Judicial system

On February 2, the Pakistan Rangers, who have been given unbridled powers by the Federal government, have taken into custody four trade union leaders. These leaders were picked up from different locations in Karachi. Since then their whereabouts are unknown. The Sindh police deny having the men in their custody; the Rangers are yet to […]

Since inception, Pakistan has been at war with its own citizens; time and again the State has indulged in gross human rights violation to muzzle voices of dissent. Ethnic Balochis have especially suffered discrimination and stigmatization, by successive military and civil governments. Due to State negligence, Baluchistan remains the least developed province even though its […]

Hong Kong, 03 February 2016 Geneva-Paris-Hong Kong, February 3, 2016. The authorities of Bangladesh should immediately release journalist Mahmudur Rahman, who completed 1,000 days in custody without trial on January 6, 2016 as part of the Government’s efforts to stifle critical voices in the country, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a […]

RohithVemula’s suicide will not be just another suicide in the statistical records of the National Crime Records Bureau. It will not be so in the same way the 2006 massacre in Khairlanjiwas not. These two cases separated by almost a decade,are far more than a statistic of ordinary crime, such as that committed in a […]

Personnel from the Pakistan Rangers have used brute force against unarmed protesters, causing the death of three Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees, who were out protesting against the privatisation of the State owned airlines. The dead include Zubair Ahmed, Manager HR department, Saleem Akbar, I.T Engineer, and Inayat Jafri, a senior officer.The demonstrators assembled peacefully […]

The author is sharing this writing, with a suggested over all frameworkfor reconcilation discourse in Sri Lanka. It is meant to provoke thought and discussion. Responsiblity for this view is the author’s alone. I The village where I was born, for all purposes, looked very quiet and peaceful. However, an internal structure of discrimination was […]

A Press Releasefrom Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), Duay Jai Group, and Patani Human Rights Networkforwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) And Public discussion on the Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment in Thailand’s Deep South Project Rationale The eruption of the unrest in Thailand’s Deep South can be attributed […]

An article published in the Sunday Leader, on 24th January 2016, which is an English translation of the same, published in the ‘Irudina’ newspaper on 17th January 2016, by WimalanathWeeraratne, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by WimalanathWeeraratne It seems that Sri Lanka Police never learns a lesson. Although it has the Dharmachakra (Wheel of the […]

Kishali Pinto Jayawardena Several wickedly problematic tragi-comedies are playing on Sri Lanka’s political stage right now, none of which are to the benefit of the country. Why was no deterrent action taken earlier? The spectacle of mad monks running amok in the Homagama Magistrate’s Court abusing the magistrate, the lawyers and the wife of disappeared […]

After keeping prominent Pakistan fisher folk leader and front line activist Saeed Baloch incommunicado in illegal and arbitrary detention for eight days, the Pakistan Rangers dramatically produced him in court on January 26. Earlier, the Rangers had denied that Saeed was in their custody. On 16 January 2016, Saeed Baloch was called by phone to […]

In an outrageous incident at the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, when the case of abduction and the disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda was taken up in Court yesterday, an unusual series of events erupted, with the Chairman of the Sinhala BoduBalaSena, a member of the Bhuddhist clergy, GalgodaaththeGnanasara, stood up in the middle of the Court […]

The suicide of a young Dalit scholar, Mr. Rohith Vemula, in the University of Hyderabad is not merely the death of an individual. The sordid saga behind what made Rohith take this extreme step exposes all the pretensions of the Indian state and its institutions. It shows how six decades after independence, elitist Brahminical domination […]

It is just over a year since the Peshawar Army Public School carnage of December 2014, where some 135 teens were killed by terrorists. The subsequent promulgation of Pakistan’s National Action Plan (NAP) to combat terrorism, as well as the lifting of the moratorium on death penalties, has shown no sign of decreasing terror attacks […]

In this episode of Just Asia, AHRC TV continues its coverage of the saga of the missing Hong Kong book publishers. One of the five abducted men, Gui Minhai, has turned up on Chinese State television making a “confession” for a years-old alleged drink driving offence. Gui vanished three months ago from holiday in Thailand […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely monitoring incidents in Nepal’s Terai. The AHRC had been eagerly waiting for the government and the agitating forces to strike a deal. However, today, even after 6 months of standstill, there is no progression. The government has not discarded its killing attitude; protests and killings are […]

A Press Release from the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) and Legal Aid Network (LAN) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) New report exposes systematic cover-up of Myanmar Army involvement in Kachin rape-murder case A new report exposes the systematic cover-up of the Myanmar Army’s involvement in the rape-murder of two Kachin teachers […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the suicide bombing and explosion that took place in Sarinah shopping center, Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 January 2016. We express our deep condolences to the victims and the families of those who died as a result of the terrorist attack. Approximately 23 people were victims of the explosion, […]

“AFSPA was imposed after declaring the state a disturbed area. You mean to say that in 35 years of Army presence in the state, the situation has not improved to remove the disturbed area tag from the state? Has nothing changed on the law and order front for the last three decades?” The Supreme Court […]

In this episode of Just Asia, AHRC TV reports from Sri Lanka where the police still appear to consider themselves above the law. Police officers in Embilipitiya killed a young man and authorities responded by simply re-locating the perpetrators to other stations rather than investigating the crime. Just Asia continues to report about the missing […]

Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has made a rare public statement; he has said the Executive is usurping all the powers of the Judiciary. He called upon all the judges and lawyers to come forward and fight against the Executive’s attempt to control the entire State and its institutions and thereby usurp all the […]