This week, the latest edition of the Southasia Review of Books podcast sees host Shwetha Srikanthan in conversation with author Siddhartha Deb. The discussion captures the puzzle of contradictions that is modern India, the rise of Hindu nationalism and its impact on dissenting voices, and more.
From Pakistan, Salman Rafi Sheikh writes that mass protests and seething local resentment reveal that Azad Kashmir (or "free Kashmir") continues to be controlled and exploited by Islamabad.
As part of our 2024 edition of Fiction Fest, celebrating Southasian fiction in translation, we published ‘Chow Mein’, by Durga Karki, translated from Nepali by Sandesh Ghimire, a poignant story about a teenage girl in Nepal and her yearning for her absent father.
We also published 'Lord Almighty, grant us riots!' translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma, set in a primarily Muslim weaver's colony that floods every year. While the deplorable conditions remain unchanged, in this story, something shifts, and the floodwaters talk back to a group of bereaved boys.
The final story in this year's edition of Fiction Fest is a translated excerpt from the novel Yak Roz Ta Abad (One Day Forever) by Lina Rozbeh Haidari, which portrays the lives of women in Afghanistan before the resurgence of the Taliban. This story revolves around Zahra, the youngest in her family.
For our Books section, Sohel Sarkar discusses the incomplete histories of women migrant caregivers under the British Empire, in a review of Arunima Dutta’s recently published book, ‘Waiting on Empire’.
The long arm of India's intelligence agencies
This week has seen explosive reporting on how Indian intelligence has been spying on and silencing pro-Khalistan activists and attempting to influence politics in other countries. From Australia, it was reported that Indian intelligence had been trying to gain access to sensitive defence technology and airport security protocols, targeting former and current politicians and a state police service and surveilling the Indian-Australian community. Pro-Khalistan activists in Australia reported receiving threats, including Indian authorities visiting their family members' homes in India. This week, the Czech Republic also extradited an Indian man who plotted with Indian intelligence to kill a pro-Khalistan activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, to the US. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
These reports reveal the extent to Indian intelligence’s reach in other countries, with surveillance, threats and killings of pro-Khalistan activists reported in Canada, the US, and Australia, and with reports of Indian intelligence attempting to influence elections in Canada by building ties and support with politicians that align with Modi’s government. At least four Indian intelligence officers were forced to leave Australia in 2020.
Media watchdogs condemn charges against writer Arundhati Roy, Kashmir academic Sheikh Showkat Hussain under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for comments made at conference in 2010
Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research Karamat Ali passes away in Karachi after illness, tributes flood in for his contributions to labour rights
At least 34 people in Tamil Nadu die after drinking bootleg liquor, 10 officials suspended as locals say liquor was sold with knowledge of district collectors, police
Justice for Myanmar flags Chinese and Myanmar companies involved in junta digital surveillance and censorship
Bangla rapper Aly Hasan served legal notice over song Nana-Nati, asked to apologise and remove lyric referencing bribery in Bangladesh court system
Taliban to attend third UN-led meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, but say UN ‘derailing’ meeting after UN Rapporteur releases report on “institutionalised” discrimination and exclusion of women and girls in Afghanistan
35 Pakistanis among 1000 reported dead due to extreme heat during Haj prayers in Saudi Arabia, many of them unregistered pilgrims
Nepal-China boundary talks conclude in Beijing after 18 year-hiatus, border management agreement under review in Nepal
Adani group signs deal for 570 Megawatt green hydroplant in Bhutan in Chukha province, despite environmental concerns raised by experts
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court blocks Gender Equality Bill that would decriminalise same-sex relationships, drawing ire from President
Maldives rethinks blanket ban on Israelis into country over Arab Muslims, Palestinians living in Israel
India is in the throes of a heatwave, with temperatures above 40 degrees reported in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. As residents wilted in the heat, one man from Rajasthan hit upon a unique way to keep cool. Using a makeshift water dispenser, a man on a scooter was seen riding along the streets of Jodhpur while enjoying a steady stream of water. A video of his commute went viral on Instagram, amassing 22.7 million views and a host of amused reactions from Instagram users. Now that’s a creative way to beat the heat!
The making of a refugee (May 2019)
As World Refugee Day falls on 20 June, Taran Khan’s longform series on Afghan refugees in Germany is worth revisiting. Reported from Hamburg, this eight-part-series captures diverse Afghan voices, from filmmakers, rappers, poets and singers, who have arrived in Germany over a span of 40 years, mapping them onto the larger canvas of conflict, migration, politics and populism.