Across all these traditions, a small minority of extremists sometimes distort religious teachings to justify violence. This is not unique to any one faith. In recent decades, for example, some fringe groups have invoked highly selective interpretations of jihad to justify suicide attacks, claiming spiritual reward. Mainstream Islamic scholars overwhelmingly reject these interpretations. Similar distortions have appeared in other traditions as well
Myanmar links India with ASEAN and BIMSTEC. The Asian Highway is to run to Thailand through Myanmar and much can be done to enhance linkages and cooperation with these organisations through stronger links with Myanmar. Proximity and first mover advantage should not be lost.
There are also questions being raised, quietly in some quarters - more openly in others - about whether broader strategic objectives are at play, including the possibility of regional influence being exercised through existing alignments. Whether such perceptions are accurate or not, they exist and they shape how actions are interpreted.
What emerges from this moment is not a singular crisis but a layered one, shaped by global disruptions, local cost pressures, and structural vulnerabilities. Workers are leaving Delhi not because the city has stopped offering work, but because it has become increasingly difficult to live sustainably in the capital city while working.
Prisons in South Asian countries are overcrowded-- with some countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka having almost double their official capacities-- as most people spend years there as pre-trial detainees in the absence of speedy justice, according to data presented at a conference titled "The Rights of The Incarcerated in South Asia", organized by the South Asia Peace Action Network (SAPAN)
Concerned by reliable reports of harassment of academics in India, the South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University, Germany hosted the webinar "Academic Freedom in South Asia" on 2 August, 2021 in which the following, internationally renowned scholars took part
Kolkata is home to more than 2,000 Chinese, a close-knit community that has made the city its home for decades and arduously hung on to their culture and heritage through generations while making their mark in the tannery, beauty salons, shoe and restaurant businesses in the teeming eastern metropolis
The pandemic has been a blow to countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan as all of them receive billions of dollars annually through remittances of migrant workers abroad
Beginning as a teenager clearing tables and plates at an eatery, 30-year-old Bangladeshi American Nabeel Alamgir has featured on a Forbes list running an online delivery service that saw revenues grow seven times higher in 2020 despite the killer Covid-19 pandemic
Have you ever seen a takin? Chances are an overwhelming majority of people will meet the poser with a baffled look
If you chance to visit Meherpur – a remote village in Bangladesh – you may come across a lanky American national in local attire who has made the country his home for the past 12 years
It is common for doctors and surgeons working in India’s National Capital Region to get Afghan patients
Ending a two-month ban on travelers from South Asian nations following the surge in coronavirus infection in the region, Maldives is to open its borders to these countries from July 15
The Chief Justice of India (CJI), N.V. Ramana, struck a resounding note about the interpretation of the understanding of law per se, when he observed that “It can be used not only to render justice, it can also be used to justify oppression.”
A tweet by a university professor in the Maldives, detailing the benefits (sic) of female genital mutilation (FGM) - a regressive socio-religious practice where the clitoris of a female is removed physically for non-medical reasons-- has sparked controversy in the Indian Ocean archipelago, with many calling for banning the professor from using social media platform
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, once known as a "ladies' man", continues to draw flak over comments perceived as sexist, but party’s women leaders have sprung to his defense calling him a "symbol of women's empowerment"
Pakistan hosts around 2.8 million Afghan refugees, the second biggest refugee population after Syrians in Turkey
There was a time when multinational companies and big brands used to only employ foreign nationals to lead the organization in Bangladesh
The Nepali Army’s foray into the education sector for running a course in agriculture for the public has drawn criticism with observers saying there has to be a line drawn on what the defense forces should and should not do
