BANGLADESH: Containing Islamist Resurgence and Radicalism

SACM-Jan 2020 Cover

This is the second year, consecutively that Bangladesh has witnessed less than 50 violent incidents and terrorist-related fatalities. In a year-end assessment, the Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of the Bangladesh police claimed that the year 2019 witnessed a lesser number of terrorist attacks due to a strong counter-insurgency policy. This policy focussed on counter-narratives, de-radicalization and awareness programmes to curb the militancy alongside regular activities like arrests and intelligence gathering on the terrorist groups in the post Holey Bakery incident in Dhaka in 2016.

South Asia Conflict Monitor

Telepolis (Heise Online): "India: continue rowing in the sewer"

January 28, 2020

In Chennai in southern India, an efficient solution is already being used to end India's water crisis. However, it is better to invest in questionable large-scale projects while the wastewater rivers and sewage lakes are spreading

Dense green grass in front of me as far as the eye wants to see. A sign from the Tamil Nadu nature conservation authority advises that no plastic should be thrown into the Pallikanarai wetlands here. But the nose already says that something stinks here.

Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine: Still Caught Between the Deep Sea and the Devil

In 1991, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign for democracy in Myanmar. Twenty years down, on 11th December 2019, the same Nobel laureate defended the oppressive regime of Myanmar at the ICJ, Hague, for the charges of carrying out genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.  Responding to Gambia’s charges presented by Justice Minister and Attorney General, Abubacarr Marie Tambadou,  Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi defended the actions of her country against the Rohingyas.

NIHAR R NAYAK

TM: "Hizb ul-Ahrar: Pakistan’s Cross-border Taliban Problem Remains Critical"

December 20, 2019

Following a notable lull in militant activity, Pakistan is now facing a unique militant escalation targeted against its security forces in the North Waziristan area and bordering regions. Despite the Taliban force largely being subdued following the concerted counter-terrorism efforts by Pakistan’s military, such as Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad, a resurgent faction Hizb-ul-Ahrar (HuA) has been carrying out targeted attacks in regular intervals.

ANIMESH ROUL

MLM: "Islamic State’s Maldivian Mole Mohamad Ameen"

December 06, 2019

In a significant turn of events, on October 23 Maldivian security agencies arrested Mohamad Ameen, an Islamist militant recruiter associated with Islamic State (IS). His arrest came around a month after the Presidential Commission on Deaths and Disappearances named him as the leader of an IS-linked group operating in the Maldives. Ameen’s arrest came as a surprise for many in the region, as successive governments in the Maldives had earlier failed to act against a homegrown Islamist-criminal gang nexus and radicalized Maldivians traveling abroad for jihad in Syria and Afghanistan.

ANIMESH ROUL

Vikram, Vetal and ISRO: Curious Case of Chandrayaan-2

Image: NASA

There are three characters to this story. One is Vikram, the other is Vetal (the Revenant) and the third is ISRO. Vetal is a mythological character that is associated with the evil spirit. As per the original story, it is Vikram who tries to capture the Vetal who in turn tells a story to Vikram that ends with a riddle. However, in this story, the onus is on ISRO to give the correct answer to the riddle, which is about the status of Vikram on the surface of the moon. Here Vetal is the fear of ISRO to accept failures upfront.

AJEY LELE
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