INTERNATIONAL U.S.-Russia Relations 2016 Reg. ss-973 February www.southasia.com.pk INSIDE INDIA SRI LANKA AFGHANISTAN NEIGHBOR Local Focus Sad Saga No Child’s Play The Deal and After ISIS Marches Recent incidentsEast of violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia indicate that the Islamic State (IS) is moving eastwards from Syria and Iraq. Afghanistan Afg. 50 India Rs. 65 Philippines P 75 Australia A$ 6 Japan ¥ 500 Saudi Arabia SR 15 Bangladesh Taka 65 Korea Won 3000 Singapore S$ 8 Bhutan NU 45 Malaysia RM 6 Sri Lanka Rs. 100 Brazil BRL 20 Maldives Rf 45 Thailand B 100 Canada C$ 6 Myanmar MMK10 Turkey Lira. 2 China RMB 30 Nepal NcRs. 75 UAE AED 10 France Fr 30 New Zealand NZ$ 7 UK £ 3 Hong Kong HK$ 30 Pakistan Rs. 150 USA $ 5 Ad 2 Contents 12 Eastward Bound The IS looks for new territories to conquer. India Sri Lanka 26Local Focus ‘Make In India’ is still Sad Saga groping in the dark. The unwanted dividends of 32 prosperity. Nepal Big Brother Politics Nepal should get better 36 treatment from India. The Maldives Indian Ocean Turmoil 38 The pains of growth. 30 Bangladesh Rising Religious Extremism A surge of Islamic fundamentalism. 4 SOUTHASIA • FEBRUARY 2016 REGULAR FEATURES Editor’s Mail 8 On Record 9 Briefs 10 COVER STORY Eastward Bound 12 IS and Saarc 16 Changing Directions 20 Expanding Territory 22 REGION Pakistan Honour Among Thieves 24 India Local Focus 26 Afghanistan Shattered Country 28 42 Bangladesh International Rising Religious Extremism 30 Hot and Cold Sri Lanka Indications for world peace. Sad Saga 32 The Nepal Big Brother Politics 36 The Maldives Indian Ocean Turmoil 38 Bhutan Border Politics 40 Afghanistan48 INTERNATIONAL No Child’s Play Hot and Cold 42 A pastime peculiar to NEIGHBOR tribal culture. The Deal and After 44 FEATURES Pakistan Who Killed Bisma? 46 Bangladesh Afghanistan The Missing Ingredient No Child’s Play 48 Better health planning Bangladesh needed. 50 The Missing Ingredient 50 Bhutan Sri Lanka Where Men Are Happier On a Tight Rope 52 Women could do with more support. 54 Bhutan Where Men Are Happier 54 Nepal The Lonely Woman 56 The Maldives Paradox in Paradise 58 Books & Reviews History Revisited 60 44 SOUTHASIA 15 Years Ago 62 Neighbor The Deal and After Iran is back in the good books of western powers. SOUTHASIA • FEBRUARY 2016 5 COMMENT ‘Generally’, the people FEBRUARY 2016 VOL.20 ISSUE 02 t was rather graceful of General Raheel Sharif, the chief of staff of the Pakistan Army to have said that he will retire at the end of his regular term and will not seek an extension. The general is supposed to complete his 3 year stint in November PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF I Syed Jawaid Iqbal 2016 but perhaps what prompted him to issue a statement as early as in January this year was perhaps to silence those voices that were clamouring that he extend MANAGING EDITOR his tenure for another 3 years or till at least the time when the major thrust of the Zeba Jawaid Operation Zarb E Azb had been completed and the last of the terrorists had been tackled. Operation Zarb E Azb has proved to be highly successful under General EDITOR Javed Ansari Raheel Sharif. He has led it from the front, making sure that he was physically present at all those locations where the operation was underway, raising the morale of the ASSISTANT EDITORS troops engaged in flushing out the terrorists and seeing to it that the required actions Farah Iqbal – Mahrukh Farooq were duly carried out. When the prime minister of the country was away on the Samina Wahid – Faizan Usmani occasion of Eid, General Sharif was right there with the troops. Similar examples have also been set by other top army commanders posted at various fronts, such as CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Maj. Gen. Bilal Akbar, the Director General of the Rangers in Sindh. S. G. Jilanee This is the sort of approach at the top army level that had not been in evidence earlier. Before this, the terrorists had been slowly expanding into various parts of CONTRIBUTORS the country and there was no resistance. General Raheel Sharif has struck quite Dr. Moonis Ahmar - Asna Ali singularly and decisively at the militants and has led his troops to uproot them from Malik Muhammad Ashraf - Syed Zeeshan Ahmed various parts of the country. What is even more encouraging is the fact that while the Huzaima Bukhari - Muhammad Ali Ehsan Pakistan Army has employed its resources to stamp out the terrorists, it has also come Mahrukh Farooq - S. M. Hali down with full vehemence on those elements that had been looting the country Dr. Ikramul Haq - S.G. Jilanee - Shabbir H. Kazmi through corruption of all kinds. The main focus of the anti-corruption operations so Taj M Khattak - Dr. Raza Khan - S. Mubashir Noor far has been in the province of Sindh but it is expected that such operations will also Fatima Siraj - Faizan Usmani - Samina Wahid be launched in other parts of the country and all those elements that are engaged in GRAPHICS & LAYOUT corruption funding and in milking the country dry at all levels will be exposed and Kamran Ghulam Nabi receive due punishment. It must be said that the Pakistan Army is today fighting the Haroon Rasheed kind of war it was never up against before and that is quite a challenge. MARKETING & ADVERTISING General Raheel Sharif has come to symbolize a force that works selflessly for the Ayaz ul Haq good of the country and is not restricted by any political leanings. In the Pakistani Syed Ovais Akhtar scenario, this could only have been achieved by the armed forces, more particularly Aqam-ud-Din Khan the Pakistan Army, because the political players could not have been expected to be driven forward due to their own compulsions. The politicians could never have COORDINATOR Muhammad Rashid had an even-handed approach. Pakistan is fortunate that in the person of General Raheel Sharif, it has an honest, upright and single-minded soldier who understands DIGITAL ADVERTISING everything that the nation has been through and is still experiencing and who, instead Ali Danish of simply waxing eloquent on what needs to be done, has set proud and pragmatic examples on two key fronts – terrorism and corruption. Before him, even General CIRCULATION Pervez Kiyani had declared war against the terrorists – but he had not gone the whole Danish Shahid hog. He had launched operations in South Waziristan but had dithered on going into EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICE North Waziristan. In fact, in Gen. Kiyani’s days, there was a ‘good Taliban’ and a 20-C, Lane 12, off Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Phase II ‘bad Taliban’ and the army acted on those lines. The former DG Inter-Services Public Extension, DHA, Karachi - 75500, Pakistan Relations, Maj Gen (retd) Athar Abbas has said that the military leadership of the Phones: 92-21- 35313821-24 Fax: 92-21-35313832 country was in favour of launching a military offensive against the Taliban militants in Website: www.southasia.com.pk North Waziristan in 2010, but could not do so due to the indecision of Gen Kayani. Email: [email protected] Gen. Raheel Sharif came and changed all that, with the result that terrorists MIDDLE EAST were flushed out from North Waziristan as well. It was then that the anti-Taliban or REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE anti-terrorist operation took on a more holistic approach and the results were much Pirana Advertising JLT better and much more focused. It is a fact that the Pakistan Army has been led by PO Box 486207, 1704, Level 17, HDS Tower, selfless men who have risen to the top through the ranks and who have proved their Jumeirah Lake Towers Cluster F, Dubai, UAE professional leadership skills by personal example. What makes Gen. Raheel Sharif Phone: +97-14- 4508309 Fax: +97-14-3688487 an outstanding example is that he is a ‘hands-on’ general who is always to be found Email: [email protected] where the crisis is. One reason for the public demand for his continuing as army chief is perhaps rooted in the need of the Pakistanis for a leader who is among them SouthAsia is published every month at their hour of need. It also seems that the confidence level of the nation is greater by Syed Jawaid Iqbal for and on behalf of when they are led by an army general rather than a civilian. They may have voted JAWZ Communications (Pvt.) Ltd. civilian politicians into power but when terrorists are to be combated and driven out and when corruption and misappropriation is to be identified and the perpetrators and printed by Union Graphics, Karachi. punished, it is the army that delivers. If the leader holds the good of the people and Views expressed by the contributors are the country close to his heart, then they would prefer to be led by a ‘non-elected’ not necessarily shared by the editors. soldier rather than an ‘elected’ civilian. Published since 1977 as Thirdworld, the magazine was re-launched in 1997 as SouthAsia. Syed Jawaid Iqbal EDITOR’S MAIL international organisations should ask independent Unfair must raise the issue at the prosecutors and judges Corruption- execution of United Nations Human from other countries to play free Pakistan Rights Council (UNHRC). a part in the legal process politicians to give the accused a fair Recently, Transparency Irfan Qaiser, trial. International (TI) issued Karachi, Pakistan. its annual Corruption Pulasthi Sarojith, Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka. which ranked Pakistan lower UNHRC than four other member states of SAARC such as report on war Smart Cities in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka crimes and Nepal.