The article, “Disgrace of Darfur”, which appeared as the lead article of the Khaleej Times, highlighted the great humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in Sudan’s Darfur region. The ethnic cleansing and organised genocide of the people in Darfur has claimed at least 300,000 lives over the past three years. All these killings at the hands of Arab militias have taken place with the knowledge, if not the blessings of the government in Sudan.

Zaka Syed has been working as a newspaper journalist for the past 15 years. Five years ago, he moved to Dubai from India to join the Khaleej Times, the oldest and largest circulated English daily in the Middle East, as its opinion section editor. He has also been writing a weekly column for the KT titled “View from Dubaï”. The column mostly deals with issues and problems of the Middle East and the larger Arab-Muslim world. Using his column, he is doing his bit to promote awareness in the Middle East about issues such as democracy, human rights and political and intellectual freedom in this part of the world. His article on the genocide in Darfur, which appears below as his entry for the contest, was again an attempt to break the Arab Muslim world’s deafening silence on an issue that generates strong passions around the world.