Stories about South Asia from February, 2012
Bangladesh: Boycotting Indian Products to Protest Brutality at Border
Indian Border Security Forces have killed more than 1,000 Bangladeshis in the last ten years. Some bloggers have started a campaign to boycott Indian products and services on March 1, 2012, to protest.
International Mother Language Day in Francophone Regions
February 21st is International Mother Language Day. Discussion of the origins of this celebration, and a brief review of current developments in French language and new technologies.
Sri Lanka: Abductions On The Rise In Sri Lanka
Groundviews reports that there has been a disturbing rise in the number of abductions in Sri Lanka, especially in and around the capital, Colombo.
Pakistan: Congratulating Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Hina Safdar At Chowrangi celebrates the Oscar award winner, the internationally renowned Pakistani documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. She won the award for her documentary ‘Saving Face, which is based on the story of acid attack survivors.
India: Cheap Tablet, Unaffordable Mistake
Nitin Pai at The Acorn posts an in-depth analysis on the controversies related to the $35 Aakash tablet PC.
Pakistan: Fighting the Great Firewall
The recent blow to the internet freedom in Pakistan has been the announcement of a request for proposal (RFP) for national “URL filtering and blocking system” by the ICT R&D Fund under the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT). The $10 million system is required to be able to ”handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs".
Pakistan: Karachi's Third Literature Gala
The Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) gave an opportunity to authors and book lovers to join together and celebrate reading. Literature from Pakistan and elsewhere was discussed in the two day long event from 11-12 February, 2012.
India: Why Can’t Women Own Land?
Rita Banerji discusses some recent court rulings in India and opines that “regardless of gender-neutral laws, even modern democracies like India that proudly flaunt their Constitution, have people in decision making capacities, as in government, law etc. who still apply the law within context of their old cultural mindsets.”
Sri Lanka: Female ex-combatants of LTTE Are At Risk
Shamila at Groundviews reports that female ex-LTTE members are at great risk as they have to report regularly to the military and their movements are closely monitored.
Pakistan: The Government Tender To Purchase Filtering Tools
Apparently the Pakistani government has invited tender to private and semi-private companies to purchase a tool to block thousands of urls. Awab Alvi and Faisal Kapadia hosts a video podcast at SpeakForChange to discuss why the government is doing this.
Bangladesh: The Ethical Dilemma of Using Opportunities
In developing countries, where bureaucracy, corruption and misinformation thrive, people may create opportunities to cash in from those anomalies. Some consider this as creativity or simply a part of the livelihood and some question about the ethics in using those opportunities.
Hong Kong, India: Farewell to Hong Kong
A southern Indian diaspora is about to leave Hong Kong for long after working in the city for 16 years. He explains why he won't miss the city in his blog, Walkerjay.
India: Analysis Of Uttar Pradesh Polls
Offstumped posts analysis of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Bangladesh: Ekushey February/International Mother Language Day Observed
Dhaka Daily Photo posts some images of the observance of Ekushey February/ International Mother Language Day in Bangladesh. Dhaka Dweller posts the history of Ekushey February.
Bangladesh: Photos Of Kite Festival And Fire Eaters In Dhaka
In Dhaka, on January 14th every year, the young people of the Old City celebrate Poush Sankranti. Bangladesh Unlocked posts photos of the Kite Festival and the display of fire eaters arranged to celebrate this day.
Pakistan: Deciphering the Balochistan Issue
A resolution presented by the US congressman Dana Rohrabacher on Balochistan has stirred the political spectrum in Pakistan. Condemnation has come from government and opposition parties in the national assembly. However, Baloch nationalists are complaining about their rights being sabotaged.
Pakistan: Caution For Social Media Activists
Pakistan Blogzine informs that a notice has been published by a leading Shia activist forum to warn Shia and other human rights activists to be aware of impostors who are reportedly monitoring internet to identify and potentially harm social media activists.
Sri Lanka: Promoting Reconciliation and Hope to Young People
Reconciliation is a much discussed buzzword across Sri Lanka. While there has been much talk about how to do it, a group called Sri Lanka Unites is actually doing something. They are uniting the youth of all ethnic and religious groups across Sri Lanka and promoting hope and reconciliation to them.
Sri Lanka: Price Hike and Police Brutality in Enforcing Public Order
Sri Lanka is currently facing a turbulent economy with price hike and imposition of surcharges, which are provoking widespread protests. The police and the military are taking brutal measures on protesters and a number of people have been killed in the past few months.
Bangladesh: Liveblogging TEDxDhaka
Farzana Rahman Sadia provided live updates of the proceedings of TEDxDhaka 2012, which took place today in the capital of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh: Government Observation of Facebook Ignites Debate
For a while now, the Bangladeshi authorities have been keeping an eye on the social media space and the country's Facebook users are increasingly finding themselves in the eye of the storm. Recently the country's High Court sentenced an university teacher to a 6 month jail term after he failed to appear in court to face trial regarding his Facebook status update.
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