Freedom of religion

On Sunday evening, July 27, a crowd of around 150 fanatics attacked a small, peaceful community of 17 Ahmadi families living in Arafat Colony, on the outskirts of Gujranwala district, Punjab. As a result of the attack, eight houses were burned down. Three Ahmadis in one of the houses succumbed to the flames. All the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the official announcement by the General Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, KPU) of the result of the Presidential Election on Thursday, 22 July 2014. After counting and recapitulating the votes cast by Indonesians on 9 July 2014 for about three weeks, the Committee finally declared Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla to […]

Shortly before the end of his seven month term and following the Peshawar Church bombing last year which left more than 100 people dead, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, in a case suo motu (  of his own accord) on the 19th of June 2014 , issued a landmark judgment concerning the rights of […]

Violence has spread in Aluthgama. According to reports, it has so far caused three deaths, as well as injuries to many persons and damage to some Muslim places of worship and gathering. The violence has driven many women and children out of their homes into places of refuge. The man leading this mayhem is a […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a Muslim national from the Shia community in Pakistan, the second largest sect of Islam, who has by his own choice, converted from Islam to Ahmadi religion is now facing threats to his life.  The AHRC has also learnt that family members have […]

On 27 May 2014 the state media in Burma (Myanmar) published the latest in a series of anti-democratic laws for the national legislature to consider: the Law Relating to Religious Conversion (Draft). Like other anti-democratic draft laws brought through the legislature since the country’s shift from overt to covert military rule, this new draft law […]

A blasphemy case has been registered under sections 295, 295C 298C and others against GEO media group owner, Mir Shakilur Rehman, anchor Shaista Lodhi, Veena Malik, Asad Khatak and other people, creating a new state of affairs. Perhaps this is the first time that such high profile people have been charged under the blasphemy law […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 65-year-old Ahmadi was shot dead in a police lockup. The victim was arrested on charges of Blasphemy without legal process. He remained in the police lock up for three days without being produced in a court of law. On May 16, the […]

(Courtesy, Sunday Island of 11th May and 18th May 2014) What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. You might cynically apply this old aphorism to the judicial mind and judicial matters in Sri Lanka. Increasingly, the grey matter of intelligence, erudition, wisdom and independence is becoming too scarce in Sri Lanka’s judicial mind, and […]

A Reflection on religious freedom with justice Puzzling Decisions and worrying trends The recent government decision to appoint a special police unit to deal with inter-religious conflict adds to the prevailing confusion on the freedom of religion and the rule of law. While the decision implies seriousness in arrestingthe current religious tensions, the government’s reluctance […]

The killing of senior lawyer, Rashid Rehman, on May 7, 2014 in his office in Multan has once again brought into focus at home and abroad how little the Pakistani state values those who risk their lives for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights for all. Rehman was killed despite having earlier expressed serious […]

I held back on writing about the extremely traumatic experience of Naomi Coleman, 37, mental health nurse in Coventry, England. I am very glad I opted to be less than current since I felt I needed other’s opinions before expressing mine. All I spoke with from senior diplomats and retired government officers who held top […]

The provincial assembly of Sindh has took the daring lead on 28th April 2014, that deserves appreciation for becoming Pakistan’s first elected assembly to have passed a bill restraining child marriages under 18 years. The passage of the bill has come on the heels of controversy that was triggered after the council of Islamic Ideology (CII) […]

JC Weliamuna Ms. Naomi Michelle Coleman, a British Tourist with wide travel experience in many Buddhist Countries who had a large tattoo of the Buddha and of a Hindu God on a lotus flower on her right arm, arrived in Sri Lanka on 21st April 2014. She passed through immigration counters and came out of […]

The address by Mr. Upul Jayasuriya, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka at the Convocation on March 30, 2014 As I rise before this august assembly for the second time since my last convocation having been re-elected. As the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka It is my pride and privilege […]

Additional session judge, Chaudhry Ghulam Murtaza, sentenced a young Christian, Sawan Masih 26, to death and fined him Rs. (PKR) 200,000/= in the same prison courtroom he has been confined in since March last year. He was found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) under blasphemy law 295-C. Although judges have the option to […]

We reproduce below copies of the court orders. The first order states that, as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) is conducting an investigation into the terrorist activities of the LTTE and that if the information gathered during this investigation is given to local or international persons there will be great damage […]

It is widely reported that Acts relating to national security created in various names throughout in Asia have been used, not to protect national security per se, but to oppress persons holding different ideas, or opinions, or critical of policies of the government. It is also a recognised trend that human rights defenders have been […]

Although the ethnic war between the Tamil LTTE and the Sinhalese forces of the Sri Lankan government ended in May 2009, the ethics of the conflict is still current. It is being discussed in institutions in Geneva, USA, Canada, UK, EU and many other countries. It is the ethics of the war that the international […]

18th March 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned by the arrest and detention last week of several individuals in the North and East, including Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). CPA condemns these attempts by the Government of Sri Lanka […]