COMMENT 194 – Resurgent Rebellion in Balochistan
During the last few months, the security situation in Balochistan witnessed an increase in militancy. It seems that the escalating violence in the region is linked with the growing Chinese presence and intensified activities by the Pakistani armed forces and the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). This SADF Comment subscribes to...
COMMENT 193 – The Curious Case of Media ‘freedom’ in Pakistan
Pakistan yet again featured on global headlines when on Tuesday, May 21 2020, a journalist, relatively critical of the country’s military and security agencies, was kidnapped in broad daylight by men in police uniforms. Matiullah Jan, who works in Islamabad, was picked up at around 11 a.m. by 10...
SADF Webinar Series – Why Goa matters to theory
https://youtu.be/pt2wSAA4hr4
On 22 July 2020, the South Asia Democratic Forum hosted in its Webinar Series, Dr Jason Keith Fernandes from the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) who talked on ‘Why Goa matters to theory’. The webinar was moderated by SADF’s Executive Director Mr Paulo Casaca.
Dr Fernandes explained how Goa offers...
WORKING PAPER 22 – Pakistan’s Pandemic Policies
Abstract
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan is not only leading to severe economic and social impacts but is also accompanied by negative political ramifications, particularly for the country’s civil-military relations. Pakistan is also presently hit by one of the worst locust plagues in decades. The federal...
Focus 61 – EU-India Summit: Vision and Mission
Keywords
India, European Union, strategic partnership, multilateralism
India and the European Union are committed to a framework for strategic cooperation until 2025. They have vowed to cooperate in their response to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as within the United Nations Security Council. Towards this end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held...
Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Eulogy of Osama Bin Laden Clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC0hdKu0e9I&t=4s
On 9 July 2020, the South Asia Democratic Forum hosted a webinar on ‘Pakistan's Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Eulogy of Osama Bin Laden’. Guest speakers included, MEP Ryszard Czarnecki (European Conservatives and Reformist Group), Mr Aurang Zeb Khan Zalmay (Editor, The Pashthun Times) and Dr Siegfried O Wolf (SADF Director...
COMMENT 192 – Contextualising Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Eulogy of Osama Bin Laden
On June 25, 2020, Pakistan’s military-backed Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan made a statement in the National Assembly in which he glorified Osama Bin Laden (OBL) as a ‘martyr’, using the term shaheed. This is without doubt a landmark event which needs a closer assessment. This SADF Comment aims...
COMMENT 191 – The Challenge of Terrorism: An Impediment in US-Pakistan Relations
The recently released 2019 United States State Department’s annual country report on terrorism has once again sparked tensions between America and Pakistan. Despite the recent appreciation and acknowledgment of Islamabad’s facilitation of the United States-Taliban peace talks, the State Department in its 2019 report slammed Pakistan for its continued...
SADF Research Report 4 – From Kashmir to Ladakh: the rationale behind Beijing’s border...
Abstract
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in China and the attempts by the country’s leadership to whitewash the course of the spread, the world is facing an extraordinarily high degree of turbulence and an additional, multi-facetted cluster of crises. South Asia too is confronted with unusual obstacles. Arguably,...
FOCUS 60 – The Untold tale of an unending border
Abstract
This piece is an attempt to delve deep into the root causes of the Indo China Border dispute through the use of History and bring out some of the lesser known facts in this longest boundary dispute. This is an issue which has its roots as much in the...