The complexity of local and regional conflict dynamics in Afghanistan and Pakistan would be well served by the revivification of the Jirga system, the only convincing institutional base through which to build lasting peace.
As global public attention is turned to Bangladesh and the International Crime Tribunal, the country's complex political situation comes under scrutiny. Both main parties face a growing opposition from militant Islamism which thrives on local discontent as well as on appeals to global jihadism.
The Tamil call for independent statehood stemmed from a very basic need for security against genocide. For many, including the next generation of Tamil youth activists, the events of 2009 consolidated this need.
While criticism of the ICT is important, its chief critics have dehistoricized the context in which this trial is taking place, and expressed disdain in terms which position Bangladesh as the under-developed, untrustworthy ‘Other’.
The term 'local reconciliation' may seem benign, but recent research amongst Tamils in the north of the country highlights the damaging silence hanging over the survivors of the conflict, and a determination to reach justice through transparency over past and present wrongs.
Peace in Pakistan and the entire region can only be achieved by the creation of genuine democracy in Pakistan, with its military institutions accountable to its elected bodies. Pakistan’s army consumes 38% of Pakistan’s budget without accounting for most of it.
The conflict in Kashmir has largely been seen through the prism of religious antagonism. New research on cross-border peacebuilding calls the classic conflict analysis into question.
There is nothing objectionable in arguing for greater and more meaningful participation of youth in the political process, so long as this is not a substitute for a proper post-war constitutional settlement.
International calls for justice in Sri Lanka which are insensitive to domestic public opinion further alienate a youth population suspicious of Western intervention and determined to develop their country.
The role of the media in Bangladesh will not be improved by inaccurate and partisan critiques of the ICT
Fifty years after the 1962 war which left bitter memories and pending border issues, relations between China and India seem to be once more under strain. With both countries caught between the wish to negotiate and to compete, the bilateral relation appears entrenched in larger security issues
When we call for greater security, the soldiers tell us they are here for rebuilding. When we call for rebuilding, they state they are here for the security. In the end, they guarantee neither.
