South Asia

Will social media unite Kashmir?

 Digital technology has demolished the borders between different countries without any war or confrontation. The same technology has come to the rescue of those families living across the Indo-Pak border who were separated during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. More relief has come to those thousands of divided families in the Kashmir who have never been allowed to[Read More...]

Burning Questions of the Sri Lankan People’s Movement: What is to be Done?  

(This article is based on a talk delivered at the online session organised by International Solidarity with the People’s Movement in Sri Lanka on a 23.07.2022) The people’s movement in Sri Lanka has entered into a deadlock with the ‘(s)election’ of Ranil Wickremesinghe as President. Within hours of him assuming office, a mid-night crackdown on the Galle Face protest camp[Read More...]

The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the ‘Great Reset’ in Sri Lanka

“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022 Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country[Read More...]

A Call for Debt Justice, Debt Cancellation and Transparency in IMF Negotiations in Sri Lanka

The Coalition for Economic Democracy in Sri Lanka (CEDSL) is a group of concerned academics, activists, agricultural, fisheries and industrial workers, students, business persons, trade unionists, and professionals based ‘in country’ and overseas, including the diaspora, who uphold the values of economic rights and justice in public policy making. In the wake of two years of economically-devastating Covid-19 lockdowns, quantitative[Read More...]

Military presence in the North and East of Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government may have won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the country, but another protracted struggle is looming on the horizon, that of winning democracy and development back from the clutches of militarisation. In the meantime, for those in the north (and the east) struggling to recover socially, economically and[Read More...]

Will Sri Lanka be able to develop an alternative to hateful political nationalism of the Rajapaksas?

The mighty nationalist leaders from the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka looked helpless and cowardly when he was humiliated at the airport as he tried to flee abroad to protect himself from the agitating people who protested at the airport. Still, he used his powers as the arm forces followed it ‘dutifully’, knowing fully well that it was actually a[Read More...]

Struggle For Complete System Change To Continue In Sri Lanka, Protesters Vow

Sri Lankan protesters have vowed to continue their struggle for a complete change of the system by abolishing the presidency, as the popular uprising that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president marked the 100th day on Sunday. The anti-government protest began on April 9 near the presidential office and has been continuing without a break. “We will continue our fight till[Read More...]

The rise and fall of Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician and former military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. Gotabaya Rajapakshe  is believed to have directly overseen the country’s police and military, which have been accused by the UN, human rights groups and Sri Lanka’s own investigative agencies of crimes[Read More...]

Faster Growing at Socio-Economic and Demographic Fronts: India or Bangladesh?

by Ishika Jaiswal & Dr. Bimal Jaiswal India and Bangladesh are the two exceptional economies in South Asian region.  Both the nations have number of similarities and both want to achieve remarkable economic growth in the shortest span of time possible.  To attain this objective, both the economies are endeavouring altogether in certain sectors and sub-sectors. However, there are some[Read More...]

Get Gota: Holding a War Criminal Accountable

The fall and ignominious retreat of Sri Lanka’s Gotabaya Rajapaksa has enlivened one distinct possibility.  Having formally resigned as Sri Lankan President, a point made via email from Singapore, those wishing to see him account for war crimes may get their wish. There have been various efforts in train regarding a man who ruthlessly concluded his country’s civil war in[Read More...]