The attacks on several Hindu temples in Bangladesh were carried out under a well-orchestrated plan aimed at grabbing lands of the minority community, the country’s top rights body said today. The statutory National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said their initial investigation into the attacks on several Hindu temples and households in the central Brahmanbaria districts…
Read moreFRANCESCO SISCI Clearly the big prize is to dominate the Politburo and the Central Committee at the Party Congress next year, and thus to have the votes to push through the changes and the reforms he deems necessary to move the country forward. “He” is Xi Jinping, head of the party, the government, and the…
Read morePhilippine president Rodrigo Duterte, currently on a state visit to Beijing, has made clear that he admires many things about China, and has even gone so far as to say “I am Chinese” (referring to his grandfather apparently coming from Xiamen). But perhaps what he appreciates most about China is that it doesn’t criticize the way…
Read morePhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in Beijing Tuesday evening, beginning his four-day visit to China. Choosing China as the first country outside the ASEAN since taking office in June, Duterte makes the visit amid a backdrop of deteriorating China-Philippines ties, due to the unilateral filing of the South China Sea arbitration case initiated by his predecessor Benigno…
Read moreIt’s been about 100 days into the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. Since he took power, the Philippine president has overseen the killing of more than 3,500 people in his war on drugs, offended world leaders and strained relations with the US. In an interview since he was sworn in, we talk to Duterte about his…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT Myanmar says a Pakistani Taliban-trained militant leader masterminded the deadly attacks in its Rakhine state recently. A statement from the office of Myanmar’s president Htin Kyaw on Friday said a rebel group called Aqa Mul Mujahideen was behind the raids on three outposts on Myanmar-Bangladesh border, in which 9 policemen were killed. It…
Read moreSAW YAN NAING / LAWI WENG | UNDER former President Thein Sein’s government, over US$100 million poured into Burma’s peace programs by foreign governments and institutions. As the military-backed administration has given way to a National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government, questions linger about the transparency and influence of international funds on the peace process—critics argue that…
Read moreEDMUND DOWNIE Evidence points to Chinese involvement in rebel movements in India’s northeast, but this should not be a major roadblock in India-China relations. On June 4th of this year, rebels from northeast India killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and injured 11 in an ambush in the Indian state of Manipur, near the India-Myanmar…
Read moreThailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has died after 70 years on the throne, the palace says. The king, 88, was widely revered in Thailand. He was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by cycles of political turmoil and multiple coups. He had been in poor health in recent years…
Read moreSUBIR BHAUMIK Chetan Bhagat in a recent article on Kashmir has missed a few major points. Clarity on these issues are not just crucial to understanding the Kashmir question but also to evolve a future for Kashmir that is at the hear of an unending India-Pakistan conflict. Bhagat’s analysis that the Indian army messed it up and provoked Kashmiris to…
Read more
