Photo Source: India TV Written by Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront Sri Lanka slipped into chaos in October 2018 when a constitutional crisis happened in a matter of fourteen days. It was 26 October, when President Maithripala Sirisena removed Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahindra Rajapaksa as the new prime minister. When people questioned his unconventional decision, as he sacked him without any parliamentary consultation, he defended this decision on the basis of internal stability, governance issues and accountability. He had adjourned the parliament session till November 16, giving Rajapaksa ample time to gain support. Eventually, Rajapaksa became the new prime minister and entered the official Temple Trees Residence. But this is something against democratic values because Wickremesinghe enjoyed a majority in the parliament. As two ‘non-confidence votes’ have already passed against Rajapaksa, it seems that it is illegal for Rajapaksa to stay in power. parliament h...

Photo Source: Catholic Ireland Written by Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront Aasia Noreen Bibi, commonly known as Aasia Bibi, had been kept in solitary confinement in a Lahore jail, a space without windows and with an open sewer, for around eight years. In the prison, she struggled with malnutrition, unattended illness, beatings and psychological abuse.  I n one of the most disturbing incidents she recounts how she had her neck put in a brace that was tightened with a key. It was then  pulled about on a chain by guards.  Bibi was accused of blasphemy in a Muslim country because in her village, twenty-five miles, north-west of Lahore, several Muslim women, poor and uneducated like her, disagreed that she should draw water from the community well, as she was a Christian. Wife of Ashiq Masih, a brick maker, one of the few jobs available to Christians in her village in rural Pakistan, she also made a living for the family, as making money was hard. The disc...