Israel is ‘killing Palestinian children at record rates,’ group says

August 9, 2018

The first half of 2018 has been deadly for Palestinian children, with at least 35 children killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip, according to Defense for Children International — Palestine (DCIP).

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian teenager Arkan Mezeher, who was killed by Israeli soldiers during a raid, during his funeral in Dheishe refugee camp, near West Bank city of Bethlehem on July 23, 2018. (Photo: Wisam Hashlamoun/APA Images)

In a report published on Monday, DCIP said that between January and July, the number of slain Palestinian children was three times higher than during the same time period in 2017.

According to the group, Israeli forces have killed more Palestinian children since January this year than in any previous year of the past decade, outside of large-scale Israeli military offensives.

On August 5th, the day before the report was published, 17-year-old Ahmad Jihad Ahmad al-Aydi from Gaza succumbed to wounds he had sustained on the first day of Great March of Return protests on March 30th.

Al-Aydi was one of four minors who died of gunshot wounds between July 27 and August 5 after Israeli forces shot them during protests on the the Gaza border.

The other three were identified as Muath Ziad Ibrahim al-Soury, 15, Moemen Fathi Yousef al-Hams, 16, and Majdi Ramzi Kamal al-Satri, 11.

The majority of the children killed in 2018 were killed in Gaza, according to DCIP, with at least 22 of those children killed in the context of the Great March of Return protests.

The ongoing popular demonstrations have been violently suppressed by Israeli forces, who have killed 160 Palestinians and injured over 17,000 more, according to numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The majority of the slain children, according to DCI, were shot with live ammunition, while two were struck by artillery shells.

Of those killed by live ammunition, 13 children were shot in the head, neck, or chest, the group said said.

Arkan Mezher. (Photo: Twitter)

One of those children shot in the chest was 14-year-old Arkan Mizher, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces shot during an arrest raid in Dheisheh refugee camp in the middle of the night on July 23.

“Israeli forces have operated with near complete impunity for so long that unlawful killings and other flagrant violations of international law have become the norm,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program director at DCIP said in the report.

The group added that “DCIP evidence has determined on multiple occasions that children killed along the Gaza Strip perimeter did not pose a direct, mortal threat at the time of their death,” while noting that under international law, the use lethal force is strictly reserved for instances when a”direct and mortal threat to life or of serious injury exists.”

The number of Palestinian children who died at the hands of the Israeli occupation this year has doubled in comparison to 2017, during which 15 children were killed, according to DCIP records.

Courtesy: https://mondoweiss.net

Indian elections: disinformation threatens to exacerbate religious tensions

August 9, 2018

In a country with low press freedom and media literacy, fake news could be a recipe for disaster.

Protests over the death of two young men who were lynched because of rumours they were child lifters, 2018. Image: Dhruba Dutta/Zuma Press/PA Images

In his seminal book, Ignited Minds, former Indian president A. P. J Abdul Kalam wrote that for India, “the greatest danger to our sense of unity and our sense of purpose comes from ideologists who seek to divide the people.” While Kalam’s text was penned in 2002, the greatest threat to India’s plurality remains unchanged, and it persists in an era of disinformation and demagoguery.

To validate the threat of disinformation, one only needs to review recent events where its effects have proved damaging. The list of nations assailed by disinformation is geographically diverse, and its forms vary from the manipulation of voter perception (Brexit, Catalonia, France, Kenya, US) to the fomenting of realised violence against ethnic groups (Myanmar, Sri Lanka). In the specific case of India, the detriments of disinformation pose an inexorable threat to pluralism. As a nation rife with ethnic, religious, and linguistic lines to exploit, the consequences of inadequately addressing the nation’s proliferation of “fake news” could very well be on display in the 2019 general elections. As made clear by recent elections and referendums, an under-informed base of users capable of amplifying disinformation at dizzying speeds could pose an existential threat to pluralism.

As would be expected, some of India’s recent bouts with disinformation can be attributed to foreign adversaries, most notably Pakistan. False reports of 158 casualties suffered by India’s military during tensions in Doklam originated from a Pakistan-based news channel. Similarly, Pakistan’s government scrambled to dispute India’s surgical strikes following the Uri attack in 2016, an ambiguous event that even among India’s press garnered incredulity.

Nevertheless, the threat from external actors has been limited. For the most part, the sources of disinformation in India originate from within the country. The recent state elections in Karnataka provided a glimpse into the disinformation apparatus of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Using popular mediums such as WhatsApp, the BJP and its ideologically-aligned affiliates amplified false claims of expanding Islamic extremism. The use of closed-end messaging tools like WhatsApp has proved fruitful for those seeking to shield inflammatory headlines and bite-sized tidbits of faulty information from public scrutiny. Among the disseminated content were bogus reports of Hindu-Muslim clashes and a spurious BBC poll that showed the BJP pulling off a victory in Karnataka. The proliferation of fake news via WhatsApp in Karnataka is only example of a troubling trend that is evident in other parts of the country.

In instigating religious conflict, the BJP hopes to win over fence-sitters by exploiting the fears of Hindus

While fake polls might appear innocuous, concocting the notion of looming sectarian strife is not. In instigating religious conflict, the BJP hopes to win over fence-sitters by exploiting the fears of Hindus. Such actions coincide with hopes that anxieties around ethnic identity can be mobilised to make Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism) politically palpable in Modi’s 2nd term.

Equally salient to the disinformation issue are the revelations from a recent investigation by Indian news website Cobrapost, in which journalists, posing as Hindu nationalists, offered cash to major media organizations, in exchange for publishing polarising, pro-Hindutva content. The findings of the Cobrapost sting dampens the hopes that eminent outlets, which have garnered the respect and trust of its readership, could play a vital role in curbing India’s descent into a post-truth society. These revelations also coincide with recent figures that suggest public trust in media institutions is waning, an augury inextricably linked to populism’s global surge.

While these recent events are troubling, the spread of disinformation online is, at present, a largely new phenomenon in India. Economic growth and an expanding middle class has been accompanied by an estimated 40% increase in the number of internet users across the country. The double-edged sword of such an accomplishment is the potential exploitation of vulnerable citizens, too many of whom possess low levels of media literacy and will undoubtedly struggle with discerning fact from fiction. Furthermore, their subsequent participation in social media will likely lead to the development of their own “echo chambers,” where fervent supporters of a party are increasingly less likely to encounter independent media or opinions that are tangential to their own. The seemingly global pivot from broadcasting to narrowcasting has polarised India’s electorate by encouraging both media organisations and political entities to placate their fringes with content that is fraught with panic and devoid of truth. In doing this, they suppress the notion that moderate, inclusive policy has any role to play in the country’s trajectory.

In what was a disastrous first attempt to quell disinformation, the Modi government presented a policy that was appropriately rebuked as illiberal and nebulous. The since retracted proposal sought to revoke the accreditation of any journalist accused of proliferating fake news, with the loss of access commencing after an accusation and prior to an investigation. Implementing such an arbitrary policy in a nation that trails Afghanistan, Guatemala, and the Central African Republic in press freedom rankings would have likely emboldened the BJP to bar non-sycophantic journalists from questioning policymakers and accessing government records.

Democracies must be willing to make long-term investments in accountability initiatives
Whereas authoritarian regimes enjoy the advantages of censorship and intimidation of the press, democracies must be willing to make long-term investments in accountability initiatives. The central government would do well in developing cross-partisan support for a third-party factchecker and implementing a media literacy campaign ahead of the 2019 elections. However, such reforms would be feckless if the BJP itself fails to vet the fallacious claims and fictitious stories that are forwarded, shared, retweeted, and otherwise propagated by its own personnel. Furthermore ensuring protections for journalists must remain a priority amid the litany of recent tragedies suffered by media personnel.

By equating a vote for Modi as a vote for Hinduism’s preeminence, the BJP risks setting a dangerous precedent for future elections, in which, the rewards of disinformation campaigns become too enticing to pass up. In lieu of meaningful policies that address the woes suffered by all Indians, the BJP has instead opted to play identity politics at its maximal level. In pursuing a stratagem hell-bent in sowing discord, the party hopes to mimic the success of reactionary movements that drove voters to the polls via demagogy. While such a scheme may result in electoral victory, it also portends dangerous ethnic and religious strife within a country whose greatest asset has always been unity.

Arman Sidhu is a teacher and writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. His work has previously appeared in The Diplomat, Economic & Political Weekly, Z Magazine, and the Foreign Policy Journal, among others.

Courtesy: https://www.opendemocracy.net

NRC must not be a Communal Document: Dr. Hiren Gohain

August 9, 2018

Strong Voices from Assam Civil Society Speak Out for an Error free, Bias Free, NRC

NRC

Image: AFP

Guwahati, 8 August: Influential sections of Assamese Civil Society and the Forum against the Citizenship Amendment Bill has strongly voiced a need for an error-free, NRC. These two organisations voiced this urgent concern at a joint press conference held here on Tuesday. Prominent spokespersons from these fora have vocally raised this issue at a time when specific attempts are afoot to discredit the entire process of updating the draft NRC, more specifically to label all those dropped out of the list (more than four million) as ‘Bangladeshi’.

Dr. Hiren Gohain, prminent thinker and chief convenor of Forum against Citizenship Amendment Bill underlined strongly that the final draft of the updated NRC may have some errors; ordinary people have faced difficulties due to some avoidable steps taken by the NRC authority. He opined that this process is the lifeline of the future generations in the state. This has been understand even by the Jamiat leadership of Assam. All those who love Assam and have interests of the people at heart, are of the opinion that the updated NRC must both error and bias free. Dr Gohain emphasised that all those who have been dropped from the draft NRC are not all Foreigners. There may be many Indian citizens who have been dropped from the draft NRC: they must be given proper opportunity to be heard, so that their names are not dropped from the Final NRC.

Dr Gohain was also unsparing in his criticism of the NRC authority for not giving proper attention to the Linkage Certificates, due to which many names have been dropped from the updated draft NRC. He warned that evert step and procedure followed by the NRC must be above board and unbiased so that it doesn’t become a bunch of Communal Document. Eminent poet and former DGP of Assam Dr. Harekrishna Deka, who is also President of Assam Said that vested interests and sectarian political forces are making a shrill noise, and trying to wrongly project that all those four million persons dropped from the draft NRC are Foreign Nationals. N

The NRC is an initiative aimed at preparing a list of Indian citizens. Even those who may be dropped from the final NRC, will and must have recourse to the judicial process as per Indian law, after which alone will a ‘list of foreigners’ be possible to draw up. Until then, no one has the right to brand them as foreigners. He appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and have faith on the Supreme Court. Dr. Deka said the deliberations and outcome of the Supreme Court should be respected by all.

Bangladesh: VCs ask for release of students, minister says no

August 9, 2018

Nurul Islam Nahid, however, said no innocent student will be punished

nurul islam nahid VC meeting August 8 2018

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid holds an emergency meeting with private university vice-chancellors Focus Bangla

The education minister has dismissed a plea from private university vice-chancellors (VCs) demanding release of students arrested during Monday’s demonstrations, saying actions will be taken as per law against those committed crimes.

Nurul Islam Nahid, however, said no innocent student will be punished, reports UNB.

Nahid urged the VCs to keep their students away from any kind of movement, adding they should be held accountable for the activities of the students.

He made the call while addressing an emergency views-exchange meeting on Wednesday with the VCs and pro-VCs of all private universities at the International Mother Language Institute in the city.

Saying the government has already accepted all the nine demands of the students and they will be met gradually, Nahid asked why the private university students staged demonstrations on Monday.

“After my meeting with the heads of all educational institutions on Sunday, students went back to classes. I wonder why students of some private universities staged demonstrations on Monday. I cannot understand the reason behind their grievances,” he said.
The education minister asked whether the students were being instigated by ‘evil forces.’

As per the demand of the students, he said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will soon open work on constructing underpasses in front of educational institutions in crowded areas in the city.

“Their other demands will be fulfilled gradually.”

Nahid urged the heads of the private universities to make the students understand not to pay heed to any rumour.

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan chaired the program, jointly organised by the Education Ministry and UGC.

First published on Dhaka Tribune

Know The Shameless Betrayal of Quit India Movement by The Hindutva Gang From Their Own Documents

August 9, 2018

Quit India Movement [QIM] also known as ‘August Kranti’ (August Revolution) was a nation-wide Civil Disobedience Movement for which a call was given on August 7, 1942 by the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee. It was to begin on August 9 as per Gandhi’s call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Mumbai at the Gowalia Tank Maidan on August 8. Since then August 9 is celebrated as August Kranti Divas.

The British swiftly responded with mass detentions on August 8th itself. Over 100,000 arrests were made which included the total top leadership of Congress including Gandhi, mass fines were levied and demonstrators were subjected to public flogging. Hundreds of civilians were killed in violence, many shot by the police and army. Many national leaders went underground and continued their struggle by broadcasting messages over clandestine radio stations, distributing pamphlets and establishing parallel governments. Innumerable patriotic Indians were shot dead for the crime that they were holding Tricolour publically. Even before that a terrible massacre took place in Mysore where the armed forces of Mysore Raja who was very close to Hindu Mahasabha and RSS shot dead 22 Congress activists for saluting Tricolour.

It is to be noted that after declaring Congress an anti-national and unlawful organization, the British masters allowed only Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League to function.

Most of us know that the then Communist Party of India opposed the QIM thus betraying a great phase of mass upsurge in the history of the freedom struggle. But it is well documented that despite CPI’s call for keeping aloof from QIM large number of Communist activists participated in it. However, what role the then Hindutva camp—consisting of the Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh —played in the QIM is under wraps for reasons unknown. The Hindutva camp not only opposed QIM but also provided multi-faceted and multi-dimensional support to the British rulers in suppressing this historic mass upsurge. In this connection, shocking documents are available; these should be read to be believed.

‘VEER’ SAVARKAR LED HINDU MAHASABHA JOINED HANDS WITH THE BRITISH RULERS TO SUPRESS IT
While addressing the 24th session of the Hindu Mahasabha at Cawnpore (now Kanpur) in 1942, Savarkar outlined the strategy of the Hindu Mahasabha of co-operating with the rulers in the following words:
“The Hindu Mahasabha holds that the leading principle of all practical politics is the policy of Responsive Co-operation. And in virtue of it, it believes that all those Hindu Sangathanists who are working as councillors, ministers, legislators and conducting any municipal or any public bodies with a view to utilize those centres of government power to safeguard and even promote the legitimate interests of the Hindus without, of course, encroaching on the legitimate interests of others are rendering a highly patriotic service to our nation. Knowing the limitations under which they work, the Mahasabha only expects them to do whatever good they can under the circumstances and if they do not fail to do that much it would thank them for having acquitted themselves well. The limitations are bound to get themselves limited step by step till they get altogether eliminated. The policy of responsive co-operation which covers the whole gamut of patriotic activities from unconditional co-operation right up to active and even armed resistance, will also keep adapting itself to the exigencies of the time, resources at our disposal and dictates of our national interest.” [Italics as in the original][i]

This ‘Responsive Cooperation’ with the British masters was not only a theoretical commitment. It soon got concretized in the ganging up of Hindu Mahasabha with the Muslim League. Hindu Mahasabha led by ‘Veer’ Savarkar ran coalition governments with Muslim League in 1942. Savarkar defended this nexus in his presidential speech in the same session of Hindu Mahasabha at Kanpur, in the following words:
“In practical politics also the Mahasabha knows that we must advance through reasonable compromises. Witness the fact that only recently in Sind, the Sind-Hindu-Sabha on invitation had taken the responsibility of joining hands with the League itself in running coalition Government. The case of Bengal is well known. Wild Leaguers whom even the Congress with all its submissive-ness could not placate grew quite reasonably compromising and socialable as soon as they came in contact with the HM and the Coalition Government, under the premiership of Mr. Fazlul Huq and the able lead of our esteemed Mahasabha leader Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji, functioned successfully for a year or so to the benefit of both the communities.”[ii]

Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League beside Bengal and Sind ran coalition government in NWFP also during this period.
HINDUTVA ICON DR SYAMA PRASAD MOOKERJEE DEPUTY CM IN THE BENGAL MUSLIM LEAGUE MINISTRY TOOK UP THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CRUSHING QIM IN BENGAL
Following the Hindu Mahasabha directive to co-operate with the British, the Hindutva icon, Dr. Mookerjee assured the British masters through a letter dated July 26, 1942. Shockingly, it read:
“Let me now refer to the situation that may be created in the province as a result of any widespread movement launched by the Congress. Anybody, who during the war, plans to stir up mass feeling, resulting internal disturbances or insecurity, must be resisted by any Government that may function for the time being”[iii]

The second-in-command of the Hindu Mahasabha, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, also the deputy chief minister in Bengal Muslim league ministry in a letter to Bengal governor on behalf of Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League made it clear that both these parties looked at the British rulers as saviours of Bengal against Quit India Movement launched by Congress. In this letter, he mentioned item wise the steps to be taken for dealing with the situation. It read:
“The question is how to combat this movement (Quit India) in Bengal? The administration of the province should be carried on in such a manner that in spite of the best efforts of the Congress, this movement will fail to take root in the province. It should be possible for us, especially responsible Ministers, to be able to tell the public that the freedom for which the Congress has started the movement, already belongs to the representatives of the people. In some spheres it might be limited during the emergency. Indian have to trust the British, not for the sake for Britain, not for any advantage that the British might gain, but for the maintenance of the defence and freedom of the province itself.”[iv]

RSS FOLLOWED SAVARKAR IN OPPOSING QIM
THE other flag-bearer of Hindutva, the RSS, was not different in its attitude towards the QIM. It openly sided with its mentor ‘Veer’ Savarkar against this great revolt. The RSS’ attitude towards the QIM becomes clear from the following utterances of its second chief and most prominent ideologue till date, M.S. Golwalkar. While talking about the outcome of the Non-Cooperation Movement and QIM he said:
“Definitely there are bound to be bad results of struggle. The boys became unruly after the 1920-21 movement. It is not an attempt to throw mud at the leaders. But these are inevitable products after the struggle. The matter is that we could not properly control these results. After 1942, people often started thinking that there was no need to think of the law.”[v]

Thus, the prophet of Hindutva, Golwalkar, wanted the Indians to respect the draconian and repressive laws of the inhuman British rulers! He admitted that this kind of negative attitude towards the QIM did not go well even with the RSS cadres:
“In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time, too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly. However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organisation of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too.”[vi]

It would be interesting to note what Golwalkar meant by ‘routine work of Sangh’. It surely meant working overtime to widen the divide between Hindus and Muslims thus serving the strategic goal of the British rulers and Muslim League. In fact, the contemporary reports of the British intelligence agencies on the QIM were straight forward in describing the fact that RSS kept aloof from the QIM. According to one such report, “the Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law, and in particular, has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942”.[vii]

These historical documented facts make it clear that Hindutva gang led by the RSS not only betrayed QIM but also rendered great service to the British masters by aligning with the Muslim League when the foreign rulers were faced with the nation-wide popular revolt by the Indians. They in collusion mounted one of the fiercest repressions of the freedom fighters. Shockingly, this gang is ruling India today describing itself as a symbol of Indian nationalism. We need to convey these facts to the Indians so that these traitors are exposed and charged for crimes committed against India.

The RSS/BJP rulers know that betrayal of the QIM by their Hindutva parents cannot be covered up. It is crystal clear that RSS including its top leaders like Golwalkar (head of the RSS), Deendayal Upadhyaya, Balraj Madhok, LK Advani and KR Malkani who were RSS whole timers during QIM did not participate in this Movement. So as master manipulators they have devised a novel method of altering the whole idea of the QIM. PM Modi addressing the BJP parliamentary party in Delhi (August 7, 2018 invoked ‘August Kranti’ (led by Congress under the leadership of Gandhi) declared that the BJ Party would mark August 1-9 from next year as the “social justice week.” Thus if the betrayal of the QIM cannot be covered up, let the QIM be turned into an issue of future, devoid of its glorious anti-colonial liberation heritage which was brazenly betrayed by the Hindutva gang..

Shamsul Islam is a retired Professor of University of Delhi.Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
For some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu & Gujarati see the following link:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook: Shams Shamsul
Twitter: @shamsforjustice

[i] Cited in V.D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra Prantik Hindu Sabha, Poona, 1963, p. 474.
[ii] Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya, vol. 6, 479-480.
[iii] Mookherjee, Shyama Prasad, Leaves from a Dairy, Oxford University Press. p. 179.
[iv] [Cited in A G. Noorani, The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour. LeftWord Books, p. 56–57.
[v] M.S. Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. IV, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 41.
[vi] M.S. Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. IV, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p. 40.
[vii] Cited in Andersen, Walter K.& Damle, Shridhar D. The Brotherhood in Saffron: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Westview Press, 1987, 44.

Media: 4th Pillar of Democracy Crumbles Under BJP Rule

August 9, 2018

In this episode of Unmasking the Media, Bhasha Singh talks about how the media is under pressure, be it the case of the ABP news journalists quitting or the the way in which media portrayed the case of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases

In this episode of Unmasking the Media, Bhasha Singh talks about how the media is under pressure, be it the case of the ABP news journalists quitting or the the way in which media portrayed the case of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases. Bhasha also talked about how the cow lynchers are getting government protection.

Indian journalists and activists protest against Bangladeshi photographer’s arrest

August 8, 2018

Over 250 photographers, artists, journalists and activists have issued a statement demanding Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam’s immediate release.

Image: Munir Uz Zaman—AFP/Getty Images

Celebrated Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam was arrested by the Bangladesh Police late on Sunday, hours after his interview with Al Jazeera regarding student protests that have currently enveloped the country. Alam had also been sharing photos of the protests on his Facebook profile and discussing them through Facebook Live.

“The detective branch of the Bangladesh police picked up Shahidul Alam, a prominent Bangladeshi photojournalist, hours after his explosive interview with Al-Jazeera, to interrogate him about his Facebook posts regarding the protest and ‘provocative comments’ made in the interview. While being taken to a court for a remand hearing, he seemed unable to walk on his own. He said that he was not allowed to have a lawyer and beaten in custody by his captors who wanted to coerce him into signing a statement, reported exiled Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil. “[They] washed my blood-stained Punjabi (tunic) and made me wear it again,” Shahidul was quoted as saying by Shafiqul Alam, the AFP bureau chief in Dhaka,” reported Firstpost.

“He has eventually been placed on seven-day remand in a case filed against him under Bangladesh’s notorious Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, reported local newspaper The Daily Star. While a number of journalists—especially those carrying a camera—came under attack while covering protests, Alam’s arrest was an extraordinary escalation. With a career spanning over four decades, Alam is arguably Bangladesh’s most prominent photographer, whose works have been featured by almost all major western media outlets. He has also founded Drik Gallery and Pathshala, a photography school that has trained hundreds of photographers. Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International have called for his immediate release,” the report said.

Protests in India over his arrest

Around 150 journalists and photographers from the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Bombay News Photographers Association, Crime Reporters Association and Mumbai Press club gathered outside Mumbai’s Press Club to express solidarity. Various press organisations in Mumbai gathered together on Tuesday to protest police brutality meted out to two photojournalists – DNA’s Pravin Indrekar from Ahmedabad and Shahidul Alam in Dhaka. Journalism students also joined the protest.

In India, over 250 photographers, artists, journalists and activists including Ram Rahman, Vivan Sundaram, Parthiv Shah, Pushpamala N., Raghu Rai, Devika Daulet-Singh, Pablo Bartholomew, Prashant Panjiar, Dinesh Khanna, Sunil Gupta, Jitish Kalat, Krishen Khanna, Ravi Aggarwal and Gauri Gill, have issued a statement demanding Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam’s immediate release.

The statement forwarded by Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) is as follows:

In a shocking development, late night on 5 August 2018, Dr. Shahidul Alam, internationally renowned photographer, pedagogue, activist, and founder of Drik and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, was forcibly abducted from his house in Dhanmondi, Dhaka in Bangladesh. According to eyewitnesses, around 30 to 35 plainclothes men, claiming to be from the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, forcibly entered Dr. Alam’s home, pushed him into a waiting car and sped away. They taped up the CCTV camera and took away the camera footage. The security guards were manhandled and locked up.

Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Detective Branch), Abdul Baten, told UNB (United News of Bangladesh) that Dr. Shahidul Alam has been detained for interrogation over his Facebook posts on the ongoing student protests in Bangladesh. Later news reports confirm that Dr. Alam has been arrested under the draconian ICT Act (Information and Communication Technology Act), routinely used to suppress freedom of speech, and to harass writers, activists and journalists for their comments on social media. When Dr. Alam was produced before a Dhaka court on Monday, 6 August, he had to be supported as he could not walk on his own. He had been made to wash his own bloodied clothes to wear again. The Dhaka police were granted a 7-day remand after producing him before the court.

There have been further developments. On Tuesday, 7 August, the court ordered that Dr. Alam should be taken to a government hospital for a medical check-up in response to a petition filed by his lawyers; however, the written orders were not produced in time and so he spent another night in police custody. He was finally taken to the hospital at 9.30 am today, 8 August, but it appears that once the medical checkup takes place he will be back in police custody. The next hearing at the court is on Thursday, 9 August 2018, when the State lawyers will attempt to oppose the High Court order and argue against it.

The detention and murderous attack on Dr. Shahidul Alam is symptomatic. Writers, journalists and social media activists in Bangladesh have over the last several years suffered similar repression. Dr. Alam is determined to hold on to the ideal of social justice and to engage in cultural action that strengthens democratic and egalitarian values. He has disseminated these ideas through his critical writings, a sustained pedagogical programme around photography and numerous curatorial projects that engage the public. He is admired and respected all across the world and especially in South Asia for his exemplary work as a photographer-activist and for his courageous stand on the fraught relationship between the State and the people.

Consider how Dr Alam’s position resonates with that in India; how it adds to the urgencies needing to be addressed by the citizenry here.

We condemn, in the strongest possible way, the arrest, brutality and dishonour done to Dr. Shahidul Alam. The message is simple. Dr. Alam exercised his right as a citizen. No charges must be bought under section 57 of the draconian ICT Act.

We demand his immediate and unconditional release.

Aban Raza
Abhay Sardesai
Abhijan Gupta
Abhishek Hazra
Adira Thekkuveetil
Aditi De
Aishwaryan K
Ajay Sinha
Akkitham Vasudevan
Alnoor Mitha
Aman Bahl
Amar Kanwar
Amita Desai
Amrita Jhaveri
Anant Joshi
Ananya Vajpeyi
Anita Dube
Anita Khemka
Anju Dodiya
Anmol Vellani
Anoli Perera
Anshuman Dasgupta
Anup Mathew Thomas
Anuradha Kapur
Anusha Yadav
Aquin Mathews
Archana hande
Arpana Caur
Arshiya Lokhandwala
Arun Kumar HG
Arundhati Ghosh
Arvind Lodaya
Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Ashwathi Vijaykumar
Astad Deboo
Avinash Veeraraghavan
Ayesha Singh
Babitha Lingraj
Babu Eshwar Prasad
Bari Kumar
Belinder Dhanoa
Bharat Chowdhary
Bharat Sikka
Bharati Kapadia
Bhavna Kakar
C.F. John
Chandan Gomes
Chander Haat
Chimuk Kaur
Chinar Shah
Chittrovanu Mazumdar
Clay Kelton
Cop Shiva
Daljeet Wadhwa
Dayanita Singh
Deepa Bhasthi
Deepak Ananth
Deepanjana Pal
Desmond Lazaro
Devika Daulet Singh
Dhruv Malhotra
Dileep Prakash
Dimple B. Shah
Dinesh Khanna
Diva Gujral
Fawzan Husain
Franck Barthelemy
Gargi Raina
Gauri Gill
Gayatri Sinha
Geeta Kapur
Gigi Scaria
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17 Lakh Maharashtra govt employees on strike till Aug 9

August 8, 2018

Under the banner of the Maharashtra State Government Employees, they are pressing for various demands, including immediate implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report.

Mumbai: Services related to government offices in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra are likely to be hit till Aug 9 as around 17 lakh employees, under the banner of the Maharashtra State Government Employees, began their three-day strike on August 7, to press for various demands, including immediate implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report. It is said that on the first day of the stir, around 63 per cent of class 3 and class 4 employees remained absent from work.

On Aug 6, the unions had announced that class 3 and class 4 employees of Zilla Parishads, state hospitals, staff working at Mantralaya (Secretariat) will participate in the strike.

The other demands include payment of dearness allowance (DA) for 14 months, five-day working week and increasing the retirement age to 60 years from the existing 58.

“However, around 1.5 lakh of the 17 lakh employees withdrew from the strike after a Government Resolution (GR) was issued on Monday night, stating that pending arrears of the DA for a period of 14 months will be paid to them. Another GR was issued stating that the Seventh Pay Commission will be implemented from January 2019,” reported The Indian Express

The demand of employees for a five-day work week and retirement age will be taken up during Diwali, an official said in the report. “The arrears will be paid with the salaries of employees for August, as per the GR. If the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission is delayed, the employees will get the benefit as per the wage structure of the central government employees from January 2019,” it added.

“Earlier on Monday, state Government Employees Organisation President Nitin Sardeshmukh said class III and class IV employees of Zilla Parishads, state hospitals, staff working at Mantralaya (secretariat) will participate in the strike. “The employees of the Central government have been getting the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission since 2016. Seven state governments have implemented the pay commission,” he said,” reported Firstpost.

Sardeshmukh said the employees are yet to receive the arrears accrued to them since the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission by the state government.

He said 1.85 lakh posts of class III and class IV employees are lying vacant in Maharashtra.

“Moreover, the demand for filling up 30,000 posts on compassionate grounds is also not accepted by the state government,” Sardesmukh claimed in the report. He said around 30 to 40 per cent of total posts are lying vacant in hospitals and other essential services departments.

“A General Administration Department (GAD) official said the employees working in essential services departments like hospitals, fire brigade, water supply etc. have been directed not to join the strike or else provisions of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) will be invoked against them,” the report added.

“The arrears of Seventh Pay Commission will be given with retrospective effect from January 2016, while the Dearness Allowance will be given retrospectively for the last 14 months,” CM Devendra Fadnavis had said after holding a meeting with various employees’ unions.

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17 Lakh Maharashtra govt employees on strike till Aug 9

Under the banner of the Maharashtra State Government Employees, they are pressing for various demands, including immediate implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report.

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