Stories about South Asia from January, 2007
Nepal: Madhesh Is Burning
Madhesh is the southern plains of Nepal where half of the country lives. Madhesi are the people of Nepal, roughly half of the country. The Madhesi have been discriminated against for centuries. Now they are in a revolt that feels like the second part of the world shaking April Revolution....
India: Beating the Retreat
Ultrabrown on the Beating The Retreat ceremony – the finale of Republic Day celebrations in India. “What you don’t see in the photos is the gasp when the lights come on all at once. You don’t see the security men pausing dramatically before peeling away from the running boards of...
India: In Korlai
Trivial Matters on Korlai, with some wonderful photographs. “You would be surprised to hear that I am not in Korlai for the views or even the crisp Arabian Sea breeze. I am in Korlai, in a search for haunted forts, fallen churches and a lost Portuguese Creole soon to disappear.”
Sri Lanka: Life down South
groundviews goes to a village down south to catch glimpses of life and ask a few questions. “On the ethnic conflict, they said they didn’t want to see the country divided and that they believed the LTTE was an inhuman organization due to the acts of terrorism.
Nepal: A commune for the masses
Our Dream – A Prosperous Nepal doesn't take too kindly to the Maoist vision of communes and property. “Holy cow!!! A communist ‘commune’ ? Am I in a dream? We have all the evidences from the history to prove that this system failed in almost all the places and it...
South Asia: Forced marriages in the UK
A House of Lords discussion in the UK on forced marriages covered at Pickled Politics. “Lord Lester said that on the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery, it was scandalous that we were turning a blind eye to the sexual and domestic slavery of women; he said is was fully...
Maldives struggles with Chikungunya
Chikungunya, a viral fever accompanied with joint pains, is spreading throughout the Maldives. The disease was first noticed in the country in late 2006 and so far it has not been controlled. Maldives Today accuses the government of reacting slowly to this outbreak and not taking appropriate measures to combat...
Pakistan: A Sufi Shrine in the US
Azad Forever has an original video on the first Sufi saint shrine in the US. “Some 40 miles from Philadelphia, among the rolling hills and tall trees of Chester County, is a Mazar (a shrine), the resting place of Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen the Sufi saint and founder of the...
India: Wild Owls in Kashmir
Wild Kashmir on wild owls. “Trust us Kashmiri's to put our own spin on things and end up on a ‘Wild Owl Chase’. If recent news reports are to be believed, an unknown person is offering a Rs. 30 lakh [approx 70,000 USD] reward for the capture of a 3-kilogram...
India: Bangalore and 2 Blocks
Keith, a Hong Kong born New Zealand Chinese journalist on being in Bangalore during a riot. “Two blocks away, that very night, pro-Saddam mobs clashed with police while youths looted and burned stores. 40 people were injured, and an 11-year-old was killed when police fired at the crowd. In India,...
Pakistan: Lahore and across the border
Prosenoma goes to Pakistan, and discovers much warmth and beauty. “When we segregate people for long, the lines between fact and fiction blur. Our curiosity leads us to lap up any information thrown at us and in order to know the other, we start relying on anything offered – second-hand...
Bangladesh: God and Friendship
Sadiq M.Alam on God, friendship and Islam. “the mainstream islam often come in clash with sufi stream of islam which interestedly emphasize a lot on the inner dimension whereas the orthodox school in most of the cases moves around the periphery of rituals, religious laws etc.”
Bangladesh: Drugs, Sex Education, Freedom of Press, Winter Fruits and Vegetables and Man-Eating Tigers
There seems to be no stopping drug frenzy once it takes hold of a nation. Drishtipat Group Blog tells how Yabba, a speed/amphetamine derivative from Thailand is taking on Bangladesh. It started a few years ago as experiments of the upper class. It has penetrated deeply into the working class...
Iran:3 Female Journalists were arrested in airport
According to Zanestan 3 female journalists and activits for women's rights were arrested today in Iran while they wanted to take a trip to India to participate in a workshop [Fa].Talat Taghinia,Farnaz Seyfi and Mansoureh Shojai were arrested in airport and were sent to Evin prison.
Bangladesh: Demolition Drive
Adda on cleaning up the mess in Bangladesh. “For almost a week Bangladesh is undergoing a huge demolition drive. Bangladesh Police, the Army, and the Municipal Authorities across the country are working very diligently to demolish all illegal structures erected inside the cities and along the highways.”
Bangladesh: The globalization of the internet
The 3rd World View on the globalization of the internet. “Now Bangladesh is under a state of emergency with limited rights (writing against the govt. is prosecutable) but we can see bloggers using irony and satire or even bold languages to say things about the government.”
Pakistan: The Grand Trunk Road
Light Within on that road that inspired a lot of writing. The Grand Trunk Road. “Kabul-Calcutta GT Road runs through many of Pakistan's most historic places starting from Khyber Pass: Peshawar, Lotus Valley of Ghandhara civilization, Attock Fort (built by King Akbar in 1581), Hassan Abdal, Taxila, Potohar Plateau, Fort...
Sri Lanka: Death of a Priest
A citizen journalist at Groundviews on the death of a priest. “The manner in which it which it was reported in the Sinhala media, and the occurrence of similar killings elsewhere in the country, I argue is indicative of the dire peril we are facing with regard to human rights...
The Arabist: Saudi Arabia Persecuting Ahmadis
The Arabist reported today a Human Rights Watch plea to the Saudi monarch urging him to stop presecuting Ahmadis. According to the letter, “Saudi Arabia has so far arrested 56 non-Saudi followers of the Ahmadi faith, including infants and young children, and deported at least 8 to India and Pakistan.”
India, Latin America: Bangalore, a Role Model?
Kamla Bhatt, a resident of Bangalore herself, is intrigued by an argument set forth by Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer who calls the Indian tech metropolis a “role model for Latin America.” Boli-Nica, who usually writes in English, this time addressed [ES] his Spanish-speaking readers with a comparison of Oppenheimer's...
India: Mylapore Festival 2007
Metroblogging Chennai has notes from Mylapore Festival 2007. “Outside, once you cross the archway that proclaims the Mylapore Festival, the city follows the usual Mylapore routine: rickshaw and cycles tinkle along the roads pedestrians squeeze by after office hours and harried home-makers and office-goers alike stop by the pavement to...
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