NEWS-COMMENT
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US likely to cut 20 % aid to Sri Lanka

 16 April, 2013 09:55:00
The State Department plans show the growing unease in the ties between Washington and Colombo. It also means Colombo can expect no respite from the US on the human rights issues....
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Hasina takes Islamists head-on

 16 April, 2013 09:45:00
Shahbagh movement is no longer just about demanding deterrent punishment for war criminals but also about defining Bangladesh's national identity as being both Bengali and Muslim....
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North-east Insurgent groups are getting arms from China

 13 March, 2013 01:45:00
The changes in the political landscape of North-east India have stuck a blow to the insurgents. And made them come to the negotiating table. The Mizo rebel group, MNF was the first to see to writing on the wall, signed a peace accord with Delhi and became a part of the mainstream....
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Standoff in Male ends, Nasheed rejoins his supporters

 24 February, 2013 04:45:00
India perceived its position in Male not as a crisis manager but as a well-wisher of a friendly nation, which is keen to see return of Maldives to normal political life....
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PAKISTAN

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Taliban, Jirgas stand in the way of polio vaccination in Pak tribal belt

 07 April, 2013 08:35:00
The reasoning given against vaccination is ingenious, to say the least. “Polio infects one child in a million, but hundreds of Waziri women, children and elders have been killed in drone strikes', say the local Taliban groups. Tribal elders are also opposed to polio drops as the government has not met their primary demand- electricity for the past thirty years...
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Pakistan transfers strategic Gwadar port to China

 21 February, 2013 07:50:00
What a military dictator did not do, a civilian government did in Pakistan and it's transferring the strategic Gwadar port in the politically volatile Baluchistan Province to China. This decision is cause for concern to India and a dilemma for the US Administration's Pivot to Asia policy...
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What is Pak Judiciary upto….

 16 January, 2013 06:40:00
It may be a judicial coincidence but the orders for the arrest of Prime Minister Ashraf have given a boost to the Qadri campaign. It has given a fresh lease to speculation about a ‘soft coup’ by the generals. Leaders of PPP are openly saying Qadri’s march and the Court’s verdict were masterminded by the military. ...
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Hazaras on the firing line in Balochistan

 11 January, 2013 07:00:00
Pakistan's security forces have a heavy presence in Quetta and throughout Baluchistan and are notorious for their brutal methods, including “disappearances” and extra-judicial killings. Sections of the Pakistani military have connections to Sunni extremist groups, including the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has claimed responsibility for the double bomb blasts on Jan 10. ...
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MYANMAR/CHINA

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Xi Jinping era begins signalling an assertive foreign policy

 17 March, 2013 02:50:00
Xi, who was installed as CCP general secretary last November, has close relations with the Chinese military. He reportedly told a group of sailors last December that he had “a dream of a strong nation” and “a dream of a strong military” to be fulfilled in coming decades....
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Aung San Suu Kyi’s swing through the US

 10 October, 2012 03:40:00
Myanmar’s democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, was heard with attention all through her 17-day tour of America, which ended last week. It was an ...
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Disgraced Bo gets the final boot

 29 September, 2012 08:45:00
Axing Bo Xilai is a calibrated campaign to limit damage to the party and leadership in the run up to the once in a decade party Congress, which will be held on Nov 8. ...
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No conditions on India aid: Mathai

 15 April, 2013 09:10:00
India offers aid in the true spirit of South-South cooperation. It is demand driven, without conditionalities, and with no challenge to naional sovereignty of the aid recipients....
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Sri Lankan president rejects fresh war crimes evidence

 12 March, 2013 06:45:00
The latest video, produced by Channel 4, with fresh evidence, was screened in the Geneva headquarters of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) to the delegations attending the current UNHCR annual meeting....
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SL: Developments on ground to guide India's stand in Geneva

 08 March, 2013 10:35:00
The mood during the four-hour debate in the Indian parliament was deeply hostile towards Sri Lanka as allegations of torture and rape inflamed sentiments. ...
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Nepal in poll mode; CJ takes reins of Govt

 15 March, 2013 10:15:00
“The main objective of my government shall be to conduct free and fair Constituent Assembly elections at the earliest," Regmi said after assuming office. The election should be held by June 21 as per the 4-party accord though the date is not sacrosanct. If the situation warrants, the poll could be put off till mid-December but not beyond that date....
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Why B'desh garment factories are turning into infernos...?

 04 February, 2013 11:25:00
Bangladesh has about 4,500 garment factories, employing around 3.6 million workers—80 percent of whom are female. Most of them earn about $43 a month, Since Tazreen fire, MNCs have increased purchases from Bangladesh due to its cheap manufacturing costs....
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Khaleda Zia visit to Delhi

 27 October, 2012 09:55:00
Khaleda Zia is the second top Bangladesh leader to come to India in the past two -three months. Former President H M Ershad, who leads Bangladesh’s third biggest political party, Jatiya Party (JP) was here in August. Prime Ministers of the two countries met on the sidelines of NAM summit in Tehran. These contacts have helped to give a positive momentum to India-Bangladesh ties....
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Cross-Border Trade Depressed in Afghan North

 13 March, 2013 06:50:00
Hairatan on the river Amu Darya is connected by bridge with the border town of Termez in Uzbekistan. A new railway from Mazar-e Sharif up to the border connects Afghanistan to freight networks via the Central Asia states to Russia and Europe. That should give Hairatan a unique advantage over road-only crossing points into Iran to the west and Pakistan to the south. Instead, trade through Hairatan has fallen away dramatically. Instead, trade through Hairatan has fallen away dramatically...
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Hagel visits Kabul, reads the Afghan pulse

 12 March, 2013 10:05:00
Within hours of Hagel’s landing in Kabul, two suicide bombings killed nearly 20 Afghans. One was just outside the Ministry of Defense, where 10 people died. Karzai used a televised speech to suggest that the bombings were part of a broader conspiracy to cast his government as powerless in the face of a Taliban offensive without the continued presence of US-led troops....
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Enclave Issues Challenge Uzbek, Kyrgyz Leaders

 15 February, 2013 06:30:00
Sokh sits in the middle of southern Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region, a sliver of land sandwiched between Uzbekistan to the north and Tajikistan to the south. The main way of travelling between Batken’s eastern and western parts is via Sokh – in other words, foreign territory....
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Arab Revolts Risk Fuelling Sectarian Tensions

 26 March, 2013 08:30:00
Protests in the Arab world seem to be moving from the ideal of establishing democracy towards increasing polarisation and sectarianism in the region.. As Sunni Islamists gain political power, minority faiths are likely to be vulnerable. ...
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Will Iran lunch a nuclear attack on Israel ...?

 26 February, 2013 07:56:00
One way to make Iran suspend its N-programme is diplomatic effort through negotiations. the other is economic sanctions to make Iran to compromise. While diplomatic efforts have not yielded results, there is no agreement regarding the severity of the sanctions that should be imposed. Building a wide international consensus on Iran centric sanctions is difficult due to important economic and political interests of various governments with regard to Iran. ...
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The Arab 'Morsi' Spring Revisited

 17 August, 2012 08:35:00
The developments in the wake of the Arab Spring deserve to be properly understood–despite Yemen, Syria, even Libya or the autocracies elsewhere in the Middle East. Also, it would be worth remembering that the two fastest growing world economies are Turkey and Indonesia, both democracies, both Islamic, says veteran journalist, Anser Kidwai...
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Islam doesn’t forbid Friday work, cleric says

 04 October, 2012 02:35:00
Contrary to the claims of radical groups, there is nothing in the Qur'an or teachings of the Prophet Muhammad that forbids working on Fridays, according ...
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Khusrau, a great pillar of 14th century Persian literature.

 02 January, 2012 02:44:00
One of the most prolific genres composed by Khusrau are the pahelis, riddles that children of the subcontinent grow up enjoying. Deeply influenced by the spiritual philosophy of Like his master, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Khusrau believed in tolerance and affection between people of separate faiths. Khusrau loved Hindustan, India, with all its fragrant flowers, fruits, vegetables, trees and animals and likened it to Paradise writing, ‘The heavens said that of all the countries which have come out of the earth, it is Hindustan that has achieved the height of excellence’....
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Roshan Chiragh Dilli: Bright Lamp of Delhi

 11 October, 2011 12:55:00
Delhi has been traditionally known as ‘Baees khwaja ki chaukhat’, the threshold of 22 Sufi Masters. The Chishti Sufis draw their spiritual lineage from Hasan of Basra, who was initiated by the Prophet’s son-in-law, Imam Ali. ...There is a belief that Prophet Muhammad gifted some of his personal possessions, including a cloak and prayer carpet, to the elders of the Chishti Order. These sacred relics came to the sub-continent with Khwaja Gharib Nawaz of Ajmer,...
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