Dissent

She sat out the anthem in protest. Her teacher said ‘go back to your country,’ students say. The students were assembled in the auditorium of their high school on Chicago’s North Side, there to celebrate Hispanic heritage — but first, their teachers told them, they had to stand for the national anthem. A group of students, who thought the request unusual, decided to remain seated. It was a silent but recognizable condemnation of racial injustice. Yet, before the anthem had even ended, they said, their demonstration made them the target of just the sort of discrimination they were protesting. When one student — a Latina and U.S. citizen — refused a teacher’s pointed direction to stand, she said he replied with an infamously racist line: “Go back to your country.” The same teacher turned to a black student, who was also sitting down, and asked whether she was part of the public school system’s free and reduced lunch program, telling her she should stand for the people w...

Blast near Quetta Press Club claims 7 lives, leaves 21 injured .   According to Dawn News, Two policemen were among the seven victims of an explosion that occurred near the Quetta Press Club located on Shahrah-i-Adalat on Monday, confirmed Quetta Deputy Inspector General Abdul Razzaq Cheema. According to Cheema, 21 others have also been injured in the incident. He added that so far, the blast "seems to be a suicide attack". The blast took place as a demonstration was ongoing near the press club. Several vehicles parked in the vicinity have also been damaged due to the impact of the blast. Security personnel have cordoned off the area and are conducting a search operation. Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan directed the IGP to submit a report within the next 24 hours. In a statement, the governor maintained that "measures should be taken to foil the nefarious designs of militants", adding that law enforcement agencies ...

IHC bans corporal punishment for children at schools The Islamabad High Court on Thursday suspended till further notice a section of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that allows for the use of corporal punishment by parents, guardians and teachers "in good faith for the benefit". A petition in the IHC, submitted by singer and rights activist Shehzad Roy, called for a ban on use of violence as a means to discipline children in school. In his petition, Roy argued that  Section 89 of the PPC  allows for use of violence and force against children. "Last year, a child passed away because of the use of corporal punishment in a school in Lahore," Roy's lawyer told the court while adding that the matter of abolishing the use of corporal punishment was of public interest. The lawyer, while explaining the reason for Roy's interest in the matter, said that the singer-turned-activist has established an organisation for educational reforms. ...

Death anniversary  of eminent human rights activist and lawyer  Asma Jahangir  is being observed on Tuesday. Born and raised in Lahore,  Asma Jahangir  was known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United NationsSpecial Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and as a Trustee at theInternational Crisis Group. She was imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy against the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq. In 1986, she moved to Geneva, and became the Vice-Chair of the Defence for Children International. Asma Jahangir  received several awards including Right Livelihood Award, Freedom Award, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders and the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights. She was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest degree of service to the state, and for ...