Habib Siddiqui

44st Session of the Human Rights Council     Oral update on the human rights situation of Rohingya people (S-27/1)                  Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Geneva, 30 June 2020  Madam President, Excellencies,  I now present the oral report on the Rohingya people of Myanmar requested by the Council in resolution A/HRC/S-27/1 of December 2017. Regrettably, I must once again report that the human rights situation for Rohingyas in Rakhine State has not improved, and that conditions for their safe, dignified and sustainable return from Bangladesh are still not in place. During the Council's 43rd session, I presented a comprehensive report on the root causes of the violations and abuses suffered by the Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar. The report noted that discrimination and exclusion against these groups have ...

Categories Israeli media are reporting a series of Israeli airstrikes against uncertain targets across Syria. Syrian state media reported two Syrian soldiers were killed, and the Israeli press said seven killed overall, leading the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights to declare the other five to be 'Iranians.' Exactly what is being attacked is unclear, as Israeli press concedes that the areas where explosions are reported are not generally reported to have any "sensitive" sites to begin with. This too is leading to speculation that the sites are Iranian, since Israel tends to like to attack Iranian targets. Read more at Israeli Airstrikes Hit Several Syrian Sites, at Least Seven Reported Killed Israeli forces kill young Palestinian en route to his sister's wedding Ahmad Erekat was on his way to pick up his mother, sister and flowers when he was fatally shot, family says It was just hours before her wedding, and Eman Erekat was having the finishing touch...

While browsing the internet today, I came across a Hindutvadi propaganda by Vivek Gumaste. He bemoaned that Hindu population may vanish in Bangladesh in the next thirty years. It was a silly propaganda that is meant to portray Bangladesh negatively. I wrote my response below: "The article by Gumaste is a pure Hindutvadi propaganda where falsehood is mixed with little truth. If the Hindus in Bangladesh were treated second class, can the author explain why  Hindus who represent a tenth of the population hold nearly 40% of government jobs? Why almost half of the district commissioners are Hindus? How could Bangladesh have a Hindu supreme court justice who could not probably be more than an ordinary lawyer in India?  Compare that scenario with Muslims in Modi's India.  While according to census, Muslims represent 14 percent of Indian population, their share is only two (2) percent in government jobs. Before telling the kettle black Hindutvdi propagandists like Gumaste and Tr...

Neha Dabhade “ While there is some cautious optimism about the rights of blacks in US after the Black Lives Matter Movement triggered by the strangulation of George Floyd, the same optimism cant be shared about the rights of vulnerable communities in India ”, said Prof. Suhas Palshikar, political scientist and writer, at a talk organized by Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) on 28 th June, 2020. The talk on zoom was titled as “ Black Lives Matter Movement: Democracy and Social Prejudices in the US and India ”. The main speakers of this talk were David A Love, prominent journalist and activist from the US and Prof. Suhas Palshikar. The talk was chaired by Vinob Mubayi, editor of INSAF Bulletin and moderated by Irfan Engineer, Director of CSSS. The talk was attended by over 85 participants on zoom and viewed widely live on social media. This talk unraveled the nuances and implications of the Black Lives Matter Movement in the US and its parallel movements in India and t...

A Kerala gang that trapped many aspiring young models, and blackmailed them into becoming escorts and gold smugglers, went too far when they targeted popular Kerala actress Shamna Kasim. Twitter users from Kerala are sharing news reports of how, a special investigation team (SIT), has arrested the kingpin and members of his gang, who allegedly threatened Kasim, and tried to extort money from her family. Police launched the investigation based on a complaint from actress Shamna Kasim's family that the gang made attempts to extort money from them, after approaching them with a marriage proposal for her. Shamna Kasim, also known by the stage name Poorna, has acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. Reportedly, a “suitor” called up Kasim on her cellphone, and claimed that he was an NRI businessman running a jewellery business. Subsequently, the suitor’s “relatives” visited her house, and became friendly with the family. They showed her the photograph of a TikTok model from Kasargod...

Chinese authorities are carrying out forced sterilisations of women in an apparent campaign to curb the growth of ethnic minority populations in the western Xinjiang region, according to research published on Monday. The report, based on a combination of official regional data, policy documents and interviews with ethnic minority women, has prompted an international group of lawmakers to call for a United Nations investigation into China’s policies in the region . The move is likely to enrage Beijing, which has denied trampling on the rights of ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and which on Monday called the allegations “baseless”. The country is accused of locking more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in re-education camps . Beijing describes the facilities as job training centres aimed at steering people away from terrorism following a spate of violence blamed on separatists. A report by Adrian Zenz , a German researcher who has exposed China’s policies in Xin...