Business and Politics in the Muslim World Asia Reports
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BUSINESS AND POLITICS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD ASIA REPORTS First Quarter 2009 Volume: 2. No.-1 Reports of February, 2009 Table of contents Reports for the month of February Week-1 February 04, 2009 03 Week-2 February 11, 2009 336 Country profiles Sources 2 BUSINESS AND POLITICS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD ASIA REPORT February 04, 2009 Nadia Tasleem: Report on Asia 04 Ashia Rehman: Report on Fertile Crescent 20 Madiha Kaukub: Report on GCC 61 Tatheer Zehra: Report on South East Asia 82 Ghashia Kayani: Report on South Asia 145 Sadia Khanum: Report on India 318 3 BUSINESS AND POLITICS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD SOUTH & EAST ASIA and GCC & Fertile Crescent Nadia Tasleem Weekly Report from 26 December 2008 to 30 January 2009 Presentation: 4 February 2009 This report is based on the review of news items focusing on political, economic, social and geo‐ strategic developments in various regions namely; South Asia, East Asia, GCC and Fertile Crescent from 26 December 2008 to 30 January 2009 as have been collected by interns. Summary South Asia: Political Front: After winning 9th Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, 258 members from winning coalition sworn in as MPs on 3 January 2009; three days later, leader of Awami League Sheikh Haseena Wajid took oath as new Premier of Bangladesh on 6 January 2009. Later on first Parliamentary session was held on 25 January that was not being attended by opposition party i.e. BNP. Besides that Upazila elections finally held on 22 January amidst few incidents of clashes. Though election in six upazila got cancelled however took place successfully in rest of the 475 upazila areas under strong security arrangements as almost 5 lakh security persons were deployed all across the country. AL seems to be at upper end till last results came up. Newly elected regime seems to be keen to bring reforms as is facing some serious challenges because of energy crisis, global economic recession and terrorism. Hence efforts are being made to uplift economy, enhance energy sources and counter terrorism. Government has requested various states to extend support in order to meet these challenges. Month began with meeting of Srilankan cabinet announcing to ban LTTE and associated organizations by declaring it to be a terrorist outfit. Along with UN many states of the world put 4 great emphasize on the need to bring stability in the region. Crisis remained at peak the whole month. By the end of last month Srilankan troops finally entered into main operation centre of LTTE i.e. Mullaittiuvu, bringing an end to their decade‐long domination of the country's North. Main issue now seems to be about the safety of a large number of Civilian Tamils who are being made hostage by LTTE in Northern region. UN, Sweden, EU, Tamils of Tamil Nadu, India and many other countries have been trying to exert pressure on LTTE to give safe passage civilian Tamils. At Nepali political front two major partners in the coalition government, Unified CPN (Maoist) and CPN (UML), have agreed to promulgate the ordinances only after consultation with parties, including the main opposition Nepali Congress. As a result the first meeting of the central committee of the unified CPN‐Maoist has formed 45‐member politburo and 15‐member secretariat. Meanwhile Constituent Assembly (CA) members are set to tour around the country to collect public opinion as part of writing the new constitution. All the while leader of UML has warned Maoists to leave their feudal and fascist activities otherwise will have to face grave consequences. Preparations for upcoming Parliamentary elections are on full swing in Maldives. President Nasheed had been accused for his indirect involvement in upcoming elections; he however denied accusation and claimed that he would remain stick to his party hence would be directly involved in elections. Meanwhile Nasheed’s regime has been accused for its failure to deal with economic crisis. After extensive effort by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari meeting was held between him and key opposition leader Aung Sun Su Ki in Myanmar. During meeting Su Ki asked UN envoy to put efforts for immediate release of political prisoners. India: Preparations for upcoming elections are on the way in India. In this regard various rounds of talks between Congress and Samajwadi Party have been held to sort out chances to form a coalition yet hasn’t reached at any conclusion over seat sharing issue. CPI (M) has claimed to be fully prepared to contest elections all alone. Meanwhile bi‐elections for eight seats took place on 27 December 2008, in which BJP won 5 seats. However Nandigram went to polls on 5 January amidst high security ending in Congress’ victory. Tension between India and Pakistan that erupted because of Mumbai attacks on 26/11 has not totally dissolved till now. First Pakistan’s dual stance regarding identity of Ajmal Kasab grabbed attention; later on, Indian reports based on so‐called evidences came in focus. Pakistan has 5 promised to carry 10 days investigation to find truth in Indian accusations. Along with Indian high officials various countries have been asking Pakistan to take serious action to curb terrorism. Pakistan had also been asked to ban all Jihadi organizations. At domestic front five people were killed and over 50 injured in three blasts set off by insurgent outfit ULFA in Guwahati. Meanwhile security officials remained at high alert amidst serious warnings by Maoists at New Year eve. Moving towards Kashmir; elections were held peacefully. Anti‐India groups boycotted elections by claiming that India considers these elections to be a referendum which is in fact not true. The National Conference emerged the single largest party by getting 28 seats in Kashmir Assembly elections, where voters turn out was over 60%, hence has been hailed by Indian government. It is followed by People's Democratic Party with 21 seats, Congress with 17 seats and BJP with 11 seats. Since the announcement of result process of government formation started. Finally on 5 January 2009 the National Conference president Mr Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, which now makes him the youngest chief minister of the state. Ten other ministers of the National Conference‐Congress‐led coalition government were also sworn in. However the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, on the same date took over as president of the National Conference, a position he handed over to his son, Omar Abdullah, in 2002. Two other potent developments include a fierce gun battle between security forces and separatist militants in the dense mountainous forest in frontier Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir that continued for more than 60 hours in which seven people; four militants and three security personnel, have been killed. Meanwhile two militants, including a top commander of the Al Badr outfit, and two jawans were killed in separate encounters in the Kashmir Valley. Secondly in a statement released to Srinagar‐based journalists, a Lashkar‐e‐Taiba spokesperson said it was willing to terminate its terror campaign in return for international intervention on the Kashmir issue. Geo‐strategic Front: Israeli strikes against Gaza strip: 6 Government of Bangladesh strongly condemned Israeli act of aggression against Palestine. The teachers and students of Dhaka University burnt effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the campus in protest against Israeli massacres in Gaza. Srilanka asked Israel to end air raids upon Gaza strip. Congress and Left parties of India have also strongly condemned Israel for its aggression against Palestine. Other developments: Senior Unified CPN (Maoist) leader Mohan Baidya 'Kiran' lashed out at India for conspiring to disintegrate Nepal by using Madhesh as a weapon, and added that the people will fight against it. Meanwhile the Maoists have also accused India and America of constantly intervening in Nepal’s sovereignty and internal affairs. Japan has extended full support to restore agriculture in Myanmar after Nargis cyclone. India: India has been focusing on enhancing defence ties with both USA and Russia. Meanwhile efforts to resolve border issues with China and Bangladesh are on their way. Signing of MoU with Malaysia is yet another significant development. Likewise Indian growing ties with Afghanistan also remained in focus. Above all views given by British foreign secretary David Miliband regarding Mumbai blasts considering it to be an outcome of Indian policies in Kashmir, became a serious point of concern for India. Social Front: Almost 2000 Bangladeshi employees who were sent on forced retirement by previous government have requested new government to reinstate them. At least 12 lakh people get afflicted with tobacco related diseases every year in the country. Tourist arrivals in Nepal via air in the month of January 2009 have decreased by 15.8 percent to 21,944 in comparison to the same month last year. India: Government of Karnataka has been asked to implement high Court decision regarding safeguard of Christian community living in India. Meanwhile anti‐dowry decision being taken by a village in 7 Kerala also remained significant. Above all, a recently released movie (as a result of joint collaboration of India & Britain), ‘slum‐dog millionaire’ addressing issues of poor Indians living in slum areas has brought huge criticism by many within India. In response to that Indian star Shahrukh Khan said that Indians should be tolerant enough to see reality and should look at this movie with a positive perspective. Economic front: The number of Bangladeshis cleared for overseas employment in 2008 exceeded 8, 75,000 creating a new record. A record amount of nearly 9 billion US dollar has also been received as remittances in 2008.