ANALYSIS
Maldives: ‘Political stability’ too is a key to India relations
N Sathiya Moorthy
During his first official visit to New Delhi as Maldives new Foreign Minister recently, veteran Abdulla Shahid reiterated the new government’s ‘India First’ foreign policy. He, however, indicated that his government would adopt what could be described as a compartmentalised approach to the nation’s India-China relations. Better or worse still, on return home, he ended up having to clarify – so did the government of President Mohamed Ibrahim ‘Ibu’ Solih, officially – that there was no move whatsoever to grant any nation (
read: India), a military base, as some sections of the overseas media had reported at the end of Minister Shahid’s New Delhi visit.
Coming as it did ahead of Solih’s maiden overseas visit as President, again to India, Minister Shahid was accompanied in his Delhi trip by counterparts heading economic ministries. This was a clear indication that not only did new Male wanted to restore the old warmth and mutual dependability in bilateral ties that had gone awry under predecessor President Abdulla Yameen, but there were also economic issues where the Solih Government required India’s inputs, in cash, kind and ideas.
According to media reports, Maldives wanted $ 300 million in Indian/foreign aid as immediate budgetary support. Indications are that New Delhi would react favourably to the request when President Solih has his first official meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his upcoming Delhi visit, scheduled to commence on 17 December. They had met earlier at Male, were PM Modi was the only Head of State and Government reportedly invited for President Solih’s Inauguration, exactly a month earlier, on 17 November.
For the record, New Delhi has been extending near-annual budgetary support to Maldives from the days of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was in office for 30 long years from 1978 until the electoral defeat in the nation’s first multi-party presidential polls in 2008. Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too had readily nodded to Gayoom’s democratically-elected successor, President Mohammed ‘Anni’ Nasheed, when the latter visited Delhi after his election a decade ago, in December 2008.
However, select media outlets also speculated that at the end of Minister Shahid’s visit, India had agreed to grant Maldives one billion dollars for the latter to repay a part of the ‘China debt’ incurred by the Yameen regime, in the name of ‘development projects’, including the eye-catching ‘Male-Hulhule’ sea-bridge from the capital to the nation’s premier airport-island. The reports also claimed that the Indian aid was in lieu of Male allowing an Indian military base in Maldives – which is what Shahid and his Foreign Ministry, officially, lost no time in refuting.
Nationalism & religion
There are reasons for Minister Shahid and his ministry, silencing domestic criticism on such speculative reports, before anything of the kind erupted or anything that the existing and possibly emerging ranks of the Solih leadership tried to exploit, locally. A Foreign Minister under President Gayoom, Shahid also belongs to the generation of Maldivians who had toiled as school students, carrying sand during their non-class hours for widening the Male Airport run-way when the British ‘Protector’ of Maldives under a bilateral agreement dating back to the Second World War refused both sanction and funds for the purpose.
At the end of it all, then Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir got the runway widened -- paved the foundation for the Maldives’ famed ‘resort tourism industry’, which is still the backbone of the nation’s economy -- and also got the UK out, declaring Independence in 1965, through another bilateral accord. In seeking ‘development aid’ from China, the Yameen regime purportedly sought to diversify the nation’s excessive dependence on ‘tourism economy’, which has flourished through the 30-year rule of Nasir’s successor in Gayoom, and beyond. Even if to sound positive, Yameen’s is a job half-done, at best, as only the China debt is there for successors to inherit and repay, but without the accompanying jobs, family incomes and national prosperity, to go with – as promised.
Even without the Nasir-driven ‘nationalism drive’, every Maldivian to the present prides his as the only South Asian nation not to have been colonised by a European power. On the contrary, they go back to the 16
th century tale when
Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al-Azam and his two brothers threw out the Portuguese traders operating out of Goa, India, when the latter purportedly tried to spread Christianity in Maldives, full four decades after the nation had taken to what is now described as ‘moderate Islam’.
It is thus that ‘nationalism’ and Islam got embedded in the ‘Maldivian conscience’ early on – not necessarily in that order – with the result, neither could the first multi-party democracy Government of President Nasheed push the Indian GMR ‘airport deal’ through Parliament and public psyche after a point, nor did anyone venture to make the enabling 2008 Constitution as ‘secular’ as his western backers might have expected. It is also that there was little or no local receptiveness to overseas claims of Gayoom/Yameen Governments’ granting a military base to China, nor did India seek one after helping the former to overcome a mercenary coup-bid through
‘Operation Cactus’ in 1988.
There were still two occasions in the recent past when a ‘foreign military presence’ got some mention, locally, too. The first was during the Nasheed regime, when a proposal was doing the rounds for a trilateral Coast Guard base involving India and Sri Lanka, as part of the extended bi-annual
Dhosti exercises since
‘Operation Cactus’, into which post-war Sri Lanka too got roped in. Here the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) would have been in charge, but then the proposal died a natural death when the Nasheed regime began facing trouble from within and street-protests on the twin-issues of Islam and ‘nationalism’, with India’s GMR in focus, all of it leading to the President’s unanticipated exit on 7 February 2012, one and half years’ before his five-year term was due to end.
The other involved the government of Nasheed’s controversial successor President, Dr Mohammed Wahid Hassan Manik, when calculated leaks led to the government dumping US proposal for upgrading the earlier Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) to SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement). The SOFA sought to permit American soldiers to carry their personal weapons on Maldivian territory and exempt them from local laws even in criminal matters. If however the Nasheed-led Opposition MDP could not make a song and dance of their criticism of the Waheed leadership, at least on this score, as they had hoped for, it owed to the fact that the former alone had signed the ACSA in the first place, that too without reportedly taking the nation into confidence.
Poll pact off
Ahead of Solih’s maiden India visit, New Delhi and other overseas friends of his leadership should be watching with concern Maldivian politics since the presidential polls and now leading up to the parliamentary elections, due by March 2019 – and not without reason. Only weeks after Solih became President, party boss Nasheed got their Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to rescind the four-party pact that covered the presidential, parliamentary (March 2019) and even the nation-wide local council polls, due only in 2020.
It is not as if anyone in the coalition or any knowledgeable observer of the Maldivian scene expected the MDP under Nasheed to stick to the deal. They all have had the experience of Nasheed’s presidency, when after defeating well-entrenched incumbent Gayoom with their massive voter-support in the second, run-off round, his MDP ditched one ally after another in quick succession, and ended up handing over Parliament to the then Opposition, DRP, headed by the Gayoom-Yameen duo, half-brothers otherwise.
At the end of the not-so-unexpected, post-poll Supreme Court exoneration in the ‘Judge Abdulla abduction case’ going back to his presidency, Nasheed declared that the verdict had restored his ‘political rights’, something that has once again made President Solih’s apolitical voter-supporters uncomfortable all over again, as they were also the MDP’s backers in the past. On return from self-imposed ‘political asylum’ in the UK and neighbouring Sri Lanka after the presidential polls, Nasheed also declared that he would consider contesting a parliamentary election.
More recently, Nasheed launched his personal campaign for the parliamentary polls in capital Male, and is most likely to clear the party primary, whenever held in the constituency of his choice, uncontested. The main purpose of his election bid was to protect President Solih’s administration, the Maldives Independent quoted Nasheed as declaring at the campaign. Though the MDP National Council has since decided to contest the parliamentary elections on its own, going by the
Maldives Independent report, Nasheed continued with his pre-presidential poll refrain that the four-party coalition that brought Solih to power must also be maintained.
His election to the People’s Majlis too would be a formality. It would then remain to be seen if he would don the mantle of the ‘Leader of the House’, or of the Opposition,
a la President Solih before the latter’s elevation, depending on the final outcome of the parliamentary polls. It would be even more interesting/consequential to see how Nasheed’s ranks of personal loyalists within the MDP view what could then be termed as his ‘come-down’, if he were to at all accept either position, or any post in any of the House panels, of which there are many.
As may be recalled, during the run-up to the presidential polls, he also declared that the party favoured ‘parliamentary government’ (as in neighbouring India and Sri Lanka, which he however did not mention). The MDP had proposed during the 2008 Constitution-making exercise, but failed to carry the nation with it in a Gayoom-centric referendum for the purpose. This time round, Nasheed’s proposal made allies uncomfortable, and their discomfort went beyond the concept part of it, with the Jumhooree Party (JP) ally promptly shooting down the idea as outside the scope of their alliance talks and decisions.
Multi-party contests?
Under the present scheme for parliamentary polls, the MDP will be contesting all 87 parliamentary seats, up from 85 last time, the other three partners, namely, the Jumhooree Party (JP), founded by current Speaker Gasim Ibrahim, religion-centric Adhaalath Party (AP) and Gayoom’s breakaway PPM, otherwise still under Yameen, have decided to contest together. Considering that despite losing the presidential polls, Yameen almost single-handedly polled a very respectable 42 percent vote-share against Solih’s multi-party pool of 58 percent.
In turn, any break-up in the four-party vote-share could well mean that the Yameen-led party or group, even if it were to lose the PPM name-tag in the coming weeks and months (if Gayoom were to get an adversarial court verdict upturned, on appeal), could win a substantial number of parliamentary seats, depending of course on the candidates fielded by individual parties and/or alliances. As per the spread of presidential vote-shares across the nation and across atolls and islands, Yameen’s seat-share may not be even in double-digits if the four-party coalition were to hold and also meets the voter-aspirations under the Solih leadership.
For now, MDP’s Nasheed has declared that they would hold constituency-wise primaries for selecting their candidates, a la the western model injected into the Maldivian scheme since 2008. While this had helped him retain the party’s presidential nomination, time and again, given that he is still possibly the single-most popular leader in the country and most definitely the MDP, Yameen has since begun parliamentary poll work, by re-nominating 24 incumbent PPM parliamentarians and naming another 18 former ministerial and political aides for as many constituencies.
There are also reports of some anti-Yameen, non-party individuals and groups with a proven base in individual constituencies, islands and atolls may consider contesting and fielding candidates, either as ‘lone wolfs’ or jointly. It is not as if any or many of them could win seats. However, their presence might upset the four-party coalition’s earlier calculations, now that the MDP has decided to go it alone, as in the first multi-party parliamentary elections of 2009, only months after they all had helped Nasheed become President.
Debt-equity swap
India’s concerns on the Yameen front purportedly related to the ‘China factor’, that too in relation to geo-strategic security, forced by excessive debt, to clear which Maldives at some point may be forced to part with territory, as neighbouring Sri Lanka ended up doing on the Hambantota Port deal, in the name of ‘debt-equity swap’. As may be recalled, in the Sri Lankan case, the swap-deal was done by the supposedly India-friendly Sirisena-Wickremesinghe twin-leadership, which too has split since.
In the case of Sri Lanka, China has repeatedly claimed that its share of the nation’s debt was only 10/14 percent of the total national debt. In Maldives’ case, the Solih Government has since clarified that the China debt amounted only to $ 1.5-b, and not $ 3-b, as claimed by the MDP leadership, both before and after the presidential polls. Of this, only $ 800-million-plus has been used up, and even there, the Solih Government has promised to investigate local corruption in disbursements and usage – if only to ‘fix’ the Yameen leadership, if it came to that.
Whatever the reason, such promises to ‘expose’ the predecessor Rajapaksa Government on the ‘China debt front’ is not even among the cases that the successor leadership had initiated over the past nearly four years since coming to power in January 2015, before they too fell apart. Whatever the course the anti-corruption drive in Maldives takes on this score in the coming months and years, for any nation wanting to have China out of Maldives would need to facilitate re-payment to China, on terms agreeable to both debtor and creditor.
Unless global nations uncomfortable with China’s credit-driven ‘expansionism’ come to an agreement on ‘liberating’ almost all such ‘victims’ of an existing or emerging ‘debt-trap’ by putting their heads and moneys together, news reports of India offering $ 1 b to Maldives can lead to more problems than solving any, for any or all of the stake-holders. Read between the lines, Minister Shahid’s observation that ‘India and China cannot replace each other’ in the Maldivian context, too, needs to be taken in context.
No real harm?
Despite New Delhi taking strong and unprecedented positions on ‘democracy in Maldives’, as different from the much-hyped China factor, about which no official mention was ever made, even under Yameen’s leadership, despite the Maldivian protests, no real harm came to the two helicopters that India had donated to the MNDF, and to their personnel when New Delhi procrastinated on taking them back, despite Male’s repeated directions to do so. Nor did the Yameen Government shy away, during the period, from sending to Vishakapatnam, the Coast Guard ship that India had donated for re-fit.
Post-Yameen, the India-Maldives-Sri Lanka trilateral
‘Dhosti’ exercises have re-commenced, the refitted vessel has returned to Maldives. In terms of foreign policy, ‘India First’ has returned to mean what it used to be, and not just in words as became the case half-way through the Yameen regime. But that is only a part of it all. On this front, Yameen, unfurled a new ‘Foreign Policy’ within weeks of becoming President after a controversial election in November 2013, which he claimed laid stress on making Maldives ‘economically independent’ (of India, post-GMR?), so as to help in an ‘independent foreign policy’ (pro-China?).
A lot, particularly on the ground, would depend on how stable the Solih Government becomes post-parliamentary polls, when the Vice-President Faisal Naseem, Speaker Gasim Ibrahim, and the current Leader of the House, Abdulla Riaz, former police chief, all belong to the JP. In turn, all this too may have consequences over the medium and long terms, especially if the parliamentary polls were to throw up a few surprises for the MDP leadership and/or the Solih presidency.
The writer is a Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter
Afghanistan: ‘Bacha-Bazi’, a practice which ruined childhoods
Sohini Bose
An ancient Afghan custom involves young boys being forced to dress up as women. They are forced to wear fake breasts, make up and jewellery and made to dance in front of an audience of elder men comprising typically of the wealthier members of Afghan society. Very often, these dances end with the boys being molested and sexually assaulted by these rich patrons. This practice of sexual exploitation and entertainment commonly known as
“Bacha Bazi” resurfaced in its modern avatar in the 19
th century.
The boys involved are referred to as
“bacha bareesh” or those who have not yet grown their beards and usually belong to the age group of 10 to 18 years. It was once restricted to the backward rural areas but as the Afghan culture continued to be dominated by misogyny, male-domination, illiteracy and poverty, this practise of compelling these young boys into sexual enslavement has percolated to all parts of the country. This is, however, not an act of homosexuality but is a custom which symbolises power. It is also often indulged in by the Afghan forces and the Afghan National Army.
Traumatic plight
The young boys from poor families are bought or kidnapped by the patrons. Poverty is so severe that the families often vie with each other to sell their sons to the chiefs with proclamations of their beauty and dancing skills. But very often the imprisoned children try to break free of their captivity. However, most of their attempts result in failures and they are beaten mercilessly resulting in severe injuries. Even if they do manage to break free, they cannot return home. They are constantly on the move, chased by the traumatic fear that they will be kidnapped once again. They also are often sold off or abandoned when they grow off age.
Most families also do not want their sons back for fear of tainting their family honour. But these boys possess no meaningful skills or education apart from dancing which will ensure them a livelihood. Therefore sometimes the only escape route is to forge a secret partnership with the Taliban who are likely to assist them in taking revenge on their perpetrators stationed within the Afghan Force.
Many also become predators themselves or continue with sex work. However, some families are more liberal and arrange for medical attention for their sons if they return. But shame continues to shroud their initiatives. Doctors from Afghanistan reports that the families complain that their child is having a bowel problem. Upon closer examination it is very often found that the child in concern has been raped and needs to be stitched up.
The Taliban regime had outlawed this practise in the 1990’s, making it a criminal offence to be punished by death as it was un-Islamic and incompatible with the Sharia law. From 1990 to 2001, the practice became a taboo and was pursued sparsely and in secret. It re-emerged in the new millennium once the Taliban were overthrown by the US forces. Unlike the Taliban’s harsh punishments, subsequent efforts to put an end to the practice have not been very successful because of government corruption and the reluctance of the US to involve themselves in domestic Afghan affairs.
International indifference
This obscene violation of humanitarian rights is also treated with indifference by the international community. US commanders consider “Bacha Bazi” to be a part of Afghan culture and therefore leave it to be penalised by Afghan domestic criminal law. This might also be a way to ensure that the Afghan forces fight on their side against the Taliban. Moreover, American commanders who have tried to protest against the practise of
“Bacha Bazi” have often been murdered and this has prompted a new security measure where in the soldiers are asked to ignore child sexual abuse by their Afghan counterparts.
The US had earlier commissioned Afghan military units to investigate any instances of gross human rights violation as that would put a stop to America’s military aid to the country as demanded by the Leahy Law. However, another provision of the US law states that Afghan military aid should be available “notwithstanding any other provision of law.” This clause has prevented US military aid from being cut off to Afghanistan. Moreover, a report, prepared by the US Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) on the issue of sexual enslavement of children in Afghanistan, shed little light on how involved the Afghan police and military were in the practise of child abuse or how indifferent the American officials remained to such incidents. However international condemnation regarding the lack of action on
“Bacha Bazi” has grown in recent years.
At home
Until recently, Afghanistan’s justice system lacked defined laws on the practice of
“Bacha Bazi”. To remedy this situation, in 2017 the Afghan government undertook efforts to criminalise this practise and revised the Penal Code. Amongst its new feature an entire chapter has been dedicated to criminalising the practice and the perpetrators of the crime are likely to face life imprisonment. Article 15 in Chapter V also criminalises the participation in any event that are organised to enjoy this act. Moreover, Article 660 of Chapter 5 specifies that if any member of the Afghanistan National Security forces is found involved in this practice, he would be charged with imprisonment for up to 15 years.
However, the success of this revised penal code depends on its proper implementation by the judicial system of the country. It must be understood that “Bacha Bazi” is a form of a culturally sanctioned rape of the male child and only the reforms which bring about a change in culture involving religious condemnation and interaction with the locals will be effective. The real perpetrators must be punished and the culture of victimising the victim must end. US must further take a more active stance in eliminating this practice in its efforts to establish a free and safe Afghan society in the post war future.
The writer is a Research Assistant at Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata
COUNTRY REPORTS
Afghanistan
IEC upholds Kabul elections
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan has nullified the Independent Election Complaints Commission’s (IECC) decision for invalidating the votes. It had been announced that the votes cast in the Kabul parliamentary elections were invalid due to legal issues. IEC has called declared this announcement illegal, biased and one which has been taken in haste. The Commission has been asked to continue with its work and the results of the election are scheduled to be announced next week.
US envoy meets Pak PM
Amb Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy for Afghan peace, met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss the activities of the reconciliation in Afghanistan. Khan reiterated his country’s ‘abiding interest’ in achieving lasting peace in the neighbouring country. US President Donald Trump had earlier sent a request to Khan requesting his support in the Afghanistan peace process. Meanwhile a Taliban delegation led by Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai has visited Pakistan to consult Mullah Hebatullah, the leader of the group.
Bangladesh
Khaleda loses candidacy
By a 3-1 verdict, the Election Commission (EC) has rejected jailed Opposition BNP president Khaleda Zia’s nomination to contest the parliamentary polls, now re-scheduled to be held on 30 December. Claiming that the court verdicts and pending cases against her did not relate to elections, her lawyers said that they would contest the EC decision in the High Court.
Bhutan
Cardamom exports to India halted
The country’s cardamom export to India has come to a complete halt since November 28. Cardamom was still traded informally but the customs officesacross the border have now stopped the Bhutanese spice from getting through without the prerequisite documents. Export of cardamom has been affected ever since the Indian Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Austrian team holds talks
A delegation from Austria visited the country from 1-6 December, to explore potential areas of cooperation with the Bhutanese government and the business community. The Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry holds that Austria’s expertise in agriculture, hydropower, tourism and manufacturing industries makes it a potential investor for Bhutan.
Not to seek more aid from India
For the first time, Bhutan will not seek more grant from India for its Five-Year Plan since development cooperation between the two countries begun in 1961. The 12
th Five-Year Plan size is Nu 310 billion, of which the current expenditure is Nu 194 billion while capital expenditure mainly for new constructions is Nu 116 billion. Bhutan’s internal revenue will cover Nu 218 billion. Bhutan will be seeking Nu 63 billion in grants from various developmental partners is Nu 63 billion grant of which Bhutan will seek Nu 45 billion from India, which is the same contribution as in the 11
th Plan.
India
UP mob lynches cop
A police inspector was killed in clashes with a group of protesters in Bulandshahr's Syana in Uttar Pradesh over reports of cow slaughter. One of the protesting civilians was also killed in the violent clashes. The clashes took place after the police officers tried to placate any angry group of people that was protesting against illegal animal slaughter. A senior police officer said that locals came across body parts of a cow and its progeny in a jungle in the Mahaw village. The villagers then loaded the animal remains on to tractor-trolleys and took them to a police station demanding action.
New CEA named
The government on 7 December appointed Krishnamurthy Subramanian as chief economic advisor. His appointment is for a period of three years. A professor from the Indian School of Business, Krishnamurthy Subramanian fills the role vacated by Arvind Subramanian, who left the finance ministry in June this year.
Maldives
MDP to go it alone
After winning the all-important presidential polls against controversial incumbent Abdulla Yameen at the head of a four-party coalition, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has decided to violate their purported futuristic accord by deciding to contest alone in the parliamentary polls of March 2013. Following up on his pre-Inauguration declaration on this, and also his indication to contest the parliamentary polls MDP boss Mohammed ‘Anni’ Nasheed that he wanted to become an MP only to ‘protect’ the Government of President Mohamed Ibrahim ‘Ibu’ Solih, and also called for the continuance of the alliance.
Myanmar
China aid still on
According to figures from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 900,000 Rohingyas have fled violence in northern Rakhine to neighbouring Bangladesh and more than 100,000 additional Rohingya fled to elsewhere in Southeast Asia since August 2017 when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army terrorists launched attacks on police outposts in Rakhine. Last week, the Chinese embassy in Myanmar provided humanitarian assistance, including commodities and medicines, to displaced persons in Kachin state. Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang pledged to continue supporting the development of social welfare, economy, education and health for the people in Kachin state.
Japanese vocational training
Japanese technical staffing firm Altech has launched a high-level vocational training facility in Myanmar to help meet Japan's manpower needs, focusing on the elderly care and agriculture sectors. The vocational training facility is managed by the Greater Mekong Initiative, an organisation established in 2006 to support young people in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. After candidates complete the training program, Altech will select qualified workers from among the trainees for employment in its workplaces in Japan with a three-year contract with handsome salary.
Nepal
PHSC in action
The efforts of the country to imbibe the new framework of governance have been going on successfully. In this regard, the Public Hearing Special Committee held an interaction with former Nepalese ambassadors recently. In this meeting, the role, responsibilities and future appointments of the ambassadors were discussed. This appears to be an effort to reinforce the global position of the country.
Damak work on
The much speculated and anticipated Damak Clean Industrial Estate, to be built in assistance with Chinese funding, has begun. The process started with the land acquisition and financial compensation mechanisms that would involve 2, 200 bighas (1 bigha is equal to 0.4 acre) of land also involving embankments around the Ratuwa River.
FMs’ meet with China
China and Nepal have yet again demonstrated their stronger bilateral ties, through the twelfth meeting of the Joint Consultation Mechanism between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs between the two countries. The talks will be held on 13. One of the principal agendas of the meeting is supposedly the projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Such bilateral meetings have been going on since 1996.
Pakistan
Not a ‘hired gun’
In a recent interview, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan expressed his hope to establish proper ties with the US, similar to the one that the country enjoys with China. He does not want Pakistan to go on being treated like a ‘hired gun’ as it is costing loss of lives and devastating the tribal areas. Khan wants trade to be the focus of his alliance with USA and expressed his disdain about the imperialistic approach in partnerships.
Mid-term polls ‘ desirable’
The former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has welcomed the present Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks about early elections and claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is ready for a contest. He further claimed that if the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf wanted to go for midterm elections it would be a blessing for the Pakistani people to be rid of this government. According to Nawaz Sharif the PML-N will win an election in any6 given point of time.
Sri Lanka
Judgment reserved
A seven-member Bench of the nation’s Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Nalin Perera, has reserved the judgment in the ‘Parliament dissolution case’ after hearing counsel for various petitioners and respondents, including the Attorney-General. In doing so, the court also ordered the extension of the interim stay on the presidential notification until the pronouncement of the verdict.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Afghanistan
Opinion Pieces
Mujib Mashsal and Fahim Abed, “Afghan Election Dispute Brews as U.S. Pushes for Peace Talks”, The New York Times, 6 December 2018
Mohammad Zahir Akbari, “Reactions to Collective Transfer of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs”, Daily Outlook Afghanistan, 5 December 2018
Editorials
Daily Outlook Afghanistan, “Afghanistan – From Tribal Code of Conduct to Democratic Constitution”, 6 December 2018
Afghanistan Times, “Kandahar explosion”, 3 December 2018
Afghanistan Times, “We deserve peace”, 1 December 2018
Bangladesh
Opinion Pieces
Syed Badrul Ashan, “The dirty war against Kamal”, Dhaka Tribune, 5 December 2018
Editorials
Dhaka Tribune, “Leading from the front”, 6 December 2018
Bhutan
Editorials
Kuensel, “Cardamom trade needs attention”, 4 December 2018
The Bhutanese, “Projects must benefit locals”, 1 December 2018
India
Opinion Pieces
Christopher Jaffrelot, “Farmers and others”, The Indian Express, 7 December 2018
Sandip Roy, “Guide for NRIs resettling in India after Trump throws them out”, The Print, 6 December 2018
Editorials
The Hindu, “A moving menace: on mob violence”, 5 December 2018
Maldives
Opinion Pieces
Dinnushika Dissanayake, “Maldives: A flicker of hope amidst a turbulent year for human rights”, Maldives Independent, 9 December 2018
Myanmar
Opinion Pieces
Kyaw Phyo Tha, “Information Minister Embraces the Propaganda Machine He Inherited”, The Irrawaddy, 6 December 2018
Aung Zaw, “U Than Shwe Shows His Hand”, The Irrawaddy, 3 December 2018
Nepal
Opinion Pieces
Kamal Dev Bhattarai, “Reframing foreign policy”, Republica, 6 December 2018
Krishna Hachhethu, “The reluctant federalist”, The Kathmandu Post, 7 December 2018
Bijendra Man Shakya, “Economic woes abound”, The Kathmandu Post, 5 December 2018
Editorials
The Kathmandu Post, “A place to call home”, 6 December 2018
Pakistan
Opinion Pieces
Nadir Cheema, “Pakistan’s current account in cross-countries perspective”, Dawn, 7 December 2018
Syed Mohammad Ali, “Securing land rights for Pakistani women”, The Express Tribune, 7 December 2018
Editorials
The Express Tribune, “INGO clampdown”, 7 December 2018
Dawn, “Alternative energy”, 7 December 2018
Sri Lanka
Opinion Pieces
D B S Jeyaraj, “Mahinda’s hurried backdoor power grab and the Gotabhaya facto”, Daily Mirror Online, 8 December 2018
Amb Robert Blake, “The Rajapaksas, the SLPP and the Indo-Pacific Great Game”, Daily Mirror Online, 7 December 2018
Kusal Perera, “Where are the people?”, Daily Mirror Online, 7 December 2018
Kelum Bandara, “UNP, JVP mull over impeaching Prez”, Daily Mirror Online, 6 December 2018
C A Chandraprema, “The practical effect of imposing restrictions on dissolution of Parliament”, The Island, 5 December 2018
N Sathiya Moorthy, “In the name of the law”, Ceylon Today, 4 December 2018
Jehan Perera, “Finding a win-win solution to break the deadlock”, The Island, 4 December 2018
N Sathiya Moorthy, “War crimes probe by another name”, Colombo Gazette, 3 December 2018
Contributors
Afghanistan & Pakistan: Sohini Bose
Bangladesh: Joyeeta Bhattacharjee
Bhutan: Mihir Bhonsale
India: Ketan Mehta
Maldives & Sri Lanka: N Sathiya Moorthy
Myanmar: Sreeparna Banerjee
Nepal: Sohini Nayak
Coordinator: Sreeparna Banerjee
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