14 suspects so far. Seven cases have been registered against them for alleged sodomy, kidnapping and torture, Muhammad Amin, a police official, said.

The accused would be tried in an anti-terrorism court, Amin said. Law enforcement officials frequently use the anti-terror courts to bypass Pakistan’s moribund judicial system.

On Monday, opposition politicians criticised the ruling party over the scandal in Punjab, the country’s biggest and wealthiest province and the political heartland of the ruling party.

Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab’s chief minister and the brother of the prime minister, said on Tuesday that he was “personally monitoring” the case.

“We will not let anyone involved in this incident escape the law and justice. All victims and their families will be provided every possible assistance to identify culprits without any fear,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Parents in Kasur have protested that police in the district in Punjab did not investigate their complaints [The Associated Press]

Pakistan stumbles upon its ‘biggest’ child abuse case

August 10, 2015 by Nasheman

Shock and anger as police discovers 400 video recordings of more than 280 children being forced to have sex in Punjab.

People have protested in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Officials in the Pakistani state of Punjab have called for a federal inquiry into what it called the largest-ever child abuse case in the South Asian country’s history involving nearly 300 children.

The government of Punjab state on Sunday ordered a judicial investigation into the case that came to light last week after discovery of about 400 video recordings of more than 280 children being forced to have sex.

“Those involved in the case will be severely punished. They will not be able to escape their fate. The affected families will be provided with justice at any cost,” Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper website.

So far seven people have been reportedly arrested by the police over the case that has shocked the nation of 180 million.

Most of the victims were under 14, including a six-year-old boy, Rai Babar Saeed, district police chief of Kasur, where the incident happened, told reporters, adding that a 10-year-old schoolgirl was filmed being molested by a 14-year-old boy.

Videos of these assaults were filmed and thousands of copies are believed to have been sold in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district, the police said.

One of the victims said he was injected in the spine with a drug before he was assaulted, they added.

Government in denial

The scale of the scandal emerged earlier this week after the victims’ parents clashed with the police during a protest against their failure to prosecute the men who orchestrated the scandal.

Child abuse is an outrageous inhuman act. Sad that it takes a land dispute to highlight it. Shows failure of govt & civil society equally.

— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) August 9, 2015

Pakistan experienced a similar tragedy in the late 1990s, when 100 children were sexually abused and murdered in Lahore by Javed Iqbal Mughal, a serial killer.

Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Islamabad, said that a gang of 25 men were involved in the crime, coordinating it.

“Some of the victims’ families started to speak up. This is creating a lot of controversy in Pakistan,” she said.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist in Islamabad, said that the government is “in denial” about the abuses.

“I think Pakistan is failing its children,” she said, adding that the stigma about the cases, and the lack of trust in the court system, have prevented the arrest and persecution of abusers.

Hundreds of civilians credibly reported killed in first year of coalition airstrikes, airwars study finds

August 3, 2015 by Nasheman

Scene of a devastating Coalition strike at Hawijah, Iraq on June 3rd 2015 which reportedly killed up to 70 civilians. (Photo: via Iraqi Spring)

by Chris Woods, Airwars

A six-month investigation into alleged civilian and ‘friendly fire’ deaths from Coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria has identified more than 120 incidents of concern to June 30th according to an Airwars report published today – three times more problem events than the Coalition itself was aware of.

Airwars believes that for 57 of these incidents, there is sufficient publicly-available evidence to indicate Coalition responsibility for civilian and friendly forces deaths. Between them these events account for 459-591 alleged civilian fatalities, and the reported deaths of 48-80 allied forces.

In stark contrast, the Coalition has investigated just ten incidents – and has so far conceded just two civilian deaths in thousands of airstrikes across Iraq and Syria since August 2014.

1,000 alleged fatalities

Since February Airwars has been examining claims totaling more than 1,000 alleged civilian fatalities. Many of these incidents remain difficult to verify. Some are contested, with counterclaims that Iraqi or Syrian forces carried out an attack. Other events are poorly reported. On occasion claims of civilian fatalities have turned out to be false, researchers found.

Even so, the public record clearly suggests a significant under-reporting of civilian deaths by the Coalition.

Airwars is publishing its own full findings online, with detailed descriptions of each event and links to every known source. The database features hundreds of photographs and videos, along with the names of more than 260 alleged victims.

‘The international Coalition has boasted that its air war against Islamic State is “the most precise and disciplined in the history of aerial warfare.” Yet facts from the ground suggest a very different story,’ says Chris Woods, Director of Airwars.

‘With more than 5,800 airstrikes so far and over 18,000 bombs and missiles dropped on the cities and towns of Iraq and Syria, all indications are that hundreds of civilians have already died in Coalition strikes.’

Airwars also reports a troubling lack of accountability among the twelve Coalition members. Only Canada has consistently reported where and when its aircraft strike.

In contrast other nations have released almost no information about their actions, with Australia claiming that it ‘will not release information that could be distorted and used against Australia in ISIL propaganda.’ With Coalition nations individually liable when civilians are killed in Iraq or Syria, those affected on the ground presently have almost no recourse to justice or compensation.

Key findings

Between August 8 2014 and June 30^th 2015, 53 incidents of concern were reported for Iraq, with claims of between 578-732 civilians killed by the Coalition. Most reports are focused on cities and towns – scene of the heaviest bombings. Of these events, Airwars believes 17 Iraqi cases in particular (involving 233-311 alleged fatalities) warrant urgent further investigation.

Coalition airstrikes began in Syria on September 23^rd 2014, and to June 30^th 2015 Airwars has identified 65 alleged incidents in which civilians died. Of these, we believe 35 cases demonstrate a fair level of public reporting – with Coalition airstrikes also confirmed in the near vicinity for that date. An estimated 226-280 civilians died in these Syrian events.

Nine claimed ‘friendly fire’ incidents have occurred since Coalition operations began – eight in Iraq. These allege that up to 185 allied forces (mostly Shia militia) have been killed. Airwars believes there is reasonable evidence to support five of these claims – which killed an estimated 48 to 80 friendly forces between them.

Although overall the Coalition does a fair job of informing where and when it strikes, it remains almost impossible to hold any of the 12 individual members accountable in the event of civilian deaths. Only Canada consistently reports where and when its aircraft attack.

Shared concerns

Other monitoring groups tracking the violence in Iraq and Syria are also raising concerns, with each reporting hundreds of civilian fatalities from Coalition strikes to June 30th.

	Iraq	Syria	Totals
Airwars [total range]	233-732	226-354	459-1,086
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights	–	173
Syrian Network for Human Rights	–	198
Syria Violations Documentation Center	–	276
Iraq Body Count	487*	–
Averaged fatality estimates	360-641	218-250	578-891*

Monitoring groups in Syria accept that the Coalition generally tries to limit civilian fatalities – particularly when compared with other actors in the brutal civil war.

Yet as Bassam al-Ahmad of VDC notes to Airwars, the Coalition still has its own obligations when it pursues Daesh amid civilian populations: ‘We know that ISIS is taking civilians as human shields, and is building all its military bases in civilian neighborhood. But according to the Laws of War, the Coalition also has to take into account the general principles of international humanitarian law when conducting its strikes.’

As the international air war against Islamic State enters its second year, there is little sign of the risk to civilians on the ground abating.

As Airwars published its report July 2015 was emerging as the most intensive month yet of Coalition bombings, with 371 strikes reported in Syria alone. Civilian casualty claims also peaked, with 14 new alleged events reported for Syria and eight for Iraq – a new and grim record.

Read The Guardian’s comprehensive report on our investigation here.

Pakistan executes man 'police tortured into confession'

June 10, 2015 by Nasheman

Rights groups say Aftab Bahadur was 15 when forced into admitting to murder in 1992 and he had been on death row since.

Rights activists had urged Pakistan to halt Bahadur’s imminent execution just a day before his hanging [AFP]

by Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera

Islamabad: Pakistan has executed a man who rights groups say was tortured into confessing to a murder when he was still a minor, prison officials and his lawyers have confirmed.

Aftab Bahadur, 37, was convicted for the murder of a woman and her two children in September 1992, when he was 15, and had been on death row for almost 23 years.

He was hanged on Wednesday morning at the Kot Lakhpat jail in the eastern city of Lahore, prison officials told the AFP news agency.

The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a legal rights organisation representing Bahadur, and UK-based rights group Reprieve say that Bahadur was tortured by police into confessing to the murder, and that key witnesses in the case had recanted their testimony.

Ghulam Mustafa, a co-accused who also maintains his innocence and who rights groups say recanted his testimony against Bahadur, was not hanged as scheduled on Wednesday, after reportedly reaching a settlement with the victim’s family.

Maya Fou, director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said it “was a truly shameful day for Pakistan’s justice system”.

“Aftab was subjected to almost every injustice conceivable. Just 15 years old when he was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death, he spent 23 years languishing on death row for a crime he didn’t commit before being executed in the early hours of this morning,” she said in a statement.

“To the last, Pakistan refused even to grant his lawyers the few days needed to present evidence which would have proved his innocence. This is a travesty of justice and tragedy for all those who knew Aftab.”

On Tuesday, jail authorities defied a Lahore High Court order that allowed JPP access to Mustafa, the co-accused, in order to obtain a signed affidavit of him declaring Bahadur’s innocence, JPP lawyers told Al Jazeera.

Earlier, Pakistani authorities granted a fourth last-minute stay of execution to Shafqat Hussain, due to be hanged on Tuesday, who rights groups also claim was a minor who was tortured into confessing to a murder in 2004.

‘We die many times’

Speaking to Al Jazeera in February, Bahadur had said he felt it was “unjust” for him to have been imprisoned for such a duration.

“I have spent 23 years in jail and it is more painful than a life sentence. I feel this is unfair and unjust to keep us in such a situation that we are forced to bear dual punishment of a single crime,” he said.

“During the last 23 years of my imprisonment, I have received death warrants so many times that I can’t remember the exact number.

“Obviously, it feels horrible whenever the warrant had been issued. We start to count down [to our execution] which itself is painful and shackles our nerves,” Bahadur told Al Jazeera at the time.

“In fact, we die many times before our death. In my personal experience, nothing is more dreadful that waiting to die.”

Bahadur, who was a Christian, said that he and fellow non-Muslim inmates at Kot Lakhpat Jail faced threats from other prisoners based on their faith.

Pakistan lifted a moratorium on executions in December, following an attack on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 141 people, most of them schoolchildren. Initially, the moratorium was only lifted in “terrorism” cases, but in March, the government ordered the recommencement of all executions.

Since then, more than 130 people have been executed, mainly in cases related to murder.

Tripura withdraws AFSPA after 18 years

May 28, 2015 by Nasheman

Chief minister Manik Sarkar says no requirement of the Act now as the insurgency problem has largely been contained

A file photo of Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Agartala: The Tripura government on Wednesday decided to lift the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from the state, where the controversial law was in effect for the last 18 years to curb insurgency.

Chief minister Manik Sarkar, who is also the home minister of the state said this decision was taken in the meeting of the council of ministers during the day. “We have reviewed the situation of the disturbed areas of the state after every six months and also discussed the issue with the state police and other security forces working in the state.

“They suggested that there is no requirement of the Act now as the insurgency problem has largely been contained. We would soon issue gazette notification in this regard,” Sarkar told reporters.

This Act was imposed in the state on 16 February 1997 following spurt of violence by the ultras. “When the Act was imposed there were only 42 police stations and two-third of the entire police station areas were under this act.

“The number of police station areas at present are 74 and out of 74 police stations 26 police stations were fully and four police stations partly under this Act till recently,” he added.

(PTI)

Monks join hundreds in Myanmar anti-Rohingya rally

May 27, 2015 by Nasheman

Yangon protesters decry international “bullying” as persecuted Rohingya migrants flee for other Southeast Asian nations

About 400 people, including 40 monks, gathered to show their support for the anti-Rohingya campaign [EPA]

by Manny Maung, Al Jazeera

Yangon: Hundreds of demonstrators, including Buddhist monks, have marched in Yangon against what they say is “bullying” by the international community about Myanmar’s stance on the Rohingya ethnic minority group.

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar in recent months claiming fear of persecution, and many are still languishing at sea as they wait to seek asylum in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

A spokeswoman for Wednesday’s protest, held by nationalist and religious groups, insisted the humanitarian crisis was not caused by Myanmar.

“These people are not from Myanmar,” Sandy Thin Mar Oo said, yelling through a loudspeaker to the protesters who gathered before marching the streets.

In an impassioned speech, she called for the United Nations and the international community to stop blaming Myanmar as the sole perpetrators of the unfolding human tragedy.

“Don’t blame Myanmar alone,” she said, encouraging the crowd to yell slogans after her. “Don’t bully Myanmar.”

Spiralling crisis

Human rights groups and the UN have warned of a spiralling humanitarian crisis and have urged Myanmar to provide better conditions for the Rohingya, who are considered by the Myanmar government as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

About 400 people, including 40 monks, gathered to show their support for the anti-Rohingya campaign on Wednesday.

Protesters donned T-shirts emblazoned with the captions, “Boat people are not from Myanmar” and “Myanmar should not take the blame for boat people problem”.

U Win Hlan Tha, a monk who attended the rally, said he wanted to show his support of “real” Myanmar people.

“These people are not really us and the international media has got it all wrong,” he said. “What they have to understand is that we are never going to let them in because they have never been one of us.”

Protesters donned T-shirts emblazoned with the captions, ‘Boat people are not from Myanmar’ [AP]

Bystanders watched quietly as protesters led a short march through a section of a Yangon suburb where many Muslim residents reside.

Asked what they thought of the campaign, most declined to comment. But others said they fully supported the protesters and their message to the international community.

“We had never even heard of the word ‘Rohingya’ before the riots in Sittwe in 2012,” said one bystander who declined to be named.

“For once, I don’t think the government is lying to Myanmar people,” he said.

Religious tensions are simmering in Myanmar, where at least 240 people have been killed since communal conflict was sparked between Muslim and Buddhist groups in 2012.

Asia director of Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, said neighbouring ASEAN countries needed to do more for the Rohingya, who had fallen prey to human traffickers because of their desperate situation in Myanmar.

“Just as important, there will be no long-term solution unless [Myanmar] ends its rights-abusing and discriminatory policies toward the Rohinga and joins other countries in taking action against smugglers and traffickers who abuse and prey on them,” he added.