Statement

The forced conversion to Islam of women from religious minority groups through rape and abduction has reached an alarming stage which challenges interfaith harmony due to the total collapse of the rule of law and biased attitude of the judicial officers. It appears today that no one, from the judiciary to the police and even […]

In what appears to be an ‘absolutely normal’ practice in India, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Ms Mayawati, has declared, that one of her ministers, accused of having raped a girl, is not guilty. The chief minister also declared, that there would be no investigation against the minister. The incident of rape of […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Center for Victims of Torture-Nepal As Lapka Tamang’s torture case will be heard on October 24, 2011 in Dulikhel District Court, Kavre, the Center for Victims of Torture-Nepal (CVICT) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expect the hearing will take place according to […]

In the editorial of the Island on October 19, 2011 with the title: ‘Sowing the whirlwind’ the opening paragraph is as follows: SLFP politicians are killing each other as the government has allowed them to rise above the law. When presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was killed and UPFA MP Duminda Silva received serious injury […]

The implications of the failure to prosecute Duminda Silva The editor of the Sunday Leader, in an article entitled ‘The law is an ass’ questions the statement by a government spokesman that Duminda Silva is not a suspect in the killings of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others. Some members of Bharatha Lakshman’s family also […]

The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, addressing the sixth annual convention of Information Commissioners in New Delhi has said that the government will be critically reviewing the Right to Information Act, 2005 so that the legislation does not “affect the deliberative process in the government”. In his speech delivered on 14 October, addressing […]

Among the many analyses of the release of a couple of hundred political prisoners in a total of over 6000 detainees let out of Burma’s prisons last week, the most precise and succinct came from a famous comedian, Zarganar. Imprisoned for criticising the relief effort in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Zarganar spoke […]

Orissa is one of the states in India that has failed to assimilate the spirit of the 73rd amendment of the Indian constitution, which provides a constitutional framework to the Panchayat Raj. The state has also failed to appreciate the Right to Information Act, 2005. The state’s bureaucracy behaves as if it is in war […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is disappointed by a local court’s unnecessary delay in concluding the habeas corpus writ of torture victim Abdul Khan Ajid. The purpose of the writ was to question the legality of Ajid’s detention in the place of the real accused, Kanneh Malikil, member of the Abu Sayaff Group (ASG), an illegal […]

That murder should not be looked on lightly and the murderers must be punished is one of the most basic moral judgements in any human society. The attitude taken by the Sri Lankan government that no legal action need be taken against Duminda Silva, who has been identified by witnesses as having instigated and taken […]

Murders of father, mother and two children in Udawalawe While the whole nation was shocked by the multiple killings at Mulleriyawa, another set of gruesome murders have been reported from Puhulyaya, Panahakaduwa, in Udawalawe. A father M K Lalith (37), mother R Indrani Gnanalatha (32), son M K Dilan Chathuranga (12), daughter M K Nadeeka […]

At 5 pm Indian standard time today (14 October), the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ms Mayawati, will inaugurate a park in Noida, that Mayawati claims is a Dalit memorial to symbolise Dalit liberation and power in India. Noida is close to New Delhi, the national capital. It is reported that the park, constructed at […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the assault upon lawyer and activist Mr. Prashant Bhushan. The incident happened yesterday, October 12, 2011 in the lawyer’s chamber. The assailants claimed to belong to an allegedly fundamentalist group named Bhaghat Singh Kranti Sena. Soon after the incident however, another similarly fundamentalist group named Sri Ram Sene […]

The situation of Balochistan is no different to that of the former East Pakistan (Bangladesh) when the military carried out operations and killed more than 300,000 people in the guise of protecting ideological boundaries.  The government does not consider extrajudicial killings anything out of the ordinary and one of the reasons for this is that […]

This statement is a comment on the negative impact of the political ideas of Duminda Silva and Gotabaya Rajapaksha on the rule of law system of Sri Lanka. “The core of the existing principle (of Rule of Law) is, I suggest, that all persons and authorities within the state, whether public or private, should be […]

If the economic blockade organised by the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) is to continue further, it has the potential to develop into an ethnic conflict in Manipur. The SHDDC, has been organising a blockade of national highways 2 and 37 since the past 72 days. The two highways are the lifeline of the […]

Siegfried Blunk, the International Co-Investigating Judge at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), resigned citing statements by the Cambodian government that could be perceived as attempted interference with the work of the court. The Co-investigating judge should be congratulated for speaking out on a long standing issue; that of the interference of […]

In what is reported as “a surprise development”, the Gujarat IPS Officers’ Association has voiced their concern against the ill-treatment meted out against one of their members, Mr Sanjiv Bhatt. The Gandhinagar police in Gujarat state arrested Bhatt, an officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS) after a subordinate officer accused Bhatt, that he forced […]

On the last day of the 3rd stage of the Local Government Election, two prominent politicians from United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) fought with each other at Mulleriyawa in Kolonnawa in Colombo District, according to reports. Former Member of Parliament and a presidential advisor on trade unions, Bharatha Lakshman Pramachandra, and three of his body […]

The government has still not taken any action against the cases of rustication of twenty-three Ahmadi students from Punjab Medical College, and particularly against the rustication of Hina Akram, a third year Ahmadi Muslim student at the National Textile University, Faisalabad, Punjab province. Please see the AHRC statement; http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-129-2011 In the far-flung areas of Pakistan, students […]