Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
Blog
Durga Puja – Bengal’s Cultural Magna Carta0
- Blog
- October 18, 2018
Durga Puja – Bengal’s Cultural Magna Carta We need to view broad-spectrum ‘state deities’ like Bengal’s Durga not so much as gods but as platforms that offered recognition to aspirational classes for having ‘arrived’. Durga Puja. Credit: PTI Jawhar Sircar 18 October 2018 During Durga Puja, the indomitable spirit and irrepressible energies of Bengalis literally
Afghan Police, Intelligence Chiefs Killed In Shooting Attack0
- Blog
- October 18, 2018
Last Updated: October 18, 2018 RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan The police chief, Abdul Raziq, was reportedly killed at the governor’s office. The police chief and intelligence head of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar have been killed in a shooting attack, officials say, in a major blow to the West-backed government in Kabul. The Taliban
Russia and India: As Close As Lips & Teeth?0
- Blog
- October 18, 2018
By Chris Cheang 18 October 2018 Synopsis President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India on 4-5 October 2018 for the 19th annual bilateral summit saw the signing of a major weapons system. This served relatively well Russia’s domestic and foreign policy objectives. Commentary RUSSIA AND India signed agreements in the fields of space, nuclear energy, railways
Indian govt blamed over fate of missing Muslim student0
- Blog
- October 18, 2018
Call for a thorough investigation of hard-line Hindu students who scuffled with Najeeb Ahmed before he disappeared Fatima Nafees, mother of Najeeb Ahmed who went missing from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2016, cries as she addresses a protest march in New Delhi on Oct 15 which marked the second year of the disappearance of
Rohingya fear death as India begins deportation0
- Blog
- October 18, 2018
Modi government accused of ignoring international obligations as 40,000 face return to uncertain future in Myanmar Supporters of the ruling pro-Hindu party BJP demonstrate on March 23 in the West Bengal state capital Kolkata against what they call the infiltration of Rohingya Muslim minorities into India. (Photo by IANS) Umar Manzoor Shah, New Delhi India October
Xinjiang official defends ‘education centres’ for Uighur Muslims0
- Blog
- October 17, 2018
16 October 2018 The top official in China’s Xinjiang region has given the most detailed description yet of the alleged use of internment camps for Uighur Muslims. In an interview with state media, Shohrat Zakir said the “vocational education” centres were proving effective in staving off terrorism. He said “trainees” were grateful for the opportunity
Commentary
Sri Lanka: A ‘nutty’ call this!0
- Commentary
- October 7, 2018
N Sathiya Moorthy, 8 October 2018 The last time ‘nuts’ became the talk of high-level political lingo in these parts of the world, it was in 1981. Then Pakistani President, Zia-ul-Haq, was reported as dismissing visiting US counterpart Jimmy Carter’s offer of $ 400-m American aid for two years, as ‘peanuts’. That such a private
Disorder in the world0
- Commentary
- October 7, 2018
by Habib Siddiqui 7 October 2018 The preamble of the United Nations states: “WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
Pakistani poker: Playing Saudi Arabia against China0
- Commentary
- October 7, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 7 October 2018 A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr. Desperate for funding to fend off a financial crisis fuelled in part by mounting debt to China, Pakistan is playing a complicated game of poker that could hand Saudi Arabia a strategic victory
Privatization of Security Can Derail US-Led Stabilization of Afghanistan0
- Commentary
- October 7, 2018
OCTOBER 6, 2018 BY M.ASHRAF HAIDARI The Trump administration has recently been encouraged to consider a plan using private military companies (PMC) to maintain security in Afghanistan. According to Blackwater founder Erik Prince, the plan’s primary external supporter, such a force would include 5,500 personnel and a 90-plane ready-to-use air force. Aside from saving American soldiers’ lives, it
Pakistan-US Relations: Resettlement or Re-Stalemate0
- Commentary
- October 6, 2018
by Hareem Aqdas 5 October 2018 Pakistan-US relations have witnessed a severe decline especially after January 2018. Earlier this month, US Secretary of State, Mr. Mike Pompeo, who was accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Joseph Dunford, stayed in Islamabad for nearly five hours during which he met Prime
Achieving religious harmony in a world of fear and populism0
- Commentary
- October 5, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 5 October 2018 A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr. Edited version of remarks made at the Inter-Religious Organization Singapore, 1 October 2018 This is a tough time for men and women of the cloth, at least those whose message is one
ISSN 2471-9501 (print)
ISSN 2471-951X (online)
Featured
Book Review: A Broken Dream: Rule of Law, Human Rights and Democracy by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha
Updated 20 September, 2018 0600 Justice Sinha was born in Moulavibazar district in the northeast Bangladesh where he grew up in a family of six siblings, five brothers and one sister. His father was a dedicated teacher and a scholar of the Hindu religion. During Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, he experienced the same
Shadow of India, Hasina govt’s corruption, repression of BNP looms over Bangladesh polls
by Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty | Sep 07,2018 BANGLADESH will go into election mode in the next few months. Democratic transfer of power in Bangladesh became the norm ever since the overthrow of military dictator General HM Ershad in 1990. The army-backed caretaker government, during 2007–2008, was an exception in Bangladesh’s democratic governance. Bangladesh has never