South Asia
India’s cockroach swarm: youth anger and democracy’s warning signal
In May an unexpected political emblem emerged in India’s increasingly restless democratic landscape: the cockroach. An insect commonly associated with filth, nuisance and extermination was transformed into a symbol of resistance after the Chief Justice of India likened unemployed young activists and online critics to ‘cockroaches’ and ‘parasites’. What might have passed as an insensitive remark sparked an extraordinary act of political reclamation. Within hours, the insult was transformed into a rallying cry. Madhavi Ravikumar reports.
Alia’s story – it’s hard being a woman in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan
Understanding life in Afghanistan has been difficult since the Taliban came to power – for the second time – in August 2021. One of the few international journalists to have gained access to the country is BBC correspondent Yogita Limaye. Here she tells Alia’s story.
Life in an open-air prison camp
My family’s journey to the camp began in 1991, when Burma’s military launched an exclusionary operation known as Operation Pyi Thaya, or ‘Clean and Beautiful Nation’. They crossed into Bangladesh as refugees. In 1993, under an agreement involving UNHCR, Bangladesh and Burma, now known as Myanmar, a process called ‘Operation Hope’ promised protection and voluntary repatriation. More than three decades later, that hope remains unfulfilled. I am Forid Alam and this is my story.
Bangladesh’s Rohingya community: a crisis without an exit
When Bangladesh’s new BNP-led government assumed office, Rohingya refugees once again found themselves listening closely to the language of power in Dhaka. The familiar words had returned: repatriation, shortage of funds, national security, and international cooperation. Sushmita S Preetha reports from Dhaka.
Power lines across the Himalayas
For much of the past two decades, South Asia’s energy security has been defined by distance, particularly its dependence on oil and gas imports from the Gulf. Recent volatility in the Middle East has added urgency to a quieter, longer-term trend: the push to trade electricity across the region’s own borders. Udisha Saklani reports.
India and neighbours weather the Hormuz blockade
South Asian countries have been badly affected by the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Kavita Chowdhury reports on how fuel shortages are affecting people in India, Bangladesh and the Himalayan region.
Sri Lanka’s recovery hit by Hormuz blockade
Sri Lanka finds itself once again listening anxiously to developments unfolding thousands of kilometres away in the Middle East. The Iran conflict, and wider instability involving Israel, the United States and the Gulf region, has cast a long economic shadow over the island, as Eranga Pereira reports from Colombo.
Gen Z takes power in Nepal
Nepal celebrated its new year last month (April) by welcoming a youth-led government from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which won a near supermajority in March’s election. Kunda Dixit reports on a mood of cautious optimism among Nepalis that the new government will bring a fresh start for the country.
Has democracy returned to Bangladesh?
With February’s election giving the Bangladesh Nationalist Party a two-thirds majority in parliament and bringing to an end 18 months of a non-elected interim government, Professor Dr Mohammad Tarikul Islam questions whether democracy has been restored.
A border on fire: Pakistan, Afghanistan and an unending war
An air strike on a hospital in Kabul on 17 March, which Taliban officials blame on Pakistan, killed more than 400 people and took the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan to a more serious level. Mediation by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey led both countries to declare a ceasefire for the Eid holiday, but there are no signs that the distrust between the neighbours is close to being resolved, as Iftikhar Firdous reports.
The state of democracy in Pakistan
It is said that the army in Pakistan wields more power than its democratically elected government, a situation that has prevailed for much of its years as an independent state. Umber Khairi reports.
Parliamentary democracy in decline
Why has India dipped in recent years in international indices measuring the state of a country’s democracy? Kavita Chowdhury set out to investigate.
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