BeyondHeadlines News Desk
With the disturbing reports of the capital punishment awarded to Indian Fishermen in Sri Lanka, we all who believe and work for South Asian regional cooperation, coordination and harmony believe that Government of Sri Lanka must take concern of the fact that such punishment is not only a barrier and setback towards the larger objective of cooperation but also a setback in larger goal of humanity and justice.
We all believe that this punishment must be reversed with immediate effect for many reasons that include:
* We all believe and favor a society free from capital punishment and at a time when many countries have already end this system of death penalty, our South Asian community still practicing such a system that is barbaric and against the ‘life’ and humanity.
* We believe that countries in South Asian region must cooperate with each other and live as a family in view of the regional cooperation that will benefit not only ourselves (South Asia) but at an extent to the world community.
* We must know that still there are a lot of things politically unsettled and disputed, including boundaries of land and water, water sharing, maritime agreements etc. but there are also several similar challenges including poverty, malnutrition, health issues and environment that we all have to deal with. It is time when there is a need to work in these areas and people living in these regions must feel safe and prosperous.
* We also believe that crime of any kind though should be governed within the laws and mandates of country but there should be a review and revision in punishment systems with the growth of civilisation and also with the objective to make our society more humane. We believe that investigation in this case of drug supply should be there and the guilty must get punishment but we also appeal that humanitarian angle and regional cooperation must be considered and a solution must be worked out. In case, accused is found guilty in all courts of Sri Lanka, their punishment can be awarded in their home country, however it must be assured that death penalty must not be the punishment.
We all request you to consider our appeal in view of peace and harmony among the region which is the ultimate objective of democratic states including its functionaries of parliamentary judiciary and bureaucracy. We hope that our appeal will be considered on the ground of humanity.
Endorsed by:
Ravi Nitesh (Founder-Mission Bhartiyam)
Devika Mittal (Core Member – Mission Bhartiyam, Convenor (India) of Aaghaz-e-Dosti)
Kiran Shaheen (Social Activist and Writer, Right to Water Campaign-Delhi)
Pushpa (Writer and Journalist, Bangalore)
Subash Mohapatra (Global Human Rights Communications, Odisha)
Ashim Jain (Activist, ICAN)
Prithvi (Activist, ICAN)
Virginia Saldanha, Indian Christian Women’s Movement Mumbai
Sagar Rabari (Activist, ICAN-Ahemdabad)
Diwan Singh (Activist- ICAN)
Dipak Dholakia (Activist – ICAN)
Rajendra Ravi (Activist- NAPM, ICAN)
Viren Lobo (Activist, ICAN)
Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal (Advocate and Activist, Mumbai)
Kalyani Menon-Sen (Feminist Learning Partnerships)
Mithilesh Pande (Mission Bhartiyam-Manglore)
Tahir Ahmad (Mission Bhartiyam-Jammu)
Aditya Dubey (Mission Bhartiyam-Jaipur)
Arvind Lodhi (Mission Bhartiyam-Vidisha)
Sulabh Srivastava (Mission Bhartiyam-Pune)
Dinesh Sharma (Mission Bhartiyam-Jaipur)
Ravi Nitesh (Mission Bhartiyam)
Anand Patwardhan (Documentary film maker)
Ovais Sultan Khan (Youth Activist)
Advocate Ajay Pandey (Mission Bhartiyam)
Endorse by Lenin Raghuvanshi, Founder: Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human rights (PVCHR)
Jaychandran Ramchandran (Social Activist, CRSJS, Kerla)
Prof Ritu Dewan, Director, Centre for Development Research and Action, Mumbai, Former Professor-Mumbai University
Ram Mohan Rai (Advocate, Social Activist, Gandhi Global Family-Haryana)
