The South Asia Politics, News, and Analysis Thread

That a country as conservative as Pakistan exports anal beads, gimp masks and padlockable penis cages, among other kinky wares, would shock locals as much as the Westerners whose hands (and other parts) the finished products end up in. Fearing the response of religious hardliners, many of the companies involved do not advertise their wares on their own websites. Instead, they list the saucy stuff through Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant that acts as a middleman for many businesses in the developing world. Some officials demand bribes to allow the exports to flow. Others are simply unaware of the potential for mischief in, for example, a Wartenberg Pinwheel—a spiked disc that can be run across the skin.

The risk has so far proven worthwhile. A local maker of leather goods, one of 64 sex-toy suppliers based in the city that list on Alibaba, says that only a small proportion of its sales comes from fetish gear. But the company can earn as much as 200% profit on a kinky corset or policeman’s uniform, compared with just 25% on mundane jackets and gloves, its original business. To minimise the potential for outrage, production lines are arranged carefully, with only trusted staff putting on the final spikes and studs. To those who complain that the products the firm makes might encourage unmarried or gay people to fornicate—an illegal activity for both groups in Pakistan—the owner’s son has a ready riposte. “What if a gay person wears a [normal] jacket that was also produced by us?” he asks. The company does not know, and has no business knowing, how customers use its products, he says.

Less flexible businessmen may be missing an opportunity. Buoyed by the international success of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, an erotic film that was not released in Pakistan (although locals have posted plenty of spoofs on You Tube), global sales of sex toys have reached about $15bn a year. And recent developments favour Pakistan. Local firms cannot compete in rubber toys, as the latex they would have to import from China is subject to a hefty tariff. But Western customers increasingly opt for alternative materials, including metal, in the wake of reports that many Chinese toys contain a carcinogenic chemical. Back in his office, the owner of the metal-working factory invites your correspondent to feel how smoothly his labourers have polished a dildo. “You can use Pakistani steel for a long time,” he says, approvingly. “It rusts much later than Indian or Chinese.”

Back in his office, the owner of the metal-working factory invites your correspondent to feel how smoothly his labourers have polished a dildo. “You can use Pakistani steel for a long time,” he says, approvingly. “It rusts much later than Indian or Chinese.”

Bhutan, one of the world’s smallest nations, has protested that the Asian colossus, China, is chipping away at its territory by building a strategic highway near the Tibet-India-Bhutan trijunction in the Himalayas. Bhutan has security arrangements with India, and the construction has triggered a tense standoff between Chinese and Indian troops at the trijunction, with the Chinese state media warning of the possibility of war.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian lawmakers are set to elect the country's next president, drawn from the main Hindu nationalist group, in a vote on Monday, tightening the control of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing associates on positions of power.

Ram Nath Kovind's ascent to the highest public office will be the first for a leader reared in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or National Volunteers' Association, the ideological mentor of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates.

Under India's constitution, the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues wield executive power and the president remains above the fray.

But the president has a key role during political crises, such as when a parliament election is inconclusive, by deciding which political party is in the best position to form a government.

Kovind's victory is considered a certainty because the electoral college, consisting of members of both houses of the federal parliament and state assemblies across the country, is loaded in favor of the ruling BJP.

Kovind's election will cap a series of top appointments Modi has made, strengthening the grip of the Hindu right on public offices, such as state chief ministers and governors, but also academic institutions and thinktanks.

In March, Modi picked Hindu hardliner Yogi Adityanath, who has been accused of inciting violence against India's Muslim minority, to lead the country's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh after his party won a landslide victory.

He has supported strong measures for cow protection, and also said minority groups that oppose yoga should either leave the country or drown themselves in the sea.

A long-time propagandist of the RSS runs the state of Haryana, neighboring Delhi and home to the global outsourcing industry, while more than half-a-dozen governors have had early training in the RSS drills and patriotic lessons held countrywide at dawn each day.

A background in the RSS, known for its service to the country, can only help those in public life, the editor of an RSS mouthpiece said.

"A swayamsevak thinks about the motherland and unity of society. Anyone who is associated with this ideology should be widely respected," said Hitesh Shankar, editor of Panchjanya.

The Microsoft font Calibri could be an unlikely smoking gun in a corruption scandal which has mired Pakistan's ruling family and captivated the country.

The scandal centers around allegations that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family owns properties in London through offshore companies. And while owning property in itself is not illegal, opposition parties have questioned if the money to buy them came from public funds.

Last November, the Prime Minister's daughter, Maryam, tweeted images of a disclosure form claiming she wasn't the real owner of the apartments.

She said the documents proved she was a "trustee and not the owner" of the properties.

Investigators looking into the scandal noticed an odd thing.

The document is dated 2006. But it was typed using Calibri.

And, as the investigators noted in their report, that font was not commercially available until the following year.