Pakistan’s Ahmadis: Victims of Identity Theft

In Pakistan, there are about two million Ahmadis who live under the most stressful conditions imaginable thanks to the Pakistani government’s myriad ordinances and constitutional amendments declaring them non-Muslims … in order to curry favor with the religious clergy in 1974, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, changed the constitution so that it actually defined a Muslim as “a person who believes in the finality of Prophet Muhammed.” With a stroke of the pen, Ahmadis became non-Muslims, and lost their identity as Muslims forever more.

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Tienchi Martin-Liao: When the Police Persecute a 10-Year-Old Girl

Ten-year-old Anni looks mature for her age. She is used to the uniformed police, who often come to search her home. Sometimes they took her father away, but he usually returned home after a short time. However, a recent incident on February 27 did frighten her. When school ended in the afternoon, the fourth grader was going home, and suddenly four sturdy men blocked her way. They dragged her and stuffed her into a car, then brought her to the Hubo police station in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui. Anni was detained alone in one room for the rest of the day, and did not know that her father, Zhang Lin, was also detained on the third floor of the same building. 

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Israel Centeno: Illiberal Democracy

Maduro is a man who has been molded in Chávez and Castro’s shadow and who has no limits. In particular, until now, he has not been considered a romantic figure, nor has he tried to shift paradigms; he is merely continuing a legacy and consolidating a model, borne along by serious issues that are to be interwoven with the geopolitical dynamic of Cuba, a country upon which we entirely depend. There will be more economic crises, more scarcities and shortages, more inefficiency. But these revolutions with real socialism at their core, what else have they brought us? Repression, intolerance, inefficiency, scarcity.

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Vijay Nair: Land of Darkness

The current times will rank among the most shameful chapters in the history of independent India. Scam after scam involving ministers have tumbled out. Crime has continued unabated, while peaceful protests have been brutally tackled by the authorities.

Those in power seem to have a one point agenda: Save their positions and privileges at any cost.

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Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo: Light and Liberty

During this peaceful political protest to honor his father, Rosa María announced that, “just as this light illuminates the walls of the consulate, I hope the light of truth illuminate the hearts of Cubans, and we can pave the way of reconciliation together, towards the peace, happiness, and democracy that we seek.”

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