AHRC News

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SRI LANKA: Why only judges should judge?

The Parliamentary Select Committee’s inquiry has raised the issue of the politicians being judges. Some have even said that the politicians have a better right to judge because they are elected ...

SRI LANKA: Similarities and dissimilarities between the PSC trial and the Moscow Show Trials

In the mid-1930s, Stalin staged several trials that are now known as Moscow Show Trials. The similarities and dissimilarities between them and the “trial by PSC” are as follows. 1.    S...

SRI LANKA: We dream of an independent judiciary, says a released Burmese political prisoner

In Yangon, I have been meeting many persons with long stories to share. Some of those whom we have met are the daughter of the first Prime Minister of Burma, who has returned after 35 years of exile i...

SRI LANKA: The Supreme Court requests the PSC to withhold the impeachment inquiry

The Supreme Court yesterday (November 22) decided to inform the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to inquire into the allegations made in the impeachment motion filed by a number of Membe...

SRI LANKA: PSC rejects the request of the Supreme Court and continues with the impeach proceedings

Yesterday the Supreme Court in a carefully worded order made a request of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) inquiring into the impeachment not to proceed with their inquiry until the Supreme Co...

PAKISTAN: The people live in terror not knowing whether they will survive to see another day

Daily life in Pakistan is today marred by terrorist attacks that range from bombings to shootings and execution-style killings. All these are taking place in an environment where the law enforcement a...

INDIA: Does impeachment of the Chief Justice in Sri Lanka matter?

The Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, is facing impeachment in that country. Those who know the state of affairs in Sri Lanka, might have no doubt, that the impeachment is politic...

PAKISTAN: Is Dr. Abdus Salam – a Nobel Laureate or persona non grata?

“The Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah’s created laws of nature; however, that our generation has been privileged to glimpse a part of His design is a bounty and a ...

SRI LANKA: Executive presidential system and the judiciary- An over-view

From the beginning of the executive presidential system, the most important threat to it was perceived to be the judiciary. With a four fifths majority in parliament, J.R. Jayawardene, the UNP leader,...

SRI LANKA: The Supreme Court can now decide on the correct impeachment procedure

It is the Supreme Court that should have created the disciplinary process for judges. The executive or legislature should not have usurped the function of the judicial branch, which is an independent ...

BURMA: Release of detainees welcome, but questions remain

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the release yesterday of a few dozen political detainees in the latest amnesty announced by the government of Burma, as well as the other initiatives contain...

SRI LANKA: Will the predictions about the judiciary come true?

In an article entitled ‘Once judiciary is broken the Rajapaksas will use the court to destroy every remaining right or freedom’, Tisaranee Gunasekara makes the following prediction: If the...

INDIA: मौत से जिंदगी का सफ़र चुनते सत्याग्रही और दुधारी

कुपोषण की वजह से होने वाली मौतें राज्य व्यवस्था के माथे पर कलंक का टीका हैं। ...

PHILIPPINES: The government must take full responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of Temogen ‘Cocoy’ Tulawie

In September 2012 the Supreme Court of the Philippines approved the transfer of the trial of Temogen ‘Cocoy’ Tulawie for murder charges from Davao City to Manila City; and at the time of w...

SRI LANKA: The Supreme Court should resign before the executive destroys the judiciary as a separate branch of governance through the persecution of the Chief Justice

The political attack on the Chief Justice, which is in retaliation to some independent judgements given by the Supreme Court, is quite clearly an attempt to stop the Supreme Court judges doing what th...

SRI LANKA: A heavy price will have to be paid for losing the judiciary as a separate branch of governance

The late Mr. A.C. Soyza (Bunty), a well-known criminal lawyer and the president of the Bar Association, was retained by a group of young, radical leftists, who had been charged for their political wor...

SRI LANKA: A judge is in a worse position than an accused murderer or rapist

Even the worst of criminals have a right to a fair trial before an independent judiciary. A judge in an impeachment proceeding in Sri Lanka does not have that right. Article 107 of the Constitution an...

SRI LANKA: Is impeachment a synonym for beheading?

In May 1993, a UN sponsored election was held in Cambodia to elect a government. The country had faced a civil war after Polpot’s catastrophic revolution. At the time, a large part of the countr...

PAKISTAN: Why did the Foreign Minister shy away from the issue of Balochistan in her address to the United Nations?

In her presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council at the Universal Periodic Review the Foreign Minister, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar painted a rosy picture of the progress that Pakistan has mad...

PAKISTAN: Increasing level of poverty in Pakistan!!

SDPI’s study on poverty shows that every third Pakistani is living his life below the poverty line. This is very shocking revelation for all of us. About 58.7 million out of 180 million Pakistanis a...