For Bangladesh’s Hindus, each funeral deepens the message that their lives are negotiable and their suffering invisible. If this trajectory continues unchecked, the country risks normalizing a culture of impunity that will ultimately consume more than one community. Violence ignored does not fade; it spreads. And the price of silence, as history repeatedly shows, is always paid in lives.
Keen observers of international and regional politics will not have missed the tacit presence of the invisible hand of the US in determining the democratic transition in Bangladesh. Obviously, TarIque had been tutored by the Americans about the best way forward for the transition towards democratic rule and delivering on the promises on cooperation on regional security. The intelligentsia inside the country could have hoped for Tarique referring to ‘’historical’’ figures from the Indian subcontinent, the Muslim world, and Bangladesh’s past.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Charter, by contrast, establishes no regional human rights treaty, monitoring body, or court. Scholars emphasize that governments in the subregion demonstrate a lack of deep commitment to human rights and remain unwilling to acknowledge subregional solutions. Victims of systemic violations have no forum for binding adjudication.
This fully unfettered approach to everything Trump does also has serious consequences for India. At least through the duration of the Trump administration until 2028, the Modi government will have to spread around its geostrategic and geoeconomic needs among various countries such as Japan, Australia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom or collectives such as the European Union, even as it deals with America with some judicious leveraging.
Pakistan is good at making policies but very bad at implementing them. The negligence of the Pakistan government in making development and business entities follow the EMP procedure has neither been debated nor discussed nor followed by strong laws, writes Furqan Hyder Shaikh for South Asia Monitor
The likelihood of more rebellions against the Imran Khan government and army threatens to tear asunder the fragile religious and societal fabric of Pakistan, writes Pranay Kumar Shome for South Asia Monitor
Many lessons could be learned from Indira's murder. The first is that there will be repercussions for repression and authoritarian tendencies; and second, political power should not be used for partisan goals, write Dr Vineeth Mathoor & Sunil Kumar for South Asia Monitor
For the first time, Biegun made it clear through his visit that Bangladesh has strategic importance. This is for the first time an attempt has been made by the US to engage Dhaka directly since China took several proactive measures to help Bangladesh deal with COVID-19, writes Swadesh Roy for South Asia Monitor
Even during the rule by earlier ‘proxies’ of which Nawaz was certainly one, the military was not exposed to attacks like the ones at the three back-to-back opposition rallies through October at Gujranwala, Karachi, and Quetta. This is an unprecedented situation. The Army has lost some of its image as the nation’s ‘saviour,’ writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Given the enormity of the challenge - there are nearly a dozen classical and more than 150 folk dance forms in India - efforts to support artists need to be scaled and replicated throughout the country, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor
Most major Asian nations have deep concerns about Chinese assertiveness and hegemonic orientation under President Xi Jinping, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The attention of the current regime in Pakistan will be diverted to firefight for survival and inevitably delays the implementation of crucial reforms to strengthen the economy, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
According to the Bangladesh National Woman Lawyer Association, every year an average of 11 women in the country commit suicide due to cybercrime, writes Monira Nazmi Jahan for South Asia Monitor
The inhibitions of the Indian government to upgrade relations with Taiwan are baffling. It stems from keeping the military out of strategic security formulations, status quo bureaucratic advice and needless fear of China, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The recent deadly clashes between the two Rohingya groups at the camp in Cox's Bazar has posed a major security threat to Bangladesh, writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor
If rape in India is to be meaningfully addressed, the onus lies on society to review and correct deeply ingrained socio-cultural norms and practices that are inherently biased against women and the girl child, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
As Pakistan enters its winter of discontent, yet again, Maryam Nawaz has emerged as a front-ranking leader in a male bastion, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
China is enabling Pakistan to set up a network-enabled warfare capability with satellite feeds to monitor the Indian Ocean Regions (IOR) like the Indian Navy employs Centrix provided by the US Navy, writes Cmde Ranjit B. Rai (retd) for South Asia Monitor
In the BJP’s case, the arrogance bred by two successive general election victories convinced the party that it was now in a position to do more or less whatever it wanted, of which the first and foremost was the implementation of its longstanding desire to abolish Article 370, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
