I’ve wanted to touch on a major development in Indian politics: the partition of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Residents of Hyderabad and its surrounding environs claimed, in the most basic sense, that the surrounding rural areas were depriving them of its proper share of economic growth/wealth. After a dramatic hunger strike, by K. Chandrasekhar […]
1) (Dawn, Pakistan) Iran Husain tackles a fundamental issue in South Asian affairs: Pakistan as a security state. 2) (The Daily Star, Lebanon) Saif Nasrawi examines a growing political trend in Egypt. 3) (Hindustan Times, India) The Indo-Chinese climate change axis. 4) (Dar al-Hayat, Lebanon) Abdullah Iskandar on the Kurdish question and democratic government in […]
An interesting discussion about whether India should send troops to Afghanistan at the blog, Acorn. Most of the people think that it would be an imprudent move to get involved militarily in Afghanistan. Some of the most recurring concerns are about the protests from Pakistan, the effect such involvement would have on the situation in […]
Copenhagen climate conference opened today. 1) Mayor of Kabul sentenced to four years for corruption. 2) Russia and India signed a nuclear agreement. 3) Iraq election law dispute resolved—for now. 4) Somalis are protesting the brutal bombing last week that killed three government ministers along with medical school graduates and their families. Al Shabbab, the […]
1) Anders Aslund in FP writes that including Russia in BRIC isn’t accurate. I made a similar point here. 2) India is floating withdrawing a “significant” number of troops from Kashmir, a move which could only help the tattered Indo-Pakistani relationship. 3) The EU has been increasingly vocal lately on East Jerusalem, most ominously—in Israel’s […]
In an interview with the Pragati magazine, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said that India has a special advantage over many other countries in its relations with Africa. Comparing India’s standing in Africa to that of China and the West he said, “they (African countries) see a country that is accessible, […]
I’m going to reserve final judgment until I see text of President Obama’s remarks, or the speech itself, but here are a few things to watch for tonight: 1) How many times Obama uses the word “India” or “Indian”—focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan is fine, but leaving the elephant in the room (the Indo-Pak relationship) […]
1) Louis Uchitelle, in the New York Times, despairs about the lack of infrastructure superprojects. I’m in firm agreement. 2) Indian business practices are apparently not up to par, according to this piece on Indian-Americans returning to their home country. Money quote: “Some very simple practices that you often take for granted, such as being […]
Focusing mostly on the one-year anniversary of the Mumbai attacks (Nov. 26-29): 1) Interview with Fareed Zakaria in the Hindustan Times. 2) This headline in the Wall Street Journal says it all, doesn’t it? 3) The last thing South Asia needs is a war of words between India and China. India defense minister A.K. Antony: […]
Over the next 20 years, Pakistan’s population will grow by 85 million people. This raises a multitude of questions regarding the future of Pakistan as not just a stable country—it is clearly not that already—but as a country at all. Pakistan is already overpopulated, with 180 million people—two thirds of which are under 30. The […]
Last year this time I was busy planning my first Thanksgiving when terror struck Mumbai once again. Earlier that year there was a chain of explosions across various cities, and I thought this was a continuation of the same. But it was much more than crude bombs planted in rickshaws and cycles. So instead of […]
Bangladesh is becoming enmeshed in the broader regional strategy by which political Islamists in Bangladesh and Pakistan might bring down secular governments and establish a wider Islamic emirate. I want to propose that Bangladesh has been chosen as the alternative ground from which Pakistani militants will launch attacks into India. Before I get to […]
Returning from two weeks in India – with my mind full of thoughts, I came across Hans Rosling’s video from Ted India. I adore how excited Rosling is about statistics (b/c I’m not), and think GapMinder is quite clever (b/c helps people like me to “get it”). Since my mind tends probe the non-Western experience, […]
I’ve been following reports that three Bangladeshi men affiliated with Lashkar E Taiyeba and Harkatul Jihad al Islam have been implicated in a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This story just got a lot more interesting and puzzlingly complicated. Even though the piece is […]
1) Speculation in Pakistan is increasing over whether President Asif Ali Zardari will survive in office much longer. The constant threat of military coups is the elephant in the room, especially after Zardari attempted to place the ISI under civilian control. Moreover, Pakistani politics are riddled with ever-shifting alliances and corrupt political actors lacking any […]