Articles by Iqbal A Ansari

Given that people are now ready to see how the denial of justice to victims in periodic communal violence, especially since the 1980s, has provided a fertile ground for home-grown terrorism, a fresh perspective on the administration of justice that motivates civil society to mobilise for reform of the judiciary and the police is overdue. Muslims should no longer be made to feel that they are up not only against the police but also the judiciary.

The peace process between India and Pakistan has gathered a momentum of its own, and efforts to set it off-track as seen in the recent train blasts in Mumbai must be guarded against. However, there are also fears that the process could become an end in itself even as underlying suspicions and tensions remain to be addressed. A joint council, as this article proposes, comprising members of both countries, needs to urgently negotiate, debate and oversee matters of mutual contention so as to facilitate a permanent peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue.

Given the state?s failure of governance in major communal riots, either due to partisan law enforcement or inefficiency, a central law under the provision of ?internal disturbance? in Article 355, holding the state government responsible for maintaining communal peace, is required. The state should be liable to dismissal under Article 356 if the rioting continues for, say, more than five days resulting in the loss of more than, say, 100 lives. There is also a strong case for a separate law on the protection and compensation for victims of crime and violence.

The rifts created by the demolition of the Babri masjid and the subsequent riots still remain to be bridged. But for any healing to begin requires not merely the direct and impartial intervention of the concerned authorities, but also a sincere and concerted effort to inculcate among diverse communities, acceptance of their differences and to promote areas of integration.