Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
Blog
Nepal’s Crumbling Manufacturing Sector0
- Blog
- June 8, 2017
By Hari Prasad Shrestha* During the eighties, Nepal experienced some optimistic moments in manufacturing sector; Nepalese woolen carpet shops across the streets of Frankfurt and other European cities were subject of major attraction. Nepalese garment export to USA was contending with other major garment exporters of the world. And export of Nepalese products to India
POT, KETTLE: WHY IRAN BLAMES SAUDI ARABIA FOR ISLAMIC STATE ATTACKS0
- Blog
- June 8, 2017
Terrorist killings at Iranian parliament and mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini bring into focus something Riyadh and Tehran have in common – the stoking of ethnic tensions and proxy wars they use to destabilise each other BY JAMES M. DORSEY 8 JUN 2017 Islamic State’s targeting of key religious and political symbols in Tehran is likely
Brace Yourself, South Asia’s Geopolitics Is Becoming More Complex, Less Stable0
- Blog
- June 7, 2017
The rise of centralising authoritarians has accentuated the fragmentation and regionalisation of world politics, diminished the capacity for compromise and made relations between competitive powers much more fraught than in the past. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and President Xi Jinping of China. Credit: Reuters As in other parts
Pakistan, India to be full members of SCO0
- Blog
- June 7, 2017
June 2017 -Dr. Abdul Ruff The 2017 annual Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will be held on 7-8 June, in Astana, Kazakhstan. Beijing-headquartered SCO, which focuses mostly on security-related issues such as counter-terrorism cooperation in Central Asia, is comprised of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members. Afghanistan, Belarus, India,
Trump’s visit and split in divided Islamic world!0
- Blog
- June 7, 2017
June 2017 -Dr. Abdul Ruff The fallout of the very first official trip to Mideast by the US President Trump is disastrous for Arab nations as Saudi Arabia, emboldened by Trumps’ meeting with its King Salman in Riyadh, has, along with fellow Arab nations, kicked Qatar from their powerful club. The Islamic world, already terribly
Crisis in the Gulf: Escalation or negotiation?0
- Blog
- June 7, 2017
By James M. Dorsey Turkey’s parliament is this week fast tracking the dispatch of up to 3,000 troops to Qatar, home to the country’s military base in the Middle East. Certain to stiffen Qatar’s resolve to resist Saudi and UAE-led pressure to force it to change policies, the Turkish move comes amid hints that the
Bridges and roads in north-east India may drive small tribes away from development0
- Blog
- June 6, 2017
The Eze or Deopani river, near Roing. Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Author provided Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Kherepe Meme gestures with her hand animatedly. She vividly remembers and describes the Great Assam Earthquake of 1950. The epicentre of this 8.6 magnitude earthquake was in eastern Tibet along the Sino-Indian border, a few
Human Rights Must Factor into Dialogue During Li Keqiang Visit to Berlin & Brussels0
- Blog
- June 6, 2017
German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker must substantively raise serious human rights concerns during the upcoming visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Berlin, Germany and Brussels, Belgium from May 31 to June 2. In recent months, the Chinese government extended its
Commentary
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
Afghanistan’s new approach towards Pakistan0
- Commentary
- May 6, 2016
Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan, in his 13 year’s Presidency made 20 trips to Pakistan hoping Pakistan would help stabilize Afghanistan. Karzai knew Pakistan ISI’s non-state network backwards because he lived in Pakistan in early 1980s, operating with anti-Soviet Mujahedeen. As President, he even once said if US attacked Pakistan, Afghanistan will side with
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
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