South Asian Digests
Afghanistan: Hekmatyar ready to join hands wi...
September 22, 2020
Everest's legendary 'snow leopard' Ang Rita S...
September 22, 2020
Pakistan rejects nomination of 'senior' India...
September 22, 2020
105-year-old, one of oldest WWII veterans, di...
September 22, 2020
Turkey to the rescue amid onion shortage in B...
September 22, 2020
Maldives: Over 20,000 international arrivals...
September 19, 2020
Bhutan’s GDP growth projection for 2020 revis...
September 19, 2020
Scientists find world's oldest sperm in Myanm...
September 18, 2020
Top News
Reality check shows case for new South Asian organization including China
September 22, 2020
| By: Afsan Chowdhury
India it seems is the most anxious country in South Asia. Its traditional sway over the region is being challenged as other countries here are rising. It is not 1947 when India was born nor is it 1971 when India fashioned the region its way.
However, while 1971 was a great year it also marked the beginning of change. A new state Bangladesh was bornand its birth brought about changes in the region. Changes in...
South Asian Brief
India Sets Coronavirus Record
Welcome to South Asia Brief, the weekly newsletter that keeps you up to date on a region that is home to one-fourth of humanity. Today: India sets a worldwide record for the most coronavirus cases in a single day, Pakistanis express outrage over rape, Bangladesh...
Reports
Why are India’s farmers and politicians opposing...
September 22, 2020
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By: Manavi Kapur
India’s parliament was operational on a Sunday for the first time ever, because the pandemic delayed and shortened the monsoon session. But it was a day for another first.
The upper house of Indian parliament Sunday (Sept. 20) passed two agricultural reform bills by a...
Taliban, Afghan negotiators far apart on basic i...
September 22, 2020
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By: SAM Report
The Afghan government and Taliban remain far apart on even the most basic issues a week into talks meant to end two decades of war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The chasm, not just on the predictably thorny problem of a ceasefire...
Myanmar political party withdraws election broad...
September 22, 2020
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By: San Yamin Aung
Myanmar’s Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS) has cancelled its election broadcasts on state-owned media after facing censorship.
From Sept. 8 to Nov. 6, political parties running in the election are allowed to deliver campaign speeches and explain their policies in 15-minute broadcasts. So...
OIC Contact Group on Kashmir calls for ending In...
September 22, 2020
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By: SAM Staff
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, which met in New York on Sunday, voiced “deep concern” over the continued human rights violations by India in occupied Kashmir, and called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Security Council and the...
SAM Special
Despite Kabul-Taliban talks, Afghan peace process is still dicey
September 22, 2020
| By: Cheng Xizhong
On September 12, the Afghan government and the Taliban started their direct peace talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar. This is the first direct negotiation between the Afghan government and the Taliban since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
In 2001, the United States launched the global war on terror and occupied Afghanistan through military operations. At that time, the Afghan Taliban were regarded as the patron of Al Qaeda, and its regime...
Issues
Border stand-off: India ‘expects China to stand...
September 22, 2020
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By: Kunal Purohit
The top commanders of the Chinese and Indian armies met on Monday at Moldo, on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in a fresh bid to ease their months-long stand-off – with New Delhi expected to maintain its stance that Beijing...
The Intra-Afghan dialogue is good news for Pakis...
September 22, 2020
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By: Syed Ali Zia Jaffery
Earlier this month, the much-awaited, all-important intra-Afghan dialogue began in Doha, Qatar. This is the first time that the Taliban and representatives from the Afghan government are directly engaged in negotiating the future of their country. In the United States-Taliban agreement, signed in February 2020,...
Army infections unmask India’s struggle to susta...
September 22, 2020
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By: Li Jie
The Indian Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said at a meeting on September 16 that about 20,000 Indian military personnel have been infected with COVID-19 so far.
For the government's interest, India may still insist on sending troops to the China-India border. As...
The trouble with torpedoing India’s plan for a t...
September 22, 2020
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By: Commodore Udai Rao (Retd)
India it appears is all set to torpedo its plans for a second indigenous aircraft carrier, just as China prepares to surge in to the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) with her aircraft carrier group. This, even as India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-1) Vikrant-under construction...
Opinion
Justice & the Rohingya people are the losers i...
September 22, 2020
| By: Simon Tisdall
Defence
Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia start one of wor...
September 22, 2020
| By: SAM Staff
UAE arms maker offers to make assault rifles i...
September 22, 2020
| By: SAM Staff
Editor`s Choice
India’s silenced parliament
By: Shashi Tharoor
After a nearly six-month hiatus, the Indian parliament will reconvene in mid-September at a time of deepening national crisis. But I fear that it may...
The making of a Hindu India
By: Uday Chandra
On August 5, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a Hindu temple in the northern city of Ayodhya. This fulfilled the...
Why US Indo-Pacific strategy will fail
By: Ken Moak
Since Donald Trump was elected to the US presidency, he has expanded the Asia-Pacific region to include the Indian Ocean, renaming the enlarged area “Indo-Pacific”...
Focus
India
Why the Indian state is now scared of the Kashmiri Shia
September 21, 2020
| By: Raashid Maqbool
On August 29, the 10th day of the holy month of Muharram, known as Ashoura, Indian forces fired pellets and tear gas shells to disperse hundreds of Shia Muslims participating in a traditional religious procession in Indian-administered Kashmir, seriously injuring dozens of people.
Security forces besieged Shia mourners in the Zadibal area of Srinagar, forcing them to seek shelter in residential compounds, as tear gas shells and pellets rained on them. I saw young boys...
If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC.
New BBC director general Tim Davie on social media.
Video
South Asian Monitor news headlines 22 September 2020 September 22, 2020
Demonstration Project of Teesta River Comprehensive Manageme... September 2, 2020
Childhood in Kashmir: In the face of gun barrels July 9, 2020
Turkish Nobel laureate focuses on the collabo...
September 21, 2020
The sighs and solitude of a despairing city:...
September 13, 2020
Nepali Afghanistan and Iraq victims seek comp...
September 1, 2020
Pranabda rose to be Indian President but the...
September 1, 2020
After seven decades, the children of Partitio...
August 30, 2020
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Tiger
August 29, 2020
Travel bug: Why tourism in Asia will never be...
August 28, 2020
MS Dhoni departs cricket with the sport now s...
August 23, 2020