As described by critics all over the world, Afghanistan has become a very messy place to live in today. There are different views regarding democratization process in this Islamic country. However, we cannot say that democracy is impossible in the Islamic countries of the world. First, it is wrong to pit the fortune of democracy in accordance with Islamism. A professor from Frankfurt Peace Research Institute argues that democracy is a full market with all kinds of products, and everybody can go and buy what they want.

Ahead of the much-anticipated union elections in Myanmar towards October-November 2015, the Rohingya community in the country have been stripped of their franchise early this year in February following large scale protests by nationalist monks and political leaders. A referendum held to amend the Constitution that gave the Rohingyas voting rights, probably an initiative taken after surmounting international pressure, had to be revoked after the widespread protests that brought back horrific memories of the bloody 2012 clashes.

Over the years, the 'taken for granted attitude' of Indian policy-makers have distanced India to such an extent from Nepal that contiguous border between the two countries seem unfathomable since the mid-1990s.  It took a prime minister of India 17 long years to dismantle the distance and reach out to the Nepalese youth. The recent two-day high-profile visit by Indian Prime Minister to the Himalayan nation speaks volume of the sense, sensitiveness, confidence and consequences of bilateral relations that India wants to nurture with Nepal.

The violent Sunni insurgency in Iraq (2014), no doubt, has different implications for different countries in the region. The purpose of this article, however, is not to discuss all these implications. The article is limited to the role of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and its implications for Iran.

ISIS and Vested Interests

After the tragic downing of flight MH17, the US along with some major European countries has called for “hard-hitting sanctions” on Russia. The UK is pushing for the tough “Tier 3” sanctions against Russia that could cover areas such as financial services, trade and energy exports. However, there are growing concerns that the strongest-possible sanctions will be blocked by EU member states because of French arms sales as well as German dependence on fossil fuels from Russia.

Despite the fact that a large number of Bhutanese refugees are rehabilitated in seven countries– the US, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Canada– the issue still haunts the country. The seriousness of the issue came to the international community’s notice while the same was discussed again between the prime ministers of Nepal and Bhutan on the sidelines of BIMSTEC in March 2014.

Indian democracy witnessed multiple challenges. Disruption of elections by the rebel groups in the three conflict theatres – Jammu & Kashmir, central India and the north-eastern states of India – is one of them.  Unlike the 2004 and 2009 Parliamentary elections, some Islamist extremist groups have planned to disrupt the 2014 elections. Some of them have even been preparing for the last six months or more to disrupt the elections.

Vehemently opposing the Human Rights violation report submitted by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navnanethem Pillay, the Sri Lankan (SL) government has recently rejected her call for establishing ‘an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate the alleged rights violations (both Human Rights and Humanitarian Law) and for monitoring any domestic accountability process in Sri Lanka.

After a tumultuous year marked by massive protest rallies and violent confrontations between moderate secularists and Islamic radical forces, Bangladesh’s tryst with religious and political turmoil seems enduring. The detoriating situation has led to fear of the revival of Islamic militancy.