After writing the book, this high-ranking politician of the Hindu-revivalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created controversy both within his party and throughout India. Between 1998 and 2004, while in the Union cabinet, Singh was in charge of External Affairs, Defence and the Finance Ministry of India. Following the 2004 elections, the BJP
READ MOREBy Nauman Sadiq 14/3/2018 In Pakistan’s context, the national security establishment originally meant civil-military bureaucracy. Though over the years, the civil bureaucracy has taken a backseat and now “the establishment” is defined as military’s top brass that has dictated Pakistan’s security and defense policy since its inception. Paradoxically, security establishments do not have ideologies,
READ MORESri Lanka’s Special Task Force soldiers walk past a damaged mosque after a clash between two communities in Digana central district of Kandy. (Reuters) By Dr. S. I. Keethaponcalan 14/3/2018 On February 27, 2018, a riot broke out in Ampara, a Southeastern town in Sri Lanka. A group of Sinhala-Buddhist rioters attacked and destroyed a
READ MOREThe scale and nature of the violence unleashed by the Myanmar authorities against the Rohingya have prompted a top United Nations official to describe the operation as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Human Rights Watch has concurred, and Amnesty International has called for an investigation into these criminal acts. The violence, underpinned by the
READ MORESibling rivalry. danielo via Shutterstock Jawad Kadir, Lancaster University Ever since their birth as two separate countries in 1947, India and Pakistan have been psychologically obsessed with their assorted mutual conflicts. They have fought four conventional wars, and regularly display their nuclear capability to outpace and undermine each other. From the outside, it resembles nothing
READ MOREBy James M. Dorsey 28/2/2018 China’s recent failure to shield Pakistan from censorship by an international anti-terrorism funding and anti-money laundering body suggests that the People’s Republic is struggling to balance its contradictory interests in South Asia and may be trying to evade the potential cost of its long-standing support for Pakistani-backed, anti-Indian militants.
READ MOREby Mukul Kesavan Feb 25, 2018 The political history of India over the last century and a half needs to be revisited because it is often assimilated in to the history of nationalism. The claim of the Indian National Congress to speak for the ‘nation’ or the raj’s subjects has always been contested by
READ MOREState Sangha hears concerns about an increase in Buddhist nationalism and anti-Muslim rhetoric Ashin Ariya Wun Tha Bhiwun Sa, known as Myawaddy Sayadaw, is seen in Myawaddy Mingyi Monastery in Mandalay on Feb. 23. (ucanews.com photo) John Zaw, Mandalay Myanmar February 26, 2018 Buddhist monks and laypeople in Myanmar are demanding action against unruly monks who
READ MOREby F R Chowdhury 21/2/2018 Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has been ruled by military dictators for a long time. In today’s world it is difficult for such a military government to stand at par with the governments of other civilized democratic countries. As the time went on, pressure started mounting on the military
READ MOREfile photo By Human Rights at Sea 2018-02-20 The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has published its List of Ships dismantled worldwide in 2017 in tidal beaches of South East Asia revealing the shipping industry’s irresponsible shipbreaking practices and a series of human rights and labor abuses, including loss of life, at shipbreaking yards. 543 ocean-going commercial
READ MOREBY Hari Prasad Shrestha 20/2/2018 The forcible deportation of a population—is defined as a crime against humanity under the statutes of both International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The official United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing is “rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation
READ MOREBy Binodkumar Singh 19/2/2018 Local (panchayat) elections were held in Nepal in three phases in 2017 after an interregnum of 20 years. The first round was conducted on May 14, 2017, in 34 districts to elect representatives in 283 local level institutions, including four metropolitan cities, one sub-metropolitan city, 92 municipalities and 186 rural
READ MOREBy Soumitra Das on 18/02/2018 The Alkazi Collection of Photography: The Uprising of 1857, edited by London-based historian Rosie Llewellyn Jones, examines the infamous revolt, which was among the first fully photographed wars in the history of India. Felice Beato took this photograph of Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi in 1858. Courtesy: Alkazi Collection of Photography The
READ MOREby N.S. Venkataraman 18/2/2018 A TEST CASE FOR MR. MODI The massive fraud in the government of India owned Punjab National Bank has shocked the citizens all over India and has also caused considerable surprise around the world for its brazenness. What is particularly disturbing is the way that the fraud took place, bypassing the
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