India's Biggest Nationwide Student Protest in a Quarter Century spread across University Campuses :

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Pakistani Christian boy dies after being set on fire by young extremists[/h]

by Staff Reporter
posted Wednesday, 15 Apr 2015
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A demonstrator burns a cross during a protest in the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, Pakistan (CNS photo/Adrees Hassain, Reuters)

A teenage boy was attacked on Friday for saying he was a Christian
A Pakistani Christian boy has died after being set on fire by a group of young Muslims after they discovered he was a Christian, according to a charity dedicated to supporting Pakistani Christians.
The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) said that Nauman Masih, 14, was set upon by unknown Muslims who were going to the mosque to offer their Friday prayers.
Nauman died last night and his funeral service was held today at 1pm (local time) in Gulshan Ravi, Shera Kot, in Lahore, CLAAS said.
In Nauman’s statement to the Superintendent of Police he said that two Muslims approached him on a motorbike and asked him about his religion. When he said he was Christian they started to beat him up and after he ran away, folllowed him and subsequently threw kerosene over him and set him alight.
Nauman Masih pictured in hospital before he passed away

Nauman said: “I was running when a heap of sand came my way, I lay down on the sand, and a few people from the community put out the fire by putting sand on me. I became unconscious, and they called the emergency medical helpline and called [for] an ambulance.”
The police have registered a case against the unknown attackers.
Christians in Pakistan are becoming increasingly endangered in the country. Last November a Christian couple, Shama and Shahzad, were burnt alive in a brick kiln furnace.
Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS-UK, said: “The perpetrators must be brought to justice for lessons to be learned and to act as deterrents. Other people, and if necessary the government, must introduce some stringent punishment.”

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]MODI’S INDIA: CASTE, INEQUALITY AND THE RISE OF HINDU NATIONALISM[/h][FONT=source_sans_proregular]BY [FONT=source_sans_probold]ABIGAIL FRADKIN [/FONT]ON 7/26/15 AT 1:32 PM[/FONT]

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[FONT=source_sans_prosemibold]Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) speaks to the media in New Delhi, India, July 21, 2015. Caste and social inequality persist in India, but the poor are now political in a way unheard of in the decades after independence, the author writes.[FONT=source_sans_proregular]ADNAN ABIDI/REUTERS[/FONT][FONT=source_sans_probold]OPINIONINDIACASTENARENDRA MODIHINDUISM[/FONT]
[FONT=playfair_displayregular]When Aakash was a young boy, his family lost their small plot of land in the Indian state of Maharashtra to make way for a government dam-building project.
The Indian government is legally required to compensate people it has displaced from their homes, but Aakash’s father, a virtually illiterate low-caste farm laborer, was compelled to sign theirs away without fully understanding what he was doing.
The family eventually settled on the outskirts of a village, where Aakash’s father was never able to earn enough money to support the family, let alone pay his son’s school fees of 100 rupees—less than two dollars a year.
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[Dalit Freedom]

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Politics of Caste in India: Challenges and Opportunities​

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[TD]Ashok Bharti
Chairman, National Confederation of Dalit Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR), & Kabir Chair on Social Conflict, IPCS
Email: [email protected]
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[TD]Teachers have resumed teaching at Hyderabad Central University (HCU). However, a handful of students continue to sit in at the make-shift space created by Rohith Chakravarthy Vemula and his four expelled colleagues. Rohith Vemula was not the first victim of systematic exclusion, humiliation and expulsion that the students of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Notified/de-Notified Tribes and ethnic, religious and sexual minorities face in educational institutions - from the day they first enter a school till the day they complete even their highest levels of education. This phenomenon is also wide-spread in professional institutions of excellence such as the Indian Institutes of Management, the Indian Institutes of Technology, and medical colleges. It is prevalent in colleges and universities that dot the country. The HCU was no exception to this deep-rooted systematic exclusion that forced Vemula into unbearable haplessness, living in humiliation, and finally, pushed him to end his life.

Though not adequately represented, there are over 50 Dalit/Adivasi teachers at the HCU; but none stood up against the ordeal Vemula and his four peers suffered, compelling the latter to put up their struggle at Velivada by themselves. Although not in a correct proportion, there are enough numbers of non-teaching SC/ST employees too at the HCU, but the plight of these students did not move them. Other teachers and students are in thousands, but their conscience and higher callings did not evoke any response on the indignities heaped upon Vemula and his peers who stood up for freedom of ‘food, faith and ideas.’

These five students, active members of the Ambedkar Student Association, have not been the 'stereotypical' Dalit students. They were doing better than many non-Dalit students. They opposed draconian capital punishment, broke religious barriers among Hindus, Muslims and Christians, and forged an identity around Dr. Ambedkar - actions anathema for several Caste Hindus.

This nation-wide uproar that we witness is not because Rohith was the first victim of institutional exclusion, humiliations and apathy but because it has never been so straightforward between Ambedkarites believing in 'Prabuddha Bharat' or 'Enlightened India' and those believing in 'Hindu Rashtra'. Therefore, Vemula's tragic death is symptomatic, and poses challenges. India needs to confront these challenges and convert them to bigger opportunities.

What are the challenges? India faces the challenge of coming to the terms with the reality of caste. For long, most elites in all religions, Muslims and Christians included, have neglected/rejected caste and its associated behaviours such as endogamy, hierarchical exclusion, indignities, untouchability, and rampant discrimination. Dr. BR Ambedkar said, "caste has killed conscience." Caste is violent institution.

Data compiled by the NACDAOR reveals that since 1991, over a staggering 6.74 lakh atrocities have been committed against people belonging to Scheduled Castes, with less than 3 per cent conviction rate. Can an aspiring world power like India neglect and overlook such a sorry state of impunity? This poses serious challenges not only to the right to live with dignity, but is also a potent threat to the growth story that India is writing.

Modern India cannot be built while its archaic values, especially such as the monster of caste, continue to haunt its people. Therefore, everyone must come forward to 'annihilate caste' in public and private life. And this problem cannot be effectively combatted unless the idea of a 'Hindu Rashtra' based on a Frankensteinian superiority complex and dominance of few Caste Hindus over the rest is fought by all the well-meaning people of this country.

Moreover, caste is not the only challenge. Most public institutions be it academic, administrative, law and order, judicial and even media, have their roots in colonial interests. Several were built to suppress ingenious talent, constrict creativity and limit competition, in order to perpetually keep the masses in a wretched state and maintain a 'loot system'. India cannot be that 'Chinese Tailor' - that Dr. Ambedkar had compared colonial Britain with, in 1931 - who stitched a new coat with all patches and holes, like the worn out old coat given to him for measurement. As an independent country with limited resources and that is home to 17 per cent of the total world population, India needs to build institutions that promote, encourage and nurture talent, amplify creativity, and make its large population capable of surviving competition with values of social, economic and political justice, equal dignity, and righteous sharing.

Academia, administration, law and order systems, judiciary and executive, all need to be sensitive and respond quickly in discharging justice in order to prevent prolonging the suffering that a significant number of the country's citizens currently experience. India requires to keep its exclusionary system in perspective, and create institutional mechanisms that are inclusive in concept, design, and practice.

In 2016, when the nation will celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Indian constitution, we must stop harping on the archaic ‘Dronacharyan’ values that punish and exclude people on the basis of their birth, origin, sexual and ideological orientations. Speeding up the inclusion of excluded Dali

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[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Gunmen open fire on police guarding Catholic church in Pakistan[/h]

by Catholic News Service
posted Wednesday, 25 Mar 2015
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Catholics leave after a Sunday Mass at St John's church, Lahore, which was attacked by a suicide bomber this month (AP)

Two masked men riding a motorbike fire shots outside church in Lahore
Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on policemen guarding a Catholic church in Pakistan, police officials have said.
Asif Khan, a local township police officer, confirmed the attack outside St Peter church in the southern Pakistani city of Lahore, reported the Asian Catholic news portal ucanews.com.
“Two masked men riding a motorbike fired on policemen who were deployed outside the church,” Mr Khan said. “Police retaliated, after which the assailants sped away.”
Two passersby were injured in the crossfire, but no other injuries were reported, Mr Khan said, adding that police had obtained closed circuit television footage from the church and have launched an investigation.
Local media reported that Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed police to submit a report of the incident.
Fr Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, said he was aware of the incident and that no church or school staff were injured in the attack.
Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a Christian rights activist and lawyer, condemned the attack.
“It is unbelievable how militants fired at the church guards and managed to flee,” Mr Gill said. “We urge the government to beef up security at churches.”
He added that twin suicide bombings in Lahore earlier in March had created a sense of fear and insecurity within the Christian minority community.
The bombings, which left 14 dead and more than 70 others injured, also sparked riots in which two men thought to be associated with the bombers were beaten to death in a rare display of violence on the part of Christians in Pakistan.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=2]Caste is entrenched in the Indian diaspora[/h]

SHARECOMMENTS


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By Nikki Van Der Gaag
Caste permeates the Indian diaspora. In the US, large meetings are held to get young people from the same caste together. Jat pride and Jat nationalism are rampant in UK's popular bhangra music. Worst of all, caste discrimination amongst the Indian diaspora is a relatively recent phenomenon and getting stronger. As religious and ethnic identity become increasingly important, caste seems to be getting more entrenched
Davinder Prasad is very proud of his daughters. His oldest, Rena, works in the media; the second is doing a degree in fashion, and the youngest, Indira, named after India's former prime minister, is still in school. Davinder works as a laboratory manager in an American aerospace company and his wife Vimla teaches in a primary school.
They live in a detached bungalow with beautiful wooden floors. Goldfish swim in a tank in the living room and on the walls hang wooden artefacts from India and a large framed photograph of the family in front of the Taj Mahal.
They do not, however, live in India, but in Britain. And Davinder has another, more unusual, preoccupation. He is one of the founders of CasteWatch UK, an organisation set up in 2003 to combat caste discrimination in Britain.
It was something he had not expected to encounter when he arrived in the country as a young man 26 years ago. When the Indian diaspora first started settling in the West from the 1950s onwards, caste was not much of an issue. In any case, many immigrants were from the lower castes, perhaps because, technically, the ancient Laws of Manu, which many devout Hindus attempt to follow, prohibit the higher castes from living outside the land of their birth. But as diaspora communities grew, so did caste distinctions. Sat Pal Muman reminisces at a dalit conference: "I remember 30 years ago, when the numbers were small, there was a sense of kinship amongst fellow compatriots. People were simply viewed as Indians or Pakistani first and language or culture was only of secondary importance. As their numbers increased they began to establish their own newspapers -- some in English, others in their local language. They have established temples, businesses, and now they run their own radio and television stations (1)."

 

[Dalit Freedom]

India's Shame: Caste system entrenched in Society

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]‘Troops deployed on the streets’ after Pakistani Christians riot in response to church bombings[/h]

by Staff Reporter
posted Tuesday, 17 Mar 2015
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Pakistani protesters throw rocks during clashes with police (PA)

14 people were killed and more than 70 were injured in suicide bombings in Lahore on Sunday
Troops have been deployed on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, to stop more rioting by Christians, angered by the deadly suicide-bomb attacks on churches in the city, according to reports.
Lahore police chief, Amin Wains, said that troops were stationed on the streets as the funerals of the last of the victims of Sunday’s attacks by the Taliban got underway today, the Associated Press reported.
At least 78 people were reportedly injured and 14 killed in the explosions at a Catholic church and nearby Christ Church in Youhanabad, Lahore. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the bombings and threatened to carry out similar attacks in the future.


The suicide bombings set off two days of rioting in which a group of Christians are said to have burned to death two people they suspected of being involved in the bombings. Two Christians also died after being hit by a car that was attempting to drive through a road block the protesters had set up.
Meanwhile, Catholic and Protestant leaders in Pakistan are leading a day of fasting and prayers for the victims of the bombings. Religious leaders of both denominations also urged Pakistanis to stop violent reprisals in response to the attacks by the Taliban.
“Today, we kneel before the Almighty in fasting and prayer for peace, forgiveness, mercy, grace, patience and tolerance,” Mgr Rufin Anthony, the Catholic Bishop of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, told AsiaNews.
Fr John Nisar, from the Diocese of Lahore, added: “We must be humble. Damaging public property is not the right way to make [our] protest. We are in Lent, a time for practicing forgiveness and sacrifice. We strongly condemn the Sunday attacks, we stand alongside the suffering families and also condemn the destruction of public property. We must remain peaceful and witness Christ with our own lives.”

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Baghpat and caste & gender discrimination in India[/h]9 September 2015, 19:00 UTC
On 24 August, Amnesty International India launched a petition regarding two Dalit sisters who had been told they had been ordered to be raped and paraded naked by a khap panchayat - an unelected village council - in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh in northern India, as ‘punishment’ because their brother had eloped with a married woman from a dominant caste.
Amnesty offices around the world circulated similar petitions, so that our supporters globally would have an opportunity to take action. Over 500,000 people have so far signed these petitions.

It is crucial that the enormous amount of media attention on this case does not distract from the issues it has raised – the realities of caste and gender discrimination that exist in India, and the serious consequences that those who violate these unwritten codes of conduct must face.
Gopika Bashi, Amnesty International India's Women's Rights Researcher​

Some media organizations have subsequently released reports which have questioned the petition. Some have said that members of the gram panchayat – the elected village council - and members of the dominant caste have denied the allegations. Others have claimed that Amnesty did not investigate the case.
Unfortunately, these reports have taken the attention away from the situation of the sisters themselves, who along with their family still fear for their safety.
We first took notice of the case when the Supreme Court provided a response on 18 August to a 146-page writ petition filed by Meenakshi Kumari, one of the sisters, seeking protection and investigation. It is highly unusual for a Dalit family to approach the Supreme Court with such a petition. The family has also submitted complaints to the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]How one woman defies caste discrimination in India[/h]

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BY LAURA SANTHANAM January 22, 2016 at 12:04 PM EST

Yashica Dutt grew up in India and was afraid of what would happen if people would learn her family belonged to the lowest caste. Here, her mother, Shashi Dutt, holds her during her third or fourth birthday at their home in Ajmer in Rajasthan. Photo courtesy of Yashica Dutt

Growing up in India, Yashica Dutt feared that people would discover her true identity.
Then one day when she was 15, they did. She walked with her friend home as she did every day. Her friend’s mother invited her inside and offered her a glass of water. Sitting across from her friend’s parents in their drawing room, they asked about Dutt’s caste.
“I vividly remember thinking, ‘It’s now or never,’” said Dutt, now 29.
She looked down at the floor and told them she was a Dalit — a member of a group also referred to as Untouchables, which sits at the bottom of the caste system and makes up 16 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people.
Under such a system, Dutt would be deemed “unclean,” discouraged against sipping water from her friend’s glass or sitting next to her because her friend belonged to a higher caste.
“I knew I’d done something wrong,” she said. Moments later, she left.

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The next time she saw her friend in class, her friend told Dutt that her parents forbade her from speaking to Dutt again.
Dutt said she was never hurt that way again because she “became really good at hiding” who she was.
In many ways, she defied Dalit stereotypes. Her skin color was fair. She spoke excellent English and did well in school. Generations back, her family name changed from Nidaniya, a name that revealed their traditional profession as scavengers, to Dutt, a more ambiguous surname.
And if anyone asked her caste again, Dutt followed her mother’s advice and told them she was Brahmin, a group that sits at the top of the caste system’s hierarchy.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]14 Christians killed in Pakistan church bombings[/h]

by Staff Reporter
posted Monday, 16 Mar 2015
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Pakistanis light candles during a vigil for the victims of a suicide bombing attack on churches (PA)

Christians across Pakistan took to the streets to protest after the latest deadly attacks
Two suicide bombings at churches in Pakistan have claimed the lives of more than a dozen Christians in what is the latest deadly attack on the country’s Christian minorities.
At least 78 people were reportedly injured and 14 killed in the explosions at a Catholic church and nearby Christ Church in Youhanabad, Lahore.
The area is the country’s most densely populated Christian colony, with about 40,000 of the minorities and fifty churches. Both churches that were attacked attract between 300 to 400 worshippers every Sunday, which is why they were targeted. The blasts occurred minutes apart.
Because of an increased threat against Christians, all churches have their own security and it is believed that one police guard prevented the situation from being much worse.
As he spotted a suicide bomber trying to enter the Catholic church, he stepped in to stop him, forcing the terrorist to detonate the bomb where he stood and preventing him from entering the church.
At Christ Church, another guard – Zahid Goga, confronted the second bomber but was shot in the head by his accomplice.
Following the attacks Christians across the country took to the streets to protest, and some reports even suggest that they burnt alive those they believed to be involved in the attacks.
According to reports, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the bombings and threatened to carry out similar attacks in the future.
Nasir Saeed, director of Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (UK), an inter-denominational organisation working on behalf of Christians who are being persecuted because of their faith in Pakistan, said that Christians live “in constant fear for their lives” in the country.
“Although the incident has been condemned by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, President and the majority of politicians, and compensation has been announced for the dead and injured, this is not enough,” he said.
“Christians are constantly under attack, especially with their churches and colonies being attacked under the cover of blasphemy accusations, and sometimes by Taliban and extremists. Christians are living under constant fear for their lives and many have fled the country.
“I believe these attacks are sustained attempts to force Christians out of Pakistan.”
There is a constant demand to provide security to Christians and even the Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered security to be provided to them, but the government has not done anything about it, Mr Saeed continued.
“I would like to salute to the bravery and sacrifice of Zahid Goga who martyred himself to save hundreds of faithful who were worshiping in church. I also salute the bravery of the policeman who was killed at Catholic church in his attempt to stop the attacker,” he said.
Mr Saeed added that the government had failed to provide justice to Christians in light of previous attacks, as most of the incidents had taken place in Punjab where the ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), has close ties with extremist groups.
“This attack is a reflection of the government’s failure and unfortunately I fear this is not going to be last attack against Christians. The international community must pay attention to the ongoing persecution of Christians in Pakistan,” said Mr Saeed.
He welcomed those who had condemned this attack, particularly the Pope’s condemnation, saying it gives the very important message to the world and particularly to the Pakistani government and leadership that Pakistani Christians are not left alone in such difficult times.
“Such statements from the international Christian leadership are highly appreciated and encourage the Pakistani Christian community and keep their morale high,” Mr Saeed concluded.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

petition regarding two Dalit sisters who had been told they had been ordered to be raped and paraded naked by a khap panchayat

che che che

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Why caste battle in India never ends[/h]M Kalyanaraman & Bosco Dominique | TNN | Aug 24, 2015, 02.51 AM IST

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Violent clashes between dalits and OBCs have been a feature of the southern districts for many decades. Parameswari and Suresh (names changed) work at large banks in Chennai and have known each other since they were classmates in a Vellore college. The two wanted to get married but Parameswari's parents, who live in a village near Vellore, have refused permission. They are vanniyars, categorized as OBCs, and the boy is a dalit.

The family's fears are understandable - over the last couple of years, vanniyar-dalit marriages have led to violence across northern Tamil Nadu. Metropolitan Chennai is just 200km away from Parameshwari's village but it is far removed from her family's realities.

Violent clashes between dalits and OBCs have been a feature of the southern districts for many decades. But since the late 1980s, when PMK chief S Ramadoss, a vanniyar leader, started a powerful campaign demanding separate quotas for his caste group, violence has become common in the north too.

In the past it took egregious instances of untouchability to set off a conflict — serving tea to dalits in separate tumblers or refusing to let them use footwear for instance. But today, violence is sparked off by inter-caste marriages and dalit demands to worship in temples.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Asia Bibi’s husband urges Pakistan president to grant blasphemy pardon[/h]

by Staff Reporter
posted Thursday, 20 Nov 2014
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Asia Bibi

Ashiq Masih writes open letter after appeal is rejected
The husband of Asia Bibi, the Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan after being found guilty of blasphemy, has urged the country’s president to free his wife and allow her to move to France.
Pakistan’s high court recently upheld the conviction against Ms Bibi, who was accused in 2009 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad after a group of Muslim women in her home village of Itanwali refused to drink from the same glass as a Christian.
Ms Bibi’s husband Ashiq Mashi has now written an open letter in which he describes the conditions his wife is being held in as “terrible” and that her live could only be saved by a pardon from Pakistan’s president Mamnoon Hussain.
“We are convinced that Asia will only be saved from being hanged if the venerable President Mamnoon Hussain grants her a pardon. No one should be killed for drinking a glass of water,” wrote Mr Mashi.
“After my wife had spent four long years in prison in terrible conditions, we were hoping that the high court of Lahore would free my wife. She did not commit blasphemy, never. Since the court confirmed the death sentence on October 16, we do not understand why our country, our beloved Pakistan, is so against us. Our family has always lived here in peace, and we never had any disturbance.


“We are Christians but we respect Islam. Our neighbours are Muslims and we have always lived well with them in our little village. But for some years now the situation in Pakistan has changed because of just a few people, and we are afraid. Today many of our Muslim friends cannot understand why the Pakistani justice system is making our family suffer so much.”
The letter continued: “When I visited Asia Bibi yesterday she asked me to give you this message: ‘My prison cell has no windows and day and night are the same to me, but if I am still holding on today it is thanks to everyone who is trying to help me. When my husband showed me the photographs of people I have never met drinking a glass of water for me, my heart overflowed. Ashiq told me that the city of Paris is offering to welcome our family. I send my deepest thanks to you Madam Mayor, and to all the kind people of Paris and across the world. You are my only hope of staying alive in this dungeon, so please don’t abandon me. I did not commit blasphemy.’”
The full text of Ashiq Masih’s letter to Mamnoon Hussain (November 17, 2014):

Yesterday, I returned from the prison in Multan where my wife, Aasia Bibi, was transferred eight months ago. Since Aasia was sentenced to death in November 2010 for drinking a glass of water from our village well, my family has lived in constant fear and under death threats. I live in hiding with my five children as near as possible to Aasia. She needs us very much to help keep her alive, to bring her medicine and good food when she is sick.
After my wife had spent four long years in prison in terrible conditions, we were hoping that the high court of Lahore would free my wife. She did not commit blasphemy, never. Since the court confirmed the death sentence on 16 October, we do not understand why our country, our beloved Pakistan, is so against us. Our family has always lived here in peace, and we never had any disturbance.
We are Christians but we respect Islam. Our neighbours are Muslims and we have always lived well with them in our little village. But for some years now the situation in Pakistan has changed because of just a few people, and we are afraid. Today many of our Muslim friends cannot understand why the Pakistani justice system is making our family suffer so much.
We are now trying our best to present the final case to the supreme court before 4 December. But we are convinced that Aasia will only be saved from being hanged if the venerable President Mammon Hussain grants her a pardon. No one should be killed for drinking a glass of water.
My five children and I have only survived thanks to the protection of a few faithful friends who risk their lives daily to help us. We are the husband and family of Aasia Bibi and many people want us to die. Thanks to our friend Anne-Isabelle Tollet, who has become our sister and helped us for four years now, we speak often about what is happening in Paris and the world to help save Aasia. Hearing that people are supporting Aasia from so far away is so important for us. It helps us to hold on. Every time I visit Aasia in prison I tell her the news. Sometimes it gives her the courage to keep going.
Just before taking the 10-hour journey to visit Aasia, I learned the wonderful news that Paris is offering to welcome Aasia and our family to Paris if she is freed. This is a huge honour and we are very humbled. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to you, Madam Mayor of Paris, and to say that we are immensely grateful for your concern. I hope that one day we will visit you alive, and not dead.
When I visited Aasia Bibi yesterday she asked me to give you this message: “My prison cell has no windows and day and night are the same to me, but if I am still holding on today it is thanks to everyone who is trying to help me. When my husband showed me the photographs of people I have never met drinking a glass of water for me, my heart overflowed. Ashiq told me that the city of Paris is offering to welcome our family. I send my deepest thanks to you Madam Mayor, and to all the kind people of Paris and across the world. You are my only hope of staying alive in this dungeon, so please don’t abandon me. I did not commit blasphemy.”
Blog: Pakistan must be shamed by the international community for sanctioning murder of Christians

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=1]Health and the Indian caste system discrimination[/h]Himmatrao Saluba Bawaskar
, Parag Himmatrao Bawaskar
, Pramodini Himmatrao Bawaskar


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60149-0

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[h=2]Article Info[/h]

• Summary
• Full Text
• References

We read the Lancet Editorial1 regarding the caste system in India. The caste system is entrenched in Indian culture, dividing society into various castes. Bhimrao Ambedkar, Shahoo Maharaj, and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule were the reformers who tried their best to remove the caste system and fought against injustice to so-called low castes and Dalits.
In the past, Dalits and low castes were not allowed to share common drinking-water wells with high castes and resided in isolation outside the main village. We feel ashamed to recollect tradition at the time of making low caste people carry human excreta over-head. Dalits were treated as untouchables and were barred from participating in community celebrations.
Caste-based positions in government services and private companies are helping to close the gap between high and low caste in society. Increased literacy in low-caste populations has raised their awareness of their fundamental rights.
In India, every child is asked what their caste is at school entry, and they are therefore used to caste early in life. People should only marry within their caste, which can lead to consanguinity. This antiquated tradition has resulted in an unusually high prevalence of specific autosomal recessive diseases in specific community or caste populations, such as diabetes, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, mental impairments, mental illness, spinocerebellar ataxia, thalassaemia, and sickle-cell diseases.2, 3, 4, 5

 

[Dalit Freedom]

Untouchables of India: A Photographic Documentary About Caste Issues and Human Rights Abuses

Date and Time

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 – Friday, September 23, 2011
Location

Hahn University Center Exhibit Hall
5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110
Cost

Details

School of Peace Studies MA alumna Vivien Francis ('10) documents caste issues and human rights abuses of the Dalit community from India in a photographic documentary. Exhibit opens Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 and runs through Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 in the Exhibit Hall, located in the Hahn University Center at the University of San Diego. All are welcome.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Christian school in Pakistan ransacked in response to Charlie Hebdo cartoons[/h]

by Staff Reporter
posted Monday, 2 Feb 2015
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An anti-Charlie Hebdo demonstration in Pakistan (CNS)

Four students were reportedly injured in the attack
Hundreds of Muslim students, armed with iron bars and sticks, have ransacked a Christian school in northern Pakistan in protest at blasphemous cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo.
300 Muslim students stormed the Christian boys’ school in the city of Bannu, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northern Pakistan, demanding its closure and injuring four students.
The protesting students entered the Panel High School after jumping its outer walls and forcing open the gates.
The school has been closed for two days and the headmaster has decided to take additional security measures.
Nasir Saeed, Christian director of the NGO, Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, said: “It is very sad that Islamic radicals attack Pakistani Christians because of Charlie Hebdo. Christians condemn the blasphemous cartoons. It is a shame that even after 67 years since the birth of Pakistan, Christians have not yet been considered Pakistani citizens, but are seen as ‘Western allies’.
“Whenever incidents occur in western countries, the faithful Pakistanis are attacked. Christians, who are already living under constant fear for their lives, become even more vulnerable. It is the politicians’ duty to create a cultural environment and a society in which Christians and religious minorities feel safe”.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

[h=2]Dr.Lenin Raghuvanshi[/h][COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54902)]CEO and Founder of Peoples' Vigilance Committtee on Human Rights(PVCHR)

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[h=1]Crisis of democracy and the Caste System in India[/h][COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54902)]Sep 21, 2014

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[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)]India is a land of diversity with great and long History populated by many different peoples, from many different origins, and who have many different religious, political and philosophical views. Many abuses are committed against peoples due to their caste or their religion and nature is more and more systematically ransack for privates interests.
The mains problems facing the country came from two things: the implementation of a "culture of impunity based on mind of caste with silence " - which is a sharing believe that few can act without be accountable for their actions – at the social, economic and political level, and the meet of this cognitive problem with a context of market democracy and economic globalisation.
Keywords:social dominance orientation, legitimizing ideologies, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance theory, Caste system, Impunity, Culture of silence,#2030NOW
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[Dalit Freedom]

[h=3]Our Blog[/h][h=1]The Caste System and Challenges for Seniors in India[/h]Posted February 28th, 2012 by Aishwarya Bhake.

[Editor’s Note: This is the third installment from guest blogger Isabel Rutherfurd, who is a volunteer teacher at Shanti Bhavan.]
Shanti Bhavan's graduating class of 2012: Rising stars who are breaking the boundaries of the caste system and applying to the top business, law and medical schools in South India

In India, the caste system has long been ingrained in society, and has been causing problems for the lowest castes all the while. The system is an archaic social order that segments the Indian population into social classes based on roles and status in society. The Brahmin caste (or the priest class) is the highest ranked, and the dalit caste, or the “untouchables,” is the lowest. The Indian Constitution rejected the concept of an untouchable caste in 1950—but although no longer officially sanctioned, the idea of untouchability remains alive in much of rural India. Members of the lowest castes are forced to drink from different wells, attend different temples, and stay in different parts of the villages. The government has made efforts to combat caste-based discrimination by providing members of the lowest castes with a fixed percentage of federal jobs and reserving a proportion of seats in parliament, but it hasn’t been successful in eradicating the generations of discrimination against these people.

 

[Dalit Freedom]

12:47 PM ET



[h=1]My Take: Hinduism's caste problem, out in the open[/h]

Hindu devotees at a religious celebration in India this month.

Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN
A few weeks ago, at an interfaith gathering at the White House, a Hindu gentleman told me he enjoyed my new book, “God is Not One,” but he objected strenuously to my criticisms of the Hindu caste system.
“There is no caste in Hinduism,” he told me, and no evidence would convince him otherwise. Not the fact that all my Hindu friends know precisely what caste they were born into. Nor the fact that all my Hindu students know precisely which castes their parents will not allow them to marry into.
Now comes even sadder evidence for the enduring power of the caste system in Hinduism—yet another honor killing. According to reports in Time, the New York Times, and elsewhere, a 22-year-old Hindu journalist named Nirupama Pathak was found dead after her family found out she was pregnant and intended to marry a man outside of her Brahmin (priestly) caste. The family claims it was a suicide, but police have arrested her mother on charges of murder—murder for the cause of caste.

 

[rustam e hind]

[h=1]Pakistan is a failing state and Christians are paying the ultimate price[/h]

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith
posted Monday, 16 Mar 2015
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Pakistani Christians pray for victims of a pair of Taliban suicide bombings that struck two churches on Sunday (PA)

The latest bombings show the Pakistani state to be weak in the face of terror and that the Taliban is still very much in business
Yet again, churches have been bombed in Pakistan, and though the Pope has spoken of his sadness at the event, on the whole it has passed most of the world by. There are several reasons for this, the most obvious of which is that this is the sort of story that we are accustomed to seeing come out of Pakistan. Fourteen people murdered, scores maimed in a sectarian bombing? In Pakistan that is not news, that is normal. Pakistan, people will say, is on the way to becoming a failed state. After all, if the state exists to protect its citizens, all of them, whatever their religion, the state of Pakistan is failing. Indeed it may have already failed, and our usual diagnosis of it being a failing state may well be hopelessly over-optimistic.
Quite a lot of people who know Pakistan – VS Naipaul comes to mind – see it as a failed state already, an experiment gone terribly wrong; I have heard this view too from several Indian friends of mine. What we see now, they think, is the grim reaping of what was sown when India was partitioned in 1947. They add that the Pakistani Christians are paying the price for not emigrating to India at Partition. The tragedy of modern Pakistan is compounded by the fact that the country has long been a British and American protg, and a major aid recipient. Are we pouring all that money into the south Asian equivalent of Somalia?


If these bombing show up the Pakistani state as weak and defenceless in the face of terror, they also show us something else, namely that the Taliban has not gone out of business, but are very much still here. Perhaps the Taliban simply want to remind us that ISIS is not the only game in town. Perhaps this is their attempt to try and seize back the standard from the Caliph?
Something else is at work too. The Christians of Pakistan are a tiny minority, but at the same time they are, given the size of the population, quite numerous, estimated at 2.5 million. This makes them a visible minority, an easy target for bombers and of course, let us not forget,thanks to the blasphemy laws, the object of state-sponsored persecution.
One has to ask: why can’t an avowedly Muslim state, founded by Muslims for Muslims, simply leave its Christian population alone? One ought to remember too that Christianity predates Islam in south Asia by many centuries. What is the problem for the Muslims of Pakistan? Have they got a problem with the concept of tolerance?
Another awful fact is that there are several pro-Taliban groups active in Britain today and quite a few Taliban apologists; nor are the Taliban a small or isolated group. They are well funded, and have widespread support. They represent a significant strand of opinion in the Muslim world, inside Pakistan and outside it too. The usual platitudes are demonstrably false: this is the work of a small group who represent no one, blah blah blah. We need to take this seriously. After all the Taliban would blow up churches all over the world, if they could. They can’t, of course, but that should not make us complacent.