Articles by Meena Menon

Kashmir’s summer of 2016—and since—has been marked by events that will not be easily forgotten: the killing of Burhan Wani; the intensified people’s resistance that it triggered; the killing of over a hundred people by state forces; the indiscriminate use of the Public Safety Act; and, above all, what is being called “the world’s first mass blinding.” This is the gist of a recently-released report by a fact-finding team.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been condemned and criticised but they remain unchanged and are used to incarcerate and even kill those accused. Many of the complaints are based on made-up evidence and the real causes are personal vendetta or gains. The case of Asia Bibi, a mother who has been on death row for six years, is a classic illustration.

The alienation felt against the Indian government in Kashmir has been left unresolved and an attempt has been made to intensify the blame game by dragging in the human rights violations in Balochistan. In the light of India's surgical strikes along the Line of Control, will dropping the policy of strategic restraint work towards taking a step forward or will it ignite another spiral of violence and retribution?

As editors and senior journalists representing a cross-section of the print, television and online media, we wish to bring to your notice a matter of serious professional concern for the journalist fraternity.

From 1893 onwards Bombay Presidency witnessed a series of communal riots between Hindus and Muslims, and the first one had the cow protection movement as a backdrop. The reclaiming of public places through celebration of festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, discord over cow slaughter, disputes over playing of music near religious places, the building of prayer halls, mosques and temples and tombs sparked communal violence causing divisions among the Hindus and Muslims. By the time the Muslim League demanded a separate state, relations were polarised and the riots continued right up to Partition and beyond.