Dramatic performances cannot be policed and subjected to pre-censorship, writes Saurav Datta
CATEGORY: Asia and Pacific
China: Censors work overtime for Tiananmen anniversary
“Keep quiet and carry on” is the slogan that can best describe China’s take on the approaching 25th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Francine Stone reports
Pakistan: “The end of pluralism and choice”
Militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in Pakistan’s Khyber agency has asked residents to enrol at least one of their sons to madrassas run by LI or pay large fines. Zofeen T. Ebrahim reports
Singapore: Blogger targeted by prime minister
Singaporean blogger Roy Ngerng has become the latest critic of the government to receive a lawyer’s letter, writes Kirsten Han
India obsessed with social media role in elections
Indians, ever a chatty lot, are obsessed with the idea of being obsessed with social media. Mahima Kaul reports
East Timor’s curbs on media freedom
The Asian island of East Timor has recently amended its media laws, implementing a plethora of restrictions and stamping out citizen journalism
India: Religious electioneering damages secular fabric
India’s elections have been awash in campaigning that appeal to voters in religion or by instigating polarisation among different religious and ethnic communities. Saurav Datta reports
The secret group that “controls everything” in North Korea
High-ranking defector claims the clandestine Organisation and Guidance Department is “the single most powerful entity in North Korea”
Boko Haram: “If it can happen in Nigeria, it can happen here in Pakistan”
More than three weeks after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok by Boko Haram (BH), an Islamist militant group, the world is finally awake to the tragedy. Zofeen Ebrahim reports
Laos: Crony scheme in control of press and civil society
People forget, as they rarely do with Vietnam or China, that Laos is still a communist state with complete control over the press and civil society. Helen Clark reports