Yaqoub Mehrnehad, the Baloch peaceful political activist, journalist and writer was executed today, the fourth of August 2008 along with another young Baluch human rights activist, Abdolreza Taheri Sadr. He was sentenced to death some time ago. When his family was allowed to meet after that he sai

A lot of people didn't understand the hurry that Manmohan Singh was in in taking the safeguards agreement to International Atomic Energy Agency and requesting the United States President to pursue the matter with Nuclear Suppliers' Group. Even those who support the Indo-US nuclear deal are perplexed

The British government's recent announcement about tackling religious extremism by giving young Muslims "citizenship lessons" among other things is an interesting one. It's easy to sneer at initiatives in the face of the omnipresent threat of Muslim religious extremism worldwide, but Britain is not

I was recently on holiday away from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. As customary, I was bombarded with questions by both friends and acquaintances gathered around the dinner table one evening about how I could possibly bear to live in this desert and "unbearably" hot country.
Well, putting the

In a response, the likes of which we have not seen in the last few decades, both the Government of Uttarakhand and the Government of India responded to 76 years old Dr. G. D. Agarwal's fast-unto-death. Retired professor of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, Dr. Agarwal, was protesting plan

Time for the politics of people's movements to prevail
The game of numbers was never at its vulgar ebb as it is today. It is clear by now, more than ever before that electoral politics is nothing more than valueless and opportunistic arithmetic. Votes and candidates, parties and parliamentarians ar

The recently concluded G8 summit in Japan placed rising fuel and food prices, besides climate change, at the top of its agenda. While fuel crisis is enough to stoke panic, it has also partly induced the food crisis due to both high fuel cost of producing and transporting food as well vast bio-fuel c

Last week the bollywood heartthrob film-star Aamir Khan was found smoking after the launch of the latest blockbuster movie 'jaane tu … ya jaane na'. Earlier in June 2008, he was reported saying that he is back to smoking due to 'stress' related to the forthcoming release of 'jaane tu … ya jaane na'

Two weeks ago, the Turkish police detained an additional round of suspects for their affiliation with Ergenekon, described as a mafia-like gang of largely ultra-nationalist Turks, many of whom are linked to various state institutions. It is rumoured that they are plotting to bring down the governmen

Whilst the world was celebrating World Anti-Narcotics day on Jun 27th, by organizing seminars and conferences with loud woes of resolve to end the menace, in the south of Helmand province of Afghanistan Gul Bibi,18, was being sold to the local land owner as a “ opium bride’ by her father for just

Who speaks for European Muslims? It is a pressing question as far as policy makers in Europe are concerned. Even prior to 9/11, they were interested. After the 7/7 London bombings, finding an answer to the question has become imperative.
Before the attacks of 9/11, I had decided to map out the Musl

Dozens of different authors, Think tanks and web sites have claimed that the Baluch struggle for establishing democracy in Iran is somehow financed or supported by the United States of America, Western Europe or Arab countries. These claims are totally false and fabricated. These are either claims

Energy security is a function of the ability of a nation to satisfy energy needs of current and future generations of all citizens in an affordable manner without adverse impact on the environment and sustainability.
Such an energy policy must be centered on a wide mix of renewable energy options

Amidst protests against price rises of essential items throughout the country, the PM Manmohan Singh has again started harping on the issue of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. The Deal has been pushed forward in India in an anti-democratic manner without approval of the Parliament - in fact in the teeth of

"Have you ever worn a burqa before?" asked the Amnesty International representative.
One by one, the journalism students in the class I was teaching at American University of Paris took turns trying on a burqa, a piece of clothing that fully covers a woman's body, head and face. When it was my turn