This week at Himal
Last month, Pakistan’s cabinet hastily passed a constitutional amendment implementing controversial judicial reforms. Salman Rafi Sheikh unpacks the implications of Pakistan’s 26th amendment, and how it curtails judicial independence.
For our next Podcast of the Week, host of the State of Southasia podcast Nayantara Narayanan will be talking to Pankaj Sekhsaria, associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay), researcher and author of several books about the Andaman and Nicobar islands, about India’s disastrous mega-infrastructure project in Great Nicobar.
Film Southasia 2024 kicks off next week in Kathmandu from 21 to 24 November at Yala Maya Kendra, Patan Dhoka! Browse through the 47 featured documentaries here and make sure to drop in and support independent Southasian non-fiction film if you’re in the area! You'll also be able to sign up for Screen Southasia at the venue - look out for our poster!
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Also read: Southasia Review of Books podcast #11: Sex, scandal and the death of a poet in 1970s Karachi
Also read: Pakistan’s judicial system takes an authoritarian hit
Also read: Can Sri Lanka’s newly empowered NPP deliver a new dawn for women in politics?
This week in Southasia
India's Supreme Court rules 'bulldozer justice' unconstitutional
In a landmark ruling, India’s Supreme Court banned the practice of bulldozer justice, which saw the demolition of homes or places of business as a method of punishment. It also directed that state authorities must give the affected people at least 15 days notice to legally respond to a demolition order. The ruling comes after a number of petitions were filed seeking to ban the practice. State and local governments say that many of the demolitions took place because the homes were unsafe or illegally constructed, or because a resident was convicted or suspected of committing a crime. Rights advocates have pointed out that many of the targets of punitive demolitions were Muslims, with the practice occurring more frequently in BJP-led states.
According to the Indian advocacy organisation Housing and Land Rights Network, more than 153,000 homes have been demolished by state governments between January 2022 and December 2023, with 738,000 people being displaced. In its ruling, the Supreme Court pointed out that the demolition of homes could also be seen as an act of collective punishment targeting entire families. While many welcomed the ruling, analysts pointed out that implementation of the order would be key to ensure that the ban was upheld.
Elsewhere in Southasia 📡
- Sri Lanka's National People's Power wins two-thirds majority in snap general elections, giving president Anura Kumara Dissanayake mandate to enact sweeping reforms demanded by protesters as Sri Lanka struggles to emerge from economic crisis
- Bangladesh’s interim government revokes press accreditations for 118 journalists, raising concerns about press freedom. Media watchdogs suggest the journalists targeted were supportive of the ousted Awami League party.
- Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif points out financial pledges from last two climate change summits failed to materialise at COP29, the United Nations climate conference while Maldivian president Mohammed Muizzu says funds for collective climate finance should be increased. Protestors call for an end to war in Gaza, highlighting that besides human tragedy and largescale destruction, the war in West Asia has contributed at least 50 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
- 50th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, D Y Chandrachud retires, drawing discussion on his career and legacy
- Suicide bombing at a train station in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, killed 26 people, including civilians and soldiers. The attack was claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army.
- India’s Enforcement Directorate arrested two Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian from Kolkata in connection to a money laundering case for facilitating illegal migration and human trafficking from Bangladesh, a day after the agency raided 17 locations in Jharkhand and West Bengal
- Sri Lanka Navy arrests 12 Indian fishermen, claiming they were poaching in Sri Lankan territorial waters. Tamil Nadu authorities call for their release, highlighting this year’s arrest of 497 fishermen is the highest in seven years.
- Turkish authorities deported 325 Afghan migrants in two days, with nearly 150,000 migrants returning over the past month from Turkey, Pakistan and Iran, according to the Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation
- India imposes restrictions on Nepali products to not have ‘Chinese components’, a move to prevent Chinese goods from entering the country through any of its neighbours, worrying Nepal’s manufacturers and exporters as products have sat in warehouses for months
Only in Southasia
This week, a couple in Bengaluru got themselves into a spot of trouble after they had posted photos of themselves in their apartment garden on social media. Unfortunately, sharp-eyed followers spotted that the couple was growing marijuana in two of the pots, turning them into police. When the police raided the flat, the couple denied any wrongdoing, only to be outed by their own social media posts - even though they had tossed the offending plants in the dustbin. The story drew amused reactions - and more than a few puns.
Got a meme or satirical post you'd like to share? Send us a meme that made you laugh from the past week here.
From the archive
India's bulldozer justice hits financial independence of Muslim women (August 2022)
As India’s Supreme Court has banned using demolition as a tool of punishment, our video story from Asma Hafiz and Kamran Yousuf from 2022 is worth a rewatch. Asma and Kamran explored the impact of ‘anti-encroachment’ drives on Muslim women’s livelihoods, reporting on the demolition of shops, homes and a mosque in the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi in April 2022, which went ahead despite a stay order from the Supreme Court of India.