Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
Blog
Pakistan’s hopes for an energy pipeline with Iran evaporate0
- Blog
- July 2, 2019
Escalating tensions between the US and Iran end Pakistan’s hopes for Iran pipeline with Chinese or Russian involvement By Zafar Iqbal, Islamabad 2 July 2019 The shooting down of a US drone by Iran has had some unintended consequences for Pakistan. Desperate for more energy security, while its economy is in the doldrums, Pakistan was
India staring at a water apocalypse0
- Blog
- July 2, 2019
South Asia is rapidly losing water and faces a grim future By Saikat Datta, New Delhi A combination of climate change, bad policies and political apathy is steadily pushing India into a catastrophic water crisis that threatens stability in South Asia. Recent studies document that glaciers feeding the Indian subcontinent’s rivers will recede rapidly, while
India: Before mob violence becomes populist rhetoric: Individualize Tabrez’s story, do not just reduce him to a statistic0
- Blog
- July 2, 2019
Tabrez is much more than a statistic of mob lynching. We need to individualize his story, go into each detail of the incident and hold the perpetrators responsible. 02-07-2019 SHIV VISVANATHAN@shivvisvanathan As an old-fashioned storyteller, I sometimes rebel against the way violence is reported and narrated. The report assumes the epidemic nature of violence and
China calls Xinjiang camps training centres, but government’s own documents say otherwise, researcher finds0
- Blog
- July 2, 2019
A researcher’s review of government documents finds evidence of coercive internment, police presence and political brainwashing The findings refute China’s claims of ‘vocational education and training centres’ by quoting government reports not intended for international audiences Nectar Gan Published: 2 Jul, 2019 A watchtower on a high-security facility near what is believed to be a
Malaysian minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa under fire for calling Xinjiang Uygur camp a ‘training institution’ on China visit0
- Blog
- July 2, 2019
Chinese authorities have placed an estimated 1 million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in internment camps Beijing describes them as ‘vocational training centres’ vital in the fight against separatist sentiment and religious extremism Agence France-Presse Published: 2 Jul, 2019 Malaysia’s religious affairs minister has come under fire for describing a camp in China where ethnic Uygurs are
Platitudes at the G20 can’t mask a world on the brink of war0
- Blog
- July 1, 2019
1 July 2019 Nick Beams During the 1930s, known as the “disastrous decade,” there were all kinds of twists and turns in relations between the great powers on the diplomatic and international front as well as in the economic and trade spheres. This frenzied activity, characterised by the making of agreements one day to be
Commentary
Iran’s Chabahar port is where Asian and Middle Eastern rivalries collide0
- Commentary
- June 27, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 27/6/2018 Iran’s Indian-back port of Chabahar, inaugurated months before the United States re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic republic, is where Asia and the Middle East’s multiple political conflicts and commercial rivalries collide. Chabahar was destined to become a player in geopolitical and economic manoeuvring between China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Sri lanka: ‘Machang’, Whither 30/1 now?0
- Commentary
- June 26, 2018
N Sathiya Moorthy, Colombo 26 June 2018 Responding to a blogger, who addressed him as ‘Machang’ in Sinhala, Atul Keshap, outgoing US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, used the same Buddy slang and said that if we responded to every inaccurate news story that appears, we would have little time for anything else. The reference of course
Why is the world bending over backward for Indo centric US interests?0
- Commentary
- June 25, 2018
by Uzge Saleem 25/6/2018 There are no permanent friends nor permanent enemies in the international order there is only time confined strategic partners or allies which change with the ever-changing interests and concerns of a state. This pattern has both, a positive and a negative side to it. The state being favored at
Bangladesh – the face of endemic corruption0
- Commentary
- June 25, 2018
By Habib Siddiqui 25/6/2018 I arrived in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka last week via the Emirates Airlines. Since the death of my mother some three years ago, I have been visiting Bangladesh more frequently. This latest visit is planned for an extended stay, almost three months so that I could spend some
Malaysia type political ‘earthquake’ awaits for Bangladesh0
- Commentary
- June 25, 2018
by M A Hossain 25/6/2018 As per the advice of the policymakers of Delhi’s south block, the current autocratic and corruption-plagued government in Bangladesh are determined in holding another fraudulent election with the active collaboration of its loyalist election commission, law enforcing and security agencies as well as some of the opportunist senior
INDIAN GOVERNMENT’S HARD AND INEVITABLE DECISION ON KASHMIR0
- Commentary
- June 25, 2018
by N.S. Venkataraman 25/6/2018 The unrest and terrorist acts in Kashmir have been continuing for several years now. It appears that those, who want to split Kashmir from India by waging violent war with the tacit support of international terrorist outfits, have now become more bold and determined. No country in the
ISSN 2471-9501 (print)
ISSN 2471-951X (online)
Featured
With little leverage to impede Bangladesh’s authoritarianism, US policy towards the country will continue to be primarily transactional
With little leverage to impede Bangladesh’s authoritarianism, US policy towards the country will continue to be primarily transactional. Biden-Bangladesh: Back to square one William B Milam January 21, 2021 A picture of Joe Biden as Democratic candidate taken in February 2020. He was inaugurated as US President on January 20th 2021. Photo: Julien Kouame/Alamy When
Post-Trump World: Is Democracy Dying in America As Well?
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
SAJ on Facebook