The South Asia Politics, News, and Analysis Thread

Oh Pakistan Gunmen kill four Polio workers in the city of Queto Pakistan, Pakistan is one of three questions where the decease that my teachers told me was wiped from the face of the Earth is still endemic.

Queto sounds like the bastard child between Quito and Quetta...

This is nothing new, unfortunately. Until some general's kid gets hit with polio, the Army won't care. And if they don't care, the rest of the country can't do a damn thing about it.

Former Interior Minister Rehman Malik claims Da'esh is in Pakistan.

Here's my problem with this. Rehman Malik is about as credible as Comical Ali was to the US/UK. And because of that, if he's lying, no one will believe it when it actually happens. And even if he's telling the truth, no one will take it seriously because he said it. And the scary thing is that this isn't an implausible thing.

India needs to modernize it's military,and fast

The Arihant still on schedule. I agree with the article about the air force and the Army needs faster deployment, but the Navy has so far done very well for itself, as has DRDO what with designing and successfully testing an indigenous ICBM and all...

Indonesia launches bold new forign policy Basically they have committed to vastly expand their navy.

Indonesia is not South Asia.

It can impact, though. And, the navy is among the main things that can do impacting.

edited 29th Nov '14 1:33:33 PM by Euodiachloris

Where would Indonesia fall? South-East Asia? We do have a thread for that don't we?

It's South-East Asia and I do think there's a thread for it and I've probably posted there but I'm not 100% sure.

The thread is here[1], though you actually haven't posted there yet Best Of.

The Maoists strike again Maoist rebels have killed at least 14 paramilitary policemen in an ambush in central India, officials say.

Polandbhopal◊

My father worked at that plant a year or so before the accident as his first job out of engineering school. Decided to leave after someone panicked while cleaning a tank of Phosgene and tore off his protective gear and drowned in the gas, with dad watching from a distance.

Yowch. Best decision of his life there.

It appears that Russia and the US are switching partners in the Indo Pakistani dance. Analogies aside Russia has only just agreed to lift the arms export ban to Pakistan,and the mood amongst the "informed" in New Deli is apparently more curious than worried.

Thats because Russia isn't selling or offering their best stuff to Pakistan. They're offering Mil Hinds to Pakistan while offering the more advanced Havocs to India. And since Pakistan doesn't have the budget to pay for it itself, my guess is these transactions are more of an elaborate money laundering scheme than anything else.

Also, the US still sells (or allows to be sold) American equipment to Islamabad.

Also if the Russian are smart than New Deli will be getting a full technical write up of what's being sold, nothing says "sorry we're arming you enemy" quite like an explanation of all the strengths and weakness of what's being traded.

Indeed.

EDIT- Also, I think India already has Hinds where as Pakistan has never operated them before.

edited 4th Dec '14 5:33:07 AM by FFShinra

There's a pun in that.

Hindi Hinds or some such. Hind al-Hind maybe.

edited 4th Dec '14 5:43:42 AM by Achaemenid

In all seriousness though, I'm sure Pakistan will give them a befitting "Islamic" name, like they do with their other big ticket military items, like the Type 21 frigates (which they've renamed as destroyers....), their heavily modified Type 59s (al-Zarrar) or the MBT-2000 (al-Khalid), or purpose-built JF-17s....

edited 4th Dec '14 7:14:10 AM by FFShinra

Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai 'hopes to be Pakistan PM'

Somehow, I think she shouldn't have said that. Some people will seek to get any dirt that can be thrown back at her, while some others will plan something... deadly.

Only if she follows through. And only if she gets enough of a following in country to pose a threat to the The Powers That Be.

She's be a breath of fresh air if she succeeded though. Even Benazir Bhutto was a child of what is known there as The Establishment and thus not a true outsider. Malala, assuming her views don't change too drastically in the next two decades or so, would be a Mandela for Pakistan.

In that hope, I will follow her career with great interest.

If she has one. Pakistani women in public life not part of famous families have it tough, and even Benazir Bhutto was killed.

Exhibit A: Celebrity Veena Malik has been sentenced to 26 years in prison for blasphemy. I have no liking for the woman (kinda a 'famous for being famous' type) but nobody should be looked at twice for fucking blasphemy.

More worrying, though, is that the RSS is taking tips from evangelical Christians and Muslims: organizing a mass conversion on Christmas day, styling it as 'ghar vapsi' or 'return to the home' - the idea is that they were Hindus once, but were forcibly converted. The problem is that it was in fact their ancestors who were forcibly converted, not them. While the conversions, for now, remain entirely voluntary (as claimed by the RSS, anyway), the stated aims of many, many members of the group is the eradication of Christianity and Islam from India. The really troubling part is that they are being sanctioned by the BJP government - MP for Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath is in fact a guest at the Christmas conversions.

Perhaps the worst news, however, is that the Delhi government (not the central government, they are separate things) have banned Uber private taxi service in the capital after a woman was raped by a driver. The accused, Shiv Kumar Yadav, was apparently a habitual offender and was infamous for a roving eye and a incontinent dick even in his village. The main criticism against Uber has been a complete lack of background checks or indeed any procedure (Yadav was driving as 'Gautam', a pseudonym, and a false number), but the ban has been mocked and criticised among most circles. The victim's name is not known, and aside from a few obligatory DARVO assholes, is not really the focus, despite being an easy target for said assholes, having been drunk and asleep in the car, a fact for which I feel some small glimmers of hope for my country.