Conflict – Page 18 – The Singapore Post

India, Bangladesh exchange MoUs; recognise Dec 6 as ‘Maitri Diwas’

28Mar

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

India, Bangladesh exchange MoUs; recognise Dec 6 as ‘Maitri Diwas’

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday said that December 6, the day on which India formally recognized Bangladesh, will be celebrated as ‘Maitri Diwas’.The decision came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Bangladesh on his first trip to a foreign country since the Covid-19 outbreak, held one-on-one talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina held talks in Dhaka on Saturday.According to a joint statement issued after their talks, Prime Minister Modi said that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the greatest leaders of modern times, will be remembered for his courage and indelible contribution to Bangladesh’s emergence as a sovereign country.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina thanked India for conferring Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2020 on Ba

China aggressively building new villages in disputed borderlands in Himalayas: Report

22Mar

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Asia, China, Conflict

China aggressively building new villages in disputed borderlands in Himalayas: Report

China is aggressively building many new villages in disputed borderlands in the Himalayas to extend or consolidate its control over strategically important areas that India, Bhutan, and Nepal maintain fall within their national boundaries, according to a report by Center for Policy Research.In an article titled ‘China’s Himalayan salami tactics’, Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research said that the strategic implications of China’s drive to populate these desolate, uninhabited border areas is its major buildup of new military facilities.The new installations range from electronic warfare stations and air defence sites to underground ammunition depots.“China’s militarised village-building spree has renewed the regional spotlight on

Compulsory Arabic can lead to more conflicts in Pakistan

1Mar

By Our NewsroomNo Comments

Asia, Conflict, World

Compulsory Arabic can lead to more conflicts in Pakistan

The Imran Khan government’s decision to make Arabic compulsory subject in primary schools is yet another step in Pakistan’s march towards becoming a theological Sunni state, contrary to what its founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had envisioned. Jinnah’s Pakistan was for all hues of Muslims and minorities who had the courage to adopt the land of their birth as their nation. But that is not the Pakistan what the mullahs and military wanted—they wanted a Sunni state where other sects and religion had no place. The process of making this happen began within years of Jinnah’s demise. First the Ahmadis and then the Bengali speaking Muslims from east Pakistan became the `other`. The state actively discouraged and marginalised countless dialects in a bid to create a uniform linguistic i

20Feb

By Spost_adminNo Comments

Asia, Conflict, Politics, World

How Sri Lankan Muslims are suffering and Pakistan has nothing to say

At the beginning of this New Year, in January 2021, a team of UN Human Rights activists fervently appealed to the Sri Lankan government to scrap its policy of forced cremation of bodies of coronavirus victims belonging to Muslim/ other minorities. The Sri Lankan Government was requested to abstain from actions that were seemingly in contravention to the established practices of different religious groups. The decision of the authorities was seen as a catalyst capable of fomenting prejudice, intolerance and violence in an already divided society that is yet to put its pieces together post the LTTE conflict. In Geneva, Special Rapporteurs Ahmed Shaheed, Fernand de Varennes, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule and Tlaleng Mofokeng claimed that there was no medical or scientific evidence provin...

Chinese, Indian troops start ‘synchronised’ disengagement in eastern Ladakh: China’s Defence Ministry

10Feb

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Asia, China, Conflict

Chinese, Indian troops start ‘synchronised’ disengagement in eastern Ladakh: China’s Defence Ministry

China’s defence ministry on Wednesday said that the frontline troops of both China and India at the south and north banks of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh started “synchronised and organised” disengagement from today (Wednesday).Although there was no official comment by either the Indian defence ministry or the Indian Army, people familiar with the development said both sides are in the process of pulling back their armoured units like tanks and armoured personnel carriers.According to sources, specific steps like the withdrawal of armoured elements from the friction points were discussed threadbare at the ninth round of high-level military talks on January 24 that lasted for around 16 hours.Meanwhile, the office of Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that he will make a sta

China building border walls with Vietnam, Myanmar to keep people out

26Jan

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Asia, China, Conflict

China building border walls with Vietnam, Myanmar to keep people out

In a move which could lead to conflicts, China has decided to reinforce border walls with its South-East Asian neighbours - Vietnam and Myanmar."It looks like a national program," South-East Asia expert and emeritus professor Carl Thayer of UNSW Canberra said.According to Chinese state media Xinhua, the project in Vietnam involves a 4.5-metre-high iron fence, topped with barbed wire, along the Beilun River. Built between 2012 and 2017, the $29 million project reportedly stretches 12 kilometres, and is there to curb the smuggling of goods, drugs and people.Meanwhile, media reports suggest that a 659-kilometre-long fence has been completed along China's 2,000-kilometre border with Myanmar in December, in between China's Yunnan province and Myanmar's northern Shan State.While Global Times has...

NOW MYANMAR FACES CHINESE BORDER ENCROACHMENT

2Jan

By Our NewsroomNo Comments

Asia, Business, China, Conflict, World

NOW MYANMAR FACES CHINESE BORDER ENCROACHMENT

It is now known that Chinese authorities constructed fences during November, 2020 near the China-Myanmar border in Laukkai Township in the Kokang Self Administered Zone in northern Shan State of Myanmar. The construction was carried out by China near border post BP-125 and between posts BP-121 and BP-122. While the Myanmar military objected to this development, the Chinese went ahead with the works on the pretext of a crackdown on illegal border crossings from Myanmar in the wake of the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases. In fact, Major General Zaw Min Tun sent a protest letter to his Chinese counterpart quoting the 1961 treaty on the China-Myanmar boundary. The treaty, as such prohibits building any structure within ten meters of the demarcation line on either side. On sensing the objection f

30Dec

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Asia, China, Conflict

China Venezuela Relations go downhill

China considers Venezuela a key partner in Latin America. China is the biggest importer of oil and Venezuela has the largest amount of proven oil reserves. In fact, China Development Bank (CDB) has issued maximum loans to Venezuela. Despite these compatibilities, the China-Venezuela relationship has become a textbook case of how China blatantly misused its foreign policy of "promoting development". China gave financial and economic support to Maduro and Chavez governments that led to instability and misrule in the region. China's ZTE provided surveillance equipment to Maduro government to help curb dissent. China took advantage of the inefficiency and corruption in the Venezuelan government to exploit is petroleum resources. The strategy was a Loan for oil scheme - a tactic often used ...

Pakistan a pawn in Chinese policy, serious Indo-Sino conflict not good for China: IAF Chief

29Dec

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Asia, China, Conflict

Pakistan a pawn in Chinese policy, serious Indo-Sino conflict not good for China: IAF Chief

Pakistan has become a pawn in the Chinese policy and its military dependence on China would increase further in view of the debt trap due to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Indian Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said on Tuesday. In an address at a webinar on 'National Security Challenges and Air Power' organised by Vivekanand International Foundation, he said China has invested billions of dollars in the CPEC as loans to Islamabad and the already debt-ridden Pakistani administration would be under a lot of financial stress to repay even the interest as per the current fiscal situation there. Bhadauria said India's "most important" national security challenge is to understand China, its "possible game plan" and the deepening and evolving Sino-Pak relationship. "Pakistan has inc...

ISIS set to become Islamist Frankenstein in Africa

19Nov

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Asia, Conflict, Opinion, Politics

ISIS set to become Islamist Frankenstein in Africa

On the run from Europe and Asia since 2014, terror organization ISIS is now desperately trying to establish its turf on the African continent by setting up links with local terror bodies. In the process, its Jihadist ideology has secured a fresh lease of life to expand the influence of the Islamic caliphate.Several countries of Africa where the civil-military differences are weakening the social and economic fabric are now the hunting grounds of ISIS. Even among them, ISIS prefers countries where Islamist politics have reared their head. The world has noticed the silence of orthodox Islamic clergy in face of rogue expansion of the Islamic terror bodies in Africa as they escape the western military forces in west Asia and Europe, specially from Syria and Iraq.It is perhaps as a result of th...

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