එරමිනියා

thorns long and short

[Meera Srinivasan @Meerasrini]

Root causes: #India’s youth crisis is about the absence of jobs, not just examination reform - @the_hindu editorial

Where are all the jobs in a purportedly thriving economy?

https://t.co/GTZEPpjULW via @the_hindu

[Niyanthini @EnHui]

Found this excellent letter after seeing the backlash. If we feel like anti-imperialist movements are weakened by a timely warning about hollow anti-imperialism, and so triggered by it as some leftists seem to be, we have some deep reflecting to do.

https://t.co/lMOt7ksJ4A

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

This is draconian and being slipped in under the guise of the rules. The effect is much worse than anything achieved by the press censorship during the official Emergency.

[Meera Srinivasan @Meerasrini]

Iconic Sri Lankan singer Nanda Malini, whose voice travelled with generations of Sinhalese through the island’s political and social upheavals, passed away in Nawala, near Colombo, on Thursday. She was 82.

https://t.co/ZQdgXgGRWq via @the_hindu

[Human Rights Commission of Pakistan @HRCP87]

What happens when child protection systems fail to keep pace with the digital world?

HRCP's groundbreaking new study, one of the first in Pakistan to examine online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) through both child rights and digital rights lenses, reveals how children are falling through the cracks of fragmented laws and institutions.

Using the 2025 Muzaffargarh case, in which an international network allegedly groomed and exploited at least 50 children as young as six, the report shows that OCSEA is not simply a cybercrime or content moderation issue—it is a profound violation of children's rights. It argues that Pakistan's greatest challenge is not a lack of laws, but the absence of a coordinated, child-centred protection system.

Researched by journalist @FatimaRazzaq20, HRCP's Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim Fellow for 2025, the report calls for integrated legal and institutional reforms, stronger platform accountability, improved data systems, and victim-centred support that places children's dignity, safety and recovery at the heart of the response.

Read the report here: https://t.co/fa0FzLid4j

@zfebrahim @zofeen28 @nchrofficial @AyeshaRaza13

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

The Hindu toon hits hard.

[Namini Wijedasa @nimilamalee]

We have come full circle in one of #SriLanka's worst recent procurements: low-quality coal for the Lakvijaya power plant (LVP).

As our story this week shows, not only did all 19 shipments of #India's #TridentChemphar coal fail to meet the tender's target gross calorific value (GCV) of 6,150 kilocalories per kilogram of coal, ALL of them were BELOW the minimum REJECT value of 5,900 kcal/kg.

On the most basic reading of it, Trident Chemphar sold Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd low-quality coal at high-quality price.

Earlier this year, when LVP engineers released information based on operational data indicating that the plant was not generating the required amount of electricity when burning Trident Chemphar's South African coal, we were told the LVP lab was not "accredited". The implication was the data could not be trusted.

A lot of pressure and publicity later, samples obtained at the discharge port (Puttalam) from the 19 shipments were sent to the internationally accredited, independent Bureau Veritas lab in Australia.

The results were revealed at last week's Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee on Infrastructure and Strategic Development: consignment one had a GCV value of 5,426 kcal/kg; two was 5,607 kcal/kg; three was 4,901 kca/kg; four was 5,389 kcal/kg; five was 5,503 kcal/kg; six was 5,011 kcal/kg; seven was 4,762 kcal/kg (the worst stock); eight was 4,776 kcal/kg; nine was 4,924 kcal/kg; ten was 4,959 kcal/kg; eleven was 4,831 kcal/kg; twelve was 4,858 kcal/kg; thirteen was 4,959 kcal/kg; fourteen was 4,897 kcal/kg; fifteen was 5,822 kcal/kg; sixteen was 4,871 kcal/kg; seventeen was 5,789 kcal/kg; eighteen was 5,340 kcal/kg; and nineteen was 4,943 kcal/kg.

Separately, the Ceylon Electricity Board's successor company, Electricity Generation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, reported that in just four months (March 1 to June 30 this year), the substandard coal cost them Rs. 5.68bn in estimated direct financial losses, not including those arising from meeting the energy shortfall from burning low-quality coal through other power generation sources.

One more thing: ash production has increased. The burning of substandard coal has caused the pile of ash at LVP to grow to 12-13 metres (39 to 42 feet) high—just two metres away from the top of the wind barrier, which is 15 metres tall.

[Human Rights Commission of Pakistan @HRCP87]

'The problem is, you can't give any institution the authority to be both the accused and the investigator.'

HRCP comms lead Maheen Pracha explains why bodies such as the FIA, itself a law enforcement body, should not be empowered to investigate allegations of torture against police officials. When the state tolerates torture, it isn't just the victim who pays, but also the rule of law that weakens. What is needed is oversight that sits outside the system being accused, not oversight run by it.

Courtesy @ZaraHatKay_Dawn

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

So the DCP who ordered the firing of pellet guns, as per the RAF, is DCP North Raja Bhatiya. Delhi Police is trying to dispute the RAF version but the buck stops with Amit Shah, who controls both these forces. Delhi police commissioner and RAF IG both deserve to be sacked.

[Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office @amnestysasia]

Amnesty International spoke with the relative of one victim whose family had been unable to locate their loved one after searching hospitals and drug rehabilitation centres where patients were transferred: “The situation is uncertain for the family. The hangar that housed newly admitted patients was hit. However, nothing of his body has been found. The family has reviewed all the photos collected by the Forensic Laboratory to identify him. He was not identified.”
https://t.co/LzdZwgfHEL

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

There were at least 470 women murdered in so-called honor killings in Pakistan last year, with the true toll likely even higher, reflecting a system that still protects the killers. https://t.co/6NA98B2bmV

[Human Rights Commission of Pakistan @HRCP87]

We are pleased to announce the I. A. Rehman Research Grant for 2026, in honour of the veteran human rights defender and former secretary-general of the organisation.

HRCP will award one grant of PKR 800,000 (equivalent to approx. PKR 570,000 after taxes) to an academic, journalist or human rights defender or professional for original research examining how Pakistan’s legal framework, and in particular its anti-terrorism provisions, have been weaponised to restrict freedom of movement through measures such as reporting requirements, travel restrictions, and other executive controls.

HRCP is especially interested in proposals that (a) assess the compatibility of this regime with constitutional guarantees and international human rights standards, including due-process deficiencies that enable these restrictions on movement to operate; (b) analyse the colonial genealogy of such laws; and (c) document patterns of implementation, including the apparent expansion of its use beyond counterterrorism to target political workers, journalists, civil society activists, and families of victims of enforced disappearance.

The grant is open to Pakistani citizens or foreign nationality holders of Pakistani heritage.

For details of how to apply, see https://t.co/SnEcy9Wyjd

[Meera Srinivasan @Meerasrini]

"The choice, then, is not simply whether to protest, but whether to preserve the capacity to continue resisting even when confronted with repression, violence, fatigue or suffering."
lovely reflection from @Shrimansi12
https://t.co/c8Jgcn79zT @the_hindu

[Front Line Defenders @FrontLineHRD]

📍INDIA

🚨 Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the violent police crackdown on students and other peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders, exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression during a demonstration held in Delhi on 20 July 2026.

The protests, which began in Delhi in June 2026, have since spread to other parts of India and continue despite the police crackdown. What started off as a parody of a statement of the Chief Justice of India labeling unemployed youth as ‘cockroaches,’ has galvanised into a national, youth-led movement for rights under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party.

Front Line Defenders stands in solidarity with students and other peaceful protesters, including human rights defenders, as they continue to campaign peacefully in the face of violence and provocation.

The organisation calls on the Indian authorities to respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, ensure accountability for the reported use of excessive force against protesters, conduct prompt, independent and impartial investigations into alleged human rights violations, and ensure that human rights defenders and others exercising their fundamental freedoms can do so without fear of violence, intimidation or criminalisation.

🔗 https://t.co/VYdkZ4xgNh

[Alifya Sohail @AlifyaSohail]

BREAKING: The Islamabad High Court has dismissed the NCCIA’s objections and declared Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha’s suspension of sentence appeals maintainable. However, the court adjourned the hearing on the appeals indefinitely. #ReleaseImaanAndHadi

[Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office @amnestysasia]

PAKISTAN: In the past 50 days, people in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir have lived through internet blackouts, mass arbitrary arrests and restrictions on movement amid a crackdown on dissent.

These measures raise serious concerns about the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

As regional elections approach on 27 July, Pakistani authorities must ensure that people can exercise their rights freely and without fear.

📢 Amnesty International calls on the authorities to:

✅ Investigate allegations of unlawful uses of force against protesters
✅ Fully restore internet services
✅ Release those arbitrarily detained for peacefully exercising their rights
✅ Lift the unlawful blanket ban on JAAC

[Meera Srinivasan @Meerasrini]

#India: Student suicides jumped 80% in ten years; over 2,000 die by suicide every year due to exam failures - @SambaviParthy's important data story.

https://t.co/ShyA7AgkTR via @the_hindu

[Usama Khilji @UsamaKhilji]

This is from Imaan’s birthday last year.

This year, she’s spending her 33rd birthday behind bars in Adiala jail because she posted tweets critical of those in power.
It’s been 6 months & no hearing on their appeal of the 17 year sentence. #HappyBirthdayImaan #ReleaseImaanAndHadi

[Alifya Sohail @AlifyaSohail]

Last year, Imaan spent her birthday standing in the rain with Baloch mothers outside NPC. Tomorrow, Imaan will spend her birthday in Adiala jail while the Supreme Court hears her and Hadi’s suspension of sentence appeals in the morning. #ReleaseImaanAndHadi

[Devendra R Bhattarai @registandiary]

An Episode :
Journalist Devendra Bhattarai published a front-page exposé in Kantipur, laying bare how an organized network of criminals and politicians had duped ordinary Nepalis out of millions while promising to send them to the US... @inkthink @svbel
* https://t.co/nuHNhibohh