Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
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Pakistani terrorists made a big mistake: Modi0
- Blog
- February 15, 2019
Indian PM says Jaish-e-Mohammed will pay a heavy price for attack on police convoy that killed over 40 By Saikat Datta, New Delhi A car-bomb attack in Kashmir on Thursday afternoon killed at least 44 Indian police and left many more injured. Officials said a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into a
Indo-Pacific: One Region, Many Visions?0
- Blog
- February 14, 2019
14 February 2019 By Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy SYNOPSIS Diverse perspectives on the idea of “Indo-Pacific” are resulting in a lack of clarity on this concept. As a framework, the Indo-Pacific seeks to create a connected multipolar Asia that must be governed by commonly agreed international norms, rules and practices. But what is the Indo-Pacific? COMMENTARY
Bangladesh to Send Troops to Saudi Arabia under Defense Pact0
- Blog
- February 14, 2019
Kamran Reza Chowdhury, Dhaka, 2019-02-14 A man inspects bus wreckage at the site of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Saada, Yemen, Aug. 12, 2018. AP Bangladesh is to deploy hundreds of soldiers to Saudi Arabia for demining operations along the kingdom’s border with war-torn Yemen under a new bilateral defense deal between Dhaka and Riyadh,
India’s BJP issues vote-buying budget0
- Blog
- February 14, 2019
By Shashi TharoorFebruary 14, 2019 One sign that an Indian general election is imminent, and that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is readying its campaign pitch, is the government’s final pre-election budget. By tradition, it is an “interim budget” – a modest rollover of expenditures to see the government through for a few months
Bangladesh Minister Brushes Aside US Lawmakers’ Concern about Electoral Fraud0
- Blog
- February 13, 2019
By Kamran Reza Chowdhury on Feb 13, 2019 03:35 pm Bangladesh’s new foreign minister said Wednesday he was not concerned by a letter from a U.S. congressional committee that alleged fraud and other irregularities in last December’s general election. Minister A.K. Abdul Momen said the South Asian nation had the backing of the American government
Nepal’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission limps on0
- Blog
- February 13, 2019
by Renee Jeffery 12 February 2019 The Lowy Institute On 9 February 2019, the operational mandate of Nepal’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) was due to expire. With neither commission having completed even one investigation into the tens of thousands of complaints filed by victims of
Commentary
Senior leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat Abdur Razzaq resigns0
- Commentary
- February 16, 2019
by David Bergman 16 February 2019 more on Bangladesh Over 100 drug dealers surrender in Bangladesh crackdowntoday UN seeks $920m to support Rohingya refugees in 2019yesterday Bangladesh proposes safe zone in Myanmar for Rohingya refugees3 days ago Myanmar villagers flee to Bangladesh amid Rakhine violencelast week A senior leader of Bangladesh‘s largest religious political party,
The Kashmir Conundrum and Indian Imperatives0
- Commentary
- February 16, 2019
To Jigsaw Puzzle By Narindra Nath Bhatia 16 February 2019 The Kashmir Conundrum The marriage between the North Pole- the Peoples Democratic Party or the PDP of Mehbooba Mufti and the South Pole PM Modi’s Bhartiya Janta Party or the BJP is over. At the first instance, this marriage of inconvenience should not have been solemnized as that did not last beyond even
Geopolitics, the black swan in Saudi-Indian relations0
- Commentary
- February 16, 2019
India James M Dorsey Feb 14, 2019 A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, the elephant in the room is likely to be what weighs more: the issues the two men agree on
Why Militancy in South Asia Defies a Common Response0
- Commentary
- February 16, 2019
Dr. manoj Kumar Mishra 16 February 2019 Recently, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel (Indian paramilitaries) have been killed in a suicide car bombing by an operative of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack). Adil Ahmad Dar, a local recruit of the group is reported to have crashed a vehicle
Suicide attack in Iran frames visit to Pakistan by Saudi crown prince0
- Commentary
- February 14, 2019
By James M. Dorsey 14 February 2019 A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr This week’s suicide attack on Revolutionary Guards in Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, the second in two months, could not have come at a more awkward moment for Pakistani prime
Sri Lanka: Time and again, Tamil politics hits the dead-end0
- Commentary
- February 14, 2019
N Sathiya Moorthy 14 February 2019 With multiple polls staring at the Sri Lankan nation in the coming months, the electorally-sensitive minority ‘Tamil politics’ in the island-nation keeps hitting road-blocks and dead-ends, of their own making, time and again. With the result, the credibility of the mainstay Tamil National Alliance (TNA) may have hit a new
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Featured
End of Year Editorial; Evolving Political Dynamics in South Asia
By M. Adil Khan, Guest Editor 2018 has been an eventful year for South Asia especially at the political level. During 2018 several countries in the region have had their elections and these elections have altered their political pictures. In others preparations for elections are underway and yet in others sub-national elections and their outcomes
2018 Bangladesh General Election: A Time for Stock-taking and Pondering the Stakes
By Adil Khan and Habib Zafarullah* 4 December 2018 The 2018 Bangladesh General Election scheduled on December 30, 2018 marks the end of two consecutive terms of the ruling Awami League (AL), first ever by any political party since 1991, the year a combined opposition movement against a decade long dictatorship resurrected and re-introduced