Musings on India, the law, and policy
Posted in Democracy, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Rights, Terrorism on Aug 18th, 2009
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 [...]
Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Human Rights, Terrorism on Aug 1st, 2009
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 [...]
Posted in Foreign Affairs, india, Politics, Terrorism on Jun 5th, 2009
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 [...]
Posted in Terrorism on Mar 15th, 2009
The Indian Newspapers report (Sunday TOI, p. 12) of the Obama Administration in the United States of America now doing away with the phrase ‘enemy combatant’; a designation for terror suspects to justify their detention in Guantanamo Bay. After Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Military Commissions Act 2006 gave power to the Bush Administration to define an ‘unlawful enemy combatant’ [...]
Posted in Constitution, india, Terrorism on Jan 28th, 2009
Soli Sorabjee’s writ petition in the Supreme Court asking it to order the government to take measures to effectively deal with terrorism has created quite an interest amongst legal circles. Law and Other Things has detailed posts on it and Abhinav Chandrachud gives and interesting analysis on the ‘Right against Terror’ here. I also have written here that the petition rests [...]
Posted in Democracy, Politics, Terrorism, Uncategorized on Jan 25th, 2009
Amidst all the hype and hoopla that surrounds Obama’s first days in Office, it maybe worthwhile to take a step back and evaluate the implications of the Bush Presidency. Seldom has the post-Cold War world seen such tectonic shifts in many matters of global concern. These eight years, starting right from the doorstep of the [...]