Stories about South Asia from February, 2009
Shiv Sena's Orkut Campaign: The Limits to Freedom of Expression in an Intolerant India
Introduction: Freedom of Expression in the Indian Blogosphere The Indian blogosphere is abuzz with discussions on freedom of expression after the Supreme Court refused to throw out Shiv Sena's defamation...
Video: Community Radios Fill the Information Gap
In a highly globalized and digitalized world, sometimes we may forget that in many regions of the world, not even electricity is available, and the possibility of using internet as an alternative information source is still a distant dream. It is in locations like Guatemala, Chad and India that community radio rises as the alternative for native communities to speak about their concerns, hear news and stories, receive information and all this in their native languages.
Bangladesh: Why The BDR Massacre?
Shada Kalo analyzes the motives behind the BDR (Border guards) mutiny in Bangladesh and discusses the intelligence and negotiation failures as the horror of massacre of army officers by the...
Bangladesh: Massacre Cannot be Justified
“What do you call it when a group of ‘disgruntled’ BDR soldiers [Bangladesh border guards] started their expression of grievances by open-firing on the commissioned army officers? Mutiny? Rebellion? Revolt?...
India: Environmental Scholars On a Very Cool Mission
About two weeks ago, I read in Tom Friedman's column in the New York Times about two young scholars from the U.S who were on a very impressive mission in...
Bangladesh: Mutiny Is Over, But Question Remains
Yesterday it was a tensed day in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The 33-hour long mutiny and siege by aggrieved lower rank officers of paramilitary forces BDR ended as they...
Nepal: Load Shedding Woes
For a country where there is an average daily power cut of 14 hours it is hard to carry on with normal life. Bibek Paudel discusses the challenges Nepal is...
Nepal: Strike Culture
Freedom In Bhutan discusses the strike cultures of Nepal and comments:”I wonder how illogical, non sensible and irresponsible have Nepalese grown to. I pray my countrymen Bhutanese will never call...
Pakistan: Déjà vu 1971?
“Zardari is doing exactly what Bhutto had done in 1971 – eliminating all challenges that may come in his way to become another “Civilian Martial Law Administrator”, comments Teeth Maestro...
Incredible India
Sunday Posts discusses the Indian tourism campaign ‘Incredible India’, a successful campaign and the need to do a lot more to attract tourism.
Pakistan: Sharif Brothers Declared Ineligible For Election Whilst Governor Rule Imposed
The Supreme Court after prolonged hearing of Sharif brothers’ electoral eligibility case, finally declared today that the two leaders of Pakistan's most prominent political party Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz...
Pakistan: Corrupt Traffic Police in Karachi
Kashif Aziz at Chowrangi posts a video showing corruption of traffic police in Karachi.
India: Nominations for Indibloggies
The nominations for the Indian blogging award Indibloggies 2008 will continue till 6th of March 2009. The Indibloggies are publicly-chosen awards conferred on bloggers from India and the Indian Diaspora...
Bangladesh: Citizen Journalists Covering BDR Mutiny
Today morning Dhaka was rattled by a fierce gun battle inside the headquarters of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR – paramilitary border security force) situated in the heart of the capital. Rumors...
Bangladesh: BDR Mutiny And Gunfires
Unheard Voice is live blogging and posting pictures of gunfires and battles inside the headquarters of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the paramilitary forces of Bangladesh. Apparently this is a mutiny and...
Maldives: Mohamed Nasheed’s First 100 days
Blogger Mohamed Nasheed analyzes the performance of the first 100 days of his namesake Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) in two parts (1, 2).
Bhutan: Happy Birthday Your Majesty
Bhutan, 2008 and beyond celebrates the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk’s 29th birth anniversary by sharing a touching picture of His Majesty.
Pakistan: Media Responsible
Thinking Out of the Box blames irresponsible journalism by a section of Pakistani media for the current state of affairs in Pakistan.
India: Court Ruling Against Bloggers
Kafila informs about a recent Supreme Court ruling in India which states that “a person who starts a blog/community page cannot claim that it was a community page and not...
India: Slumdog Millionaire Sweeps The Oscar Awards
Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, a British social film based on a novel set out in India made a clean sweep at the The 81st Academy Awards Ceremony. Its British and...
Sri Lanka: Failure Of LTTE
Indi.ca comments on the failure of LTTE tactics: “they are a successful crime syndicate but not successful representative for the Tamil people. And I’m obviously not telling Tamil people who...