Arundhati Roy Under Attack, Canadian Activists Fight Back

Vancouver and Surrey social-justice activists protest contempt charge against Arundhati Roy

by Charlie Smith | The Georgia Straight | January 2nd, 2016

Arundhati Roy has received a contempt citation for criticizing the arrest of a high-profile Indian human-rights activist. Vikramjit Kakati

The judicial persecution of a prominent Indian author and essayist has riled activists around Vancouver.

Many of them gathered in Surrey to protest a charge of contempt of court filed against Booker Prize-winning Delhi writer Arundhati Roy.

The demonstration included Chinmoy Banerjee, Parminder Swaich, Hardev Singh, Harbhajan Cheema, Harinder Mahil, Jai Birdi, and Avtar Gill, all of whom belong to different progressive groups in the Lower Mainland.

South Asian Diaspora in Canada Condemns the Political Persecution of Dr. GN Saibaba

SANSAD — South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy

Release political prisoner GN Saibaba

SANSAD News-release June 16, 2014

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) condemns the illegal arrest of Professor GN Saibaba, who teaches English in Ram Lal Anand College of Delhi University by Maharashtra Police on May 9. We further condemn his cruel detention in solitary confinement without regard to his disabilities, his suspension from Delhi University by the university administration following his arrest, and the denial of his bail plea by the Gadchirol sessions court in Maharashtra on June 13. We strongly protest these violations of human rights and civil liberties. We demand the immediate release of Professor Saibaba and his reinstatement in his teaching position in Delhi.

Professor Saibaba is an outspoken civil liberty activist, who as the deputy secretary of Revolutionary Democratic Front has been campaigning against the Indian government’s counter-insurgency measures known as “Operation Green Hunt.” His home in Delhi had been raided four times since September 2013 by the police before his arrest and transportation to Maharashtra on May 9 without warning and without access to a lawyer. Dr. Saibaba is a paraplegic who lost the use of his legs to polio as a child. He has 90% disability and has been bound to a wheel chair since he could afford one after his arrival in Delhi.

Resolutions from SANSAD Meeting in Vancouver, B.C.

SANSAD is an organization of Secular and Democratic South Asian Diaspora in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy held its Annual General Meeting on June 13, 2010 and elected a board with representation from Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, and Nepali communities in the Vancouver area of British Columbia.

The meeting adopted a resolution mourning the passing of Hari Sharma, the founding president of SANSAD, who had been the driving force behind the organization, and committing the members to carrying forward the work of promoting democracy, secularism, human rights, social justice, and peace with the inspiration of Hari’s memory.

The following board was elected: Chinmoy Banerjee (president); Harsha Walia (vice president); Nila Somaia (Secretary); Abi Ghimire (Treasurer); Amal Rana, Chelliah Premrajah, Habiba Zaman, Haider Nizamani, Harjap Grewal, Imran Munir, Zahid Makhdoom (members at large); Abid Pittalwala, Col. Shafaat Ali (honorary members).

Following the AGM a public educational forum on “Globalization and Militarism in South Asia” adopted the following resolutions:

1.      Whereas the adivasis (tribal people) of India have been systematically neglected, oppressed and displaced in independent, modernizing India,

And whereas more recent neo-liberal globalization of the Indian economy has intensified this oppression in the interest of multi-national companies keen to extract the mineral resources under their land