How to stop deforestation

By Imaduddin Ahmed | Thu 7th May 2020 The Liberal International British Group together with the Paddy Ashdown Forum organised a webinar on 27 April 2020 hosted by BrightTALK on how to stop deforestation. 428 people registered for the event from around … Continue reading How to stop deforestation

Increasing tariffs to prevent another electricity crisis in Zambia

International Growth Centre blogs Shivani Haria and Imaduddin Ahmed | 1 April, 2020 Zambia’s state-owned power utility company, ZESCO, is consistently struggling to meet demand, plunging Zambia into one electricity crisis after another. The Government of Zambia’s acceptance of ZESCO’s application to increase tariffs is a step in the right direction. Access to reliable power remains a problem across sub-Saharan Africa. The latest data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys, show that 76.2% of firms in the region still experience electrical outages, on average 8.3 times a month. This has forced over half the firms in sub-Saharan Africa into owning … Continue reading Increasing tariffs to prevent another electricity crisis in Zambia

Interview on BBC Asian Network on foreign policy

With one hand, our government gives, and the other, it takes. The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto calls for a presumption of denial of arms exports to human rights priority countries; British arms sales to Saudi Arabia contributed to the killing of … Continue reading Interview on BBC Asian Network on foreign policy

What have the Lib Dems ever done for Britain?

By Imaduddin Ahmed | Tue 26th November 2019 – 8:35 am What besides leading the campaign against Brexit have the Lib Dems ever done for Britain? John Stuart Mill, a Liberal MP, was the second of his House to call for women’s … Continue reading What have the Lib Dems ever done for Britain?

How British liberals should advocate for the human rights of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir (800 words)

InterLib | September 2019 Imaduddin Ahmed (800 word piece in the 2019 InterLib Kashmir pages, following the articles on Kashmir by Liberal Democrat MEPs Phil Bennion and Dinesh Dhamija) The 72 year history of Kashmir since the British Raj dissolved is fraught with unconfirmable contentions and theories and riddled by complex problems. For a start, the issue of self-determination of the people of the various parts of Kashmir under Pakistani, Indian and even Chinese administration is not straight-forward: self-determination by whom, given migrations since 1947? The wider stakes at play for the two nuclear powers in dispute over the region … Continue reading How British liberals should advocate for the human rights of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir (800 words)

The case for changing our laws on revoking citizenship

By Imaduddin Ahmed | Mon 19th August 2019 | Lib Dem Voice When as Home Secretary Sajid Javid attempted to strip British-born Shamima Begum of her citizenship, he highlighted how the Home Office has come to possess powers to revoke citizenship that … Continue reading The case for changing our laws on revoking citizenship

Arms sales could cost the UK more than they earn

It is plausible that the arms trade could be a contributing factor to
the extent to which wars are waged and peacekeeping operations in which the MOD is engaged,
the extent to which refugees are created, move to the UK and then are sheltered in the UK,
the radicalisation of those who would harm Britain Continue reading Arms sales could cost the UK more than they earn

The Protection of Women against Violence Act falls short of its objective

by Nihal Ates Pakistan Today | 9 March, 2016 A London-based independent domestic violence advocate hopes national legislation won’t repeat the Punjab Act’s mistakes Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy intimated at the Oscars that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will legislate at the national level to address honour killings. One hopes that the legislation he plans to pass is of a higher standard than the recently passed Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, which has been hyperbolically hailed by Pakistani newspapers as a ‘comprehensive protection to women against a range of crimes’, as ‘making all crimes against the women [sic] an offence,’ and … Continue reading The Protection of Women against Violence Act falls short of its objective