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The
Khyber is a
weekly newsletter from NALSAR University, focusing
on South
Asian affairs. This not-for-profit venture consists
of a collation of news from national, regional
and international streams.
The Khyber was launched to bring
oft-neglected policy discussions into mainstream academic discourse,
and hopes, like the Pass from which its name is borrowed, to provide
easy access for the information-thirsty traveller into this strange,
misunderstood, frustrating but important part of the world.
March
21,
2010 | A South Asian Affairs Brief
India�s elephant charges on through the
crisis
Crisis? What crisis? Indian
policymakers are not asking such a
complacent question. But India has had a �good crisis�. Now its task is
to unwind the exceptional support
given to the economy and push through the reforms needed to sustain
fast and inclusive growth.
When Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister, presented his budget
last week he noted that a year ago, India confronted a double
challenge: the global crisis, and a poor monsoon. Now, �I can say with
confidence that we have weathered these crises well.� As the Indian government�s Economic Survey
put it: �A variety of stimulus packages were put in place in the second
half of 2008-09, in the Interim Budget 2009-2010 and, again, three
months later, in the main Budget 2009-2010.
The Army has no rivals and the Parliament�s 'supremacy' is
but a myth.
No
Leeway Given In Picking
Dalai Lama:- The
London conference on Afghanistan�s future was wishful thinking. For
real stability, look to China,
India, Russia--and Iran.With the notable exceptions of Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia, world
powers�and certainly all of Afghanistan�s immediate and regional
neighbours�appear to agree that democracy, fragile as it now is, offers
the best hope for Afghans and the best prospect for peace.
Sri Lanka Tamil party drops
statehood demand:- The
Sri Lankan political party closest to the
defeated Tamil Tiger rebel movement has dropped a
demand for a separate
Tamil homeland. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is
the biggest political grouping representing the ethnic minority, said
it instead wanted a "federal" solution. The party wants the two
Tamil-majority provinces to be merged back into one, and significant
devolution of powers.
Dalai
Lama Risks Chinese Ire To Back Uighurs :-The
Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, voiced his support on
Wednesday for an ethnic minority in China's troubled
Xinjiang province, risking further worsening his fraught relations with
Beijing.
In an address marking 51 years since he fled Tibet after a failed
uprising against Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama referred to Xinjiang as
"East
Turkestan," the name given to it by pro-independence exiles.
China's
Property: Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble:- As he threads his taxicab every
day through the epic traffic jams in
and around Shanghai, jabbering on his cell phone and muttering under
his breath, Yang Jinyu seems an unlikely
real estate mogul. But when
the government asked him to move out of his central Shanghai home so
that the land it was on could be sold for redevelopment, he took the
compensation payment and bought an apartment on Shanghai's outskirts.
Iran
In
Its Intricacy :- A year has passed since President Obama�s
groundbreaking Nowruz offer
to Iran of engagement based on mutual respect. Iran is
now
a different
country, its divided regime weaker and confronted by the Green
movement, the strongest expression of people power in the Middle East
and a beacon for the region.Obama�s
outreach
has achieved this: the unsettling of Iran�s revolutionary
power structure. That alone was worth the gambit.
In India, Deadly
Backlash Against Freedom of Information Activists
:- When Ajay Kumar asked authorities
why a local
politician had authorized the construction of private houses and shops
on public land, he didn�t imagine the question would land
him in the
hospital. He had used the Right
to Information Act,
which allows any citizen to ask for information from any
level of government, from village leaders to the PM. It presents a
cultural sea change in India, where state bureaucrats have acted more
like colonial masters
than servants of the people.
Iran and Pakistan sign 'historic'
pipeline deal:- Pakistan and Iran
have signed an agreement for the construction of a much-delayed
natural gas pipeline, officials say. The
$7.6bn project is crucial for Pakistan's growing energy requirements.
The country has suffered severe electricity shortages.The deal was
signed between the two countries in Turkey. The pipeline was initially intended to
carry gas on to India, but Delhi withdrew from negotiations last year.
Pakistan Army Digs In on Turf of
the Taliban :- From
a forward base in the bare brown foothills of the soaring
mountains of South Waziristan, Pakistani soldiers fired artillery at
insurgents sheltering
in scrub across the valley. Smoke blotted the sky
as the soldiers set ablaze houses once used by the Taliban to hide caches of heavy weapons. In the Makeen bazaar, where Baitullah Mehsud,
was once king, the army has flattened the jerry-built stores, including
the ice cream parlor, scotching any idea of easy return.
Behind
Headley's Plea Bargain:- Five years after he began the surveillance
operation that finally guided
a ten-man death squad through the streets of Mumbai in November, 2008,
Pakistani-American jihadist David Headley has entered into a plea
bargain with U.S. prosecutors. In India, the deal has provoked media
outrage but careful
study of the Plea Agreement (accessible under
Resources at beta.thehindu.com) shows that claims that Headley has got
off lightly are misplaced.
Pakistan arrests halt secret UN contacts with Taliban:- The UN's former envoy to Afghanistan, Kai
Eide, has
strongly
criticised Pakistan's recent arrest of high-ranking Taliban
leaders. Mr Eide told the BBC the arrests had completely stopped a
channel of secret communications with the UN. Pakistani officials
insist the arrests were not an attempt to spoil talks. Mr Eide
confirmed publicly for the first time that his secret contacts with
senior Taliban members had begun a year ago.
Old
Friends In A New World:-As the visiting Russian Premier
Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh celebrate the
deepening of the Indo-Russian bilateral relationship this week with a
range of impressive agreements on defence and nuclear cooperation,
China
will be the ghost in the room. If the two leaders
do discuss the implications of a rapidly rising China for the balance
of power in the region that Russia and India share, they are unlikely
to say much about it in public.
Spy Chief in Pakistan to Stay On Another Year:- Pakistan�s
spy chief has been granted an
unusual one-year extension in his job, a
move that may also pave the way for a longer term for the head of the
army, Gen. Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani, who is
scheduled to step down this year. The announcement extending the tenure
of Lt. Gen. Ahmed
Shuja Pasha as director of
the spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was formally made by Prime
Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani.
China's 'Astonishing' Oil
Demand:-China's
demand for oil jumped by an "astonishing"
28% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, the
International Energy Agency (IEA) says.The body added that demand for
oil in 2010 would be underpinned by
rising demand from emerging markets, with half of all growth coming
from Asia. But the IEA predicted demand in developed countries would
fall by 0.3%.
Indian
farmers battle against nuclear plant:-A robust people's movement
against a major nuclear power project
has built up in a cluster of small villages on India's picturesque
Konkan coast. The BBC's
Zubair Ahmed reports: Some 350km (220
miles) from India's commercial capital, Mumbai, lies the village of
Madban overlooking the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea. It is in this village
that a 10,000 megawatt nuclear power plant is
proposed - and farmers and fishermen, backed by campaigners, are
hardening their stance against it.
Iran
tightens petrol rations as economic sanctions loom:- Iran has announced it
will cut the volume of its cheap petrol ration by 25% to 60 litres per
vehicle per month from 21 March. Currently,
each vehicle is allowed a quota of 80 litres of fuel at 10 cents a
litre, with any amount needed on top of that priced at 40 cents. The
move comes as Iran faces potential
sanctions on its petrol imports.
"At once familiar and little known, the Khyber Pass provides a valuable lens for observing history where empires continue to rise and fall, allowing us to look upon the invaders that marched through it to create kingdoms or to destroy them."
Paddy Docherty (2008)
The Khyber is a student-run initiative focusing on South Asian policy and development. We bring you a collation of news and opinion from leading national, regional and international sources. Aimed at bringing oft-neglected policy discussions into mainstream academic discourse, we hope The Khyber would be your gateway to South Asian affairs, much like the pass itself.
The initiative is meant solely as an academic, not-for-profit venture, and we appreciate your comments and feedback.
Cras purus. Nunc rhoncus. Pellentesque semper. Donec imperdiet accumsan felis. Proin eget mi. Sed at est. Nunc a purus eu sapien–lacinia fermentum.
No
Leeway Given In Picking
Dalai Lama
Pakistan arrests halt secret UN contacts with Taliban
Spy Chief in Pakistan to Stay On Another Year:- 
)