COMMENT 135- The why and how of getting the Teesta Agreement signed by India...
The why and how of getting the Teesta Agreement signed by India and Bangladesh
The Teesta water sharing dispute has been simmering between India and Bangladesh for a long time. Despite the derailment of the Teesta negotiations in 2011, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s inability to get the agreement signed...
COMMENT 134- In the shadow of a looming war: How to react to state-sponsored...
In the shadow of a looming war.
How to react to state-sponsored terrorism?
The two nuclear powers India and Pakistan are once again at the edge of a serious crisis. And again, the trigger was a cross-border terrorist incident. On 14 February, 2019, a convoy of security forces was attacked on...
Organic farming in Sikkim
Sikkim’s Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling, proudly presents himself as the leader of the greenest state of India. And indeed, since his first election in 1994, Mr. Chamling has undertaken an impressive array of initiatives on sustainable development - which are universally praised by the United Nations and other international...
11th Bangladesh Parliamentary elections
On Sunday 30 December 2018, Bangladesh witnessed a landslide victory of the ruling Awami League led Grand Alliance in the 11th Parliamentary elections. Together, the Grand Alliance won 288 of 350 seats in parliament, of which 259 seats will belong to the Awami League.
Polling was accompanied by 175 foreign...
Sri Lanka supreme court ruled dissolution of parliament unconstitutional
'Sri Lanka's supreme court has ruled that the president's dissolution of parliament last month was unconstitutional'.
Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46480973
‘Future generations should not suffer as our’s did’: PM Sheikh Hasina dreams of a...
Increasing political and economic ties between the European Union and Bangladesh has also led to a growing interest among European policy makers in this South Asian nation. Little is known about Bangladesh in Europe and to bridge this gap, the Brussels-based South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF) organised...
COMMENT 130- The saga of Asia Bibi
After spending eight years on death row, most part of which she passed in isolation, Aasiya Noreen Bibi (internationally better known as Asia Bibi) has finally been acquitted in a landmark ruling on 31 October 2018.
In 2009, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, fell victim to the Islamic...
COMMENT 129 – Radicalisation and the upcoming elections in Bangladesh
Radicalisation is rapidly on its rise worldwide and is increasingly challenging democracy and secularism, particularly in Bangladesh. Besides earlier processes of religion-based radicalisation, particularly pushed by former military regimes and the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government of 2001 to 2005, several major trends in Bangladesh can be identified today....