A UN report on Palestinian children, protests about powercuts in rural Bangladesh, Pakistan airstrikes on Afghanistan and more
In recent weeks, perhaps you didn’t even notice the report released by a retired Indian judge on the lives of Palestinian children, documenting a systematic campaign of targeted violence that supports numerous fact-finding reports increasingly describing Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank as genocidal. Maybe this is because our collective senses have been dulled by near-daily reports of death, as the rest of the world bears witness. For Sri Lankans (and many Southasians), these reports are hauntingly familiar. That’s why we feel it’s vital to keep our attention on Palestine, especially as governments turn a blind eye in favour of lucrative contracts or foreign income. We also have a deep dive on the slow and steady rot within Sri Lanka’s sangha after a sexual assault case featuring one of Sri Lanka’s top Buddhist monks, a free documentary screening and more in this week’s edition.
Tisaranee Gunasekara writes that the recent case of child sexual abuse involving a top Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka has unmasked the decay of the Sri Lankan sangha, which has increasingly become intertwined with Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism and political power over millenia.
We're screening Kesang Tseten 's The Riyalists from 1-8 July for Screen Southasia - if you'd like to receive the screening link for this and future documentaries, just register on our site (for free) and sign up for the Screen Southasia newsletter.
UN report raises fresh questions about Southasia's ties to Israel
A recently released report from a UN Commission of Inquiry has documented a campaign of violence and human rights violations against Palestinian children by Israeli forces and settlers. The report found over 20,000 children had been killed and tens of thousands injured in Gaza and the West Bank since October 2023, many of them intentionally targeted by snipers and quadcopters. The commission was led by a retired Indian judge, Srinivasan Muralidhar, who said they found ‘indisputable’ evidence of Israeli forces targeting children, adding that the report substantiates their finding that the Israeli force’s actions in the war amount to genocide. The report also detailed attacks on infrastructure essential for children, including hospitals and schools.
Muralidhar’s strong statements after the report’s release are in stark contrast to how India and some Southasian countries have continued to support Israel despite the escalation of violence towards Palestinian citizens, including children. India has both supplied and purchased weapons from Israel in recent years, with Modi expressing support for Israel during a state visit in February. Sri Lanka has been happy to step in to replace Palestinian labour in construction and farm-work in Israel after October 2023, while the Sri Lankan government has turned a blind eye to the setting up of Chabad houses in tourist hotspots, beefing up security around them while arresting anti-Israel Muslim citizens. As a remittance-dependent economy like Sri Lanka, Nepal too has signed government-to-government labour agreements with Israel and has cooperated with the country on technology and military training, though it has remained neutral or voted against Israel at the UN.
Revisit the below archival stories from Himal adding more context to this week’s news updates from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
Raisa Wickrematunge is a Senior Editor at Himal Southasian.
Loading comments…