Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
Issue 18 – Fall 2016
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- Issue 18 – Fall 2016
India in post-war Sri Lanka: Demands untold0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- September 4, 2016
After 30 years of war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka is currently engaged in some postwar negotiations and is especially pushing for close political links with its “big brother”, India. Due to the pro-China lobby operating in Sri Lanka during the decade-long tenure of former President Mahinda Rajapaksha, India’s ability
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How the Bangladesh government is making religious violence more likely0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- August 9, 2016
On July 1, Islamic State-backed militants opened fire in the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After a standoff that lasted almost 12 hours, the six gunmen and 22 hostages were dead. This isn’t the first time Bangladesh has suffered from religiously motivated slayings. Since the start of 2015, militants have killed six secular bloggers and
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Why dropping “West” from “West Bengal” is a blow to our identity0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- August 8, 2016
Bengal without the prefix tries to invent a wholly-contained make-believe identity. The West Bengal state Cabinet has decided to drop West from the state’s official name and make it either Bongo or Bangla (and Bengal in English). The trigger for this renaming is the long-time problem that West Bengal faces at meetings convened by the
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Story of the Less Talked About Gender0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- July 31, 2016
Something old, something new, something unconventional, something … transgendered? Racial equality. Religious freedom. Freedom of speech. These are the social justice issues that often come to mind when we speak of human rights. On the international stage, rights for certain communities are often disregarded. The transgender people in the developing world are one such example.
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Rehman Sobhan: Untranquil Recollections – The Years of Fulfilment0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016, Reviews
- July 22, 2016
Book Review Writing history in Bangladesh always has been a sensitive activity, what with so many people hesitant to revisit their experience, especially during the war that brought independence to the country. Now the writing of that history has become risky with proposed legislation that criminalizes challenging myths of creation — like the numbers killed
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Should Pakistan Put All Its Eggs in the China Basket?0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- July 22, 2016
How much is Pakistan really benefiting from its “all weather friendship” with China? In recent times, there has been a lot of talk that the China-Pakistan “All Weather Friendship” is at an all-time high. The strongest reiteration of this point has been the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is being dubbed by many
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Power struggle intensifies in ruling coalition in Maldives0
- Commentary, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- July 12, 2016
Dunya is the third of the fourth Gayoom children to ‘revolt’ against Yameen, after half-sister Yumna, who made a quite exit as a junior minister a couple of months ago. Faaris is younger to the two, followed by brother Ghassim. His decision on staying on in the Yameen ministry will be watched – more for
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Intolerance shadowing liberal order in Bangladesh0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- July 6, 2016
Bangladeshi people are now living in an environment of constant fear as extremist and militant attacks have intensified and appear to be all around them. Being carried out in what appears to be an incessant fashion, the liberal democratic fabric of Bangladesh is under considerable threat as religious minorities, non-Muslim priests, foreigners, bloggers, atheists, academics,
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The Potentials of India-Bangladesh Coastal Shipping0
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- June 26, 2016
Earlier this year, Bangladesh shipping minister Shajahan Khan launched the coastal shipping service between Bangladesh and India at the New Mooring container terminal at Chittagong port. The minister said coastal shipping was being implemented within a year after the agreement was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in June 2015. Khan said, “The goods
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Death of 1947 in Bangladesh’s Popular Memory4
- Blog, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- May 18, 2016
Introduction I have been exploring Bangladeshi newspapers and textbooks for school children to study how the partition and the end of British colonialism in India in 1947 is depicted. The objective was to conduct a qualitative content analysis to evaluate the significance of 1947 in Bangladesh’s official and public narratives. I intended to examine state-mandated
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Persisting Madheshi trouble bodes ill for Nepal in its Constitution making process0
- Commentary, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- May 9, 2016
Introduction Nepal has been passing through a series of transitional phases in her march towards democracy and rule of law. The latest phase began in 2006-2007 with the promulgation of the Interim Constitution and the start of the Peace Process. In fact, Nepal’s People’s Movement of April 2006, was instrumental in bringing the decade-long Maoist
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Minorities in Indian polity0
- Commentary, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- May 6, 2016
The UN Declaration on Minorities, 1992 brings out the need for special attention to the ‘national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities’. The Constitution of India, 1950 does not define ‘minorities’ or mention whom it considers minorities but provides in Part III that the cultural and religious rights of ‘minorities’ must be protected. The National
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Witness to history0
- Commentary, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- April 30, 2016
A visit to Dhaka can be an overwhelming experience — not just because of the traffic, pollution, congestion or humidity, but also due to its history. As a Pakistani, I felt remorse, guilt and shame every time I walked into the corridors of Dhaka University. The names of the students, intellectuals and teachers, who died
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Saudi-India-Pakistan Triangle0
- Commentary, Issue 18 - Fall 2016
- April 18, 2016
After years of considering Saudi Arabia as a major ally and economic benefactor, Pakistan may be on the verge of losing its erstwhile patron to archrival India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Riyadh last week for an official visit full of diplomatic significance. King Salman bin Abdul Aziz conferred the Kingdom’s highest civilian award,
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