Category Archives: Terrorism

Kasab, Afzal Guru and more musings on the death sentence

As the Delhi government reaffirmed its stance on Afzal Guru’s death penalty by returning his file to the Lieutenant Governor, lawyers and political commentators are once again faced with that old and difficult question: is the death penalty justified? This comes quickly in the wake of the Bombay trial court condemning 26/11-prime accused, Ajmal Kasab, [...]
Also posted in Civil liberties, Constitution, Human Rights | 1 Comment

Towards Permanent Solutions in Kashmir.

I was in Jammu and Kashmir recently, to witness a two-day dialogue on issues of autonomy, sectarian violence and Indo-Pak relations vis-a-vis the Kashmir Valley. To be naively frank, the complexities on the ground were mind-boggling to me. Ensconced in ivory towers, myths have been created by the self and the other about the situation [...]
Also posted in Civil liberties, Featured, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, india | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

There’s Something About the Law…

This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice - Oliver Wendell Holmes When Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other self-confessed perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks stand trial in the Southern District Court of New York  next year,  something about the law that’s unique to the justice system in such high-profile, [...]
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The Double-Edged Fourth Estate?

The Foreign Ministry of the Government of Afghanistan has issued a statement, calling on domestic and foreign media to avoid reporting any poll-related violence in the country on the day of the elections. The statement reads; All domestic and international media agencies are requested to refrain from broadcasting any incident of violence during the election [...]
Also posted in Civil liberties, Democracy, Featured, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Rights | 1 Comment

Tough on Terror

I read somewhere, when one increasingly talks of democracy, it should be construed to mean a movement by the majority to suppress the rights of a minority. Can’t recall where I read it, but thought that there was in inherent fallacy in that statement. However, if one were to look at the recent amendments to [...]
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A Tale of Two Speeches.

Two historic speeches were delivered yesterday; one by Barack Obama on America’s new and renewed MidEast policy, in a keynote address at Cairo University – and the other by Pratibha Patil, in her inaugural address to the Indian Parliament. Both are of immense significance; while the former indicates a tectonic, and inevitable, shift in US [...]
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