The government and leading institutions of Pakistan have been placed in a difficult position by the Mumbai events. The statement by a United States official that the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure) was most likely responsible for the armed operation of 26-29 November 2008 would appear to confirm India's early assertions that the attacks were planned and launched from Pakistan. But even if Indian Islamist ("homegrown") terrorists with... more »
After Mumbai: India's democratic test, Meenakshi GangulyThe visible fires have died down, the dust has almost settled. Not just at the hotels, the train station, the Jewish centre, the café or the hospital that came under attack in Mumbai (Bombay). But also at the cremation grounds and burial sites, where innocent victims were put to rest. Yet, as one young man said, "There is a fire still burning in my heart." The young man is an Indian, a citizen of Bombay, and a Muslim.
Meenakshi Ganguly is senior researcher on South Asia for... more »
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Dr Azza Baydoun has analysed every ‘honour killing' in Lebanon that has gone before the courts since 1999 and found that behind the plea of offended honour lies the crime of femicide. The women were shot, stabbed, beaten, strangled, burnt or poisoned, by men, because they were women: if they had been men... more »
Uzbek Migration: low pay, life sentence , Maria Yanovskaya
Why do so many Uzbeks become migrant workers? Where do they go? And why, despite horrific exploitation, do so few return? These are among the main issues addressed in a recent report which brings together the results of sociological surveys on migration in 2006-7. [i]
The research, conducted before the financial crisis, clearly does not reflect the current situation, where migrant workers are losing their jobs and may have to return home. But covering problems of labour migration... more »
Tashkent dances west, Yulia Goryavina
Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov appears to have reacted to the US presidential elections by turning towards the West. He has agreed to release from prison some political prisoners who were sentenced during the bloody suppression of the uprising in Andijan. So far, it is not exactly clear what form this new relationship will take between the West and the most populous nation in Central Asia. But this enormous country, which also borders Afghanistan, may become a good economic and... more »
I take Damian Green’s arrest personally, Laura Sandys
Editor's introduction: Laura Sandys is the Chair of the openDemocracy Board as well as a contributor and a Conservative candidate preparing to fight the coming election. This post is taken from her regular emails to her constituents. Readers outside Britain especially may need to know that her father was Duncan Sandys a leading ally of Churchill and later a senior minister in the post-war Conservative governments. They may also need to know that the parliamentary offices of Damien Green MP,... more »
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