Are human rights and economic well-being substitutes? The evidence from migration patterns across the Indian states

This was a very interesting paper. But the highlights and abstract first

Highlights

• Intra-national migration as a tool to measure revealed preferences for human rights protection and economic well-being

• Economic well-being can serve as a substitute for bad protection of human rights

• Results are not driven by discrimination against particular ethnic or religious groups or type of human rights violations considered

• Human rights complaints are interpreted in the opposite way by migrants to states with high and low trust into the government

• The effect is driven by states with high TV penetration

---

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to study the relationship between the demand for human rights and the demand for economic prosperity from the “exit” perspective, looking at migration patterns. We investigate intra-national migration in India, which is a federation of various states that feature significant economic and political differences. The paper finds that the quality of human rights protection and the economic well-being in the target state are substitutes with respect to determining patterns of migration. These results depend on framing effects; human rights complaints appear to be interpreted differently by migrants, depending on the trust in the government in the target state.

First. Here’s the regression model

for all i ≠ j

where Migr_ij denotes the number of migrants from state i to state j; Inc_i and Inc_j represent the income per capita in states i and j, respectively; HR_i and HR_j indicate the number of human rights violations complaints in states i and j, respectively; Dist_ij is the highway distance between the capitals of these two states;CommonLang_ij is a dummy that is equal to 1 if both states belong to the same linguistic zone; and Controls_iand Controls_j represent the set of control variables for states i and j, respectively. Thus, the estimated equation is essentially a gravity model in which we regress the number of migrants from one state to another state on the income per capita in the target state and the origin state, the human rights violations complaints in these two states, and interaction terms between human rights violations complaints and income.

I really really like this formulation. Fascinating, very well done indeed. Simple but very intuitive.

But with the elections coming up, people need to think through how states approach their twin goals of security (as per human rights maintenance and enhancement versus economic growth. The news isn't as clear cut. When you are poor as a state, people will take off from your state if you are bad at human rights. But people can go to a state with higher economic growth but with potentially lower levels of human rights.

Fascinating.

Overreaction to hunger in India

This news item was sent around on a list.

More hungry in India than in Sudan

Rukmini Shrinivasan, TNN, Oct 12, 2010, 03.30am IST

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/More-hungry-in-India-than-in-Sudan/articleshow/6733033.cms

NEW DELHI: India dropped two ranks to 67th among 84 developing countries in the International Food Policy Research Institute's annual " Global Hunger Index" for 2010. Even Sudan, North Korea and Pakistan rank higher than India.

While the report, released on Monday, shows that the proportion of undernourished in India is decreasing, the worsening ranking indicates that other developing countries have done better in tackling hunger. India is home to 42% of the underweight children under the age of five in the world.

The policymakers in India, who are are still fighting over the need to have an expansive National Food Security Act, should look at the following data more closely: in 2005-06, about 44% of Indian children — below five years — were underweight, and nearly half — 48% — were stunted.
The food insecurity is so rampant across the country that India is clubbed with minor economies like Bangladesh, Timor-Leste and Yemen, recording the highest prevalence of underweight in children under five.
At the beginning of the liberalization era in the early 90s, 24% of the population was undernourished. The situation marginally improved to 22% between 2004 and 2006. Almost 60% of children below five were recorded as underweight in 1988-92. The condition has remained dismal as the latest figure shows 43.5% between 2003-08.
The GHI ranks countries on a scale of 100, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 the worst. It is composed of three equally weighted indicators: the proportion of undernourished in the population, the prevalence of those underweight in children under five and the under-five mortality rate.

The figures for India are 22% (as of 2004-6), 43.5% (2003-8) and 6.9% as of 2008, respectively. These give India a composite GHI of 24.1, which is classified as alarming in terms of the food security situation.
The strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo ranks at the bottom of the list of 84 countries with significant levels of hunger. The data has been compiled for 122 countries in all; the remaining 38 countries have a GHI of less than 5 and are not included in the rankings. No data has been recorded for highly developed countries.

South Asia has the highest GHI for any region in the world, at 22.9. The region has, however, made greater progress since 1990 than sub-Saharan Africa, the report adds. India is ranked below all other major South Asian countries — Sri Lanka is ranked 39th, Pakistan 52nd and Nepal 56th.
India's hunger is not purely a product of its middle-income status. While economic progress and hunger levels tend to be inversely correlated (countries with higher gross national income typically have lower GHI scores), some countries are exceptions to the norm. China has lower hunger levels than its GNI per capita would suggest, while India has higher hunger levels than would be expected from its income per capita, calculations made by the report's authors show.

The 2010 report focuses on child malnutrition, which is the biggest component of hunger worldwide. In India, high 2010 GHI scores are driven by high levels of underweight children, resulting from the low nutritional and social status of women in the country, the report says.

And the respondent went haywire. So I responded so

Here's an experiment you can do. Go check out the gini coefficients of the world and see where we are in terms of inequality. You will be surprised.

See this graph:

India isn't doing that badly, eh? But this was bothering me, so went back to check. And I responded back again.

This was bothering me but going deeper into this, looks like we are making some remarkable progress here. The silly point about India breaking up is frankly silly so wont touch it at all.
But here's the basic question which one asks. We have been showing a significant improvement over the past 20 years. So obviously we are doing something right in the first place. The places where we have touched relate to agriculture, nutrition, education, women's empowerment, income generation. These and other aspects helped us to improve this much. The report does not go into too much depth for Indian operations so had to go elsewhere to look deeper. Across all the dependent factors, we are showing strong and steady improvement in terms of agricultural productivity, increase in nutrition, increase in education, women's empowerment, income levels in the rural and urban areas, etc. etc.
Here's my point, there is nothing that we arent doing that we need to be doing. We just have to keep on doing what we have been doing and doing it better and perhaps more. We are on the right path.
The alarmist headlines and silly sod comments do not help at all because these are just whines, no basic understanding of the underlying issue, no analysis of what has been done or what needs to be done. So until and unless one gets some specific point of improvement, we dont need to get that much excited.
Lage raho munnabhai.

So the next time somebody whines that India has huge numbers of hungry and poor people, tell them yes, and we are doing something about it.

Also, check out this post, turns out the numbers themselves are a bit dodgy.

This isn't a war crime but is perhaps worse than that

What kind of a human being does this? Forget about war crimes and murder, this is behaviour of a human being whose humanity has been burnt away by what? I quote:

The most shocking testimony in the new Breaking the Silence report, I think, is number 95. A female Border Police sergeant describes how the guys would catch Palestinian kids trying to sneak into Israel to sell cheap little toys: 
It was simply routine – emptying the children’s plastic bags and playing with their toys. You know, grabbing the stuff and throwing the toys among us like balls.
Q: The children cried?
Constantly. They cried and were terrified. I mean, you couldn’t miss it.
Q: Adults cried too?
Sure. To humiliate them. One of our goals was this: I made him cry in front of his child, I made him shit in his pants.
Q: You saw cases of people soiling their pants?
Yes.
Q: Why?
Especially at beatings, beating them to a pulp and threats and yelling, where the guy is terrified, especially in front of the kids... There was this once, again, an adult detained with his child, a tiny kid, about four years old. The child was not hit, but the patrolman was annoyed that the adult was taking the kid with him so he’d be shown consideration, and told him: “You’re taking the kid along so as to be pitied. Let’s show you what’s what.” And he beat him to a pulp, yelled at him, said: “Why, I could kill you right in front of your kid. Maybe you’d feel more...”
Q: And he wet his pants for sheer fright?
Yes.
Q: In front of his child?
Yes. There are lots of horror stories like, I made him shit in his pants, I made him do that. Such talk was routine, not anything special...

And this is being done by Israeli Women. I am puzzled. Seriously puzzled. Why? Why are you like this? How can you look yourself in your face after destroying the innocence of a child? Is this what you are? You are not really human are you? This isn't human behaviour. You terrified a child, not once or twice but constantly? Is that what you do to your own child? Your little brother and sister? Or was this done to you by your parents? Is this endemic in the Israeli Army? Why? I am ashamed of you while being deeply puzzled at your unthinking brutality towards children. And Karma does exist, what goes around comes around.

The veil in France and Turkey

This was quite an interesting paper. First the abstract:

For the last two decades the human rights discourse has been increasingly used across the world - one could argue that there has even been a globalization of human rights. This discourse has also been intrinsically linked to positivism, enlightenment and secularism. It is with this in mind that this article looks at how religious Muslim individuals and groups in France and Turkey have been appropriating the human rights discourse and its national, regional and international legal channels to challenge state secular policies and redefine the relationship between religion and the state. By looking into two specific case studies - the work of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) and the Merve Kavakci case v. Turkey presented at the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) - I investigate if groups and individuals have found through the use of this 'authorized narrative' a space where they can propose a new plural ethos that can better co-exist with their piety. This is a space where they can offer a more plural and de-centralized vision of secularism. To complement this analysis, I also highlight some of the possible paradoxes found within the human rights discourse - paradoxes that might enlighten us on the challenges of using such a discourse, particularly to ask for the right to display publicly one's religion. In other words, I attempt to shed some light on whether the use of a rights-based discourse by religious rights groups and individuals can help resolve democratically disputes between the religious and the secular - encouraging perhaps the democratization of secularism in specific contexts.

This use of human rights legislation by religious bodies to argue for greater religious freedom is quite an interesting element and in my view, very encouraging indeed. This will indeed keep the lovely secular mullah’s at bay (in many cases far right wankers but also many leftist goons). Many ways, secularism can be quite a danger to individual rights. In any case, remember there is a now a demand to stop people wearing the veil from the perspective of health and safety. Anyway, I digress.

But the idea that human rights conventions and laws are being used by religious protagonists is good, because in the long run, universal human rights, such as propounded by the European Court of Human Rights, will force the religious obscurantists into a more moderate position. In other words, its the sovereignty of the universal declaration of human rights (rather than the silly Islamic declaration of human rights, you cannot call it as universal and Islamic at the same time, you plonkers, but that’s for another post sometime), the human courts and stuff who decide what is important and what is allowable in the country rather than some bloody mullah sitting somewhere pushing women into wearing the veil. I dont understand women wearing veils personally, but its your human right to have green hair or shove yourself in a scarf. I mean, I saw somebody wearing pink socks yesterday. It takes all kinds. heh.

Still, lets see how things go, this long term movement towards having a human rights perspective fills me with a bit of a satisfaction kick

Saudi Arabia and creativity

Remember what I said about Saudi Arabia, IT and creativity? I quote myself:

Setting up a knowledge city and throwing money at it does not solve the problem of creativity or having knowledge industries. For that, you need to have creativity at the school level. They have to inquire and challenge everything.

And you cannot do creativity and questioning and challenging when I am too busy worried about being thrown in jail. I quote from the Human Rights Watch site.

On May 19, Saudi secret police apprehended Dr. al-Faleh on the premises of King Saud University in Riyadh, where he teaches political science.

I am reminded of a conversation I had with somebody in Malaysia about Islamic scientific hero's. I remember telling him that all the Islamic scientific hero's that OIC talk about, mostly were hero's despite Islam and the Islamic superstructure of religion, politics, economics, history and education. But for universities to impinging on freedom of speech and investigation is horrific. The problem is global, not only in Saudi Arabia but also in the UK.

Technorati Tags: Universities,Freedom of Speech,Technology,Creativity

Asp in our own bosom

Here's something that is so bizarre that I cannot still understand it. So I am paying my tax money to support this man and his family who wants to destroy and kill me and my family? What about my right to security and my family's human rights are basically not counted then?

Technorati Tags: terrorism,al-Queda,jordan,united kingdom,human rights,legal system

Abu Hamza getting a gay nurse? Can there be any better poetic justice?

I was laughing fit to burst. I know it is very childish and very very illiberal of me, and yes, I know this was published in the Mirror, but hey! read and giggle! Whose human rights will you establish? the rights of the nurse or Abu Hamza? But the idea of him getting a gay nurse is divine justice, what more proof do you want there is a God?

I quote:

HATE preacher Abu Hamza has refused any more treatment from his prison nurse after finding out the man is gay. The nurse, nickname Queenie, has been helping to wash and dress the convicted terrorist for more than two years. A prison source told the Mirror the full-time staffer is openly gay and has a camp voice.

Officers at Belmarsh jail are said to be surprised Hamza, 48, has not noticed before. Now the cleric is claiming it is against his religion and human rights to be treated by a homosexual. The source said Hamza's solicitor wrote to the governor demanding his client is given a new regular nurse.The prison service refused saying it does not discriminate on grounds of sexuality.

The source said: "The nurse is upset about it. He has spent the last couple of years doing everything for Hamza, even wiping his bottom. "It shows how little respect Hamza has for others. The nurse dresses him, washes him, cleans his teeth, cuts his toenails, trims his beard and applies ointment for his skin disorder." Egyptian-born Hamza, serving seven years for inciting murder and racial hatred, requires care because he is limited by his hook hands.

The source said: "His nurse is open about being gay. He even speaks with a camp voice. His nickname is Queenie. "Hamza has been refusing treatment while he is on duty but he won't be able to keep that up because it is causing him a great deal of discomfort." The prison service said: "We do not comment on individual prisoners."

Reminds me of the joke:

An airline's passenger cabin was being served by a gay flight attendant who put everyone into a good mood as he served them food and drinks. As the plane prepared to descend, he came swishing down the aisle and announced to the passengers, "Captain Marvin has asked me to announce that he'll be landing the big scary plane shortly, lovely people, so if you could just put up your trays that would be super."
On his trip back up the aisle, he noticed that a well-dressed, sophisticated woman hadn't moved. "Perhaps you didn't hear me over those big brute engines. I asked you to raise your trazy-poo so the main man can pitty-pat us on the ground." She calmly turned her head and said, "In my country, I am called a Princess. I take orders from no one."
To which the flight attendant replied, "Well honey, in my country I'm called a Queen, so . TRAY UP BIZNATCH!

Technorati Tags: Human Rights,Humour,Islam,Terrorism,United Kingdom

Saudi Arabia to Include "Human Rights" in National Curriculum

I suppose this is a good idea, but one wonders which Human Rights will be taught? This one? or This one? Or This one? Quite a difficult challenge but I suppose this is sufficient for Saudi Arabia. Sighs, a long way to go indeed!

Saudi Arabia to Include "Human Rights" in National Curriculum
05/01/2008

By Turki Al-Saheil

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Arabia took its first step today towards including "human rights" curriculum within its education curricula after The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) invited representatives from 16 high educational institutions to discuss the subject in a workshop.

The one-day workshop will emphasize on four proposals on how to incorporate the teaching of human rights at schools and colleges.

Dr. Bandar Al-Hajjar, president of the society told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We have underlined the importance of education in promoting human rights ever since the society’s formation.”

During the past years, the organization was busy preparing its infrastructure, such as a specialized library in Riyadh and a comprehensive data center.

"This infrastructure is essential to create a beneficial atmosphere for teaching human rights,” Al-Hajjar added.

The participants in today’s workshop include representatives from 14 universities, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences and King Khaled Military Academy.

Teaching human rights at educational institutions in the Kingdom is one the society’s strategies. The society has proposed to introduce the subject either to all university students irrespective of their specializations or to students of law, medicine and mass communication.

Technorati Tags: Human Rights,Schooling,Education,Saudi Arabia

The Hearts and Minds Campaign in Kashmir

Three stories came up today, and each of them are very good steps indeed. Each will help immeasurably in the hearts and minds campaign that is a vital component in any counter terrorist campaign.

Terrorism can never be defeated by military, security and policing alone, one needs to address the issues relating to the underlying cause. If that is not possible (for example if its religious in nature), then you cut out the support of the terrorists. If you do that, then the terrorist campaign will simply wither away by itself. Terrorists fear only one thing, that is to lose the support of the population. If that happens, then their crucial advantages over the security forces (hiding inside the population, getting additional recruits, getting funds, getting sustenance, propaganda, etc.) is negated!

So the fact that the Indian Defence Minister has promised to pay more for the rent on army occupied farmland is good. This will make the farmers happy.

The second story is that the Army will vacate schools, hospitals and other public buildings is great. For two reasons, the visibility of the armed forces will drop (which is a victory for the state!) and second, the life for the common man will progressively return to normal and state services such as schooling, medical care and the like can be provided.

For separatist terrorists such as the Kashmiri ones, the fact that a Kashmiri is actually going into a state school, getting treated in a state hospital etc. etc. each will cut into his support. After all, their whole reason for existence is to say that the current state is not providing the services that they think they want. But if they start doing schooling, health care, driving licenses, and the like, then the state starts to establish its presence!

The other story was that 85 Indian officers and soldiers have been found guilty of HR violations in Kashmir and will be punished. Unfortunately, given the nature of the beast the army is facing, HR offences are going to happen. But the fact that its going to happen does not mean that they get away with it. There is nothing worse than the population to see army men committing crimes and getting away with them. The population needs to see the army as their guardians, their elder brothers, their friends. It is only then that they will trust the army and the state enough to get away from the terrorists. So very good step as well.

Good steps and good counter-terrorist strategy as well.

Technorati Tags: Counter-Terrorism , Kashmir , India , Armies , Human Rights

Islam and European Secularism go head to head in a courtroom

The news was buried in a corner of the Financial Times of yesterday, a tiny news story from Strasbourg in France where the European Court of Human Rights is based. I did not recognise the significance at first of the headline, “Ruling against Islamic lessons” and went on. And then came back to read about the fact that the court ruled on October 9, 2007 that compulsory religion classes for Muslim pupils in Turkey violate individual freedoms because they present only Sunni Islam views.

Then my poxy laptop died and was taken away for open heart surgery. Hence I was reduced to staring at the wall and ruminating. Its then that I realised that this could be far more important and sensitive than anybody has realised for many reasons.

For those who are legal minded, can refer to the judgement here. I am going to quote heavily from the judgment so bear with me.

The background to Alevism:

7. Hasan Zengin stated that his family
were adherents of Alevism.

8. Alevism originated in central Asia but
developed largely in Turkey. Two important Sufis had a considerable impact on
the emergence of this religious movement: Hoca Ahmet Yesevi (12th century) and
Haci Bektaşi Veli (14th century). This belief system, which has deep roots in
Turkish society and history, is generally considered as one of the branches of
Islam, influenced in particular by Sufism and by certain pre-Islamic beliefs.
Its religious practices differ from those of the Sunni1 schools of law in
certain aspects such as prayer, fasting and pilgrimage.

9. According to
the applicant, Alevism is a belief or philosophy influenced by other cultures,
religions and philosophies. It represents one of the most widespread faiths in
Turkey after the Hanafite2 branch of Islam. It advocates close contact with
nature, tolerance, modesty and love for one's neighbour, within the Islamic
faith. Alevis reject the sharia (code of laws in orthodox Islam) and the sunna
(forms of behaviour and formal rules of orthodox Islam) and defend freedom of
religion, human rights, women's rights, humanism, democracy, rationalism,
modernism, universalism, tolerance and secularism. Alevis do not pray by the
Sunni rite (in particular, they do not comply with the obligation to pray five
times daily) but express their devotion through religious songs and dances
(semah); they do not attend mosques, but meet regularly in cemevi (meeting and
worship rooms) for ritual ceremonies. Equally, Alevis do not consider the
pilgrimage to Mecca as a religious obligation. They believe that Allah is
present in each person. According to Alevism, Allah created Adam in his image
and all his manifestations in this world are in human form. Allah is neither in
the sky nor in paradise, but in the centre of the human heart.

Now as you read this, you will immediately know that this is as far away from traditional Islam as possible. So this sect is definitely Haram, forbidden and it is not surprising that this sect’s religious learning is not passed on in schools. The Sunni Ulema (the mullahs, priests and theologians) will spontaneously combust if this happens!

But you see, universal principles of human rights, secularism and liberal traditions of democracy, humanism and universalism demand that the state does not take sides, each religion is equal, and as long as they do not commit any crimes against anybody else, you can worship who you please. But that’s the theory, and the practise is something else. Unfortunately for the Turkish State and Sunni Islam, the European Court of Human Rights is forced to look at theory to judge this case. Read on!

10. On 23 February 2001 the applicant submitted a request to the Provincial
Directorate of National Education (“the Directorate”) at the Istanbul Governor's
Office, seeking to have his daughter exempted from religious culture and ethics
classes. Pointing out that his family were followers of Alevism, he stressed
that, under international treaties such as, for example, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, parents had the right to choose the type of
education their children were to receive. In addition, he alleged that the
compulsory course in religious culture and ethics was incompatible with the
principle of secularism.

11. On 2 April 2001 the Directorate replied
that it was impossible to grant the exemption request. In particular, it stated:

“... Article 24 of the Constitution states that 'Education and
instruction in religion and ethics shall be conducted under State supervision
and control. Instruction in religious culture and moral education shall be
compulsory in the curricula of primary and secondary schools. Other religious
education and instruction shall be subject to the individual's own desire, and
in the case of minors, to the request of their legal representatives.'

Article 12 of the State Education Act (Law no. 1739) ... provides that
'secularism shall be the basis of Turkish national education. Religious culture
and ethics shall be among the compulsory subjects taught in primary and upper
secondary schools, and in schools of these levels.'”

For these reasons,
your request cannot be granted.”

So the plaintiff took his complaint to the ECHR. Now the Government lawyer said that Jewish and Christian pupils were exempted from this compulsory teaching. Both sides submitted school textbooks on Islam to bolster their respective cases.

The learned judges then referred to the Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Recommendations 1396 (1999) and 1720 (2005) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) General policy recommendation no. 5.

As an aside, the court did a fascinating review of what’s happening in other countries and again it is worthwhile to quote it in full.

30. In Europe, religious education is closely tied in with secular
education. Of the 46 Council of Europe member States which were examined, 43
provide religious education classes in state schools. Only Albania, France (with
the exception of the Alsace and Moselle regions) and the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia are the exceptions to this rule. In Slovenia,
non-confessional teaching is offered in the last years of state education.

31. In 25 of the 46 member States (including Turkey), religious
education is a compulsory subject. However, the scope of this obligation varies
depending on the State. In five countries, namely Finland, Greece, Norway,
Sweden and Turkey, the obligation to attend classes in religious education is
absolute. All pupils who belong to the religious faith taught in the classes are
obliged to follow them, partially or fully. However, ten States allow for
exemptions under certain conditions. This is the case in Austria, Cyprus,
Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and the
United Kingdom. In the majority of these countries, religious education is
denominational.

32. Ten other countries give pupils the opportunity to
choose a substitute lesson in place of compulsory religious education. This is
the case in Germany, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia and Switzerland. In those countries,
denominational education is included in the curriculum drawn up by the relevant
ministries and pupils are obliged to attend unless they have opted for the
substitute lesson proposed.

33. In contrast, 21 member States do not
oblige pupils to follow classes in religious education. Religious education is
generally authorised in the school system but pupils only attend if they have
made a request to that effect. This is what happens in the largest group of
States: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, Estonia,
Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic,
Romania, Russia and Ukraine. Finally, in a third group of States, pupils are
obliged to attend a religious education or substitute class, but always have the
option of attending a secular lesson.

34. This general overview of
religious education in Europe shows that, in spite of the variety of teaching
methods, almost all of the member States offer at least one route by which
pupils can opt out of religious education classes (by providing an exemption
mechanism or the option of attending a lesson in a substitute subject, or by
giving pupils the choice of whether or not to sign up to a religious studies
class).

To cut a long story short, the court found that the Government of Turkey had violated Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Too bad the court did not rule on the Article 9 but still.

So here we go, we have a situation that will force Sunni Majority Turkey, bastion of Militant Secularism, ruled by a mildly Islamist party to decide what to do. It is now forced into an unpalatable decision. You see, it is impossible for a theological position to emerge where different interpretations of Islam can co-exist. The continuing debates, protests, riots and demonstrations (both state and religiously sponsored) over apostasy and blasphemy show that tolerance at worst and theological supports at best are simply not there.

If the Turkish government decide to follow the court’s judgement and actually allow heretical sects such as Shia, Alevism, etc. to propagate their own theology in schools that will mean that the majority Sunni ulema and faithful will go up in flames. They cannot allow people to call themselves as Muslims and still exclude themselves from Sunni teaching as that gives a governmental recognition to these sects. The government cannot remove the compulsory teaching either as that will also make the majority Sunni ulema and faithful will go up in flames. It cannot remove secularism and say Sunni Islam is majority religion and you have to learn it or lump it because it has signed up to the European treaties (such as Council of Europe and the European Human Rights Convention). This is assuming the Turkish Military, the militant protector of Ataturk’s secularism, would be silent. Very interesting days ahead, folks.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

How can you NOT like dogs? these cabbies apparently!

I am a confirmed dog lover and have written about the bizarre situation where dogs are not considered to be good.

but this seems to be a bit weird, lord only knows where these cabbies get their religious instruction from but sure as hell, come on, refusing to carry a blind man and his guide dog? What happened to your kindness and mercy for the unfortunate?

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

The strange case of Chinese executions

Now here's an interesting observation if a bit ironic. China, along with Saudi Arabia, Iran and USA usually end up inhabiting the top part of the list of countries where executions happen.

I have seen emails from right wing americans float across my in-box spitting on public executions of criminals in Iran. Not very sure what they are objecting to. Are they objecting to the execution or the fact that its happening in public? If the latter then its silly because that's obviously missing the wood from the trees. But I am digressing.


Many NGO's and Human Rights Activists have been on this case for a long time, and China obviously is in the cross hairs. Which is the reason why the China Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese state is now stating that, "Vice president of the Supreme Court of China Jiang Xingchang said on Thursday that since January 1, the number of death penalty cases has continued to decrease. Last year there was the lowest number of the death penalty cases in ten years. "

And

"Jiang Xingchang said that the reform of the capital punishment approval system has been recognized by the people and has become common knowledge in various judicial departments and people's courts. In recent years, the number of death penalty cases with a two-year delay of execution has been equal to or greater than the number of death penalty cases with immediate execution.

Jiang Xingchang said there has been significant improvement in controlling the standards of the death penalty. The Supreme Court has paid closer attention to evidence; and is more careful to ensure fair judicial procedures.

"There should be serious consideration of and standard procedures on whether or not a criminal should be sentenced to death," said Jiang Xingchang."

All very nice and good, but on the same day, this also comes out.

"A letter written by the disgraced former head of China's drug watchdog Zheng Xiaoyu shortly before his execution in July is being used to warn local government officials against corruption.

Zheng's letter titled " Posthumous Writings of Remorse" was read to prosecutors in Bozhou city, Anhui Province, at a routine meeting recently to encourage the legal officials to draw lessons from the case and maintain an honest work ethic, Friday's Procuratorial Daily reports."


As long as the Chinese state looks at the death penalty as a measure of retribution, punishment and a way to teach lessons, the death penalty will keep on being applied. And as you would have surmised, I am not in favour of the death penalty at all. The day our legal system is proven 100% accurate, just and fair, I will agree. :)

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Israel: if you broke it, you fix / buy it. Do it for the child, please!

Now this is tragic, children always get caught up in tragedies like this. And between the demands of national security, national ethos, self determination, terrorism, religion, a tiny soul like this gets caught up in helpless angst. I wish I had a solution, but that will rest on Israel's will. I would actually suggest that Israel do as much as it can, even further to what it has done right now. Give the girl and her family a residency permit.

Remember the placards in china shops? If you broke it, you buy it.

The birthday party that captured Israel's heart

By Eric Silver in Jerusalem

Published: 31 August 2007

Maria Amin, a chubby-faced Palestinian girl with gleaming brown eyes, celebrated her birthday yesterday like any pampered six year old. Doting aunts decked her out like a princess in a gauzy white chiffon dress, spotted with pink hearts and topped with a toy tiara.

A make-up girl primped her hair, rouged her cheeks and painted her lips. With a pout and a shake of the head, Maria rejected a plain lipstick and demanded a glittery gold one. She insisted on being sprayed with a favourite scent. When the make-up girl held up a mirror, she cooed: "How pretty!"

But Maria was no ordinary birthday girl. She came to the party in a wheelchair, which she navigates with her chin against a joystick. She was paralysed from the neck down in May last year when the car she was in was caught in an Israeli missile strike on an Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza. Her mother, grandmother and older brother were killed.

She celebrated her birthday party in the Israeli Alyn hospital and rehabilitation centre for handicapped children, where she is hooked to the respirator she will need for the rest of her life.

Her father, Hamdi Amin, who is on call 24 hours a day, supervised the festivities. The Israeli army allowed his father, grandfather and sundry cousins to visit from Gaza. The hall, overlooking the Jerusalem forest, was awash with balloons.

Reporters who had followed Maria's story, turned up with their own children, bearing gifts, as did Arab and Jewish friends. The birthday girl thanked them in her native Arabic and the Hebrew she has picked up from the hospital staff.

But the celebrations were overshadowed. The Israeli Defence Ministry has paid for Maria's rehabilitation at Alyn and for a small flat on the premises for her father and younger brother. Now, however, the ministry says she must move to the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre in Ramallah. It will continue covering expenses.

The Palestinian doctors say that they cannot provide the care Maria needs. They don't have the equipment; they don't have the trained staff. The Israeli hospital is defying orders and refusing to discharge her. The case will come before the Israeli Supreme Court on 25 September.

Hamdi Amin is a father in limbo. He can't work, even if the Israelis give him a permit. Maria needs him constantly. "Until the judges decide," he said, "I don't know how we'll live or where we'll go. Maria's condition is still very grave. For her it's a matter of life or death. She can't move her arms or legs. She can't breathe on her own. There's nowhere in Gaza or the West Bank that can look after her. How can the Defence Ministry say the Ramallah hospital has to treat her?"

The family has seen the worst and the best of Israel. Hamdi declines to blame or to praise. "I don't care about wars, I don't care about Hamas, I don't care about America," he explained. "I grew up in a family where you worked to put food on the table for your children. I believe that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away."

A support group of Israeli and Palestinian activists has rallied to the Amin family's side. Dalia Becker, a chain-smoking Israeli matron, said: "We're Hamdi's second family. Anything he needs, he turns to us. We're paying for the lawyers who will represent Maria at the Supreme Court. It's hard to believe that once the judges see her, they will send her away."

Back in Gaza, the undeclared war goes on. Children are still paying a price. An Israeli shell killed two Palestinian boys and a girl near Beit Hanoun on Wednesday. A military spokesman said the troops targeted several Qassam rocket launchers aimed at Israel. It expressed "sorrow for the cynical use the terror organisations make of the active participation of teenagers in terror attacks".

The army said yesterday that it had arrested a 15-year-old Gaza boy on his way to a suicide bombing against Israeli soldiers.

Iran Condemns Israel for Violation of Human Rights | Wake Up From Your Slumber

There is a quote in bengali which when translated goes something like this, "the collander tells the sewing needle that there is a hole in your bottom". This is the best bit, Israel and Iran are accusing each other of human rights violations!!!! I am posting this under Humour! :)

Is the UK facing up to Bahrain's past?

BBC NEWS UK Is the UK facing up to Bahrain's past?


Now this is a curious incident, I didnt know about this, but is definitely worthy of following up. The Bahrainis are getting all het up about this. They are calling Ian Henderson, a Britisher, as the Butcher of Bahrain. And Human Rights Watch has complained about him. See his wiki page here. Why did it come up through the blogosphere? because this gentleman is actually heading back to Bahrain for a visit. Very curious but given his links with the british political system, i daresay nothing will happen.I find it curious as to why the Bahraini Human Rights people havent launched a case against Ian Henderson here in the UK under the ICC. UK has signed the ICC, so there is no reason why a legal case cannot be launched!