Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
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Baul Singers of Bangladesh Struggle to Survive Amid Onslaught By Muslim Hardliners0
- Blog
- January 22, 2021
Pulack Ghatack Dhaka 2021-01-22 A Baul sings as he plays a traditional single-string musical instrument called ‘Ektara,’ at a rural concert in Munshiganj district, Bangladesh. Dec. 26, 2019. [BenarNews] Singers of the Baul folk tradition in Bangladesh are struggling to survive after more than a decade of physical and legal attacks by Islamic hardliners who
Commencement Address by Kamal Ahmad, Founder, Asian University for Women0
- Blog
- January 22, 2021
Every year since 2013, the month of May would see yet another group of graduates from the Asian University for Women celebrate their arrival at this wonderful juncture in their lives we call the Commencement. Over the years, I have watched the faces of graduates light up with joy as they would step up
If Pakistan wants to be Bangladesh’s friend0
- Blog
- January 22, 2021
Japan’s relations with China and Korea are an example before Bangladesh of how to take relations ahead from past brutalities of war. Germany and Israel are another example. The Queen of England apologised for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. All these are nothing but expressions of the sincere desire to take relations forward in light of
India: Why The Incarceration Of Munawar Faruqui Should Worry Us0
- Blog
- January 22, 2021
Faruqui’s case is one in which the judiciary, the police and the Hindu vigilante groups are on the same page, acting in perfect concert. Sabrangindia21 Jan 2021 Screenshot via Munawar Faruqui on YouTube The show hasn’t started. A stand-up comic, Munawar Faruqui, is rehearsing his lines in a café in Indore. A couple of his
India: Dec 15: Jamia attack anniversary0
- Blog
- January 22, 2021
In a Youtube LIVE, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves tells Teesta Setalvad how students and activists continue to be penalised by a vindictive state even a year after the attack 15 Dec 2021 Transcript Teesta Setalvad: In the Jamia case, your arguments finished four months ago. There are 92 testimonies. I believe that the petition contains the
Bangladesh clamps down on provocative Islamic sermons0
- Blog
- January 21, 2021
Church welcomes move to stem inflammatory and indecent speeches by militant preachers UCA News reporter, Dhaka January 21, 2021 Crowds attend an Islamic gathering near Dhaka in this 2015 photo. A senior police official said on Jan. 19 that popular Islamic gatherings will be censored to curb provocative sermons. (Photo: UCA News) Minority leaders
Commentary
Post-Trump World: Is Democracy Dying in America As Well?0
- Commentary
- January 22, 2021
by Taj Hashmi 22 January 2021 We know it’s fashionable to hypothesize that democracy is “dying” in the post-Cold War world. It’s true not only for some of the postcolonial democracies in the Third World and some “new democracies” Eastern Europe, but of late, seemingly, it’s also true about the United States. I
The Vaccine Politics in India0
- Commentary
- January 22, 2021
by Rajesh Kumar Sinha 22 January 2021 After a long and highly anticipated wait, the vaccine to fight against the troublesome Corona is out. After extensive trials and cumbersome regulatory approvals, it is out. It is being used since late December last year for various segments of the population in a few
A MARK AGAINST THE SKY AND FOR GENERATIONS TO COME0
- Commentary
- January 22, 2021
By William Milam January 22, 2021 Well, the United States has survived its first insurrection since 1860 and its first ever coup d’état attempt. So, perhaps, the title of this piece, a triumphal, partial quote from Homer’s Odyssey is appropriate. But the verdict on its veracity can surely only come in the generations to
A British university’s collaboration with the Bangladesh government on a meeting about Sheikh Mujib raises important issues0
- Commentary
- January 20, 2021
LSE, Sheikh Mujib and the Bangladesh government David Bergman January 19, 2021 Screenshot taken from the LSE website advertising a talk, which will be held in collaboration with the Bangladesh High Commission In a week’s time, on January 27th January, the South Asia Centre at the London School of Economics (LSE) is organising an event on Sheikh
When is usury usury? Turkish fatwa casts doubt on Erdogan’s religious soft power drive0
- Commentary
- January 20, 2021
By James M. Dorsey 20 January 2021 Turkey’s state-controlled top religious authority has conditionally endorsed usury in a ruling that is likely to fuel debate about concepts of Islamic finance and could weaken President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to garner religious soft power by projecting Turkey as a leader defending Muslim causes. The ruling,
India: Hindutva way of normalising violence0
- Commentary
- January 20, 2021
by Bhabani Shankar Nayak 20 January 2021 The pestilence of Coronavirus has given a free hand to the Hindutva fascists in India to undermine all democratic norms and constitutionally established institutions. The caste, class, and gender-based structural violence are ubiquitous. Both the organised and fragmented nature of Hindutva violence is accelerated by the current political
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Year-end review: Emerging Challenges for South Asia
by Rajesh Kumar Sinha 3 January 2020 The year 2020 has just ended. The year has been extremely calamitous for the whole world. Especially, the pandemic Corona Virus has created such an unfortunate state where economies, infrastructure, loss of lakhs of lives, job losses, and uncertainty has gripped the whole of humanity.
Book review: The Bhutto Dynasty: The Struggle for Power in Pakistan, by Owen Bennett-Jones
The Bhutto Dynasty: The Struggle for Power in Pakistan, by Owen Bennett-Jones, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 27 October 2020, Hardcover, 320 pages, $28, ISBN: 97880300246674. By Arnold Zeitlin Owen Bennett-Jones’s account of a Bhutto dynasty reminded me that I enjoyed a rare, near-quixotic relationship with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto during my time, September 1969 to April 1972, as
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