Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has effectively turned Bangladesh into a one-party state, has accelerated the country's slide towards authoritarianism by doubling down on the suppression of opponents in the run-up to the polls in January
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's loss to Mohamed Muizzu has again titled the scales in Beijing's favour as the Maldivian presidential election was also seen as a referendum on the competition between India and China for influence in the Maldives
Pakistani Parsis are far fewer but much like in India the Parsi community's achievements are extraordinary also in Pakistan, where they own the only brewery, the oldest shipping firm, and a chain of hotels besides being regarded as makers of the country's financial hub of Karachi
Pakistan's Westernized founding fathers and their successors loved to have a drink and sat on the periodic demands of a ban on alcohol until the 1970s when the prohibition—at least on paper—was imposed
The West embraced rationality, science, and liberal multiculturalism to become the guiding light for the world but dehumanizing constructions of Muslims embedded in its consciousness as internalized beliefs and practices continue to fuel Islamophobia
Shrines of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussain in Karbala and his father, Imam Ali, in Najaf funded the Saraya al-Atabat and deployed them for their protection as well as to fight ISIS
The experience of being forced to drink a mixture of milk, clarified butter, curd, cow urine, and dung to purify him after touching a so-called 'lower-caste' woman's sari inspired Bindeshwar Pathak's lifelong commitment to improving sanitation in India
Tribalism, corruption, and the absence of modern institutions have been blamed for Afghanistan's troubles, overlooking political modernization and the creation of features of a modern secular state by the 1970s before foreign interventions unmade them
The biradari system is among the crucial factors in Pakistan's elections particularly in rural areas of the Punjab province, which sends 55% of lawmakers to the National Assembly
Former Oxford professor Avi Shlaim’s book Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew uncovers what he calls ‘undeniable proof' of Zionist involvement in the attacks that forced Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel after over 2,500 years of presence in Babylon
