Reckoning with the Past

Despite the symbolic references to the fall of Dhaka and secession of East Pakistan in our everyday politics, the tragedy appears to mean little, at least for the generation that grew up in the post-1971 days. There is a general apathy and lack of understanding towards this dark episode of history in the younger generation-thanks…

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Afghan Coundrum

The 8th Worldwide Security Conference in Brussels organized by the EastWest Institute (EWI), one of the world’s leading think tanks, in cooperation with the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Financial Times, in Oct 2011 focussed on (1) sharpening appreciation of the existing security dynamics in Southwest Asia with particular emphasis on Afghanistan (2) analysing…

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Plight of Burmese Muslims

Recent upsurge in violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has highlighted the regime’s complete disregard for basic human rights. While the international conscience awakens slowly, the Muslim minority has already suffered a colossal spell of ethnic cleansing. Accounting for over one-third of the total population of Myanmar, 800,000 Rohingyas are neither recognised as citizens, nor…

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Afghanistan Order or Disorder

A billion dollar question that intrigues the minds of strategists the world over is about the future course that Afghanistan could follow, as the occupation forces are on their way out. The prospects of Nato withdrawal, as envisaged in the recent Chicago Declaration, raise dilemmas about bringing durable peace and stability to Afghanistan in the…

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