Editorial que escrevi no oitavo número da revista Think South Asia:
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| The King of Bhutan - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck |
It is now time for us to look at Bhutan. Bhutan is a mountainous
country comparable to the size of Switzerland, but with around 730 thousand
inhabitants and landlocked between India and Tibet, which as we know is ruled
by the Chinese. On the date of this edition we are between 2 rounds of parliamentary
elections in Bhutan, being a special moment to analyse this fascinating country.
Also another issue for which Bhutan is well known is the Gross National Happiness
index (GNH), and we are thinking about it as well.
In this issue of Think South Asia magazine we have very prestigious
contributions indeed. First of all, a detailed country profile of Bhutan done
by the South Asia Democratic Forum fellow Mr Marian Gallenkamp, who is a
knowledgeable expert on this country. Dr Siegfried O. Wolf from the University
of Heidelberg dedicates his usual column to an analysis of the Bhutanese
elections. The EU Delegate of The Family Watch, Mr Antoine Mellado, writes
about development and the Gross National Happiness Index of Bhutan and its
parameters. Then, 3 promising and talented ladies from Bangladesh honour us
with their inputs: Ms Sheikh Nishat Nazmi is a Social Psychology Counsellor and
brings to us a very interesting picture of the Families in South Asia in
general, Bangladesh in particular; Mst Sabikun Naher from the University of
Dhaka writes about the Bangladesh-Bhutan commercial relations and comparative
advantages of both countries; and last but not least, Ms Janina Islam Abir also
from the University of Dhaka tell us about the Shahbag Movement, making a very
comprehensive and deep analysis of this historical phenomena occurring nowadays
in Bangladesh, which we should know better and follow closely.
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| BNG Ambassador - Ismat Jahan |
Now I am privileged to present: 2 interviews, 2 Ambassadors, 2 good
friends of South Asia: Her Excellency Mrs Ismat Jahan from Bangladesh, and His
Excellency Mr Jan Deboutte from Belgium. Both perspectives – South Asian and
European – should be appreciated attentively, so that no drop of wisdom escapes
from our readings. Without any previous agreement, both ambassadors showed to
be fantastic builders of cultural bridges: while Mr Ambassador Deboutte finds a
link between the Bhutanese Gross National Happiness and the Greek classical
philosophy, Mrs Ambassador Jahan quotes the first non European Nobel Prize of
Literature winner, the Bengali Rabindranath Tagore (1913), proving that his
poetry and art could be an inspiration to South Asians, Europeans and everybody
in this planet.
Regarding the peace prospects in Kashmir, we have an attention call
article from the Executive Director of South Asia Democratic Forum. Mr Paulo
Casaca writes about the murder of Mr Arif Shahid, one of the most important
figures of Pakistan’s Kashmiri independence movement, and its worrying consequences
to the peace in Kashmir.
On the 14th of May there were also elections in Pakistan,
where the people expressed the will to have Mr Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister
for the 3rd time in the country’s History. The South Asia Institute
of the University of Heidelberg and the South Asia Democratic Forum organised a
conference to discuss these elections and in the European Parliament of
Brussels. This event resulted in a high-level briefing done by a prestigious set
of experts to European policy-makers. You can check their conclusions in the
end of the magazine. From the Think South Asia editorial side, I would like to
wish to President Sharif all the success, hoping that peace, stability and
better living conditions can be achieved in Pakistan with respect to Human
Rights and the Rule of Law.
From Bangladesh we received sad news on the last 24th of
April, when the Rana Plaza complex collapsed provoking the death of 1129 people.
This makes us ask: In a country where the perpetrators of the 1971 genocide
(which killed more than 3 million people) were not brought to justice and
several other public crimes occurred, like the assassination of President Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, how can we expect that people have care while planning a
building? This is why it was important to welcome in Brussels the Bangladeshi
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Doctor Dipu Moni. Mrs Moni said that in Bangladesh
“the culture of impunity is ending” and the government will do its best to
ensure labour safety and rights in the country. We must applaud her courageous
statement and support the Bangladeshi authorities in the reinforcement of
security and the rule of law.
After some Chinese troops crossed the line of control in Ladakh
(Kashmir) in April, I was surprised to see the European Parliament discussing
on the 23rd of May the February execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru in
Delhi. As I said the Think South Asia 6th edition in February, I
personally am against death penalty, but this does not mean supporting
impunity. Mr Guru was proven to be associated with the terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba
and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and participated in the 2001 attack against the Indian
Parliament, killing 7 people and injuring 15. Of course the European Parliament
could make the case of banning death penalty in the world... but this case of
Mr Guru is far from being the best flag to pick, not to say that it probably sends
a wrong message to the international community, as if the EU is supporting
impunity for terrorists. I think this is not the case, or at least it
shouldn’t.
Two days after this debate in Strasbourg, on the Saturday the 25th
of May another terrorist attack happened in the State of Chhattisgarh in India,
this time organised by the Naxalite-Maoists. The attackers killed 27 people,
amongst them some senior political leaders mainly from the Indian National
Congress party. The Naxalite-Maoist insurgency killed already approximately 12
thousand people since its start in 1980 and the Indian police believes it has
ties with the above mentioned Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as with the ISI
(intelligence agency also from Pakistan), and their training camps are mainly located
in Pakistan, China and Burma.
Finally some good news from Afghanistan. As you can see in the latest
document of Reporters Without Frontiers, no journalists were killed in 2012 and
arrests of media workers declined. Nevertheless, violence against journalists
did not disappear completely. Also, since NATO will withdraw most of the troops
from Afghanistan next year and Taliban are expected to return to the country,
there are legitimate doubts if this betterment of conditions for the media in
Afghanistan is not precarious.
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| The Taktshang Monastery, in Bhutan |
Bhutan also gives us positive news. Bhutan ranks 1st among the
South Asian countries for freedom of the press, and the 82nd in the
World Press Freedom Index. More concerns should be raised to the situation in
the Maldives and in Sri Lanka. Although still preserving an orange colour on
the map, the Maldives fell 30 positions in the index due to violence and
threats against journalists after the coup d’état in March 2012. Regarding Sri
Lanka, it still is the last one of South Asia on the list, ranking number 162nd
in the world, three positions below Pakistan (159th).
South Asia as a whole got worse for journalists in 2012, and something
should be done about this. However these are sad news, we should put them in
perspective. South Asian countries scored considerably better than its
neighbour countries:
- Tajikistan and Burma appear in a red colour with a “difficult situation” for journalists
- Uzbekistan, China, Iran and Turkmenistan in black with a “very serious situation”
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Para fazer o download da revista Think South Asia 08: http://sadf.eu/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/thinksouthasia08.pdf
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