South Asia

Whose Sentiments are Hurt?

Whose Sentiments are Hurt?

Whose Sentiments are Hurt? This poser is slowly being raised – may be – in rather muted terms in this part of the world. Right from Karachi to Patiala or Uttarakhand to B’desh concerned citizens or victims of this bogey, one finds there is an increasing audience to this query. You could easily listen to it among the Ahmadiya Jamaat[Read More…]

by 26/05/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka: Dilly-Dallying Tactics To Keep The Ethnic Problem Alive And Kicking

Sri Lanka: Dilly-Dallying Tactics To Keep The Ethnic Problem Alive And Kicking

Ranil who was elected by a majority members of parliament on 18 July 2022 has been dishing out various promises to suit the occasion and the audiences.  A meeting was held on 09 May 2023 with Tamil MPs in the parliament where the 75 years long heartbreaking issues of land appropriations in the North and East by the occupying security[Read More…]

by 18/05/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan Goes to Anarchy and Self-Destruction

Pakistan Goes to Anarchy and Self-Destruction

Truth has its own Language The suspicious, paranoid and much hated illegitimate Sharifs, Bhuttos and the Generals are unleashing blind terror against the masses of Pakistan. The unprecedented abduction of Imran Khan, the former PM by the paratroopers from the High Court in Islamabad signals tragic tensions of missing logic and failed systems of political governance and accountability. Since April[Read More…]

by 11/05/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
JUST-IS denounces Political Terror against the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan

JUST-IS denounces Political Terror against the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan

In no uncertain terms, JUST-IS (A Network of Interfaith Solidarity Activists against Global Militarism and for Social Justice) harshly denounces the recent spate of attacks against houses of worship of the minority Ahmadiyya religious community in Pakistan. The most recent one, https://countercurrents.org/2023/05/desecration-of-yet-another-ahmadi-mosque-in-pakistan/, has been the most heinous. Of course, mainstream Muslim orthodoxy has had a profound theological problem with certain beliefs[Read More…]

by 08/05/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
A Game of Thrones in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: The Master Mind and Cover-up of Investigations in Easter Bombing in Sri Lanka

A Game of Thrones in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: The Master Mind and Cover-up of Investigations in Easter Bombing in Sri Lanka

‘The Owl of Minerva takes flight only at Dusk’ –Walter Benjamin “We have met the enemy, and he is us” — Pogo Comics quoted in the “ISIS is US: The Shocking Truth Behind the Army of Terror.” April is the cruelest month: Four years ago as the Fahrenheit rose on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning in April 21, bombs exploded[Read More…]

by 28/04/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Death came from the sky: One massacre, too many

Death came from the sky: One massacre, too many

Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. War, its infinite brutality and bestiality! It’s eternal, tragic, deathly realism. It’s private and public sorrow. A war within. A dictatorial State in a bloody and damned war against its own people. In a moment it seemed to be a small, little slice of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II in Japan – the cities bombed[Read More…]

by 26/04/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Urgent Steps Needed for Peace and Relief to People in Myanmar

Urgent Steps Needed for Peace and Relief to People in Myanmar

The tragic and painful death of nearly 100 persons in air attacks carried out by the military junta in Sagaing region of Myanmar on April 10 is another grim and cruel reminder that violence and distress of people have become the most defining features of this deeply troubled country. According to a statement by the UN Human Rights Chief Volker[Read More…]

by 16/04/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Is a US-Sponsored “Regime Change” in the Offing in Bangladesh?

 Is a US-Sponsored “Regime Change” in the Offing in Bangladesh?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen in Washington on Monday, April 10th (Blinken had asked Momen to meet him) to discuss the current state of affairs in Bangladesh; in particular, the modus vivendi for the next parliamentary elections, as well as violence against and intimidation of the media and civil society, especially under the[Read More…]

by 14/04/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Is Washington now Khan’s Buddy?

Is Washington now Khan’s Buddy?

We all know that 95 percent of elite Pakistani politics is mentally challenged fairytales and gossip replete with murmurings that can be cooked up for a good story to sell to the public. The intrigues and power plays of Pakistan’s rulers seem to just drag the country further and further to the abyss. After virtually a year now of the[Read More…]

by 26/03/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s unconvincing response to Universal Periodic Review’s forthright findings

Sri Lanka’s unconvincing response to Universal Periodic Review’s forthright findings

Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process with involves a review of human rights record of all UN member states. It is a process conducted under the articles of Human Rights Council which provides the opportunity to each state to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situation in their countries and to fulfill their[Read More…]

by 23/03/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Illiberal Democracy and Anti-modernization waves in south-Asia

Illiberal Democracy and Anti-modernization waves in south-Asia

Background Democracy, a form of people’s rule, requires great responsibility and commitment from the citizen and state. Democracy is an inclusive practice cemented on modern liberal ideals that brings peace & progress in society. The danger it carries equally great hope and aspirations and failing which revert back to conservative false promises. Unfortunately most of democratic political systems in the[Read More…]

by 20/03/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
To prevent a civil war that is about to happen in Pakistan

To prevent a civil war that is about to happen in Pakistan

This idea is based on the distinguished journalist Irfan Hashmi’s suggestion to prevent the imminent civil war and loss of millions of lives in Pakistan, including lives of those in power now who are violating the country’s laws and subjecting Pakistan’s people to unprecedented cruelty. What is the fault of the country’s 80% population? They are supporting Imran Khan. Why[Read More…]

by 20/03/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Chaos in Pakistan: Imran Khan Takes on America and its Comprador Elites

Chaos in Pakistan: Imran Khan Takes on America and its Comprador Elites

  “There is great chaos under heaven; [hence] the situation is excellent.” -Mao Zadong With staunch US support, Pakistan’s unelected “imported government” is trying to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the most popular politician in the country, to prevent him from running in elections. But protesters are protecting him. If 2022 was the year of popular uprisings in Pakistan,[Read More…]

by 18/03/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Alternatives to the IMF and the future of the Welfare State: Beyond the blame game between Superpowers

Alternatives to the IMF and the future of the Welfare State: Beyond the blame game between Superpowers

The economic proxy war between the rising and fading Superpowers is escalating and expanding in the “Asian 21st Century.’ This was apparent in an (un)diplomatic exchange between Chinese and United States officials over the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) debt restructuring delays in Sri Lanka which was the venue of the recent CARAT/ MAREX war games. These happened in the run[Read More…]

by 19/02/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Case of institutional violence in SAARC University

Case of institutional violence in SAARC University

South Asian University is a university set up in Delhi by member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives – which is open to students from all these countries. However, as SAARC is receiving little attention these days because of regional political dynamics, it appears as if SAU[Read More…]

by 16/02/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Ranil’s political gamble to resurrect the half alive but kicking 13th amendment

Ranil’s political gamble to resurrect the half alive but kicking 13th amendment

The 13th Amendment is the baby born from the Indo-Ceylon Accord of 1987, a brain child of India which is an international agreement as entered by two independent nations India and Sri Lanka. It is adopted in the Constitution of Sri Lanka and cannot be removed or repealed unless another new Constitution is adopted by Sri Lanka. This is not[Read More…]

by 14/02/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan Is Facing Major Economic Crisis

Pakistan Is Facing Major Economic Crisis

Pakistan is facing a major economic crisis. News agency AFP headlined one of it reports as “Pakistan’s economy in ‘collapse’ as IMF visits” A report — Pakistan facing worst economic crisis; Pakistani rupee at Rs 250 against dollar: Report —  said: Pakistan is facing the worst economic crisis since the nation formed with its currency falling to Rs 250 against[Read More…]

by 01/02/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Game of Chess, India Bangladesh Enclaves, Constitution Amendment and Godda Power Plant

Game of Chess, India Bangladesh Enclaves, Constitution Amendment and Godda Power Plant

I must confess that I am a great fan of the present BJP-RSS government, its intelligence and the manner it executes various projects for the so-called “national interest”. From demonetization to disarm the opposition political parties of cash, dramatic launching of GST at midnight of July 1, 2017, quashing of Art 370 and 37A, pushing various agendas of “Hindutva”, winning[Read More…]

by 26/01/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Vaddakandal  Massacre

Vaddakandal  Massacre

The history of massacres against Tamils had started long before the Tamil youth took to the weapons. All the successive regimes in Colombo were backing the genocidal massacres against Tamils. State sponsored pogroms against the Tamils in 1958, 1961. 1977, 1983 and the several frequent massacres since independence in 1948 forced the Tamil youths to take up arms as there[Read More…]

by 26/01/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
EAMs at the LOC, (inbound again)?

EAMs at the LOC, (inbound again)?

 [I wrote this article at the time of the Balakot Crisis in February of 2019. It still carries relevance today within the context of Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif’s recent statement, (on Monday, the 16th of January, 2023);where he asks the President of the UAE; “to facilitate dialogue with India and vowed sincere talk with the arch rivals, if a channel[Read More…]

by 19/01/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lankan President’s Promises for Tamil Leaders

Sri Lankan President’s Promises for Tamil Leaders

It is a well-known fact that most of the past agreements written and/or oral promises including undertakings of the past Sri Lankan governments are mostly complied with breaches, partial and / or complete non-compliances. Some of the notable instances are the Indo-Ceylon Agreement 1987, BC Pact 1958, and Reasonable Use of Tamil Language Act 1958. At the recent meeting with[Read More…]

by 14/01/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Trincomalee Massacre 2006

Trincomalee Massacre 2006

The incident referred to as Trincomalee massacre in 2006 happened when five minority Sri Lankan Tamil high school students playing by the beach were briefly detained and then shot dead by Special Task Force These  five Tamil students were shot and killed at point blank range by the STF whilst they spent an afternoon on the beach in Trincomalee. The[Read More…]

by 03/01/2023 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Thousands of Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec. 10, 2022, to demand the Hasina government resign and hold early elections. [AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu]

Mass protests in Bangladesh against brutal cost of living increases

Tens of thousands of people protested in Dhaka on December 10 to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League-led government and to call for new elections over rising inflation, fuel increases and violent police attacks. The next general election is not officially due until the end of 2023. The demonstrations—part of a national series of “restore democracy”[Read More…]

by 18/12/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and the ‘Balance of Fear’

Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and the ‘Balance of Fear’

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) India’s official claim is to the entire region of the pre-Independence “Princely State of Kashmir & Jammu” – namely, Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh – as an integral part of India. This includes Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK). Pakistan entered into a boundary Agreement with China in March 1963 to settle its border differences, and ceded the Shaksgam Valley of the Hunza region[Read More…]

by 17/12/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Ranil: Blowing Hot and  Cold

Ranil: Blowing Hot and  Cold

73 year old Ranil Wickremasinghe after serving as a prime minister for five years achieved his ambition of becoming the President of Sri Lanka on 21 of July  2022 as an appointed member of parliament not elected by the people in an election but through the national list thanks to he people’s uprising  and fleeing of Gotabayas;’family on 9th of[Read More…]

by 12/12/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Pakistani Left’s Bizarre Obsession with the Western Left

The Pakistani Left’s Bizarre Obsession with the Western Left

by Azhar Imran and Zerrish Khan During the days after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from office, there was jubilation by the Pakistani liberal-left. But they figured out quickly that they had to go into overdrive to produce and police a narrative of what happened. But bizarrely, that narrative wasn’t being constructed for Pakistanis, but for some mysterious[Read More…]

by 06/11/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Attempt to assassinate Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan

Attempt to assassinate Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan

  The enemies of the most honest and most popular political leader in Pakistan’s history tried to assassinate him. Since they suffered major defeats in election after election, could not succeed in their repeated efforts to have him declared ineligible for election, they realized that they could not beat Khan electorally. So they tried to kill him. He and many[Read More…]

by 06/11/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan’s Political Turmoil Can Hinder Recovery from Serious Disasters

Pakistan’s Political Turmoil Can Hinder Recovery from Serious Disasters

Pakistan has suffered its worst ever floods this year, resulting in over 1700 deaths, nearly 13,000 seriously injured persons and damage estimated at around $40 billon. UNICEF stated in a report that as a result of these floods, nearly 10 million children needed urgent assistance. As millions of persons were rendered homeless by floods, urgent reconstruction efforts are needed. Winter[Read More…]

by 06/11/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka Financial Crisis Needs Accountability

Sri Lanka Financial Crisis Needs Accountability

The recent statements of President Ranil Wickramasinghe and Foreign Minister Ali Sabry expose and confirm the financial, political, and economic bankruptcy of Sri Lanka even admitted by the leaders and architects of these bankruptcies who nurtured and fed them for their political and personal prosperity partly encouraged by the numbed and sterile opposition coupled with the complacency of ordinary citizens.[Read More…]

by 29/10/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

Pakistan in Search of Freedom and Security

The Facts Search for Meanings People and nations once colonized by the European Empires remain colonized in thoughts, behavior and practices for ever. Pakistan is no exception in contemporary global affairs. Its systems of political governance, public institutions, legal systems and delivery of services if any to public are a replica of the British colonial systems. The concept of national[Read More…]

by 18/10/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
UNHRC 51/5 Resolution Against Sri Lanka 

UNHRC 51/5 Resolution Against Sri Lanka 

UNHRC in its 51st  session passed a Resolution against Sri Lanka with 20 countries supporting and 7 countries opposing while other 20 countries abstained from voting. This striking Resolution has vindicated and enhanced UNHRC’s reputation and its deep commitment to uphold human rights, accountability and justice to the victims of human right violations and genocidal crimes. It is to be noted[Read More…]

by 17/10/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Financial Crisis in Sri Lanka

Financial Crisis in Sri Lanka

Over the past decade, the Sri Lankan government has borrowed vast sums of money from foreign lenders to fund public services. Sri Lanka had to fall back on its foreign exchange reserves to pay off government debt, shrinking its reserves from $6.9 billion in 2018 to $2.2 billion this year. This impacted imports of fuel and other essentials, which sent[Read More…]

by 17/10/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Will the UNHRC take a bold step to find justice to the oppressed Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka

Will the UNHRC take a bold step to find justice to the oppressed Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka

Despite decades of Tamil protests and unequivocal calls for international action to end impunity in Sri Lanka, the Human Rights Council has continued to heed Sri Lanka’s requests for “time and space” to address allegations of international crimes with a homegrown solution. Groups of families, spread across Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern districts that were the site of the nearly[Read More…]

by 05/10/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Nagarkovil Massacre of School Children

Nagarkovil Massacre of School Children

On September 22, 1995, a SLAF aircraft bombed the Nagarkovil Maha Vidyalayam schoolyard crammed with 750 children on their lunch break, killing more than 30 – of whom 12 were six or seven-year-olds – and injuring 150 others. The overall death toll from the raids reached 71. The bombing occurred just hours after the Sri Lankan government imposed press censor­ship[Read More…]

by 23/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court

Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court

The Sri Lankan government’s failure to establish an accountability mechanism for violations of International law means that referral to the International Criminal Court or the creation of another international mechanism “would be fully warranted,” said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council. The primary reason for the call for referral to ICC[Read More…]

by 22/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan faces massive humanitarian crisis as unprecedented flooding continues

Pakistan faces massive humanitarian crisis as unprecedented flooding continues

Unprecedented flooding—arising from and demonstrably tied to climate change— continues to ravage Pakistan, with the official death toll rising by more than 250 since last week. 1,391 people are now reported as having perished due to the floods, which have inundated a third of the impoverished South Asian country. A further 12,700 have been injured. On Friday, Pakistan’s National Disaster[Read More…]

by 11/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Saththrukondan Massacre of 185 innocent Tamils

Saththrukondan Massacre of 185 innocent Tamils

On September 9, 1990, the men, women and children from Saththurukondan and surrounding villages, on the outskirts of Batticaloa, were taken to an army camp by Sri Lankan soldiers, where 185 Tamil men, women and children from Sathurukondan and surrounding villages were slaughtered by Sri Lankan soldiers. The mass killings, which were carried out during the presidency of the UNP’s[Read More…]

by 10/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Entrenched Impunity to military and police in Sri Lanka

Entrenched Impunity to military and police in Sri Lanka

The culture of impunity has matured and has become endemic among the police and the security forces of Sri Lanka. Increasing Militarisation in the North and East of Sri Lanka and A Culture of Impunity in Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan military enjoys total impunity for human rights violations. To this day, almost no one has been held accountable for[Read More…]

by 08/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Girls use a temporary raft across a flooded street in a residential area after heavy monsoon rains in Karachi on July 26, 2022. A weather emergency was declared in Karachi as heavier-than-usual monsoon rains continue to lash Pakistan's biggest city, flooding homes and making streets impassable. (Photo: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP via Getty Images)

Solidarities and Perversions

An Indian comedian did an experiment recently that tells us tales about people and their vituperations. The experiment was brilliant: Prime Minister Modi tweeted a standard-world-leader note of sorrow to those affected by the floods in Pakistan. The comedian tweeted largely the same thing under his own name. And? You guessed it. He got a torrent of hateful responses from[Read More…]

by 08/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan Post-Flood Situation: Vegetable Costs Up 500% Threaten to Fuel Inflation

Pakistan Post-Flood Situation: Vegetable Costs Up 500% Threaten to Fuel Inflation

Skyrocketing prices of tomatoes, potatoes and onions are putting food out of reach in flood-ravaged Pakistan, raising the specter of inflation hitting 30% that may spur more monetary tightening, said a report. The Bloomberg report said: The South Asian nation already reeling from dwindling currency reserves and the fastest inflation in almost five decades faces a food shortage after torrential[Read More…]

by 06/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Global Tamil Community in Collective struggle to Free Tamil Eelam

The Global Tamil Community in Collective struggle to Free Tamil Eelam

Tamil Eelam is the historical homeland of the Tamil nation of the island of Ceylon (today known as Sri Lanka). In ancient Tamil literatures, the island was referred to as Eelam. Tamil Eelam is the modern collective name for the Tamil-speaking territories of the precolonial Tamil kingdoms and principalities that existed in the districts of Jaffna, Killinochi, Mullaithivu, Mannar, Vavuniya,[Read More…]

by 04/09/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
UNHRC Session 51  September 2022: Acid test for Sri Lanka

UNHRC Session 51  September 2022: Acid test for Sri Lanka

At the UNHRC 51st Sessions due to commence on September 12, 2022, the members are expected to debate the final draft Resolution on accountability, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka to be presented by the UNHRC High Commissioner including her oral statement on the first day on 12th September 2022, this being the first item in the agenda. The question[Read More…]

by 29/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
UNHRC 51st Session in September 2022 – Sri Lanka

UNHRC 51st Session in September 2022 – Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has to face the UNHRC Session in September 2022 and submit its report on human rights, accountability and justice and other Recommendations mentioned in the UNHRC Resolution 46/1 of March 23, 2021. This 46/1 Resolution, titled “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights,” was adopted by the UNHRC, in Geneva, on March 23, 2021, during the 46th Sessions. By[Read More…]

by 28/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
IMF Bailout of BlackRock amid Adani Greenwash:  Where does the Gravy Train End?

IMF Bailout of BlackRock amid Adani Greenwash:  Where does the Gravy Train End?

Buenos Aires was rocked again last week by massive protests against austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Structural reforms with austerity have resulted in soaring inflation, currency depreciation, poverty and inequality that is eroding Argentine society and economy, while enabling bail out of private lenders and vulture funds like BlackRock. Argentina is now on its 21st IMF[Read More…]

by 28/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
With one out of 7 persons affected by floods, Pakistan declares emergency

With one out of 7 persons affected by floods, Pakistan declares emergency

30 to 33 million persons are reported to be seriously affected by floods in Pakistan, a country with a population of 220 million. Due to this a national emergency has been declared in Pakistan. The previous worst floods in Pakistan were recorded in 2010 when nearly 20 million people were affected, causing damages estimated at $10 billion. This was followed[Read More…]

by 27/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan Politics With Imran Khan

Pakistan Politics With Imran Khan

Politics in Pakistan is again creating turmoil. Media reports said: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close aide and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, Shahbaz Gill’s room at Parliament Lodges was raided by police contingents in the presence of Gill who was brought to the location amid strict security measures. The police team led by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) found[Read More…]

by 23/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
May 18th Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day

May 18th Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day

Genocide is the deliberate and organized killing of a group or groups of people, with the intention of destroying their identity as an ethnic, cultural, or religious group. May 18th- A Day which can never be forgotten for generations to come in the lives of Tamil. This day of Gore at Mullivaikal will reverberate. The Cry of the lost souls[Read More…]

by 20/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s determined Non-Compliance of UNHRC Resolutions in Defiance of UN and UNHRC Charters

Sri Lanka’s determined Non-Compliance of UNHRC Resolutions in Defiance of UN and UNHRC Charters

Sri Lanka’s extent of compliance with the Recommendations of UNHRC Resolutions passed against it since 2012 particularly No. 30/1 of October 01, 2015 to 46/1 of March 23, 2021 raises concerns to the affected Tamils in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has abysmally failed to implement the core Recommendations and has ignored the pivotal Recommendations dealing with accountability, justice, reconciliation and[Read More…]

by 18/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Black September Massacres in Sri Lanka

Black September Massacres in Sri Lanka

On 5 September 1990. Sri Lanka army units arrested 158 Tamil civilians who sought shelter in the temporary refugee camp inside the premises of the Eastern University during military operations in the area. All of of them were tortured and killed, according to a one man commission that investigated the massacre three years later. Although the commission named several perpetrators[Read More…]

by 17/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
European Imperialism and How India and Pakistan Won and Lost August 14-15, 1947 National Freedom

European Imperialism and How India and Pakistan Won and Lost August 14-15, 1947 National Freedom

Freedom Colonized or European Systematic Terrorism European went to West Asia pretending to be businessmen and fostered political intrigues and treachery to become the ruler of the Sub-Continent. The conquest and looting of Moghul India in 1857 transformed Britain into “Great Britain.” British and French for a while competed for military and political influence to pave the way for ultimate[Read More…]

by 15/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
A Brief Outline of Strategy for the New Phase of Janatha Aragalaya

A Brief Outline of Strategy for the New Phase of Janatha Aragalaya

[This article is based on the discussions with activists of the Janatha Aragalaya and concerned Sri Lankan citizens. It is a humble contribution towards ongoing debates within the movement. As the French proverb goes: “De choc des opinions jaillit la vérité” – Truth arises from a conflict of opinions.]   With the deepening crisis of the world capitalist system, we[Read More…]

by 13/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sit-in protests by the families of the missing – 2000 days with no response from the Government

Sit-in protests by the families of the missing – 2000 days with no response from the Government

Hundreds of Tamil mothers on August 12 took out a rally in Sri Lanka’s northern Kilinochchi district to mark 2,000 days of their relentless struggle, seeking truth and justice for their loved ones forcibly disappeared during and after the civil war. A whole bunch of Tamil moms rallied in Sri Lanka’s northern Kilinochchi district on Friday to mark a 2,000-day[Read More…]

by 13/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pathetic plight of the Tamil Political Prisoners in Sri Lanka

Pathetic plight of the Tamil Political Prisoners in Sri Lanka

Today, there are believed to be approximately 200 Tamil political prisoners, some of whom have been detained for over a decade. These arrests were under the widely criticized PTA which facilitates detentions without charge. Sri Lanka had vowed to repeal the draconian legislation as part of the GSP+ agreement and the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1. However, the Sri[Read More…]

by 12/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Will Sri Lanka recover from its massive debt crisis?

Will Sri Lanka recover from its massive debt crisis?

The massive debt crisis has affected the lives of nearly all classes in the society, specially the poor and middle, in Sri Lanka is not new. The loans given lead to a debt trap which is the root cause of our situation. Sri Lanka’s foreign debt has reached US$ 52 billion and debt servicing last year was six billion dollars[Read More…]

by 10/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Peaceful Protests for a Revolutionary Change in Sri Lanka

Peaceful Protests for a Revolutionary Change in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankans had been protesting for months over the country’s economic crisis that has led to a severe shortage of many essential imported items like medicines, fuel and cooking gas. Wickremesinghe’s predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country after protesters stormed his official residence and occupied many key state buildings including the president’s office and prime minister’s office and official residence.[Read More…]

by 09/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Muttur Massacre – Action Against Hunger Farm Staff

Muttur Massacre – Action Against Hunger Farm Staff

On 4 August 2006 17 Action Against Hunger staff were murdered in Muttur, Sri Lanka. They were assisting communities suffering the impact of the 2004 tsunami, as well as the ravages of war, when they were shot dead. Still now their killers have never been brought to justice. During the three days following the killings, from 4th to 7th August,[Read More…]

by 08/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Revolt in Sri Lanka: Does A Seismic Struggle Guarantee System Change?

Revolt in Sri Lanka: Does A Seismic Struggle Guarantee System Change?

To quote Ahilan Kadirgamar, a political economist at the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, the uprising is “a revolt and not yet a revolution, because it doesn’t want to change fundamental social relations… or property relations.”1 As was the case with the massive upheaval in Egypt in 2011 (https://multiracialunity.org/2021/02/24/revolt-in-india-does-a-seismic-struggle-guarantee-systemic-change/, https://multiracialunity.org/2021/03/18/revolt-in-burma-does-a-seismic-struggle-guarantee-systemic-change/), without a program to challenge capitalism or an organization to[Read More…]

by 07/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Cultural Genocide of Tamils in Tamil Eelam – Sri  Lanka

The Cultural Genocide of Tamils in Tamil Eelam – Sri  Lanka

It is a universally accepted principle that people living in a democratic land should be treated as equals, irrespective of language, ethnic or religious differences. But in Sri Lanka democracy  is being crushed by the tyranny of the majority – the Sinhala Buddhist representatives – in Parliament… Sri Lankan military has been building Buddhist statues and temples illegally on private[Read More…]

by 05/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Indo/Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987 – Still not implemented

Indo/Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987 – Still not implemented

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act of 1987. The Peace Accord[Read More…]

by 04/08/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Gotabaya Rajapaksa Expected To Return, Says Official

Gotabaya Rajapaksa Expected To Return, Says Official

Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to return to the country from Singapore, a Sri Lankan lawmaker says. Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday that G Rajapaksa was not in hiding but the date of his return was not known. The former president fled Sri Lanka after mass unrest over an economic crisis. Many protesters say[Read More…]

by 27/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lankan President – Ranil Wickremasinghe will face people’s anger

Sri Lankan President – Ranil Wickremasinghe will face people’s anger

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe won the presidential elections conducted by the Parliament on Thursday after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled abroad amidst intense agitation over the economic crisis. He will serve the remaining tenure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa till November 2024. Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan Politician who is also currently the 9th President of Sri Lanka since July 21,[Read More…]

by 26/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Will social media unite Kashmir?

Will social media unite Kashmir?

 Digital technology has demolished the borders between different countries without any war or confrontation. The same technology has come to the rescue of those families living across the Indo-Pak border who were separated during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. More relief has come to those thousands of divided families in the Kashmir who have never been allowed to[Read More…]

by 25/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Burning Questions of the Sri Lankan People’s Movement: What is to be Done?  

Burning Questions of the Sri Lankan People’s Movement: What is to be Done?  

(This article is based on a talk delivered at the online session organised by International Solidarity with the People’s Movement in Sri Lanka on a 23.07.2022) The people’s movement in Sri Lanka has entered into a deadlock with the ‘(s)election’ of Ranil Wickremesinghe as President. Within hours of him assuming office, a mid-night crackdown on the Galle Face protest camp[Read More…]

by 24/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the ‘Great Reset’ in Sri Lanka

The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the ‘Great Reset’ in Sri Lanka

“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022 Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country[Read More…]

by 24/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
A Call for Debt Justice, Debt Cancellation and Transparency in IMF Negotiations in Sri Lanka

A Call for Debt Justice, Debt Cancellation and Transparency in IMF Negotiations in Sri Lanka

The Coalition for Economic Democracy in Sri Lanka (CEDSL) is a group of concerned academics, activists, agricultural, fisheries and industrial workers, students, business persons, trade unionists, and professionals based ‘in country’ and overseas, including the diaspora, who uphold the values of economic rights and justice in public policy making. In the wake of two years of economically-devastating Covid-19 lockdowns, quantitative[Read More…]

by 22/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Popular Opposition To Wickremesinghe’s Election Could Spill Over Into Violence In Sri Lanka

Popular Opposition To Wickremesinghe’s Election Could Spill Over Into Violence In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was braced for more unrest after newly appointed president Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to crack down on the protests that toppled his predecessor, condemning them as “against the law”. Speaking after being MPs picked him as successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe made it clear he would not tolerate those he perceived to be stirring up violence. “If you try[Read More…]

by 21/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka will never prosper without addressing the ethnic problem of Eelam Tamils 

Sri Lanka will never prosper without addressing the ethnic problem of Eelam Tamils 

 Sri Lanka’s ethnocratic political structures and history of atrocities, and thereby the root causes that ultimately led to the present crisis. This will only lead to further instability, violence and economic collapse. There have been many moments in Sri Lanka’s history when governments have had the opportunity to change course and address the root causes of the island’s conflict, but[Read More…]

by 21/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Gotabaya’s ascent and descent in power as the President of Sri Lanka

Gotabaya’s ascent and descent in power as the President of Sri Lanka

Gotabaya’s election as the President of Sri Lanka in December 2019 is unique as it exposes and endorses the underlying political ills of Sri Lanka namely racism, communalism, majoritarianism and Sinhala/Buddhist hegemony. His victory has cemented the paths of polarization and created separatist and segregating tendencies among the usual peaceful Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslim communities. This article briefly mentions the[Read More…]

by 21/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Military presence in the North and East of Sri Lanka

Military presence in the North and East of Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government may have won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the country, but another protracted struggle is looming on the horizon, that of winning democracy and development back from the clutches of militarisation. In the meantime, for those in the north (and the east) struggling to recover socially, economically and[Read More…]

by 19/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Will Sri Lanka be able to develop an alternative to hateful political nationalism of the Rajapaksas?

Will Sri Lanka be able to develop an alternative to hateful political nationalism of the Rajapaksas?

The mighty nationalist leaders from the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka looked helpless and cowardly when he was humiliated at the airport as he tried to flee abroad to protect himself from the agitating people who protested at the airport. Still, he used his powers as the arm forces followed it ‘dutifully’, knowing fully well that it was actually a[Read More…]

by 18/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Struggle For Complete System Change To Continue In Sri Lanka, Protesters Vow

Struggle For Complete System Change To Continue In Sri Lanka, Protesters Vow

Sri Lankan protesters have vowed to continue their struggle for a complete change of the system by abolishing the presidency, as the popular uprising that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president marked the 100th day on Sunday. The anti-government protest began on April 9 near the presidential office and has been continuing without a break. “We will continue our fight till[Read More…]

by 17/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The rise and fall of Gotabaya Rajapaksa

The rise and fall of Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician and former military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. Gotabaya Rajapakshe  is believed to have directly overseen the country’s police and military, which have been accused by the UN, human rights groups and Sri Lanka’s own investigative agencies of crimes[Read More…]

by 17/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Faster Growing at Socio-Economic and Demographic Fronts: India or Bangladesh?

Faster Growing at Socio-Economic and Demographic Fronts: India or Bangladesh?

by Ishika Jaiswal & Dr. Bimal Jaiswal India and Bangladesh are the two exceptional economies in South Asian region.  Both the nations have number of similarities and both want to achieve remarkable economic growth in the shortest span of time possible.  To attain this objective, both the economies are endeavouring altogether in certain sectors and sub-sectors. However, there are some[Read More…]

by 16/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Get Gota: Holding a War Criminal Accountable

Get Gota: Holding a War Criminal Accountable

The fall and ignominious retreat of Sri Lanka’s Gotabaya Rajapaksa has enlivened one distinct possibility.  Having formally resigned as Sri Lankan President, a point made via email from Singapore, those wishing to see him account for war crimes may get their wish. There have been various efforts in train regarding a man who ruthlessly concluded his country’s civil war in[Read More…]

by 16/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
This historic moment must be used to confront Sinhala Buddhist nationalism 

This historic moment must be used to confront Sinhala Buddhist nationalism 

Most of the myths regarding the history of Sri Lanka originate from the Mahavamsa. And so, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists maintain that they are the Buddha’s selected people, and that the island of Sri Lanka is the Buddhist promised land At the opening of the nineteenth century, the existence of an historical record called the Mahavamsa, or Great Dynasty, was known[Read More…]

by 16/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka Parliament Meets Tomorrow, New President To Be Elected Within 7 Days

Sri Lanka Parliament Meets Tomorrow, New President To Be Elected Within 7 Days

Sri Lanka politicians are trying to settle popular unrest as parliament plans to meet tomorrow after the official resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was made today. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said he expected to elect a new President through Parliament within 7 days in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The Speaker said in terms of the Constitution Prime[Read More…]

by 15/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Tanks Deployed Near Parliament And State Of Emergency Declared In Sri Lanka

Tanks Deployed Near Parliament And State Of Emergency Declared In Sri Lanka

On Thursday, the Sri Lanka government announced a curfew in the capital Colombo and its suburbs that would run until 5am on Friday. To stop demonstrators from accessing the Parliament on Thursday, the Sri Lankan Army stationed tanks close to the building. Troops in green military uniforms and camouflage vests arrived by armored personnel carriers on Thursday to reinforce barricades around[Read More…]

by 14/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Graduate Unemployment and Skill Mismatch in Bangladesh: A Broader Context

Graduate Unemployment and Skill Mismatch in Bangladesh: A Broader Context

The staggering rate of unemployment among university graduates in Bangladesh, and the difficulty faced by employers in securing a skilled workforce, pose a conundrum for the country’s development journey, with implications regarding productivity, growth, social welfare and integration in the global value chain. A World Bank study found that, more than a third of university graduates remain unemployed for one[Read More…]

by 14/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Tamil Nationalism [Eelam Tamils]

Tamil Nationalism [Eelam Tamils]

Tamil nationalism is the ideology which asserts that the Tamil people constitute a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Tamil people. Sri Lankan state violence, persecution, and discrimination from the 1940s to 70s pushed Eelam Tamil leadership to answer the Tamil national question, manoeuvring through a maze of democratic and diplomatic methods in an attempt to achieve only a[Read More…]

by 14/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Counting the dead 

Counting the dead 

Most counts estimate that over 100,000 civilians died during the conflict, though accounts of the final stages of the war, when the Sri Lankan government defeated the Tamil Tigers militia in 2009, vary significantly, with the United Nations estimating the total casualties to be somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 over a five-month period. Apart from that the death toll during[Read More…]

by 13/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Succession In Focus As Sri Lanka Plunges In Political Vacuum

Succession In Focus As Sri Lanka Plunges In Political Vacuum

Sri Lanka’s opposition parties are trying to cobble together an all-party government and pick candidates who can take over after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to step down, giving in to popular pressure in a country struggling to pay for essentials. Sri Lanka has been plunged into a political vacuum after an economic crisis sparked widespread protests[Read More…]

by 11/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Navali Church Bombing Killing 147 Refugees inside the Church

Navali Church Bombing Killing 147 Refugees inside the Church

On 9th July 1995, the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed the St Peter’s Church in Navaly and the nearby Sri Kathirgama Murugan Kovil, which were both sheltering displaced Tamils from army bombardment. A total of 13 bombs were dropped on the sheltering shrines, killing 147 on the spot with many more succumbing to injuries later. The victims included men, women[Read More…]

by 11/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Unprecedented Protests Create Political Crisis In Sri Lanka

Unprecedented Protests Create Political Crisis In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties are trying to agree on a new government a day after the country’s president and prime minister offered to resign in the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s economic crisis. Sri Lankan Army chief General[Read More…]

by 10/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Chencholai girls complex deliberately bombed by Sri Lankan Air Force

Chencholai girls complex deliberately bombed by Sri Lankan Air Force

On 14th of August 2006, the government forces deliberately bombed a girl’s orphanage killing 60 girls and wounding 120 who were between the ages of 15 and 18 In the Cenchcholai complex in Vallipunam in the Mullaithivu district hundreds of female students in the age group of 17-20 were gathered on 10 August 2006 for a weeklong training in leadership[Read More…]

by 10/07/2022 1 comment South Asia
Massacre Inside High Security Welikada Prison in Sri Lanka

Massacre Inside High Security Welikada Prison in Sri Lanka

The incident occurred in two different series of actions: the first on 25 July 1983 when 35 Tamil prisoners were attacked and killed by Sinhalese inmates. The second massacre was two days later when Sinhalese inmates killed another 18 Tamil detainees and 3 prison deputies. ‘It is the massacres in the Welikade gaol which are attracting the most attention. There[Read More…]

by 05/07/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Black July 83 – A Tamil boy stripped naked and later beaten to death by Sinhala youth in Boralla bustation | Photo – Chandraguptha Amarasingha

Black July 1983 – Premeditated Pogrom Against The Tamils In Sri Lanka

This July marks the 39th anniversary of what became known as Black July. The riots of July 1983 in Sri Lanka would forever alter the course of ethnic tensions in the country, and would lead to the movement of Tamils out of Sri Lanka and into countries like Canada in increasingly dramatic numbers. The riots also marked a decisive shift[Read More…]

by 28/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Continuing protest by elderly mothers of the  disappeared

Continuing protest by elderly mothers of the  disappeared

The mothers, fathers, relatives of the missing are on the streets for more than 1950 days in a sit-in protest demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. They are holding EU, US & UN Flags and the pictures of their loved ones missing Since the end of the armed conflict, the families of the disappeared have participated in[Read More…]

by 26/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Nepal Not To Move Forward With U.S. State Partnership Program

Nepal Not To Move Forward With U.S. State Partnership Program

Nepal has decided to shun the U.S. State Partnership Programme (SPP). Media reports said: The Nepal government has decided to not forward the US’ state partnership programme (SPP). The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Monday took this decision. The Cabinet also decided that every government agency needs to make communications on diplomatic relations via the Foreign Ministry. The government made the decision[Read More…]

by 24/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Human right council’s resolutions discarded and ignored by defiant Sri Lanka

Human right council’s resolutions discarded and ignored by defiant Sri Lanka

The opening statements of Human Rights Commissioner and Core Members (UK, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Malawi) sum up Sri Lanka’s hollow and dismal performance and the disappointing compliance of Human Right Council’s Resolutions and Recommendations issued against Sri Lanka since October 2015. The Commissioner of Human Rights “called on Sri Lanka to focus on deeper institutional reforms to[Read More…]

by 24/06/2022 1 comment South Asia
A family collects their goods before leaving their submerged home after flash floods at Goainghat sub-distric in Sylhet

Historic flooding in Bangladesh and Assam

In historic flood in many parts of Bangladesh and Northeast India hundreds of people have died and millions are stranded. About 4 million people were marooned in the northeastern Sylhet administrative division in Bangladesh, which is about a quarter of its population. In India North East state of Assam is worst affected where heavy rains are continuing for over two[Read More…]

by 23/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Accelerated Sinhalisation into Tamils traditional homeland

Accelerated Sinhalisation into Tamils traditional homeland

The Tamil homeland has been subjected to decades of Sinhalisation but since the end of the armed conflict, there has been a rise in the establishment of Buddhist temples and Sinhala settlements through the appropriation of Tamil land. The government has used it’s departments such as the archaeological and land survey departments to alter the demographics of the North-East. Rise[Read More…]

by 21/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
United Nations report reveals worsening social catastrophe in Sri Lanka

United Nations report reveals worsening social catastrophe in Sri Lanka

A UN survey entitled “Humanitarian Needs and Priorities—Food Security Crisis Sri Lanka” issued on June 9 painted a tragic picture of the social devastation being inflicted on workers and the poor by Colombo’s ruling elite and the capitalist system. “Sri Lanka is experiencing a multidimensional crisis, compounded by food insecurity, threatened livelihoods, shortages of essential medical items and rising protection[Read More…]

by 14/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Eelam Tamils Struggle For Self Determination

Eelam Tamils Struggle For Self Determination

The idea of “self-determination” continues its hold on the hearts and minds of peoples yearning to breathe free. Kosovo, for example, established its independence in 2008, making it the world’s second-youngest country (after South Sudan, officially established in 2011). The landslide winner of Kosovo’s parliamentary elections in February 2021 was the Self-Determination Party (Vetëvendosje), which made Kosovo a rare Muslim-majority,[Read More…]

by 13/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
BDS Campaign against Sri Lanka

BDS Campaign against Sri Lanka

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign: Stopping GOSL Genocide Against the Tamils Presentation at Second International Conference on Tamil Nationhood and Genocide in Sri Lanka. Ottawa, Canada, 5-7 May 2018 The Sinhala-Buddhist Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has inflicted outright genocide against the Eelam Tamils in flagrant violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention to which it is a contracting party. For[Read More…]

by 11/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Ethnic cleansing – Tamils of Eelam in Sri Lanka

Ethnic cleansing – Tamils of Eelam in Sri Lanka

The Tamils are an ancient people. Their history had its beginnings in the rich alluvial plains near the southern extremity of peninsular India which included the land mass known as the island of Sri Lanka today. The island’s plant and animal life (including the presence of elephants) evidence the earlier land connection with the Indian sub continent. So too do[Read More…]

by 11/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
State Sponsored Sinhalese Colonization Of Tamils’ Traditional Homeland

State Sponsored Sinhalese Colonization Of Tamils’ Traditional Homeland

Since independence in 1948, the GoSL has tried to weaken (or outright deny) the concept of the “Tamil homeland” by engaging in processes of demographic change and repression through the three strategies that advance Sinhalization: land acquisition, militarization, and Buddhisization. Using these methods, the GoSL also seeks to strengthen a Sri Lankan identity, rooted in Sinhala-Buddhism (with a foremost place[Read More…]

by 07/06/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Galle Face Protests – A Lesson For All Political Leaders

The Galle Face Protests – A Lesson For All Political Leaders

The Galle Face protests which commenced on April 9th 2022 cannot be described as a mass uprising by the majority of the Sri Lankan population representing all sections of the communities particularly the middle and upper class sections besides the minority communities, the Tamil and Muslims. It was necessitated and forced upon on the low wages earning working population who[Read More…]

by 06/06/2022 1 comment South Asia
Why Imran Khan Alleges the US for the fall of his Government

Why Imran Khan Alleges the US for the fall of his Government

Imran Khan, a cricketer-turned politician, former Prime Minister of Pakistan is found openly alleging the US administration for the fall of his elected government. In his interview to numerous national and international TV channels, he claims that his visit to Russia amid the Ukraine crisis in the month of February, 2022 was not fully digested by the US administration. On[Read More…]

by 31/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Indiscriminate Bombing And Shelling Of Hospitals by Sri Lankan Military

Indiscriminate Bombing And Shelling Of Hospitals by Sri Lankan Military

“Hospitals are supposed to be sanctuaries from shelling, not targets,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “While doctors and nurses struggle to save lives in overcrowded and under equipped facilities, Sri Lankan army attacks have hit one hospital after another.” The Sri Lankan armed forces have repeatedly struck hospitals in the northern Vanni region in indiscriminate artillery[Read More…]

by 31/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan Looks for Political Change and Stability but Nation Suspects Military Intervention

Pakistan Looks for Political Change and Stability but Nation Suspects Military Intervention

A Nation, its Freedom and Future in Crisis For long, Pakistan portrays a hybrid political culture – part human and part vulture overwhelmed with traditions of neo-colonialism, elite control, neglectful of people’s care, political change and elite systematic corruption to undermine the national freedom, security and sustainable future. Suspicious and paranoid political elite imply dogmatic scenarios and management concepts to[Read More…]

by 30/05/2022 1 comment South Asia
End political instability in Sri Lanka

End political instability in Sri Lanka

Global Kairos for Asia-Pacific Palestine Solidarity (GKAPPS) calls for respect for human rights, an end to political instability and, the re-building of Democracy in Sri Lanka Global Kairos for Asia-Pacific Palestine Solidarity (GKAPPS) is a collective of Asian Christian Theologians working in partnership with scholars and human rights activists of different faiths to express our radical solidarity with the people[Read More…]

by 27/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka

Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka

According to Article 7, paragraph 2(i) of the Rome Statute[1], an Enforced disappearance is defined as “…the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons,[Read More…]

by 27/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Remembering the burning of Jaffna public library – 41 years on

Remembering the burning of Jaffna public library – 41 years on

On midnight 31st May 1981, the Jaffna Public Library, famous for being the crucible of Tamil literature and heritage, was set ablaze by Sri Lankan security forces and state-sponsored mobs. The burning has since been marked by Eelam Tamils as an act of genocide. This was one of the most heinous ethnic-based book burnings of the twentieth century. The library[Read More…]

by 25/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India`s non-engagement in Afghanistan and its implications

India`s non-engagement in Afghanistan and its implications

The government of India shut down the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the biggest city in the north of Afghanistan, considering a threat to the embassy staff from the Taliban which took over the reins of the government on 15 August, 2021. It is a fact that there is a perception among the international community including Indians that the Taliban would commit[Read More…]

by 25/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The crisis in Sri Lanka: Exploited for regime changes in South Asia?

The crisis in Sri Lanka: Exploited for regime changes in South Asia?

Sri Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, center, who resigned on May 9, seen with his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who three days before in a Cabinet meeting, pressed for the resignation, so as to buy an elusive peace. Colombo has been a witness to terrorist bombings and assassinations, but not to the scenes of  mass violence, that unfolded on May[Read More…]

by 12/05/2022 1 comment South Asia
An ignored genocide of Tamils at Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka on 18th May 2009

An ignored genocide of Tamils at Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka on 18th May 2009

There cannot be any plausible reasons to deny the fact of a genocidal agenda initiated by the Sri Lankan Governments immediately after the independence in 1948 against the Tamils living in the North and East. Sinhala majoritarianism, communalism and later adding Buddhism  provided the keys to open up and launch several discriminatory measures which commenced from Sinhala Only Act of[Read More…]

by 12/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka in Deepening Turmoil: Between Crisis and Opportunities

Sri Lanka in Deepening Turmoil: Between Crisis and Opportunities

  The economic and political turmoil in Sri Lanka has turned worse with the people’s protests assuming violent bouts, snowballing across the island nation. Predictably, the ruling Rajapaksa family has become the principal target of attacks, and there are reports that Mahindra Rajapaksa—who resigned as prime minister—and his family had to flee from the capital even as President Gotabaya remained[Read More…]

by 11/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka Spring: Popular and timely uprising

Sri Lanka Spring: Popular and timely uprising

This uprising in Sri Lanka has brought the family rule of Rajapakshas’ to its knees before the angry and hungry crowds who once brought them to power. The unique beauty of this uprising is the participation of people from all walks if life irrespective of their race, religion or region, people from north to south and east to west are[Read More…]

by 11/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh people’s struggles in 1947-1971: The dynamics

Bangladesh people’s struggles in 1947-1971: The dynamics

Life, of individual and of class, doesn’t move without contradictions. And, people’s life doesn’t sit immobile. Life and contradiction, thus, is inseparable. Dynamics in people’s struggle moving on the matrix of class contradictions is complex. Individual ideology and culture, economy, fairy tales and musical instruments and life within home and in production places and markets cannot escape contradictions with respective[Read More…]

by 06/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Remembering the 13th anniversary of Mullivakkal massacre

Remembering the 13th anniversary of Mullivakkal massacre

Genocide of 147,000 Tamils – Tamils demand justice from UN, UNHRC, UN Security Council and the International Community. May 18, 2021, marks the 13-year anniversary of the end of the 26-year armed conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE); Tamils all over the world [more than 82 million] will remember the Mullivakkal[Read More…]

by 02/05/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Ethnic Cleansing – Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka

Ethnic Cleansing – Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka

The Tamils are an ancient people. Their history had its beginnings in the rich alluvial plains near the southern extremity of peninsular India which included the land mass known as the island of Sri Lanka today. The island’s plant and animal life (including the presence of elephants) evidence the earlier land connection with the Indian sub continent. So too do[Read More…]

by 29/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Two leaflets of February 1952 in Bangladesh

Two leaflets of February 1952 in Bangladesh

Immemorial February 21 produced significant political literature. The literature is evidence of political, and to be definite, class position of concerned parties; be it a group or political party, a faction or a political trend or establishment. The communist party in this land, brutally assaulted by the neo-colonial state of Pakistan, had not forsaken its fundamental position – a society[Read More…]

by 29/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
American-Style Colonialism and Imperialism, with Pakistan the Latest Victim

American-Style Colonialism and Imperialism, with Pakistan the Latest Victim

The world is littered with wreckage of many countries that fell prey to colonialism’s and imperialism’s ruthless march. All superpowers have hegemonic goals. One can only hope that such goals are achieved with minimum damage to vulnerable targeted countries and with minimum blowback that may make such policies and actions a spectacular failure. The U.S. way of colonizing other nations[Read More…]

by 29/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Imperial Logics of the Pakistani Left

The Imperial Logics of the Pakistani Left

Pakistan has been rocked by demonstrations throughout the country since the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from power. This development has been a surprise not only to Khan’s detractors, but to Khan’s supporters as well. The size of these rallies has been astonishing. What they have also demonstrated is that the Pakistanis who have been outraged by recent[Read More…]

by 28/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Important lessons South Asia must learn from  recent crisis situations

Important lessons South Asia must learn from  recent crisis situations

When things deteriorate very rapidly in any country , there is a tendency—and  a temptation– to discuss the situation more in terms of the lead personalities, particularly if these happen to be as colorful as Imran Khan. Yet there is a clear need to go beyond mere personalities and look at some of those problems which appear to be more[Read More…]

by 23/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
U.S. Role in Pakistan’s Political Crisis

U.S. Role in Pakistan’s Political Crisis

Since I am originally from Pakistan and have been teaching interdisciplinary studies (including political science) at City College of San Francisco, I have been following the developments there with great interest and concern, both from professional and personal points of view. For brevity and clarity, I am itemizing my impressions as follows: From the reports available so far, it seems[Read More…]

by 17/04/2022 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan: Politics of Deception and Betrayal

Pakistan: Politics of Deception and Betrayal

Politics of the Few Criminals waits for Dark Future The lingering suspicion unfolds a reasoned impression that Imran Khan – the hurriedly ousted PM’s failure is the net success of the nine skeleton grouped parties – “Democratic Front.” This Front is not formed by the people but by the few discontented figures eager to grab political power by any means.[Read More…]

by 11/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Opportune time for India to extend help to crisis-stricken Sri Lanka by involving the CPSEs

Opportune time for India to extend help to crisis-stricken Sri Lanka by involving the CPSEs

Letter to the Prime Minister on involving the CPSEs with a good track record in investing in Sri Lanka in the context of the economic crisis faced by that country   To Shri Narendra D Modi Prime Minister of India   Dear Shri Modi, I welcome the timely help being provided by India to Sri Lanka at this crucial hour,[Read More…]

by 08/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Socio-economic conditions of religious minorities in Pakistan   

 Socio-economic conditions of religious minorities in Pakistan   

Pakistan came into existence in 1947 after the partition. When Pakistan and India came into being, massive migration took place. People from Pakistan moved to India and vice- versa (Stump, 2008). As everyone knows that Pakistan is a Islamic country and its rules and regulations are based on Islamic constitution. Hindus including Dalits in Pakistan are in minority. According to Prof Saswati Sarkar, based[Read More…]

by 07/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Rulers For National Interests or Parochial Interests in Sri Lanka

Rulers For National Interests or Parochial Interests in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s past 74 years of political history since independence in 1948 is  marked with rules by eighteen Prime Ministers and by seven Presidents from 1978 after the late J.R. Jayawardene introduced the powerful executive system of government which has now grown like a banyan tree with roots and branches encompassing  the Rajapakshes’ family and pedigrees. The Presidential powers have[Read More…]

by 05/04/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Regime Change in Islamabad

Regime Change in Islamabad

Pakistan’s opposition is trying to overthrow Prime Minister Imran Khan with a no-confidence motion. Khan says the US sent him a threatening letter and he has proof of foreign funding for a regime-change operation, aimed at reversing his independent foreign policy – like his alliance with China and Russia and support for Palestine. While the world’s attention is understandably focused[Read More…]

by 01/04/2022 1 comment South Asia
Unimplemented undertakings, resolutions and promises of Sri Lanka

Unimplemented undertakings, resolutions and promises of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s defiance and delaying tactics in implementing its own undertakings and several UNHRC Resolutions by demanding extensions and lame excuses to implement these in good faith and in time. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet mentioned some of the incidents under the section on “Impunity in emblematic cases” in her annual report to the UN Human[Read More…]

by 28/03/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Recommendations on Human Rights in Sri Lanka should be implemented

Recommendations on Human Rights in Sri Lanka should be implemented

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Madam Michael Bachelet’s Report on Sri Lanka submitted on 24th February 2022 for discussion is fully welcome which is also endorsed by the Sri Lankan Tamils and Tamil politicians due to its frank and forthright exposure with no mincing of words. This article analyses  some of her recommendations and observations to justify and support[Read More…]

by 21/03/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Future of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka

Future of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied, Action Speaks Louder Than Words TO THE ATTENTION OF: UNITED NATIONS, UNHRC, SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY It is a high time and urgent need for the United Nations, UNHRC, ICC and the International Community to find remedial justice to the oppressed Tamils in Sri Lanka. The following facts prove beyond doubt that there[Read More…]

by 14/03/2022 3 comments South Asia
Sri Lanka’s exercise in futility at human rights council to whitewash its decades of human rights violations

Sri Lanka’s exercise in futility at human rights council to whitewash its decades of human rights violations

Foreign Minister G.L. Pieris’s speech at  the 49th Session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva is impeccably laced with web of lies and littered with hollow and empty promises and empty undertakings having been cleverly woven to cover up the truths and mislead the United Nations, UNHRC and International Community. Undoubtedly there will be few buyers of his labored[Read More…]

by 12/03/2022 1 comment South Asia
Bangladesh’s Response to the US Sanctions: Matured or Imprudent?

Bangladesh’s Response to the US Sanctions: Matured or Imprudent?

On December 10, 2021, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Bangladesh’s elite paramilitary force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and seven of its current and former officials accusing of human rights abuses and abductions. Even though US-Bangladesh has been enjoying a cozy relationship since the birth of Bangladesh, this sudden human-rights related sanctions have raised concern in the South Asian[Read More…]

by 28/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Time for UNHRC member countries to consider sanctions against Sri Lanka

Time for UNHRC member countries to consider sanctions against Sri Lanka

Whether or not Sri Lanka cooperates with the international investigation, the OHCHR will proceed with its work as mandated and present  its report to the Human Rights Council [HRC] The HRC will discuss the Report  [Sri Lanka will have the right to respond] and decide on whether it will be adopted or not. If the Report is adopted and there[Read More…]

by 28/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Prevention of terrorism act (PTA) 1979- Preserving it for a potential Presidential dictatorial rule

Prevention of terrorism act (PTA) 1979- Preserving it for a potential Presidential dictatorial rule

The much widely criticized PTA of 1979 described as draconian is doomed to live as long as Rajapakshas hold the reins of power in Sri Lanka. The demise of it by repealing will certainly ring the death knell of any designs of dictatorship in Sri Lanka and their hold on power. PTA -1979 was legislated as a result and consequence and aftermath[Read More…]

by 27/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lankan Economic Crisis amidst the Pandemic

Sri Lankan Economic Crisis amidst the Pandemic

by Dr. Prashant Kumar Choudhary and Madhubrota Chatterjee Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in the past fifty years; its economy has registered the lowest GDP per capita annual growth -4.1% in 2020, which is lower than its previous worst economic downturn of 2001 (GDP per capita annual growth was -2.25%). It is not the case that its[Read More…]

by 25/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Possession and use of chemical weapons by Sri Lankan Army: Massacre of 147,000 Tamils

Possession and use of chemical weapons by Sri Lankan Army: Massacre of 147,000 Tamils

Sri Lanka is a democracy only in its most slovenly application, and even if it is a full, blazing beacon of a democracy, the category offers no protection or excuse for what that “democracy” so gruesomely did to Tamils by using banned cluster bombs and phosphorous to wipe out the Tamils trapped inside the war zone. Most unfortunate for all[Read More…]

by 14/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
High time to recognize the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka

High time to recognize the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka

Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, including structural genocide, commenced in 1948 soon after the independence. As defined in the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948, genocide includes “killing members of the group, or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, with intent to destroy in whole or part of a said national, ethnical, racial or[Read More…]

by 13/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
It  is high time UN to right its wrong in Sri Lanka

It  is high time UN to right its wrong in Sri Lanka

Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. UN Failed to apply R2P and protect the Massacre of 147,000 Tamils It is very sad that United Nations an international institution particularly was initiated to protect the civilians during the conflicts and other matters affecting the civilians failed from in its duty by ignoring the genocide in Sri Lanka. Several UN agencies, along[Read More…]

by 08/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lankan Tamils Wait For Crucial 49th UNHRC Session For Justice

Sri Lankan Tamils Wait For Crucial 49th UNHRC Session For Justice

   In the March 2022 UNHRC Sessions Human Rights Commissioner Her Excellency Michael Bachelet is expected to present her oral Report on progress made by Sri Lanka in respect of various UNHRC Resolutions passed since 2015 This Session is particularly crucial for the victimized Tamils who have pinned their hopes only on UNHRC and the United Nations to deliver justice[Read More…]

by 07/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
February 4th Independence Day for Sinhalese and Black Day for Tamils in Sri Lanka

February 4th Independence Day for Sinhalese and Black Day for Tamils in Sri Lanka

Postcolonial Sri Lanka has become worse than it was during the colonial period. The sad history of February 4th – the day of independence to the Sinhalese has turned out to be a BLACK DAY to the Tamils. The Citizenship Act of 1948 – 49 and the state sponsored settlements of Sinhala people in the areas where Tamils were dominant[Read More…]

by 03/02/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Eelam struggle for freedom after Vaddukoddai resolution

Eelam struggle for freedom after Vaddukoddai resolution

Throughout the centuries from the dawn of history, the Sinhalese and Tamil nations divided between themselves the possession of Ceylon, the Sinhalese inhabiting the interior of the country in its southern and western parts from the river Walawa to that of Chilaw and the Tamils possessing the Northern and Eastern parts. The Tamil Kingdom was overthrown and conquered by the[Read More…]

by 29/01/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
A United Voice For A Referendum For Eelam Tamils

A United Voice For A Referendum For Eelam Tamils

“A people who are subjugated by an alien people have the inherent right to free themselves from such alien subjugation” It is the right which is the right of self determination  – A right which has today become a peremptory norm of general International Law. Eelam Tamils deserve to demand this right due to the following justifiable and reasonable reasons.[Read More…]

by 21/01/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
It is high time the Indo/Ceylon accord of 1987 is fully implemented

It is high time the Indo/Ceylon accord of 1987 is fully implemented

India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Shri V. Muralidharans’s following statement on July 31, 2021 in the Rajya Sabha is timely, fitting and correct which also alludes to the nagging and continuing unsolved problems being faced by the Tamils in Sri Lanka. “India believes that delivering the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil community is in the best interest of[Read More…]

by 17/01/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka: Activating the dormant 13th amendment of 1987

Sri Lanka: Activating the dormant 13th amendment of 1987

The 1987 13th Amendment, a conceived and delivered baby of India under the Indo/Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 for adoption by Sri Lanka has been lying in the constitution of Sri Lanka partly implemented and mostly ignored by the Sri Lankan Governments since then. This 13th Amendment is now activated and given new life and blood by the Tamil leaders[Read More…]

by 06/01/2022 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

Birth Defects and Stunted Development: Role of the Students Movement

Pakistan, ostensibly created to safeguard the interest of the Muslims of India, but in actual fact to save the Muslim landowners of West Pakistan from land reforms which were on the plank of Indian National Congress platform, had a large impact of the more reactionary of the Muslim clerics. Main-stream Maulanas, not recognizing nationalism as a driving force in Islam,[Read More…]

by 30/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
British Colonialism and How India and Pakistan Lost Freedom

British Colonialism and How India and Pakistan Lost Freedom

Irony of Historic National Freedom and Unspoken Tyranny of Imperialism Do nations and civilizations grow out of the moral mire of military conquests, killings of innocent people, political cruelty and subjugation by imperialism? For more than 800 years, India as a Moghul Empire was an economically well integrated and politically viable entity and west European had strong trade and political[Read More…]

by 29/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh: Two Million Lives That Could Have Been Saved, but Were Not

Bangladesh: Two Million Lives That Could Have Been Saved, but Were Not

How Nixon and Kissinger failed to respond to urgent need for course-correction from their own senior diplomats This year events relating to the liberation of Bangladesh have been recalled time and again as Bangladesh has completed 50 years as a nation. On March 26 Bangladesh celebrated its 50th freedom day as the first announcement of its freedom was made on[Read More…]

by 16/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka: Unfulfilled Commitments And Unending Promises

Sri Lanka: Unfulfilled Commitments And Unending Promises

  There is no dearth of promises and undertakings dished out by the successive Sri Lankan Governments and their opportunistic political leaders since 1948 whose sole intention and aim is to capture the political power at any cost to the interests of the nation and its people. Former President J.R. Jayawardene heralded this practice and habit with the slogan and[Read More…]

by 16/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh @50 — Why Hide So Many Things?

Bangladesh @50 — Why Hide So Many Things?

Some facts for some ‘secular protestors’ Bangladesh is so near and so far, and the border, though we hear it is very porous, is also very opaque or even illusive or hallucinating, thanks to the almighty media, especially the ‘social’ media like Meta-FB, WhatsApp-University, etc. If asked what happened there most will perhaps reply attack on Hindus, on Durga Puja[Read More…]

by 15/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh – A victory and questions unresolved

Bangladesh – A victory and questions unresolved

Within hours, Bangladesh will begin celebrating that hour of victory – December 16, 1971 – that marks one of the glorious moments in the Bangladesh people’s history of bravery, struggle, sacrifice, setbacks, torment and triumphs. Half a century has passed since that victory of defeating a neo-colonial state – Pakistan. On December 16, 1971, The Bangladesh people heroically compelled the[Read More…]

by 15/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
United Kingdom Owes Remedial Justice To The Eelam Tamils

United Kingdom Owes Remedial Justice To The Eelam Tamils

 Before the colonial rule by the Portuguese, Dutch and British there were  three sovereign regions in Sri Lanka [Ceylon] The Kingdom of Jaffna in the North [Tamil Kingdom] Kingdom of Kandy in the central highlands and Kotte in the Southwest [Sinhalese Kingdoms.] The Portuguese and Dutch ruled these regions as separate units, the British in 1833 for their easy administration[Read More…]

by 06/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Prime Minister Modi and Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina

India-Bangladesh ties at inflection point

In the life of a nation, perhaps, the first fifty years ought to be regarded as marking the rites of passage through adolescence. India can congratulate itself for helping navigate Bangladesh through a difficult childhood. Parentage of a precocious child isn’t easy and Bangladesh can be opinionated, while figuring out its own pathway. India hasn’t always been an indulgent guardian,[Read More…]

by 05/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Courage, Caution and the Spirit of 1971

Courage, Caution and the Spirit of 1971

Most wars are not justified. However 50 years ago, as India prepared for war during the greater part of 1971, these preparations were well justified, and were in fact necessary to prevent a higher loss of human lives. Pakistan under Yahya Khan had chosen to suppress the democratic aspiarations of the people of its eastern wing in a most cruel[Read More…]

by 05/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
High Time for USA and UK to live up to their commitments

High Time for USA and UK to live up to their commitments

The recent meeting of Tamil National Alliance {TNA] with the United States “{US] State Departments second rank officials provides a welcome relief and hopes kindling opening and as a light at the end of the tunnels of accountability, justice and reconciliation for the Tamil people. US, as a sponsor of the all important UNHRC Resolution of 30/1 and other Resolutions [Read More…]

by 03/12/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Crisis, which, whose?

Crisis, which, whose?

Crises deluge this region considered a sub-continent in Asia. The questions are: (1) Which crises? (2) Whose crises are these? (3) At which stage are these crises? A question, also, encounters a part of the progressives: Are the endeavors for a revolutionary change going through a crisis? The first three questions – which and whose, and which stage – help[Read More…]

by 26/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka: How Rights of Tamils Eroded

Sri Lanka: How Rights of Tamils Eroded

Tamil Nation existed until the British conquered Sri Lanka [then called Ceylon] and amalgamated the Sinhala Nation in the South with the Tamil Nation in the North and East in 1833. Before that Jaffna Kingdom was ruled by Tamil Kings. There are several historical records to prove this fact. The British in 1948 gave independence to Sri Lanka [Ceylon] without[Read More…]

by 22/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Spiraling Prices, Shortages, Foreign Exchange Crisis In Sri Lanka: Opposition Leads Thousands To Protest

Spiraling Prices, Shortages, Foreign Exchange Crisis In Sri Lanka: Opposition Leads Thousands To Protest

Tens of thousands of supporters of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party rallied in the capital Colombo to protest the nation’s economic woes. This is the first major campaign against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government since it swept to power last August. Defying heavy sporadic rains, tightened Covid-19 guidelines and court orders, supporters of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya — led[Read More…]

by 17/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Violence against Hindus in Bangladesh and Muslims in India: a case of state failure in one and state inspired, in another?

Violence against Hindus in Bangladesh and Muslims in India: a case of state failure in one and state inspired, in another?

Image of the recent destruction of Hindu Temple in Comilla, Bangladesh. Source: The Free Press Journal Image of destruction of Muslim properties during the 2020 anti-Muslim riot in Delhi, India. Source: Al Jazeera In Bangladesh, former East Pakistan where bulk of Pakistan’s Hindus belonged once, violence against its minority, mainly the Hindus (9% or 14.7 million of its total population[Read More…]

by 15/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic nation – Not a Budhist Sinhala nation

Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic nation – Not a Budhist Sinhala nation

North and East Tamils traditional & historical homeland In Sri Lanka for the last 72 years, the intent and goal of all Sri Lankan Governments and Buddhist Clergy [without exception] have been to secure the Island as a SINHALA BUDDHIST STATE. The current Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakshe is latest and very active leader who is determined to achieve this[Read More…]

by 14/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The killing of Fish Worker by Pakistan’s maritime security agency condemned

The killing of Fish Worker by Pakistan’s maritime security agency condemned

Condemn the firing on fishworkers by Pakistan’s maritime security agency that resulted in the death of Shridhar Ramesh Chamre –Put an end to the violence inflicted on fishworkers by armed forces On Saturday, the 6th November 2021, around 4 pm off the coast of Gujarat, Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) troops converged on two Indian fishing boats. The Pakistan government[Read More…]

by 12/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka: One Country One Law-Consolidating and entrenching Buddhism

Sri Lanka: One Country One Law-Consolidating and entrenching Buddhism

President Gotabaya’s latest Presidential  Task Force headed by a convicted, jailed and pardoned Gnanasara Thero who is the founder of Bodu Bala Sena {Peoples’ Power Force] is entrusted to “Make a study of the implementation of the concept of “One Country One Law” within Sri Lanka and prepare a draft Act for the said purpose, to study the drafted Acts[Read More…]

by 11/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Negotiations for Transfer of Power and Partition 

Negotiations for Transfer of Power and Partition 

     In the early days of World War II, activism was in a state of suspended animation on the political front in India. Nearly the whole of the Congress leadership was in jail and their followers were lying low. British forces had suffered reverses everywhere; they had been driven out of Europe and thrown out of their far Eastern[Read More…]

by 11/11/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Zero Performance of Tamil Parties and their Leaders

Zero Performance of Tamil Parties and their Leaders

The Tamils in Sri Lanka, victims of genocides, the worst during the war between 2006-2009 including structural genocide since 1948 [immediately after the independence from the British] which is still being actively executed by the Sri Lankan Governments have left the Tamils with scars of war, traumatized with heavy feelings of a defeated nation and wounded pride. From the ashes[Read More…]

by 28/10/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Draconian PTA, Presidential Pardon to Criminals and Impunity to Security Forces

Draconian PTA, Presidential Pardon to Criminals and Impunity to Security Forces

President Gotabaya Rajapakshe in his speech in the United Nations General Assembly in his ambitious statement said “Fostering greater accountability, restorative justice and meaningful reconciliation through domestic institutions is essential to achieve lasting peace. So too is ensuring more equitable participation in the fruits of economic development. It is my Government’s firm intention to build a prosperous, stable and secure[Read More…]

by 28/10/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Why A Referendum For The Tamils In Sri Lanka?

Why A Referendum For The Tamils In Sri Lanka?

The last 12 years have affirmed a dark history where Sri Lanka is unlikely to offer a just resolution to the Tamil national question. It continues with its long history [73 years – since independence from the British in 1948] of deception in formulating a just and reasonable solution to the conflict. Since 1948, Tamils underwent continuous genocides involving pogroms, economic[Read More…]

by 17/10/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Granting of GSP to Sri Lanka – Boosting and Encouraging Human Rights Violations

Granting of GSP to Sri Lanka – Boosting and Encouraging Human Rights Violations

The European Union is currently reviewing the suspension of GSP+ granted to Sri Lanka in 2017. In this respect, one has to consider the unacceptable state of accountability, justice and rule of law in Sri Lanka and how far they have been respected and observed by Sri Lanka as a member of HRC and UN. In this respect, the following[Read More…]

by 14/10/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Need of Reviving Kargil-Skardu Road in changed geo equations

Need of Reviving Kargil-Skardu Road in changed geo equations

At a time, when Afghanistan is in news everywhere and Taliban’s rule has been interpreted in different ways, the geo equation experiencing a shift from ‘western’ domination, there can be multiple ways of future actions at strategic and diplomatic levels of the region’s power, particularly by China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Iran and others. But irrespective of what is changing or[Read More…]

by 11/10/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Illusive unity and eroding the aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka

Illusive unity and eroding the aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka

There is no doubt that unity is the most uttered and much used and abused word by the Tamil politicians and leaders who took control of the political destiny of Tamils since independence in 1948. It is also  a history that Tamil leaders and parties on various occasions moved to form united fronts like the Tamil United Liberation Front [TULF][Read More…]

by 26/08/2021 1 comment South Asia
The UK Must Find Remedial Justice To The Tamils In Sri Lanka

The UK Must Find Remedial Justice To The Tamils In Sri Lanka

DONOUGHMORE REFORMS OF THE BRITISH TO CEYLON – TOOK AWAY THE TAMIL’S NATIONHOOD AND THEIR JAFFNA KINGDOM It took away the Tamils rights and caused for the Pogroms against the Tamils – like BLACK JULY, GENOCIDE and continuing structural genocide. Sri Lanka [then Ceylon] would not have gained independence from the British without the support of the Tamil leaders it[Read More…]

by 07/08/2021 1 comment South Asia
Need of a savior for the desperate Tamil in Sri Lanka

Need of a savior for the desperate Tamil in Sri Lanka

In common parlance Saviour, – [Called as Messiah in the Hebrew Bible]  –  is usually regarded “As a liberator or would be liberator of an oppressed people ”.  Looking back at the crisis ridden political history and turmoil’s of Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1948 and viewing the current predicament of Tamils “It is not unreasonable to call for a[Read More…]

by 06/08/2021 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan’s geo-economics is working well

Pakistan’s geo-economics is working well

Nine Chinese citizens were killed after a bus carrying them plunged into a ravine following an explosion in Pakistan’s far north Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, July 14, 2021… When the whole world is lamenting that the US is quitting Afghanistan in ignominy, the Biden Administration is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. What an audacity of hope! The new QUAD will[Read More…]

by 23/07/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s Falling Economy And Failing Good Governance

Sri Lanka’s Falling Economy And Failing Good Governance

President Gotabaya acclaimed as un uncrowned king of Sri Lanka after defeating the Liberation of Tigers in the genocidal war with the assistance of 22 countries particularly from India, Pakistan and China as confirmed by his brother Mahinda Rajapakshae [Gotabaya’s brother] while he was on a visit to India in May 2009 is now facing an unpalatable deafening voices of[Read More…]

by 22/07/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Tamils in Sri Lanka demand the restoration of their lost sovereignty

Tamils in Sri Lanka demand the restoration of their lost sovereignty

The Sinhala/Tamil relations and the ethnic conflict intensified immediately after the independence of the Island on February 04, 1948. The rise of Tamil nationalism is not entirely a new phenomenon but only resurgence. The institutionalization and entrenched structure  of genocide of Tamils since independence is the main cause of the conflict that caused the deaths of 70,000 civilians according to[Read More…]

by 15/07/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka One Island – Two Nations

Sri Lanka One Island – Two Nations

Sri Lanka formerly known as CEYLON is an island country in South Asia.  Sri Lanka was historically comprised of two distinctive nations; the country’s history has been written or represented as if it were one nation. However, the two nations, namely Sinhalese and Tamils, have existed in Sri Lanka continuously from historic times, each with its own distinctive religious, linguistic,[Read More…]

by 10/07/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s ultra-conservative inklings raise eyebrows

Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s ultra-conservative inklings raise eyebrows

Widely seen as a populist with ultra-conservative inklings, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan increasingly appears to reinforce widespread traditionalist attitudes that reject religious tolerance as well as the rights of women and minorities. In doing so, Mr. Khan is aligning Pakistan in religious and social terms closer to Turkey than his country’s traditional allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab[Read More…]

by 08/07/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Peace Supporters Write To MEA For Cross Border Prisoners

Peace Supporters Write To MEA For Cross Border Prisoners

At a time when J&K political leaders meeting with PM, NSA is attending meeting at SCO alongwith NSA Pakistan, Ceasire promise has been kept by Pakistan and India, Peace activists getting hopeful that future may belong to a better environment where Peace will sustain. Peace activists have sent a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs with many suggestions that[Read More…]

by 25/06/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
US Congress Resolution 413: Option for Sri Lanka to choose either Confrontation or Conciliation

US Congress Resolution 413: Option for Sri Lanka to choose either Confrontation or Conciliation

The recently tabled US 413 Resolution in the US Congress led by Ms. Ross breathes fresh air, confidence and hopes for the Tamils, particularly the victimized Tamils whose grievances which commenced in 1948 reached the climax with the genocidal war crimes committed during the war [2006-2009] However, structural genocide has now taken a strong hold on their lives compounded with[Read More…]

by 24/06/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Student Movement in Pakistan

Student Movement in Pakistan

“Hum jo Tareek rahoan mein marai gai,” (We, who were ambushed in dark alleys…) — Faiz Ahmad Faiz.1 During their 200-year rule over India, the British colonizers had, among other self-serving measures, introduced an education system which would inhibit innovation and produce clerks for their administration. In spite of that, the movement for liberty and social justice grew among Indians.[Read More…]

by 21/06/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

Evil Quad Of Pakistan

My submission is that the Feudal system, Army, Bureucrats and Mullahs constitue the Evil Quad of Pakistan. What do we mean by feudalism? It has several facets-moral and ethical values, political and economic system ,market economy integrating with it etc. In my view all the above are a composite whole. Moral and ethical values get far more exposure as they[Read More…]

by 13/06/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Remittances In South Asia In COVID Times

Remittances In South Asia In COVID Times

Written by Tridivesh Singh Maini & Karan Bidani Introduction Remittances play an important role in the economic growth of Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMIC). South Asia is considered to be the largest recipient of remittances in the world. More than One-Fifth of the global remittances between 2015-2019 came to South Asia (India received close to USD 360 billion in[Read More…]

by 10/06/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s Steady Sliding Towards Military Dictatorship

Sri Lanka’s Steady Sliding Towards Military Dictatorship

President Gotabaya’s compelling necessity to install a military dictator rule is due to many reasons, some of which can be listed as follows:- The military mindset of the President is also an underlying factor propelling and influencing his thinking. He has to put an end to the accusations of UNHRC, UN and other civil groups, namly the commission of war[Read More…]

by 05/06/2021 1 comment South Asia
Monsoon likely to hit India’s southwest coast around June 3, hopes weather office

Monsoon likely to hit India’s southwest coast around June 3, hopes weather office

Monsoon rains are likely to hit India’s southern coast around June 3, largely in line with typical patterns, the state-run India Meteorological Department said in its latest revised forecast on Sunday. Earlier in the day, the weather office had said the start of the monsoon would be on May 31. The leading edge of the southwest monsoon advanced across central[Read More…]

by 01/06/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

Pakistan from 1947 to now

The problems Pakistan has faced over time. Here they are in brief: 1-The population explosion. 2-Education and health care. 3-Unemployment. 4-Water and Electricity. 5-Public works. 6-Discrimination against ‘other’ sects, non-Muslims, ethnicities. 7-Fully 75% of the budget goes to Defense’ and interest on loans. 8-Early Blunders. 9-The Genesis of the Evil Quad. -Population Explosion-Again from 35 million to 220 million in[Read More…]

by 31/05/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India will be front-line state in Myanmar civil war

India will be front-line state in Myanmar civil war

The turmoil in Myanmar had all the hallmarks of a “colour revolution”… The chorus – BBC, Radio Free Asia, western NGOs promoting democracy and human rights… But the operative part hidden from view concentrated on the creation of a “government-in-exile” (a National Unity Government.) The parallels with Syria are striking — “Arab Spring” protests… India is a plausible sanctuary for[Read More…]

by 09/05/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Reviewing ‘Sindh Hari Tehreek’

Reviewing ‘Sindh Hari Tehreek’

World War One brought in massive changes in the world and the Subcontinent too witnessed the shocks of such awful global disorder. After the war in its reactions, some movements like ‘Hijrat’ and ‘Khilafat’ were kicked off which become quiet after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s historic decision to make Turkey – a secular republic. Besides this, some black laws like the ‘Rowlatt Act’ were also passed to counter the civil rights[Read More…]

by 30/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Judiciary launches scathing attack on Pakistan’s all powerful army

 Judiciary launches scathing attack on Pakistan’s all powerful army

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan says the army has become a “land grabber group.” His remarks came Wednesday during the hearing of three petitions against the Defense Housing Authority (DHA) Lahore. The Chief Justice directed DHA Administrator Brigadier Waheed Gul Satti to appear before the court along with the record of LHC’s 50-kanal land in possession of[Read More…]

by 30/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Corruption in Pakistan: Civil, Judicial, political and Military – An Overview

Corruption in Pakistan: Civil, Judicial, political and Military – An Overview

        Corruption in the sense of civil and military servants and Public officials and politicians of Pakistan pocketing public funds or taking bribes is too well known and documented by in-country and international agencies, to be worthy of any unusual notice. After all, the country has had the dubious distinction of being on the top of the list of corrupt countries[Read More…]

by 24/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Paper Value Pledges And Time Passing Tamil Politicians

Paper Value Pledges And Time Passing Tamil Politicians

This article focuses on the performances of Tamil National Alliance [TNA] since its monopoly role in Tamils’ politics and issues from 2010 as endorsed by the late Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabaharan. This article analyses the past performance of TNA and the present directionless, compliant, complacent and lack lustre leadership  of Tamils who are now left in[Read More…]

by 20/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Myanmar’s Citizens Fleeing Persecutions and Violence must be allowed refuge into India 

 Myanmar’s Citizens Fleeing Persecutions and Violence must be allowed refuge into India 

 It’s more than two months since the Burmese military in a coup on 1 February refused to hand over the power to the National League for Democracy (NLD) after their victory in the November 2020 elections. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army’s commander-in-chief and Myanmar’s de-facto ruler has justified the coup on grounds of large-scale election fraud, though the elections commission has denied[Read More…]

by 08/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
China’s Policy Towards Liberation of Bangladesh

China’s Policy Towards Liberation of Bangladesh

During about 8 to 9 months of 1971, the Pakistani Army and its local collaborators killed nearly 2.5 million people , raped over 3 lakh women and uprooted nearly 10 million from their  homes in Bangladesh ( then known to the world as East Pakistan) in a genocidal crackdown. This was not hidden from the world at all. There was[Read More…]

by 08/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Are RSS Fraternal Ties With Military Junta Behind India’s Soft Stand On Slaughter Of People In Myanmar?

Are RSS Fraternal Ties With Military Junta Behind India’s Soft Stand On Slaughter Of People In Myanmar?

If a shameful act means an action which is criminal and nauseating; it would be an understatement to describe the attitude of the present RSS-BJP rulers of India towards the demolition of democracy and large scale killing of the people of Myanmar by the military [tatmadaw] junta which took power through a coup on February 1, 2021 after renegading the[Read More…]

by 05/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh Liberation: Modi’s Claims: A peep into the past

Bangladesh Liberation: Modi’s Claims: A peep into the past

Bangledesh has completed 50 years of its liberation from the grip of West Pakistan, now Pakistan. It organized a grand program in which among others India’s Prime minster Narendra Modi was also invited. Modi claimed in his speech there that he had participated in the Satyagrah for Bangladesh’s freedom and was jailed for that. Many have pounced on him, as[Read More…]

by 05/04/2021 1 comment South Asia
Follow-Up Actions Needed to Further Strengthen India-Bangladesh Ties

Follow-Up Actions Needed to Further Strengthen India-Bangladesh Ties

It is good that recently initiatives have been taken by both India and Bangladesh to repair damage and prepare the ground for again strengthening close relationship. The geographical  conditions of the two countries are such that the case for close cooperation and working and planning together is really very obvious and strong. These factors were strengthened by the unique and[Read More…]

by 02/04/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Why the Full Story of Mujibur Rehman’s Killing Cannot be Told Officially

Why the Full Story of Mujibur Rehman’s Killing Cannot be Told Officially

When Banglabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman , the first President of Bangladesh, also called the Father of the Nation and revered by millions as such, was assassinated on August 15, 1975 as a part of the wider efforts to overthrow his popular government, there were some additional aspects of this murder most foul which  shocked the world. All the family members[Read More…]

by 30/03/2021 1 comment South Asia
Two decades of an Indo-Pak collaborative experiment – Pakistan- India- People’s- Forum- for- Peace-and-Democracy

Two decades of an Indo-Pak collaborative experiment – Pakistan- India- People’s- Forum- for- Peace-and-Democracy

In September 1994, a few Indian and Pakistani social activists and professionals gathered together in Lahore, and came out with a statement stating their intention to set up a forum through which interaction could be established between the common people of the two countries. This led to the formation of the Pakistan-India-People’s – Forum -for- Peace-and-Democracy (PIPFPD). This article is[Read More…]

by 26/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
50th Independence Day of  Bangladesh is a Time to Remember Contributions of Great Courage

50th Independence Day of  Bangladesh is a Time to Remember Contributions of Great Courage

On its 50th  Independence Day ( March 26)  Bangladesh can take well-deserved pride in the advancement in terms of several important development indicators achieved in the middle of many-sided difficulties. It is in addition also a time to recall many courageous contributions of  recent decades, as courage has been much in need in several troubled phases of this land and[Read More…]

by 26/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Who Was Behind the Killing of Banglabandhu Mujibur Rehman?

Who Was Behind the Killing of Banglabandhu Mujibur Rehman?

Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was not just the first President of  Bangladesh. Called Banglabandhu and Father of the Nation, he had played  a very  courageous role in resisting domination and repression of his people, leading the Awami League to victory in 167 out of 169 seats parliamentary  seats contested n 1970-71, then being imprisoned, and returning to his beloved people only[Read More…]

by 26/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Decline and Fall of Ayub BD Civil War-Genocide of Bengalis

 Decline and Fall of Ayub BD Civil War-Genocide of Bengalis

     In his weakened post-1965 war state, Ayub could never hope to withstand the combined onslaught of East and West Pakistan. The campaign against him, led initially by students and industrial workers, had caught the imagination of the people. This was the last time people of the two wings were to unite on one platform. In a desperate attempt[Read More…]

by 23/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The welcome thaw in India-Pakistan relations is backed by Pakistan’s army too

The welcome thaw in India-Pakistan relations is backed by Pakistan’s army too

 “A nation at peace and a region in harmony are thus essential prerequisites for attainment of national security in the true spirit. No national leaders of today can ignore these factors,” said Army chief Gen Bajwa, marking a significant iteration of Pakistan’s latest security policy. “…, it is an almost universally acknowledged fact that the contemporary concept of national security[Read More…]

by 22/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bengal Muslims: History of Betrayals

Bengal Muslims: History of Betrayals

Scottish historian Sir William Hunter (1840-1900) wrote in 1871 that “a hundred and seventy years ago (In 1700), it was almost impossible for a well-born Musalman in Bengal to become poor; at present it is almost impossible for him to continue rich.” (Ref: Iftekhar Iqbal, World Congress of Economic History, Helsinki August 2006). If Sir Hunter were to make the[Read More…]

by 20/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
On relation with India, Pakistan army chief is ready to bury hatchet

On relation with India, Pakistan army chief is ready to bury hatchet

Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Thursday for arch rivals India and Pakistan to “bury the past” and move towards cooperation. He expressed that the U.S. had a role to play in ending regional conflict. The Pak general’s statement is an overture towards New Delhi that follows an unexpected joint ceasefire announcement last month between the two[Read More…]

by 19/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Corruption in Pakistan – NGOs, the U.S.A.      

Corruption in Pakistan – NGOs, the U.S.A.      

An Overview         Corruption in the sense of civil and military servants and Public officials and politicians of Pakistan pocketing public funds or taking bribes is too well known and documented by in-country and international agencies, to be worthy of any unusual notice. After all, the country has had the dubious distinction of being on the top of the list of[Read More…]

by 15/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
UNHRC Resolution 46th – Improved But Insufficient For Accountability And Justice

UNHRC Resolution 46th – Improved But Insufficient For Accountability And Justice

Sri Lanka’s contemptuous stand regarding the UNHRC Resolutions 30/1. 34/1 and 40/1 as rejected by it has come under discussion in the current 46th Session of UNHRC which is expected to pass a final Resolution against Sri Lanka. A zero draft Resolution has been drafted by the Core members with the UK playing the leading role. This follows after the Human[Read More…]

by 15/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Increasing Cooperation  Among Countries is Good, but  Should Avoid High Hazard Projects

Increasing Cooperation  Among Countries is Good, but  Should Avoid High Hazard Projects

In the middle of several increasing problems, a good news that emerged recently is that tensions of India with several neighboring countries is reducing. In fact everything is to be gained by increasing cooperation among all countries of the region. However, while there are so many areas where increasing cooperation will give good results, there is one area which should[Read More…]

by 14/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Real Friendship With Neighbors is Not Just At Government Level, Friendship of People  is Even More Important

Real Friendship With Neighbors is Not Just At Government Level, Friendship of People  is Even More Important

Neighbors are very important. They can be very good and valuable friends who can prove to be extremely helpful in difficult times. In many difficult situations a distant friend, despite best intentions, may not be able to help as much as a neighbor friend. This is well to remember in times of climate change when the threat of natural disasters[Read More…]

by 13/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Akhand Bharat or Union of South Asian States

Akhand Bharat or Union of South Asian States

India’s partition was one of the major tragedies of South Asian region. The causes for this are to be seen in the triangle formed by ‘British Policy of Divide and rule, Hindu Communalism believing in Primacy of Hindu nation and Muslim Communalism demanding formation of Pakistan. The falsehood of theory of ‘religion as the basis of Nation state’ was demonstrated[Read More…]

by 10/03/2021 1 comment South Asia
India-Pak ceasefire! Surprise

India-Pak ceasefire! Surprise

 Every conscientious person in the world strives for peace and harmony among the neighbours. Kashmir has been crying for it for decades. They are the worst sufferers of the hostile relations between India and Pakistan. Always terrorized, humiliated, and killed on all sides for the last seventy years, especially those families living across the Line of Control between two countries.[Read More…]

by 07/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Upholding or Upending Accountability and Justice

Upholding or Upending Accountability and Justice

The 46th Session of UNHRC now in progress has generated heated comments and discussions in Sri Lanka and elsewhere among Tamils as well as the Council is readying to pass a final Resolution against Sri Lanka after five tiring years which witnessed 3 Resolutions earlier.[ 30/1. 34/1, 40/1]. It is a distressing fact to note Sri Lanka’s non-implementation of most[Read More…]

by 04/03/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Myanmar: Exploiting lessons learnt in the Middle East

 Myanmar: Exploiting lessons learnt in the Middle East

Demonstrating for the third week their determination to force the country’s military to return to its barracks, protesters in Myanmar appear to be learning lessons from a decade of protest in the Middle East and North Africa. By the same token, Myanmar’s protesters, in stark contrast to public silence about the military’s brutal repression of the Rohingya minority in recent[Read More…]

by 24/02/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Coup in Myanmar and the Transformation of Rohingya Politics

The Coup in Myanmar and the Transformation of Rohingya Politics

The future of the Rohingya people seems uncertain. A predominantly Muslim minority group indigenous to a region on the western coast of Myanmar – historically referred to as Arakan and presently called Rakhine State – the Rohingya are not recognized by the Burmese state. On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military – known as the Tatmadaw – staged a coup against[Read More…]

by 18/02/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Kashmir, India, Pakistan And The UN

Kashmir, India, Pakistan And The UN

While Imran Khan’s recent speech in Kotli has caused quite a rouse in some political circles in Pakistan, most Kashmiris living across the Line of Control have again pinned their hopes that Pakistan will never back down in helping them to achieve their complete independence from both the countries. Addressing a huge rally in ‘Azad Kashmir’ on the occasion of[Read More…]

by 15/02/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 Growing call for federal democracy in Myanmar

 Growing call for federal democracy in Myanmar

Written by Constanze Ruprecht and Bobby Ramakant  Growing number of civil society networks for peace, health and human rights from around the world are unifying their call for federal democracy in Myanmar. In a joint statement condemning the Coup d’état in Burma (after an online South Asia Solidarity Forum for federal democracy in Myanmar), over a hundred of these individuals,[Read More…]

by 14/02/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Cartoon image of Bangladesh Army Chief, General Aziz Ahmed’s bandit brother, Harris Ahmed. Source: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera’s Tele-documentary, the Bandit Brothers and Bangladesh’s Dossier of Abuse

On February 1, 2021 the Qatar based TV outlet, Al Jazeera aired a tele documentary, “All the Prime Minister’s Men.” The tele documentary that included several sting operations involving convicted fugitive brothers of the Bangladesh Army Chief, General Aziz Ahmed depicted multiple layers of abuse and corruption – money laundering, extortion, bribery, extra judicial killing, disappearances, and arbitrary arrests of[Read More…]

by 13/02/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Military coup in Myanmar: ‘Garrison State’ back to dismantle democracy?

Military coup in Myanmar: ‘Garrison State’ back to dismantle democracy?

Fears of a military takeover in Myanmar came true in the early hours of 1 February when the powerful army resorted to a series of measures which included detention of the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other senior government leaders, followed by the declaration of a state of emergency in the country. The commander-in-chief of[Read More…]

by 02/02/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
United States of South Asia

United States of South Asia

In more ways than one, South Asia has been pushed back to the 1940’s. If we were to take stock of the situation in the entire subcontinent, we can easily find out that we have made little progress and have got stuck in the status-quo mud for the past three-quarters of a century. Besides providing a binding social order, the[Read More…]

by 14/01/2021 1 comment South Asia
Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli (R) received the vice-minister of International Department of Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Guo Yezhou (L) at Kathmandu, Dec. 27, 2020

China’s mission to Nepal gains traction

The route India took has been bullying and it ultimately isolated India. By treating Nepali politicians as shabby buffoons to be pampered one day and collared another day, India badly exposed itself. A belief got entrenched in the Nepalese mind that we are a dangerous neighbour with evil intentions, undependable and far too self-centred and cynical. Tragically, this was despite[Read More…]

by 11/01/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bhutto and the Bomb-Fundamentalism in Pakistan

Bhutto and the Bomb-Fundamentalism in Pakistan

Bhutto fell victim to a delusion, common to all tin pot dictators; he started taking his own bombast seriously and made a critical mistake. He called a conference of all the nuclear physicists of the country and demanded that they produce a workable nuclear device in the next four to five years. The nuclear scientists in Pakistan were, one and[Read More…]

by 10/01/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Faltering Judiciary in South Asia

The Faltering Judiciary in South Asia

In the 18th century, American legal scholar and politician Alexander Hamilton had famously said that the judiciary is the “least dangerous” branch, having “no influence over either the sword or the purse,”. What he meant was that the judiciary, in those days, was least capable of defending itself against intrusion by other dominant organs of the state. Judicial independence, i.e., the[Read More…]

by 09/01/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Case of the Khache: Connected Histories, Diaspora Ambivalence and the Sense of Ambiguity

The Case of the Khache: Connected Histories, Diaspora Ambivalence and the Sense of Ambiguity

Engagement with South Asian history often occurs either through the Eurocentric divisions of core and periphery or through the irredentist nation-states’ paradigm. However, South Asian history is a complex one, beyond the linearities of colonial narratives and territorial borders.  For example, recent scholarship on Tibet has underscored some complexities of South Asian history. It has been marked with the question[Read More…]

by 08/01/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Elusive Unity And Eroding Expectations Of Tamils In Sri Lanka

Elusive Unity And Eroding Expectations Of Tamils In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Tamils, victims of genocide perpetrated by the majority Sinhala Governments since independence in 1948, appear to be poised to continue to live with miseries also partly contributed by the rivalries and inactions of the leaders of the Tamils who are busy engaged in election and parliamentary politics disregarding the political mess and lingering problems of the Tamils. 17 Tamil[Read More…]

by 07/01/2021 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Courtesy: The Kathmandu Post

Nepal Communist Party splits

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) suffered a vertical split on December 23, 2020, with the rival factions of the party led by the two chairmen claiming their faction to be the authentic NCP in separate central committee meetings held in Kathmandu, the capital city. The faction led by Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal removed KP Sharma Oli from the post[Read More…]

by 23/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Courtesy: The Kathmandu Post

Is Nepal Communist Party heading towards split? 

As K P Sharma Oli, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) chair and prime minister, in a bid to achieve a majority in the party Central Committee announced a 1,199-member general convention organizing committee a question looms over Nepal – is the Nepal Communist Party is heading towards a split? At a meeting of the Central Committee with the members close[Read More…]

by 22/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Indo-Pak Nuclear Disarmament and The Need for No War Pact : An Interview with Dr. Abdul Hammeed Nayyar

Indo-Pak Nuclear Disarmament and The Need for No War Pact : An Interview with Dr. Abdul Hammeed Nayyar

We interviewed a prominent Pakistani physicist and noted peace activist Dr. Abdul Hammeed Nayyar to understand the dynamics of nuclear disarmament between India and Pakistan. Dr. Nayyar taught nuclear physics at Qaid – E- Azam University, Islamabad for thirty years and was a visiting scholar at Princeton University. Dr Nayyar is well known for voicing for education reforms and military[Read More…]

by 22/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Kashmir and the Presentist notion of the Past

Kashmir and the Presentist notion of the Past

In the modern day academic arena, often the two closely associated disciplines of anthropology and history inform our notion of the past. In the context of modern South Asia or to be more specific postcolonial India, Prof Thapar admits that historians in the postcolonial era did engage in writing history (or build up the past) keeping in mind the nationalist[Read More…]

by 22/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
House dissolved in Nepal, mid-term polls announced

House dissolved in Nepal, mid-term polls announced

Media reports from Nepal said: In a dramatic turn of events, Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on December 20, 2020 decided to dissolve the House of Representatives (HoR) and call mid-term polls to be held in two phases. Oli, who has been mired in an intra-party feud with the rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), recommended[Read More…]

by 21/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Conversation around controversies: a quest for objectivity and maturity in Bangladesh

Conversation around controversies: a quest for objectivity and maturity in Bangladesh

Top Left: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman giving his penultimate speech on 7th of March 1971 at Racecourse Maidan, Dhaka, (then East Pakistan) Bangladesh); Top Right. Major (then) Ziaur Rahan announcing independence of Bangladesh at Kalurghat make-shift radio station in Chittagong, Bangladesh on 27th March, 1971; Bottom: Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, Prime Minister of Government-in-Exile of Bangladesh formally proclaiming independence of Bangladesh on[Read More…]

by 21/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Indo–Pak Tension: can it be mitigated?

Indo–Pak Tension: can it be mitigated?

In recent years, tensions mounted between India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers in South Asia. The 2016 Uri attack, the 2019 Pulwama attack on a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber that led to deaths of 46, and the retaliatory Balakot airstrikes by the Indian air force can[Read More…]

by 19/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India Vs. Pakistan, Emad Hajjaj, Alaraby Aljadeed newspaper, London

India and Pakistan are arch enemies. And they both have nukes

The Global Nuclear Rat Race The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United[Read More…]

by 19/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
United Nations Failure And Sri Lanka’s Defiance

United Nations Failure And Sri Lanka’s Defiance

The fate of the UNHRC Resolutions 30/1 of 2015 and 40/1 of 2019 Sri Lanka’s democracy completely changed and is now ruled by a dictatorial Sinhala Buddhist President elected by the majority Sinhala Buddhist voters. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution has placed him with absolute powers over judiciary, police, election and other independent Commissions which functioned independently without political[Read More…]

by 03/12/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
UNHRC Sessions In March 2021 – Duty to Ensure Accountability and Justice

UNHRC Sessions In March 2021 – Duty to Ensure Accountability and Justice

The UNHRC Sessions in March 2021 assume a greater political importance for the war victims of Sri Lanka and above all for the relevant roles of United Nations and UN Human Rights Council regarding their commitments to uphold Human Rights, Accountability Justice and Rule of Law in countries which have been subjected to UN and UNHRC Resolutions like Sri Lanka[Read More…]

by 30/11/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Is there any alternative to anti-government outburst in Bangladesh?

Is there any alternative to anti-government outburst in Bangladesh?

  In the politics of Bangladesh, opposition parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party frequently say that massive movement will be carried out to oust the government, whereas the ruling party, the Bangladesh Awami League, repeatedly responds that oppositions’ anti-government movement will be tackled with full strength. Even if no massive anti-government movement was carried out as said and political situation[Read More…]

by 23/11/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pandemic, recovery efforts and significance of good governance in Bangladesh

Pandemic, recovery efforts and significance of good governance in Bangladesh

Good governance, a much talked–about concept in political and development discourse in the contemporary world and closely related to the concept of ‘governance’ that usually indicates the process of decision–making and the process by which decisions are implemented, is obviously crucial to successfully deal with catastrophic situations caused by the COVID–19. But there is a clear paucity of good governance[Read More…]

by 13/11/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Tamils of Sri Lanka: Betrayal after Betrayal

Tamils of Sri Lanka: Betrayal after Betrayal

Sinhalese leaders betrayed the Tamil leaders who fought shoulder to shoulder to gain independence from the British. On February 4th 1048 two million Tamils of Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] exchanged their white masters British for the brown master {Sinhalese] it was like jumping from a frying pan into fire. Sri Lanka would not have gained independence from the British without[Read More…]

by 11/11/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 No end in sight for Rohingya crisis

 No end in sight for Rohingya crisis

An estimated 730,000 Rohingyas had crossed into Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh three years ago in order to flee the persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Although the Rohingyas, who are currently residing in Bangladeshi camps as refugees, wish to return to their homes in Rakhine State, very little has been done to create a safe environment for their return. The challenges facing the Rohingya people, described by the United Nations as[Read More…]

by 27/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Why does Indian Nationalism Undermine South Asian Solidarity?

Why does Indian Nationalism Undermine South Asian Solidarity?

With a long collective history and geographical proximity, the goal of forming an integrated vision for South Asian countries seems like a natural outcome. The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), formed in 1985, was an ambitious move to fulfil the goal of South Asian solidarity. The aim of SAARC was to “strengthen cooperation among themselves to accelerate economic[Read More…]

by 25/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Tamils In The North And East Of Sri Lanka – Justification For Self-Determination

Tamils In The North And East Of Sri Lanka – Justification For Self-Determination

When the United Nations was created after the World War II, one of its purposes was spelt out in Article 1 [2] of the UN Charter as:” To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples “ And Article 55 of the UN Charter provides that, “With a view to[Read More…]

by 21/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Crucial Time For Urgent Actions By UNHRC, UN, International Community And Diaspora Tamils

Crucial Time For Urgent Actions By UNHRC, UN, International Community And Diaspora Tamils

An unassailable present Rajapakshas Government could rule for another ten years and possibly more if the 20th Amendment finds its way in the Constitution. An entrenched dynastic rule appears to be looming partly contributed by dishevelled and splintered opposition from UNP and United Peoples Action parties along with contribution from the disunitedly wrangling self-centered Tamil political parties numbering seventeen with seventeen leaders[Read More…]

by 19/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Is peace possible in Afghanistan?

Is peace possible in Afghanistan?

Doha peace talks, held in September of 2020, between the Afghan government and Taliban, led by peace council chairman Abdullah Abdullah and Mullah Baradar Akhund respectively, is a remarkable advancement towards the establishment of peace in Afghanistan, despite the fact that it is still difficult to say about when the ongoing conflicts started with the USA invasion in 2001 after[Read More…]

by 16/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Gilgit-Baltistan! The Great Game

Gilgit-Baltistan! The Great Game

Ever since Pakistan has signalled its wish to make Gilgit-Baltistan fifth province, not only have Pakistan’s own political outfits been in a state of disarray, but it has reportedly become a major ‘issue of concern’ in India’s military and political leadership. Various aspects of adopting a new military strategy are being deliberated upon. In the border region of Ladakh, where[Read More…]

by 12/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Begumganj (Bangladesh) Gang-rape and the Big Picture

The Begumganj (Bangladesh) Gang-rape and the Big Picture

I don’t know who drew this this rape-map of Bangladesh, but this is a telling geography of rape epidemic which as can be see here, has spread widely and reached every nook and corner of the country. The scrolls on each district which are in vernacular are appeals to the predators from the rape victims – desperate pleas to dissuade[Read More…]

by 08/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Universal Declaration Of Human Rights And Sri Lanka

Universal Declaration Of Human Rights And Sri Lanka

The Universal Declaration for Human Rights  [UDHR] was adopted on 10th December 1948 by the United Nations at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The UDHR contains thirty Articles. Articles 1 and 2 outline the philosophical claim of the UDHR and emphasise that human beings are born free in equal dignity and are entitled to all rights and freedoms without[Read More…]

by 04/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia, Human Rights
Pakistan’s ex-PM Sharif accuses army of political interference

Pakistan’s ex-PM Sharif accuses army of political interference

Pakistan’s ailing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday accused the country’s powerful military of political interference, saying in a televised speech from exile in London that the military had rigged the 2018 vote that brought the country’s current prime minister Imran Khan to power. An AP report by Munir Ahmed said: The 70-year-old Sharif has had a long uneasy[Read More…]

by 02/10/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
With growing threats, Sikhs and Hindus leave Afghanistan

With growing threats, Sikhs and Hindus leave Afghanistan

An AP report from Kabul said: Afghanistan’s dwindling community of Sikhs and Hindus is shrinking to its lowest levels. With growing threats from the local Islamic State affiliate, many are choosing to leave the country of their birth to escape the insecurity and a once-thriving community of as many as 250,000 members now counts fewer than 700. The community’s numbers[Read More…]

by 28/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s Boiling Tamils And Failing Tamil Political Leaders

Sri Lanka’s Boiling Tamils And Failing Tamil Political Leaders

There is no denying of the fact that the Tamils in Sri Lanka have been at the receiving end by the successive Governments in power and targeted in the agenda of GENOCIDE including structural GENOCIDE since the time of independence in 1948. Their history since then is dotted with state discrimination and marginalization aided with legislations like the SINHALA ONLY[Read More…]

by 22/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Gilgit-Baltistan Is The New Hotspot

Gilgit-Baltistan Is The New Hotspot

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced to make Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as the fifth province of Pakistan on September 17, 2020, making it the new hot spot in the region.   India retorted by saying that  ‘Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus-standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. India[Read More…]

by 19/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Blasphemy Estate: The ‘Deep State’ and Deepening Fundamentalism in Pakistan

Blasphemy Estate: The ‘Deep State’ and Deepening Fundamentalism in Pakistan

The deep state in Pakistan is no more a mere conglomerate of civil bureaucracy, army, intelligence, and/or other administrative agencies. The ‘state within the state’ has also its predictable partners in religious constituencies across the country. There is a growing concern now if the judiciary is also becoming a partner of the deep state congregation. A few years back, a[Read More…]

by 15/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Mare Nostrum for Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka’s “India First” foreign policy

Mare Nostrum for Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka’s “India First” foreign policy

by Punsara Amarasinghe & Eshan Jayawardane   Sri Lanka has been often portrayed as being in the crossroads of geopolitical encounters with powerful nations throughout its history and its unique geographic location in Indian ocean closer to the Indian mainland, yet distinct from it has made the island’s destiny extremely intertwined with India. Sri Lanka’s own historical identity is the[Read More…]

by 12/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
President Gotabaya’s Forward March Towards An Exclusive Sinhala-Budhist State In Sri Lanka

President Gotabaya’s Forward March Towards An Exclusive Sinhala-Budhist State In Sri Lanka

President Gotabaya’s throne speech on August 20, 2020 as expected does not spring any surprise or disappointments to the minorities particularly Tamils as it is a frank and forthright speech which is crowning Buddhism and Sinhalese and expressing his gratitude to them for their endorsement to his pledges. The two-third majority of SLPP in the Parliament was made possible due[Read More…]

by 04/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 How Pakistan’s Military Created Rift Between Imran Khan and Modi?

 How Pakistan’s Military Created Rift Between Imran Khan and Modi?

During his stint in power as Pakistan’s prime minister until July 2017, Nawaz Sharif had nurtured cordial working relationship with India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi. This, along with his role in Kargil conflict of 1999 with India, was precisely the reason why Pakistan’s military establishment turned against him and he was eventually disqualified[Read More…]

by 01/09/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
RM Saiful Alam Mukul

 Bangladesh: A Safe haven for killers of journalists

Journalists in Jashore, a bordering district in Bangladesh, have observed the death anniversary of slain journalist RM Saiful Alam Mukul, editor of local daily Runner on August 30. It was his 22nd anniversary of death. On July 16, they observed the death anniversary of another journalist Shamsur Rahman, former special correspondent of Bangla daily Janakantho and also stringer of BBC[Read More…]

by 30/08/2020 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan and India’s Leaders Mark Freedom from British Colonialism: But Masses look for Navigational Change

Pakistan and India’s Leaders Mark Freedom from British Colonialism: But Masses look for Navigational Change

British imperialism was not accidental but a planned scheme of things to perpetuate its cultural and political dominance over the weak and most vulnerable people of the globe. Its aims were no different in the Sub-Continent of India-Pakistan. The immediate focal aim was to destroy the existing culture of the established Mughal Empire and divide and rule the whole of[Read More…]

by 17/08/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 The Bangladesh Crisis: Growth Without Development, Youth Bulge, and Degeneration 

 The Bangladesh Crisis: Growth Without Development, Youth Bulge, and Degeneration 

In view of the prevalent political deadlock, growth-oriented economic development, or growth-without-development – which is simultaneously stagnating and misleading due to inflated GDP growth estimate by the Government – and the absence of the rule of law and accountability of the government, especially since 2007, Bangladesh finds itself in a political cul-de-sac. Why so? The prevalent stalemate under a one-party[Read More…]

by 16/08/2020 1 comment South Asia
Peace process in Afghanistan: En route to failure?

Peace process in Afghanistan: En route to failure?

The ongoing peace process provided an opportunity for Afghan factions to unite and undo all the wrongs committed against them in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the internal strife of Afghanis has again prevailed over this opportunity. Explicitly, compelled by the upcoming election promise, the US wishes to withdraw forces from Afghanistan. China and Pakistan are earnestly pushing the peace[Read More…]

by 06/08/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The plight of Journalists in Bangladesh in the age of Covid-19

The plight of Journalists in Bangladesh in the age of Covid-19

Eidul Azha, a sacrificial festival for the Muslim, is due in Bangladesh on Saturday and many other countries. It is one of the two largest Islamic festivals. The majority Muslim Bangladesh celebrates the religious gala with due festive mood and share sacrificial meats with other Muslims, especially the poor. This year the Eidul Azha knocks the door of the Muslims[Read More…]

by 01/08/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
COVID-19 And President Gotabaya’s Military Rule In North And East Of Sri Lanka

COVID-19 And President Gotabaya’s Military Rule In North And East Of Sri Lanka

Tamils in Sri Lanka especially in the North and East are now living between the devil and deep sea. Heavy presence of the military [to the ratio of one soldier to every four civilians 1: 4] and on the other side they are scared of the Covid-19. The President is determined to hold the election on August 05, 2020 without taking[Read More…]

by 25/07/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
A Choice Between Existence And Extinction For The Tamils

A Choice Between Existence And Extinction For The Tamils

The forthcoming general election on August 5th 2020 is crucial for the Tamils for their survival as a race and lives with respect, equal rights and dignity, and as a nation in Sri Lanka as Rajapaksas. Ranil Wickermasinghe. Sajith Premadasa and Buddhist clergy are openly advocating and moving to establish a Sinhala Buddhist unitary state in Sri Lanka. The Tamils[Read More…]

by 22/07/2020 2 comments South Asia
 The Top Brass is Shattered in Bangladesh: Aftermath of a Retired General’s Interview

 The Top Brass is Shattered in Bangladesh: Aftermath of a Retired General’s Interview

Although neither the puppet and illegitimate government of Sheikh Hasina nor the pro-Indian Deep State, which has been running Bangladesh for the last twelve years, gathered enough courage to broadcast or publish the transcript of the video interview of Lt General (ret) Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy with a US-based journalist, Kanak Sarwar, on 14th July, yet the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department[Read More…]

by 21/07/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Hasn’t Hasina’s Gambit Backfired? Isn’t Bangladesh Today a Battlefield of Sino-Indian Proxy War?

Hasn’t Hasina’s Gambit Backfired? Isn’t Bangladesh Today a Battlefield of Sino-Indian Proxy War?

Bangladesh since its birth has gone through too many intra-military and intra-civilian conflicts to mention in one breath. As on 14th July, Bangladeshi Lt General (ret) Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy revealed in a bold and candid video interview from Dhaka with Kanak Sarwar, a Bangladeshi American journalist in New York (who fled the country of his birth and now lives in[Read More…]

by 19/07/2020 1 comment South Asia
Journalist Shamsur Rahman killing: waiting for justice for 20 years

Journalist Shamsur Rahman killing: waiting for justice for 20 years

Waiting for Godot is a play written by French playwright Samuel Beckett, which I watched on the television several years back. In the play- two characters- Vladimir and Estragon- were seen engaged in a variety of discussions and encounters while waiting for Godot, who never arrives. The play premiered in Paris on 5th January in 1953. Relative and colleagues of[Read More…]

by 17/07/2020 1 comment South Asia
Floods: Third of Bangladesh underwater

Floods: Third of Bangladesh underwater

From some of the heaviest rains in a decade that has created monsoon flood, a third of Bangladesh is already underwater, and at least 1.5 million people are already affected, marooned or have left their homes for higher ground along with their cattle and other belongings with villages and roads flooded. Almost four million people have been hit by this[Read More…]

by 15/07/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Floods, landslides kill more than 40 in Nepal, many missing, thousands displaced

Floods, landslides kill more than 40 in Nepal, many missing, thousands displaced

  Torrential rainfall for the past three days has triggered floods and landslides in different parts of Nepal, claiming more than 40 lives and displacing thousands of families in western Nepal. Narayani and other major rivers have swollen due to the continuous downpour. Meteorological Department on Friday had forecast that the monsoon rains would last for another three days. Twenty-seven[Read More…]

by 12/07/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
COVID19: An Opportunity To Gotabaya To Establish His Military Rule

COVID19: An Opportunity To Gotabaya To Establish His Military Rule

  Gotabaya Rajapakshe the first time President, an Army veteran has proved himself as guardian of Sinhala Buddhist heritage and champion of the Armed forces. He openly and loudly said NO to Tamil political party TNA} for devolution or power sharing and the full implementation of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987. In his vocabulary devolution has become a bad[Read More…]

by 06/07/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Impact of the Pandemic on Nepal’s book market

Impact of the Pandemic on Nepal’s book market

Taranidhi Regmi, 37, of Morang, lives in Kathmandu and runs Sunbarshi bookstore in Dhapasi and delivers literary books to about 90 bookstores across the country within two or three days of its publication. When Covid-19 started to linger a month ago, he posted a photo of himself milking a cow in his home on his Facebook page. During this time,[Read More…]

by 23/06/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Not Only in Ladakh, India Losing Ground in Bangladesh Too

Not Only in Ladakh, India Losing Ground in Bangladesh Too

  We know things are not going well in regards to India’s relationship with China. On 5th/6th May, China captured around sixty square kilometre of Indian territory in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, which is strategically important to all the three countries in the region, China, India, and Pakistan. On 14th/15th June, around twenty Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were literally[Read More…]

by 18/06/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
New budget imposes tax on speech in Bangladesh

New budget imposes tax on speech in Bangladesh

In a text message, mobile phone operator Robi asked me, other users as well, to stay with it saying that the government has imposed 15 per cent taxes on talks. National Democratic Front’ president Dr MA Karim and general secretary Brigadier General (retired)  M Jahangir Hussain in a joint statement rejecting the national budget  for the fiscal year 2020-2021, saying[Read More…]

by 17/06/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India and Nepal Now! Practical Solution To Border Disputes

India and Nepal Now! Practical Solution To Border Disputes

Co-Written by Abhay Jain and Sandeep Pandey Unable to resolve its border disputes with Pakistan and China, India has now managed to create a dispute with Nepal in the process of building a road to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet through areas which are claimed by Nepal. History has taught us that such disputes will require disproportionate attention and resources and[Read More…]

by 13/06/2020 1 comment South Asia
Looming Dictatorship Rule In Sri Lanka

Looming Dictatorship Rule In Sri Lanka

Alarm bells are ringing and heard from various quarters about the direction of Sri Lanka being piloted by the military machine of Rajapakahe’s clan led by the military mindset President Gotabaya Rajapakshe who has a penchant to in tolerate criticism and opposition from any source and not hesitating to eliminate them by any means. President Gotabaya was not involved in[Read More…]

by 12/06/2020 1 comment South Asia
 An Open Letter to Foreign Minister Abdul Momin

 An Open Letter to Foreign Minister Abdul Momin

Dear Dr. Momen: I write this to draw your attention to your recent interview with an Indian weekly The Week , published on May 31, 2020, which all of our common friends and other Bangladeshis at home and abroad have found very gratuitous, objectionable, as it grossly undermines truth, and tarnishes the image of Bangladesh, which you represent as the[Read More…]

by 06/06/2020 2 comments South Asia
What waits for Rohingyas?

What waits for Rohingyas?

Rohingya people, who have no identity of their own, are now facing another danger. Pandemic COVID-19 took away one of the Rohingya, who took shelter at a camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh on the wake of genocide in their own land in Myanmar. United News of Bangladesh reported that the man died from coronavirus infection while undergoing treatment at[Read More…]

by 03/06/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Persistent and Unabated Efforts by US to Grip and Destabilize Nepal as Part of Indo-Pacific Strategy

Persistent and Unabated Efforts by US to Grip and Destabilize Nepal as Part of Indo-Pacific Strategy

This is Part-5 of a series of articles on a crisis in India-Nepal relations. Part-4 was titled India-Nepal Border Dispute : The International Ramifications. It mainly dealt with attempts made in vain to topple a communist regime, the NCP-Oli-led Nepal govt, and the international context and import of the still unfolding controversy. This one, Part-5, focuses on US hegemonic role[Read More…]

by 02/06/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India-Nepal  Border Dispute : The International Ramifications

India-Nepal  Border Dispute : The International Ramifications

This is Part-4 of a series of articles on a crisis in India-Nepal relations that led to mutual allegations of a cartographic war, and smacked of being a part of  cold war against China. It is a still unfolding controversy, being reported and analysed exclusively for the readers of   Countercurrent.org. Part-4 now being published, deals with the international context and[Read More…]

by 31/05/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 “Nepal map runs into Parliament wall” : Who built this wall? India! 

 “Nepal map runs into Parliament wall” : Who built this wall? India! 

  (This is part-3 of an article on India Nepal relations. Part-1 and Part 2 were published on May 24 and  26 respectively.) In Nepal, despite apparent unanimity, the new map adopted and announced got stuck up as a Constitutional Amendment was needed, which required two-thirds majority. Two parties, Nepali Congress and a Madhesi-based new party created some obstacles, though[Read More…]

by 29/05/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India-Nepal Embittered Relations : Much beyond a  Border Dispute

India-Nepal Embittered Relations : Much beyond a  Border Dispute

(This is Part-2 of a two-part Report; this one deals with various dimensions of the issue. Part-1 was published on May24, with the title, India-Nepal Border Issue Raked Up, Relations Strained Once Again.)  Even as Covid-19 health crisis, and its cascading effect on the economic crisis — both are aggravating in India — are upsetting Modi Government’s claims and calculations[Read More…]

by 26/05/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India-Nepal  Border Issue Raked Up, Relations Strained Once Again

India-Nepal  Border Issue Raked Up, Relations Strained Once Again

(This is Part-1 of a two-part article) “ We remain committed to resolving the border issue,” said Anurag Srivastava, India’s Official Spokesperson. “If the coronavirus was an obstacle for negotiations between friendly nations, then we were surprised that it wasn’t an obstacle for this decision (inauguration of the link road). ..This wasn’t the time to create unnecessary controversy which can[Read More…]

by 24/05/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Dark Face Of COVID-19 In Sri Lanka

The Dark Face Of COVID-19 In Sri Lanka

The pandemic Covid-19 which originated in Wuhan province, China sometime in December 2019 made its cruel impact as a global deadly disease in January 2020 declared as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It then spread to other countries causing fear, panic and deaths. Currently more than 3.5 millions have been infected with about 240,000 deaths reported. Sri Lanka reported[Read More…]

by 07/05/2020 1 comment South Asia
Coronavirus Disaster: A Lesson for both India and Pakistan

Coronavirus Disaster: A Lesson for both India and Pakistan

While the number of reported cases of the new coronavirus in India and Pakistan remains in the low thousands, but concerns are growing about the capacity of healthcare system to deal with the potential threat in both countries. In both countries, it seems to be a major test for the Narendra Modi led government and power less PM of Pakistan,[Read More…]

by 05/05/2020 1 comment South Asia
Broken Glass and Shattered Dreams: COVID 19 in Bangladesh

Broken Glass and Shattered Dreams: COVID 19 in Bangladesh

“Dance on broken glass; Build castles with shattered dreams Wear your tears like precious pearls. Proud. Strong. Unshakable.” –Anita Krizaan At such a time as ours, I can identify with the first three lines, but not the last three. As I read the poem, I utter instead, “Ah, what dark tunnels are we crossing?” I can’t believe that it has[Read More…]

by 29/04/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Combating COVID-19: Bangladesh Perspective

Combating COVID-19: Bangladesh Perspective

Hotchpotch is my favourite food. But hotchpotch in service is not good, rather more than bad. In combating COVID -19, hotchpotch is seen everywhere in Bangladesh. Theft of relief materials by ruling Awami League men has become a regular phenomenon in the country. Shortage of testing kits for COVID -19 is another problem. American national Sally Dugman, who is noted[Read More…]

by 23/04/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Forbidden Voices: Narratives on the Peace Process in Sri Lanka

Forbidden Voices: Narratives on the Peace Process in Sri Lanka

Introduction There have been a series of peace attempts to solve the civil war by political arrangements until the Rajapaksa regime decided to declare war against LTTE in 2006. The first peace rounds marked by Bandaranaike and Chelvanayagam in 1957. The Senanayake- Chelvanayagam peace talks in 1965 followed by Round Table conference 1983, All-Party conference 1984, Thimpu Bhutan talks 1985,[Read More…]

by 17/04/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
A Faded New Year

A Faded New Year

The cloudy Tuesday’s dawn brought nothing- no rain, no nor’wester, but a smiling morning – a sunny day. Nor’wester is a seasonal storm in Bangladesh, the West Bengal in India as well. It sweeps over the region in Baishakh, the first month of Bangla calendar. Very often, it comes on the first day of the month. Defying hassles Bangla speaking[Read More…]

by 14/04/2020 1 comment South Asia
Justice To War Victims, COVID-19 And The Presidential Pardon To Convicted Criminal

Justice To War Victims, COVID-19 And The Presidential Pardon To Convicted Criminal

President Gotabaya’s pardon of a convicted criminal and let him loose and prowl free on the streets is only a licence and encouragement for him and other similar minded criminals to embark on a revengeful killing spree emboldened due to the guarantee of state protection and impunity. The prosecution of Sunil Ratnayake managed to miraculously wade through the many pitfalls[Read More…]

by 10/04/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Save Rohingyas from catastrophic COVID- 19

Save Rohingyas from catastrophic COVID- 19

Spring, the best season, is twinkling Bangladesh. Mango pods adore trees here and there across the country. Hopes are pinching dreams for big profit. In this flashy season optimism of Bangladeshis has been grabbed by a scare – COVID -19. Yes, ruling of coronavirus has been started the country. It has already occupied several places of the delta country- Bangladesh.[Read More…]

by 06/04/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh’s COVID-19 Response Plan: Can the government turn a chaotic start into a good end?

Bangladesh’s COVID-19 Response Plan: Can the government turn a chaotic start into a good end?

Contrary to the common belief that Government of Bangladesh has been least prepared and that its responses to COVID-19 have been ad hoc and impulsive, it is important to note that the government did have an elaborate plan, ‘National Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID – 19’ and that the Plan was prepared under the guidance of the Directorate General[Read More…]

by 06/04/2020 2 comments South Asia
President Gotabaya’s Twisted Accountability And Justice

President Gotabaya’s Twisted Accountability And Justice

  President Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s pardon and release of former Army Sergeant Ratnayake who was sentenced to death in 2015 for the brutal murder of 8 Tamil civilians including children in December 2000 is an expected act from an alleged war criminal Gotabaya as he is only fulfilling his election pledge made in October 2019 when he promised “That all military[Read More…]

by 01/04/2020 2 comments South Asia
Sri Lanka Is An Island Of Impunity: Protecting Convicted And Alleged War Criminals In The Military

Sri Lanka Is An Island Of Impunity: Protecting Convicted And Alleged War Criminals In The Military

The Sri Lankan state which co-sponsored United Nations Human Rights Council Resolutions 30/1 in September 2015 failed to bring transitional justice or progress on substantial issues but bought time and space, now after so many Resolutions and delays unilaterally withdrew from the co-sponsorship. Lack of political will is shown by both the consensus path Wikramasinghe-Sirisena regime and current confrontational path[Read More…]

by 29/03/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
COVID-19: An opportunity for the revival of SAARC

COVID-19: An opportunity for the revival of SAARC

With COVID-19 virus declared as a pandemic, spreading across countries including South Asia, people are being advised to live in isolation. Claiming more than 6500 deaths worldwide and more than 1.67 lakh confirmed cases and counting, the novel virus has affected every sector and thus demands coordinated action. In the wake of this medical emergency, it is the wit of[Read More…]

by 17/03/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s Sixth Amendment: a Violation of UN Charter and Fundamental Human Rights

Sri Lanka’s Sixth Amendment: a Violation of UN Charter and Fundamental Human Rights

Late President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka after allowing and being complicit in the massacres of Tamils in the 1977, 1983 pogroms and justifying them as a normal reaction of Sinhalese to take revenge on innocent Tamils, hurriedly passed the 6th amendment to the constitution in August 1983 to stifle the voice of Tamils. The amendment’s important sections are under:- Article. 157“No[Read More…]

by 15/03/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Conservative Islamic views are gaining ground in secular Bangladesh and curbing freedom of expression

Conservative Islamic views are gaining ground in secular Bangladesh and curbing freedom of expression

Bangladesh has seen an increase in terrorist activity in recent years, including attacks on foreigners, activists and religious minorities. Perpetrators of these attacks have included people from privileged backgrounds. News reports indicate they were all motivated by the idea that Islam is under attack by secularists and must be defended. This is significant in a country that was founded in[Read More…]

by 19/02/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Debate centering army in Pakistan politics

Debate centering army in Pakistan politics

Old debate centering army in Pakistan politics has reemerged following remarks by the country’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. A report in Pakistan’s leading daily The Dawn said: “Opposition parties have taken exception to the reported remarks of Prime Minister Imran Khan that the army knows who is corrupt in the country, terming the statement ‘irresponsible’.” The report by Amir Wasim[Read More…]

by 17/02/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Ripe Time For Tamil Voters To Elect Young And Committed Leaders To The Causes Of The Tamils

Ripe Time For Tamil Voters To Elect Young And Committed Leaders To The Causes Of The Tamils

It is election year for Sri Lanka. A general election has to be held before August 5th 2020 for a new Government to rule the polarized and divided country of majority Sinhalese and minorities with Tamils and Sinhalese politically pitted against each other for the last 72 years. This election is unique and historical as the President Gotabaya and his[Read More…]

by 17/02/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh: Recalling 1969 Mass Uprising

Bangladesh: Recalling 1969 Mass Uprising

The Mass Uprising of 1969 In the book A Soldier’s Debt (ASD), the author thought Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon was the greatest event of 1969. He then quickly added the following lines: “One hundred and twenty-five thousand miles below that historic moon walk, the Bengalis of East Pakistan started a renewed but aggressive, at times violent, march for their rights. It[Read More…]

by 30/01/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The 1969 Mass Uprising in East Pakistan: As I saw it

The 1969 Mass Uprising in East Pakistan: As I saw it

This is my eyewitness account of events, which took place in erstwhile East Pakistan, exactly 51 years back in January-February 1969. Although not fully comparable with what 1789 signifies for France, yet 1969 signalled the beginning of some revolutionary changes in the history of Pakistan. It witnessed the end of Ayub Khan’s decade of “guided democracy”, and the end of[Read More…]

by 21/01/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Shouldering of Responsibilities to Save the Desperate Tamils in  Sri Lanka

Shouldering of Responsibilities to Save the Desperate Tamils in  Sri Lanka

There is no denying of the fact that Tamils in Sri Lanka  have been at the receiving end since 1949, when power was transferred to the majority Sinhala Government. Successive Sinhala Governments continued and still continue the marginalisation of minorities to achieve their goal of a SINHALA-BUDDHIST STATE. Peaceful protests, non-violent and violent campaigns were ruthlessly crushed by the 99%[Read More…]

by 13/01/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Kartarpur: A Corridor of Opportunities  

Kartarpur: A Corridor of Opportunities  

A Japanese adage rightly says that “A close neighbor is better than a distant relative”. A country can change its friends but altering neighbors is simply out of the question. Neighbors either they are belligerent or peaceful; the state ought to take a proactive and inclusive foreign policy for a conducive environment. Pakistan and India, thus, are fortunate; both states[Read More…]

by 09/01/2020 1 comment South Asia
Majoritarian Defenders of minority rights in South Asia

Majoritarian Defenders of minority rights in South Asia

Persecution of minorities is a perennial problem in the South Asian region. Muslims in India, Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Tamils in Sri Lanka are under the dark shadow of majoritarianism. Countries in the region seem to have found new interest in the minority questions of neighbours; and the issue has got new dimension. Nowadays, the heads of the two[Read More…]

by 07/01/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh: Road to Independence

Bangladesh: Road to Independence

“Injustice in the end produces independence.”–Voltaire   The people of East Bengal, who are majority Muslims, suffered injustice for ages. After the fall of Plassey in 1757, they came under the wrath of the British and its Hindu surrogates. When the British left in 1947, partitioning India on religious divide, East Bengal became part of Pakistan, their condition was no[Read More…]

by 05/01/2020 1 comment South Asia
It Is Time For The United Nations To Initiate A Referendum In The North And East Of Sri Lanka

It Is Time For The United Nations To Initiate A Referendum In The North And East Of Sri Lanka

Taking into consideration the statements by the Sri Lankan President and the top officials regarding justice to the Tamils seems to be a deadlock. The only way out from this is to initiate a UN sponsored referendum in the North and East of Sri Lanka, for which the co-sponsored countries of the UNHRC Resolution 30/1 and other member countries in[Read More…]

by 01/01/2020 Comments are Disabled South Asia
While Mandarins Run Amok in Bangladesh

While Mandarins Run Amok in Bangladesh

As late as the 16th century, the Chinese indigenised “mandarin”, a variant of Sanskrit “mantri”, Malay “mantiri” via Portuguese “mandarim”, which stands for minister, counsellor, or a very high government official. Chinese mandarins were highly educated, well-groomed, powerful, and influential people having sharp intellect and immaculate mannerism. Their attire, mannerism, and language represented the mainstream of Chinese high culture encompassing[Read More…]

by 27/12/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Will The New President of Sri Lanka  Guide The Country in The Correct Path?

Will The New President of Sri Lanka  Guide The Country in The Correct Path?

The Singapore success is attributed to their leader LEE KUAN YEW developing a society where each race appreciate and respect that of others, encouraged to preserve its unique culture and traditions, let alone that of the majority. It’s fostering such an approach for a multi-race society enabled them to go forward. LEE KUAN YEW was the first Prime Minister of[Read More…]

by 15/12/2019 1 comment South Asia
Supreme Court’s attempt to destabilize the government of Imran Khan

Supreme Court’s attempt to destabilize the government of Imran Khan

The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday (Nov 28) limited the three years extension in the term of Army Chief of Staff General (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa to six month. A three-member court bench led by the Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who retires in less than one month, on Wednesday (Nov. 27) suspended Prime Minister Imran Khan’s August 2019[Read More…]

by 29/11/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Where the World Meets: the Role of Sri Lanka in Indo-Pacific Theatre

Where the World Meets: the Role of Sri Lanka in Indo-Pacific Theatre

The island nation: Sri Lanka began to increasingly feature in discussions on the Indo- Pacific geopolitical environment in recent years, particularly in the light of Chinese led Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) and as a nation which has been occupying a strategic location astride the Indian Ocean lines of communication. Sri Lanka has been attracting the interests of major powers[Read More…]

by 26/11/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The era emerged from “Ruwan Weli Saya”: Aftermath of Presidential Election in Sri Lanka

The era emerged from “Ruwan Weli Saya”: Aftermath of Presidential Election in Sri Lanka

Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinghe and Eshan Jayawardane Civilizational influence in shaping national political consciousness is an indispensable factor   that one cannot deny or completely abandon albeit how rationalized or tries to be radical he is. The Oath ceremony of the president of the US is traditionally culminated by pledging alliance to the US constitution and God and the people in[Read More…]

by 19/11/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Lurking Fears of Tamils After Presidential Election on November 16, 2019

Lurking Fears of Tamils After Presidential Election on November 16, 2019

The Presidential election on November 16, 2019 will usher in a new President, either Gotabaya Rajapaksha or Sajith Premadasa. Intensive campaign with promises suiting the locations and people are pouring from candidates to woo the voters, particularly Tamils by Sajith Premadasa. The promises thrown before Tamils will have a short life span as their deaths will be a certainty once[Read More…]

by 10/11/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election And The True Face of Tamil National Alliance

Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election And The True Face of Tamil National Alliance

The cat is finally out of the bag. The secretly well-kept decision of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to back Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party is now disclosed 10 days before the election, after playing the hide and seek and cat and mouse games. TNA leadership particularly Sumanthiran and Sampanthan have been making often confusing and conflicting statements hiding[Read More…]

by 08/11/2019 1 comment South Asia
Gowher Rizvi’s 1976 Article, “The Killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – Perspectives on Recent Bangladesh History”: A Review

Gowher Rizvi’s 1976 Article, “The Killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – Perspectives on Recent Bangladesh History”: A Review

This is a review of an academic article by Ali Gowher (aka Gowher Rizvi), who is the International affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. I strongly believe Rizvi’s partisan vies and unsubstantiated assertions have marred the quality of the academic exercise. Had Mujib’s Soviet-style one-party dictatorship (the BAKSAL regime) survived a decade or so, what is Bangladesh[Read More…]

by 01/11/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Whither the Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Whither the Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Whither the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party)?Let’s Still Identify with It, the Largest Political Party of Bangladesh, to Confront the Ongoing BAL (Bangladesh Awami League) Brutality on All Fronts “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” That is how the 30-yr old Prince Hamlet of Denmark is deeply and frightfully pondering over whether to continue to live a[Read More…]

by 14/10/2019 2 comments South Asia
Pakistan establishes China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority for expediting delayed projects

Pakistan establishes China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority for expediting delayed projects

Pakistan on Monday (Oct 7) established the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority to speed up the delayed projects as Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Beijing The establishment of CPEC Authority was aimed at accelerating the pace of CPEC related activities. Multi-billion dollar CPEC was launched in 2015 and several projects under the first phase are close to completion.[Read More…]

by 11/10/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
New US study warns: India-Pakistan Nuclear war can kill over 125 million people

New US study warns: India-Pakistan Nuclear war can kill over 125 million people

Amid rising tension over Kashmir between the two nuclear neighbors, India and Pakistan, a new US study examines how such an hypothetical future nuclear conflict would have consequences that could ripple across the globe. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50 to 125 million people that is more than[Read More…]

by 05/10/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India, Pakistan, Kashmir: Taking the war option off the table

India, Pakistan, Kashmir: Taking the war option off the table

by Zia Mian, Abdul H. Nayyar, Sandeep Pandey, M. V. Ramana On September 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This appearance will come at a time of great concern about the increasingly hostile relationship between their two countries. At the heart of[Read More…]

by 30/09/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Craze for Cricket Graceless Bangladesh Society

The Craze for Cricket Graceless Bangladesh Society

   One may or may not like cricket – not the worm, but the game – or even, could be someone like a typical Frenchman or woman who doesn’t understand the game, or pretends he/she doesn’t have any clues as to what British men (and now women too) do with a ball, two bats, and six sticks, inserted into the[Read More…]

by 11/09/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Appointing Shavendra Silva As Commander Of The Sri Lankan Army

Appointing Shavendra Silva As Commander Of The Sri Lankan Army

President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday [August 18, 2019] named a General accused of war crimes as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, sparking concern over the appointment that the UN later termed “deeply troubling”. What the United Nations is saying?  “I am deeply troubled by the appointment of Lieutenant-General Shavendra Silva as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, despite the[Read More…]

by 03/09/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan successfully tests night launch of surface to surface ballistic missile

Pakistan successfully tests night launch of surface to surface ballistic missile

Amid mounting tension over India’s annexation of Kashmir, Pakistan has successfully carried out the night training launch of a surface to surface ballistic missile. The missile “is capable of delivering multiple types of warheads up to 290 kilometres”, said military media spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor via a tweet, which also included a video of the launch. The missile is[Read More…]

by 30/08/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Indo-Pak People-to-People Peace Efforts need a Close Look

Indo-Pak People-to-People Peace Efforts need a Close Look

Indo-Pakistan relations have almost never been all-smooth, least of all since the 1990s if not earlier, post the worsening of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. This was also the decade when collective efforts for people-to-people contact gained pace, with peace activists on both sides of the border coming together at forums like the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace[Read More…]

by 28/08/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Stratfor: Kashmir may provide spark for Pakistan-India nuclear war

Stratfor: Kashmir may provide spark for Pakistan-India nuclear war

The specter of nuclear war haunts tensions between India and Pakistan, and the disputed territory of Kashmir could provide the spark that lights South Asia’s nuclear fuse, warns Strafor, a geopolitical intelligence think tank that provides strategic analysis and forecasting to individuals and organizations around the world. With passions again running high in Kashmir, the stakes for the region and[Read More…]

by 27/08/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Forthcoming Presidential, Parliamentary Elections: The Urgent Need For The Unity Of All Tamil Political Parties

The Forthcoming Presidential, Parliamentary Elections: The Urgent Need For The Unity Of All Tamil Political Parties

As far as Tamils are concerned the forthcoming elections [Presidential and Parliamentary] is not going to solve any of the burning problems faced by the Tamils since independence, in 1948. Since independence Tamils and Tamil leaders were betrayed, cheated by the two major political parties United National Party UNP and Sri Lanka Freedom Party [SLFP] As far as Tamils are[Read More…]

by 24/08/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Global Peace and Human Security:  India and Pakistan Itching for Showdown on Kashmir

Global Peace and Human Security:  India and Pakistan Itching for Showdown on Kashmir

Has civilization taught us to be more friendly towards one another? Asked Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher and intellectual and explains further:  …Within the herd we are more friendly to each other than are many species of animals, but in our attitude towards those outside the herd, in spite of all that has been done by moralists and religious teachers,[Read More…]

by 07/08/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Slaughter of Tamil Prisoners Inside High Security Jail And Genocide of Tamils in July 1983

Slaughter of Tamil Prisoners Inside High Security Jail And Genocide of Tamils in July 1983

Post independence Sri Lanka brought in several official dispositions that gave preference to the Sinhalese majority. The Sinhala Only Act introduced by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) government of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1956, for example, recognized Sinhalese as the only official language of the country. The 1950s also saw the launching of several development projects by[Read More…]

by 02/08/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
U.S. resumes military aid to Pakistan days after Imran’s visit 

U.S. resumes military aid to Pakistan days after Imran’s visit 

The U.S. is reopening the military aid plug to Pakistan within a week of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan meeting Donald Trump, the President of the U.S. The Pentagon is notifying its decision to approve $125 million technical and logistic support for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets. The aid resumption, made at the “request” of Pakistan, was disclosed by a Pentagon[Read More…]

by 29/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh: The Myth of Economic Growth 

Bangladesh: The Myth of Economic Growth 

The government of Bangladesh under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed keeps rattling the growth at 8-9% over the past few years, but the statistics do not tally with the global benchmarks, which find the actual number lower by up to 2 points. The lower figure may still look impressive, but the existence of glaring discrepancies in the development calculations rarely meet the[Read More…]

by 29/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
World Bank asks Pakistan government: Reach out to opposition to pass legislation to implement IMF program

World Bank asks Pakistan government: Reach out to opposition to pass legislation to implement IMF program

There are hardly two opinions that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Banks were implementing predatory economic policies of the West. The poor countries are now in the IMF and World Bank debt trap. The rise in debt has been swelled, with external sovereign loans to developing country governments more than doubling from $191 billion per year in[Read More…]

by 27/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Kulbushan Saga: Will ICJ’s verdict lead Pakistan to a diplomatic isolation?

Kulbushan Saga: Will ICJ’s verdict lead Pakistan to a diplomatic isolation?

Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinghe & Prof.Sanjay Rajhans   When Indian national Mr. Kulbushan Jadhav was arrested in 2016 by Pakistan alleging him as a RAW operative andthe reaction came from New Delhi was based on their interest in providing consular access to Mr. Jadhav and strongly denied any espionage link. Nevertheless the judgment given by a military tribunal in Pakistan[Read More…]

by 26/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Floods hit more than 14 million in South Asia: death toll crosses 650

Floods hit more than 14 million in South Asia: death toll crosses 650

Torrential monsoon rain induced floods, landslides, collapse of buildings and houses, lighting, etc. have already taken a heavy price in the South Asia region. The disaster has created havoc in the life of the people in regions of Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Severe floods and lightning have claimed the lives of more than 650 people across India, Nepal, Bangladesh[Read More…]

by 23/07/2019 1 comment South Asia
ICJ rejects India’s plea for acquittal of alleged Indian spy in Pakistan

ICJ rejects India’s plea for acquittal of alleged Indian spy in Pakistan

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday (July 17) rejected India’s request to ‘acquit, release and return’ of its national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced by Pakistan on charges of espionage, however, asked Pakistan to provide him consular access. President of the ICJ Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf from Somalia read out the operational part of the decision in a[Read More…]

by 18/07/2019 1 comment South Asia
Tamil Leaders Betrayed by Successive Sinhalese Leaders and the genocide of Tamils

Tamil Leaders Betrayed by Successive Sinhalese Leaders and the genocide of Tamils

A NOTE FROM THE NO FIRE ZONE [Book by Kass Ghayouri] Dr. Varatharajan who was on duty inside the ‘NO FIRE ZONE” during the genocidal war laments:                            “That night I cried, Tamil civilians died, Dead bodies I eyed, I did not have pride, There was no war guide, Tamils forced to hide, The Sri Lankan army lied, Took[Read More…]

by 14/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
From Gujral doctrine to Modi doctrine

From Gujral doctrine to Modi doctrine

Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinghe & Eshan Jayawardene The predictions made by larger number of academics based in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta about Indian General elections vouching that NarendraModi would not get his second term as prime minister were shattered in reality as Modi could uphold his strong position better than the previous time resulting a steeping success of his Bharatiya[Read More…]

by 12/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan efforts for peace in Afghanistan

Pakistan efforts for peace in Afghanistan

On the invitation of Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Pakistan on 27th June for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries. The premier of Pakistan and President Ghani held a one-on-one meeting, in which an overall regional situation and matters pertaining to bilateral cooperation in various sectors, were discussed.[Read More…]

by 11/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
US declares Baloch Liberation Army a terrorist group

US declares Baloch Liberation Army a terrorist group

The United States on Tuesday (July 2) declared Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as a global terrorist organization. The US State Department said it was classifying the BLA as a global terrorist group, making it a crime for anyone in the United States to assist the militants and freezing any US assets they may have. “The BLA is an armed separatist[Read More…]

by 04/07/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Bangladesh as Kornhauser’s “Mass Society” or a “Dictatorial Democracy”!

Bangladesh as Kornhauser’s “Mass Society” or a “Dictatorial Democracy”!

“Civilizations as yet have only been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only powerful for destruction.” — Gustave Le Bon “Mass politics occurs when large numbers of people engage in political activity outside of the procedures and rules instituted by a society to govern political action. Mass politics in democratic society therefore is[Read More…]

by 30/06/2019 7 comments South Asia
A new study from Brown University's Costs of War Project found that the U.S. "War on Terror" has killed half a million people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. (Photo: Spc. Phillip McTaggart/Flickr/cc)

The ‘US’ urging a ‘safe stay’ and reassertion of ISIS, in Afghanistan

The Islamic State group in Afghanistan is a “very worrisome” threat to the United States, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, said. He also added “ISIS in Afghanistan certainly has aspirations to attack the United States.” On 13th of June, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near a police vehicle in the capital of eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, killing at least[Read More…]

by 23/06/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

Pakistan forms Commission to probe external debt

The government of Pakistan on Friday (June 21) appointed an 11-member Commission of Inquiry to determine if increase in external debt between 2008 and 2018 was justified by infrastructure development program or misused by public office-holders of the last two governments of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Headed by Deputy Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau[Read More…]

by 22/06/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Demand for a political solution to the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka

Demand for a political solution to the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka

Tamils have little interest in reconciliation without resolution of the political issues. Proper reconciliation can come only after a political solution is found… With successive Governments refusing to acknowledge, let alone address the political issues that lie at the core of the conflict, the alienation of Tamils will remain high. In the circumstances, reconciliation remains a distant dream. An internationally[Read More…]

by 22/06/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan’s self-exiled leader Altaf Hussain arrested in London after 25 years

Pakistan’s self-exiled leader Altaf Hussain arrested in London after 25 years

Pakistan’s self-exiled leader Altaf Hussain was arrested on Tuesday (June 11)  from his residence in London. He was arrested in an early morning raid by a team of the Scotland Yard. The arrest has sent shockwaves across Pakistan as Hussain once ruled Karachi, the country’s commercial capital, with an iron fist, shutting down the entire city in mere seconds with[Read More…]

by 12/06/2019 1 comment South Asia
Former President of Pakistan Asif Zardari arrested in mega money laundering case

Former President of Pakistan Asif Zardari arrested in mega money laundering case

Former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari was arrested Monday (June 10) by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in mega money laundering case. Asif Zardari was taken to NAB office in Rawalpindi where he was shifted to cell no 2. The former president will be presented before the accountability court on Tuesday where the NAB will appeal for his remand.[Read More…]

by 11/06/2019 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan: Lt Gen jailed, Brigadier gets death for espionage

Pakistan: Lt Gen jailed, Brigadier gets death for espionage

Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has signed death warrants for two army and one civil officer on charges of espionage and leakage of sensitive information to foreign agencies prejudicial to the national security, the army announced Thursday (May 30). Lieutenant General (retd) Javed Iqbal Awan was awarded 14 years rigorous imprisonment by the Field[Read More…]

by 01/06/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Sri Lanka: Sectarian Violence and the Higher Self

Sri Lanka: Sectarian Violence and the Higher Self

On 14 and 15 May 2019, revenge violence broke out in a number of towns in Sri Lanka against Muslim shopkeepers by Christians motivated by the Easter Sunday attacks on three Christian churches, two Roman Catholic and one Protestant. The Easter church attacks were carried out by a recently formed militant Muslim militia most of whose members have now been[Read More…]

by 27/05/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

 Victim of IMF debt trap, Pakistan compelled to seek new loan

The people have to pay dearly and long for the sins and crimes of their leaders – Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore. After appointing an ex-IMF official as Finance Minister and another ex-IMF official as State Bank of Pakistan Governor, the government of Pakistan has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of increasing electricity and gas prices[Read More…]

by 13/05/2019 2 comments South Asia
Fishing in troubled waters of Sri Lanka

Fishing in troubled waters of Sri Lanka

Easter is the day when it is said, the Christ resurrected again. Devotees celebrate because they believe the Christ was crucified for them. Whether he is a myth or reality, it does not mean but one fact is clear, the life of Christ is inspiring and suggest love conquer all. As I thought of calling friends, the events and devastation[Read More…]

by 22/04/2019 3 comments South Asia
Tirupathi Factor: Unbreakable Symbol of Sri Lankan politician’s spiritual dependence of India

Tirupathi Factor: Unbreakable Symbol of Sri Lankan politician’s spiritual dependence of India

Co-Written by Punsara Amarasinhe and Eshan Jayawardane Man’s association with faith is the most inexplicable thing in the world which gives no clues of comprehending its very nature. Even the most powerful men in world history were known to be shaky and crumbled before the creed they ardently believed. In the annals of Roman history we find emperors like Hadrian[Read More…]

by 10/04/2019 1 comment South Asia
India, Pakistan, and a Planet in Peril

India, Pakistan, and a Planet in Peril

 It’s still the most dangerous border on Earth. Yet compared to the recent tweets of President Donald Trump, it remains a marginal news story.  That doesn’t for a moment diminish the chance that the globe’s first (and possibly ultimate) nuclear conflagration could break out along that 480-mile border known as the Line of Control (and, given the history that surrounds[Read More…]

by 04/04/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Bangladesh Left in the Glorious War for Liberation: A brief note

The Bangladesh Left in the Glorious War for Liberation: A brief note

The glorious War for Liberation in Bangladesh turned powerful with the participation of people – the downtrodden, the exploited. They came from poverty-ruled rural areas; they came from machine shops chained to capital; they came from educational institutions – teachers and students primarily identifying with the aspiration of the exploited. To this huge human spirit, the bell of liberty was[Read More…]

by 26/03/2019 1 comment South Asia
Stanley Wolpert’s Works

Stanley Wolpert’s Works

In our generation, perhaps rarely any of one might have read it or heard about it. In my small collection of biographies, there is a purple coloured hardbound, with  pagesturned to smoke yellow biography published eighty-eight years back by George Allen and Unwin Limited, 40 Museum Street, London. It has a foreword by father of Indian Nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.[Read More…]

by 25/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Chinese Rebuff! 

The Chinese Rebuff! 

(The fourth Chinese veto in preventing declaration of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is not only a rebuff but the signal of an additional factor in the very basic Kashmir problem!)   The recent incident in Pulwama which drew condemnation from all over the world was attributed by the Indian authorities to Masood Azhar, the head of the Jaish-e-[Read More…]

by 21/03/2019 1 comment South Asia
BJP in power is always favourable to Pakistan and vice-versa

BJP in power is always favourable to Pakistan and vice-versa

How many of us remember the post emergency era famous quote that “Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee can win election from any constituency in Pakistan”; whilst he was the foreign minister in Sri Morarji Bhai’s cabinet in 1977? Remember that India had just won a conclusive war in 1971 courtesy of Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s government. The wound of Bangladesh’s creation by[Read More…]

by 19/03/2019 4 comments South Asia
Shame vs. Shamelessness: Examples from Bangladesh

Shame vs. Shamelessness: Examples from Bangladesh

The Oxford Dictionary defines shame as “a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour”. It could be self-inflicted, or an act committed by others leading to a loss of self-respect or self-esteem. “Shame on you” is something no respectful human being wants to hear from anyone. Self-respecting victims of shame sometimes kill[Read More…]

by 14/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
South Asia Cloud Has A Silver Lining

South Asia Cloud Has A Silver Lining

A dark and menacing cloud of a possible war that had been hanging over India and Pakistan in the last few days was leading to despair and fatalism not only in India and Pakistan but almost all over the world due to the nuclear arsenal the two countries possess. Ian Helfand, a US physician associated with the International Physicians for[Read More…]

by 08/03/2019 3 comments South Asia
Peace, not War!

Peace, not War!

(People raising a pitch for going to War probably forget that any conflict now in the sub-continent would be the last War for this entire region!) It is an established fact of the world history that wars have never solved any problems but have on the contrary destroyed civilisations. The sub-continent has witnessed three major wars in last 70 years[Read More…]

by 07/03/2019 1 comment South Asia
Against the Politics of War of Hindutva Forces

Against the Politics of War of Hindutva Forces

Political atmosphere in the country rapidly changed after 14th Feb Pulwama terror incident. Warlike situation emerged and war mongers had a field day. War hysteria was created in Pakistan as well as India. There was air strike on terrorist training centre of Jaish-e-Muhammad at Balakot by Indian Air Force. Next day, Pakistan too launched air strike crossing Indian territory. Indian Air Force[Read More…]

by 03/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
CNDP Statement on Ongoing Indo-Pak Armed Conflict

CNDP Statement on Ongoing Indo-Pak Armed Conflict

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) notes with grave concern the ongoing conflicts between neighboring India and Pakistan, both armed with nuclear weapons together with all the three delivery platforms ensuring a “second strike” capability in case of being hit by a “first strike”. To recall, the present phase was triggered by an abominable suicide blast – following[Read More…]

by 03/03/2019 1 comment South Asia
Afghanistan, China and Pakistan , A Paradigm Shift

Afghanistan, China and Pakistan , A Paradigm Shift

The role of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the region has become more important with the announcement of CPEC. The upcoming hub of Gwadar is all set to change the shape of international trade in South Asia. In order to resolve key issues and to bring peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan consistently been holding dialogues with Taliban on the request of Trump.[Read More…]

by 03/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
India Pakistan after Playing ‘War War’ calls for Truce

India Pakistan after Playing ‘War War’ calls for Truce

 India and Pakistan seem to have just got over playing “War War” on the February 26 and 27, 2019 testing aerial capabilities of each other and in the end declaring victory. In the absence of hard evidences and credible sources, both the sides have sold their own version of the story to save their faces and let the people make[Read More…]

by 02/03/2019 1 comment South Asia
‘Pulwama’, ‘Balakot’, Modi, Imran Khan, Wing Commander Avinandan, War Cry, Peace Appeal etc. etc: What do we make of all these?

‘Pulwama’, ‘Balakot’, Modi, Imran Khan, Wing Commander Avinandan, War Cry, Peace Appeal etc. etc: What do we make of all these?

Whole thing started with Pulwama in Kashmir in Indian Kashmir where a suicide bomber attacked an Indian army convoy and killed 40 soldiers. The incident has happened in the wake of upcoming general election in India which also coincides with Modi’s plummeting popularity that have made some people looking at this sad incident beyond the obvious. There is nothing more[Read More…]

by 02/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Difference as liberatory politics

Difference as liberatory politics

It’s ironic that I found out about India’s air strikes across the line of control, inside Pakistani territory, from a friend in New Delhi. Surbhi Dewan and I were texting each other, late at night on Monday, February 25, about the passing of her grandmother, Leela Dewan, one of the beautiful women who shared their testimony about the partition of[Read More…]

by 02/03/2019 1 comment South Asia
Unethical Journalism

Unethical Journalism

 Early morning on Friday,  I was eagerly waiting to read ‘Dastavez’ published in “Roznama Rashtriya Sahara”, Urdu. I was shocked to find a sentence added to my original draft in the published copy, calling surgical strike ” necessary” Dastavez is published every week on Friday in almost all editions of Roznama Rashtriya Sahara. For last one year, I have quite[Read More…]

by 02/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
An Open Letter to Dr. Gowher Rizvi

An Open Letter to Dr. Gowher Rizvi

Dear Gowher: In hindsight, I think I should have written this letter ten years back, days after you became the International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. I am sorry, I failed miserably to perform my duty as a friend towards a very good old friend on time. I should have advised you what I thought and still[Read More…]

by 02/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Over 600 Concerned Citizens Appeal for Reason

Over 600 Concerned Citizens Appeal for Reason

Further to the recent tensions between India and Pakistan, the appeal below is being released today on behalf of more than 500 Indian signatories from many different walks of life – students, teachers, economists, journalists, lawyers, industrialists, writers, actors, choreographers, photographers, physicists, homemakers, retired bureaucrats, diplomats, judges, the armed forces. This flood of endorsements was received within less than 24[Read More…]

by 01/03/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Are We Up For A Battle For Peace?

Are We Up For A Battle For Peace?

Last night my 11 year old son asked me, “Abba, if war breaks out between India and Pakistan can we go to some other country? What will we do if they drop a nuclear bomb?” I told him that it’s not possible to go to another country. They won’t accept us. However, I assured him that there will be no[Read More…]

by 28/02/2019 3 comments South Asia, Editor's Picks
Pakistan Strikes India In Retaliation, An Indian Airforce Pilot Captured By Pakistan

Pakistan Strikes India In Retaliation, An Indian Airforce Pilot Captured By Pakistan

Escalating tensions between the two nuclear armed South Asian neighbours, Pakistan carried out an air strike inside India in retaliation to the air strike carried out by India in Balakot yesterday. In the ensuing air battle an Indian Airforce Pilot was captured by Pakistan. Pakistan claimed that they shot down two Indian fighter jets. They claimed that one of the[Read More…]

Balakot Air Strikes: Diplomatic and Strategic Fallouts

Balakot Air Strikes: Diplomatic and Strategic Fallouts

The air strikes in Balakot, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, by the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jets set in motion waves of jubilation in India and a deluge of anger and war cry in Pakistan. Launched in the early hours of 26 February, the ‘surgical strikes 2.0,’ as it has been characterized by the Indian media, came in less[Read More…]

by 27/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Two Curries And A War

Two Curries And A War

All of Tamatarland was in great turmoil. There had been a vile attack on its security forces by a suicide-bomber, who had sneaked past dozens of heavily guarded checkpoints and murdered over two dozen Tamatarland soldiers. It was later claimed the culprit was a local Muli, trained and sent by Mataristan, the neighbouring and enemy nation. Not surprisingly, Tamatars across[Read More…]

by 26/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
To the war-mongers: War with Pakistan is the least India wants

To the war-mongers: War with Pakistan is the least India wants

The news that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched an airstrike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camps crossing the Line of Control (LOC), in the wee hours of Tuesday, was well-received by those anxiously waiting for military action in the wake of the Pulwama incident. The “befitting reply” from IAF came 11 days after JeM, a Pakistan-based militant group,[Read More…]

by 26/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
The Fallout of The Balakote Strike

The Fallout of The Balakote Strike

Notwithstanding the claims and counter-claims of India and Pakistan, one thing is now acknowledged from both sides that the Indian Air Force planes entered the Pakistani territory and returned back safely. That is pretty embarrassing for the Pakistani authorities – both the Prime Minister Imran Khan who, only a few days back, promised retaliation and the Army Chief, General Qamar[Read More…]

by 26/02/2019 4 comments South Asia, Editor's Picks
Indian Airforce Strikes Pakistan: Another War In The Making?

Indian Airforce Strikes Pakistan: Another War In The Making?

Raising the spectre of another war between nuclear armed South Asian neighbours, India and Pakistan, Indian airforce carried out air strike across the Line of Control (LoC) today morning. The strike was carried out at around 3:30 this morning by 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets. The aircraft dropped 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on a major terror camp across the Line[Read More…]

by 26/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Dialogue Is Golden

Dialogue Is Golden

The Pulwama attack has yet again brought India-Pakistan relations to a new low. The hopes that the stalled dialogue will resume after Indian elections appear to be remote now. Unless there is a global pressure on both countries to resolve Kashmir issue peacefully through negotiations, it seems that both countries are heading towards a major showdown. And in this atmosphere[Read More…]

by 25/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
 War Is No Solution

 War Is No Solution

Saturday morning, I woke up to many a disturbing news on the grapevine. From the Masjid door to  long waiting  at the bakers’ shop for hot loaves of traditional bread,   lots of news about frightening rattling of aeroplanes and helicopters  from 2 A.M in Srinagar, deployment of hundreds of additional companies’ of paramilitary troops in Kashmir to the mid-night  crackdown[Read More…]

by 25/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Pakistan and India: Perspective from Kashmir ( Part II)

Pakistan and India: Perspective from Kashmir ( Part II)

   Collaboration by: JB Graves, Syed Mujtaba According to Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “there is almost total impunity for enforced disappearances” in Kashmir. Enforced disappearance are particularly cruel and subversive to human rights in that they usurp the power of democratic institutions by detaining people without causality. States by law require transparency[Read More…]

by 25/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
South Asian Geopolitics: Saudi Arabia: 1 Iran: 0?

South Asian Geopolitics: Saudi Arabia: 1 Iran: 0?

It may be reading tea leaves but analysis of the walk-up to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit and his sojourn in Islamabad suggests that Pakistan may be about to fight battles on two fronts rather than just the Indian one in the wake of this month’s attacks in Kashmir. Prince Mohammed’s expressions of unconditional support for Pakistan coupled[Read More…]

by 23/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Unlocking the India-Pakistan Dilemma : Twenty Years of ‘Lahore Declaration’ and Missed Opportunities

Unlocking the India-Pakistan Dilemma : Twenty Years of ‘Lahore Declaration’ and Missed Opportunities

Many treaties and agreements in international relations are the natural outcome of conflicts and wars between two or more players. In India-Pakistan relations too, the two major agreements signed between them, the Tashkent Declaration (1966) and the Shimla Pact (1972) were the follow-up of negotiations started in the wake of the 1965 and 1971 wars. But the Lahore Declaration, signed[Read More…]

by 21/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Stop Spreading Hate

Stop Spreading Hate

I have been watching silently some ‘fake’ nationalists on social media and news channels for a few days now. I can’t anymore because now things are on a non sense level. First of all, some of these people don’t even know that CRPF is not army. It is paramilitary force which comes under Ministry of Home Affairs. Jawans of CRPF[Read More…]

by 20/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan-India: Chasing a mirage of victory

Pakistan-India: Chasing a mirage of victory

They have fought wars and played games against each other. They have done everything in their capacity to destroy each other. They are in arms race despite being poor. Apparently they are being exploited by a third party as a result of their conflicts. However they do help each other in election time. If together, they can be growing powers[Read More…]

by 20/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Is Imran Khan a Stooge of Pakistan’s Military?

Is Imran Khan a Stooge of Pakistan’s Military?

During Imran Khan’s four-month sit-in and political demonstrations in front of the parliament in Islamabad from August to December 2014, the allegations of election rigging and the demand for electoral reforms were simply a smokescreen. A question would naturally arise in the minds of curious observers of Pakistan’s politics that what prompted Imran Khan to make a sudden volte-face when[Read More…]

by 19/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan and India: Perspective from Kashmir

Pakistan and India: Perspective from Kashmir

Kashmir, a contentious region since 1947, has been claimed by both Pakistan and India; war, skirmishes, treaties, posturing, the UN, and the threat of nuclear war have cycled between periods of tension and cooperation that have perpetuated both the security dilemma and détente. The independence of India and Pakistan gave birth to regional competition for control over the outlying territory[Read More…]

by 19/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Chest Thumping And War Mongering Must Give Way To Trust, Peace And Friendship

Chest Thumping And War Mongering Must Give Way To Trust, Peace And Friendship

I went to participate in a candle light homage paying event at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s statue organised by about 200 dalit students on Hazratganj main crossing in Lucknow on 16 February, 2019 evening, two days after the dastardly terrorist act in Pulwana, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 37 Central Reserve Polica Forces’ personnel was killed. While the condolence meeting by[Read More…]

by 18/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must walk geopolitical tightrope during Asian tour

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must walk geopolitical tightrope during Asian tour

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s three-nation tour of Asia is as much about demonstrating he stands tall – despite Western criticism of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen – as it is about exploiting geopolitical and economic opportunity. Prince Mohammed is betting on the optics of his visit to Pakistan, India, and China offsetting[Read More…]

by 18/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan’s War on Terror and Ouster of Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan’s War on Terror and Ouster of Nawaz Sharif

In a momentous decision on July 28, 2017, then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding public office by the country’s apex court on the flimsy pretext of holding an “Iqama” (a work permit) for a Dubai-based company, and was subsequently given a ten-year imprisonment sentence, though the latter decision is subject to appeal. Subsequently, sham elections[Read More…]

by 17/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Pulwama Attack: Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy Calls For Peace

Pulwama Attack: Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy Calls For Peace

 ‘How many Deaths will it take till we know That too many people have died?’ PIPFPD is shocked and saddened by the loss of lives of 44 CRPF personnel in a militant attack in Lethapora, Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir. The gruesome manner in which an explosives laden vehicle, driven by a suicide bomber, rammed into a CRPF convoy and the[Read More…]

by 16/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Geopolitics, the black swan in Saudi-Indian relations

Geopolitics, the black swan in Saudi-Indian relations

When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, the elephant in the room is likely to be what weighs more: the issues the two men agree on or the ones that divide them. As a matter of principle, Prince Mohammed and Mr. Modi are likely to take their strategic partnership to a new[Read More…]

by 16/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The Jamaat-e-Islami Does NOT Believe in Democracy: It is an Islamofascist Party

The Jamaat-e-Islami Does NOT Believe in Democracy: It is an Islamofascist Party

As the Jamaat-e-Islami’s founder Maulana Abul A’la Maududi (1903-1979) despised democracy, so do all his adherents. Soon after establishing the Jamaat in 1941, he admired Mussolini and considered him to be his role model. He also called himself the “Amir” or “Dictator/Fuherer” of the Jamaat-e-Islami. The JI chiefs in Bangladesh and Pakistan are still called “Amir”. So, the JI is[Read More…]

by 14/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Detailed 3d rendering closeup of the flag of Pakistan.  Flag has a detailed realistic fabric texture.

Pakistan: How to Change Political Culture of Corruption and Rebuild the Future?

Towards Understanding the Current Affairs Prime Minister Imran Khan impressed the constituents to imagine the phenomenon of “change” as a driving force for future-making.  Was the political power a motivating factor to influence the curious minds of the masses or was it an exercise in self-propagated approach to gain success at a critical juncture of Pakistan’s contemporary history? For too[Read More…]

by 14/02/2019 Comments are Disabled South Asia
Justifying The Right of Tamils to Self-Rule

Justifying The Right of Tamils to Self-Rule

History proves Tamils a homeland [North and East of Sri Lanka] The Kingdom of Jaffna had included a vast region. its boundary has said that Jaffna Kingdom was not confined to the Jaffna Peninsula. It had included the following areas namely Valikamam, Vadamarachi, Thenmarachi, Islands and the parts of Vanni from Mannar to Trincomalee(Perera,S.G.trans, 1930, p.51). The Ariyasakkaravatties, had made[Read More…]

by 11/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
The Great Language Movement of Bangladesh: Some Reflections

The Great Language Movement of Bangladesh: Some Reflections

The “Language Movement” of erstwhile East Bengal/East Pakistan and Bangladesh today was more than a language movement, it was a cultural-political movement for Bangladesh. No wonder, even after the Pakistan Constitution of 1956 had guaranteed Bengali as one of the two state languages along with Urdu, East Bengalis continued to mourn the deaths of half-a-dozen martyrs, who got killed by[Read More…]

by 10/02/2019 6 comments South Asia
‘Muktijuddher Chetona’ – The Spirit of Liberation War: From Slogan to the Substantive

‘Muktijuddher Chetona’ – The Spirit of Liberation War: From Slogan to the Substantive

“Equality, Human dignity and Social justice” – the visionof independent Bangladesh, stipulated at the Proclamation of Independence by the Bangladesh Government-in-Exile on 17th April, 1971 in Mujibnagar In recent times, similar to Trump’s ‘Making America Great Again’ (an exclusionary ultra-right slogan) or Modi’s ‘Achche Din’ (promise of good days through Hindutva ideology that seeks to establish the hegemony of Hindus[Read More…]

by 08/02/2019 1 comment South Asia
Jinnah in J&K High Court in 1936: A great lawyer he was is a historically admitted fact

Jinnah in J&K High Court in 1936: A great lawyer he was is a historically admitted fact

Sheikh M Abdullah in his autobiography [“Blazing Chinar” (Gulshan Books (2016) Chapter 30 titled “Mohammad Ali Jinnah & Myself” at pages 220-231] briefly mentions of an interesting criminal case of 1930s that for peculiarity of its facts had attracted attention of the whole of Kashmir. The Chapter does not divulge the full facts of the case which are, however, adumbrated[Read More…]

by 18/01/2019 1 comment South Asia
Undeliverable Political Settlment For The Tamils And Bankrupt Policies Of Tamil National Alliance

Undeliverable Political Settlment For The Tamils And Bankrupt Policies Of Tamil National Alliance

  The political history of Tamils who inhabited the island before the arrival of Vijaya in 543 BC, a legendary prince, still to be proved by real and documented evidence, has been tarnished with the record of betrayals, pogroms, genocide and massacres in the hands of successive Sri Lankan Governments since 1948.Numerous articles and books have detailed these events locally[Read More…]

by 15/01/2019 1 comment South Asia
Could India Have Remained an Undivided Country?

Could India Have Remained an Undivided Country?

It would be a silly question indeed to ask why December 25th is celebrated. On the other hand, one could ask why it is a national holiday in Pakistan, for it is not because it’s Christmas. By an unusual coincidence it happens to be the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of the country. Exactly how Pakistan came[Read More…]

by 27/12/2018 1 comment South Asia
Pakistan’s Mega Corruption Cases

Pakistan’s Mega Corruption Cases

The Anti-Corruption Court in Islamabad on Monday (December 24) sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to seven years in prison for graft, while a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court to investigate the multi-billion rupees fake accounts scam, has held former President Asif Zardari responsible for the suspicious transactions. Nawaz Sharif could not prove[Read More…]

by 25/12/2018 2 comments South Asia
BJP, Pakistan and the Drag of Political Posturing

BJP, Pakistan and the Drag of Political Posturing

History is replete with examples of political grandstanding by arrogant leaders. At the same time it’s also full of landmark opportunities that they came across to make major course correction. However, no politician worth his tuft has ever had the guts to choose the latter and create history. The territorial dispute over Kashmir between India & Pakistan is one such[Read More…]

by 21/12/2018 Comments are Disabled South Asia
The members of Punjabi Business Association of Canada presenting the letter of thanks to Pakistani Consul in Vancouver Fahad Amjad (third from left)

Pakistanis and Indians come together in Canada to celebrate the opening of Kartarpur corridor

The Pakistani and Indian Diaspora came together in Surrey to celebrate the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, which will provide Sikhs access to their historical gurdwara across the international border. The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, spent the final years of his life in Kartarpur, located close to the now fenced Indo-Pak border in Pakistan. On the 550th birth anniversary[Read More…]

by 20/12/2018 1 comment South Asia
Victory 1971: The traverse of Bangladesh

Victory 1971: The traverse of Bangladesh

Class struggle defined traverse of the Baangaalee people’s victory-1971 in Bangladesh. The people’s War for Liberation achieved the victory by defeating Pakistan in 1971. Dynamics of class struggle also determined pace and forms of the political and other struggles the Baangaalee people were waging since August 14, 1947, the day the British colonial rulers transferred the bifurcated sub-continent to their[Read More…]

by 16/12/2018 1 comment South Asia
Peace is possible between India and Pakistan 

Peace is possible between India and Pakistan 

People choose various methods of resistance when dealing with ideological issues – from outright belligerence and violence to democratic collectivism. It depends on their perspective,  beliefs, or sometimes there is just a selfish agenda. In the long run such methods cannot provide solutions for serious issues which hang on for years, like an incurable ailment which drains the human condition. Let us deal specifically[Read More…]