Sonia Gandhi, then head of the Indian National Congress party, attends an Iftar in Rae Bareli in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on September 26, 2008 [Pawan Kumar/Reuters] By Yashraj Sharma New Delhi, India – It was the month of Ramadan in 1974, and the northern city of Lucknow, a hub of India’s Shia community, was ..read more

Indian women carry drinking water from a road side water pump on the outskirts of Ajmer, in the Indian state of Rajasthan on May 25, 2024.  © Reuters Syed Munir Khasru With International Women’s Day and World Water Day both observed this month, it is important to question whether the world is doing enough to acknowledge ..read more

By Hein Htoo Zan Fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar’s junta has escalated across three townships in Ayeyarwady Region near the border with Rakhine State, displacing thousands of civilians, according to residents. This week, junta airstrikes and shelling sparked clashes in Lemyethna, Yegyi and Thabaung townships. Lemyethna Township, on the eastern bank of ..read more

Yonat Shimron (RNS) — For years, studies have suggested that many white evangelical Christians reject the scientific consensus that human actions are driving climate change. A just-published study of clergy in America confirms it. According to the National Survey of Religious Leaders, 78% of white evangelical clergy reject the assertion that human actions are the ..read more

Kavitha Iyer Mumbai, India – Hours after Hindu nationalist groups staged a protest demanding the removal of 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb, communal violence broke out in the Indian city of Nagpur, Maharashtra. On the evening of March 17, five civilians and at least 33 policemen were injured as multiple incidents of arson and stone-pelting were ..read more

by Sibghatullah Ghaznawi The Taliban’s successful overthrow of Ashraf Ghani’s government on August 15, 2021, marked a major shift in regional geopolitical dynamics. For Islamabad, the Taliban’s return was initially perceived as a strategic victory. Religious leaders, politicians, and media anchors in Pakistan openly celebrated, while then-Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Faiz Hameed made a ..read more

Elon Musk, the owner of X, meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Washington on Feb. 13. (From X feed of @narendramodi via Reuters) March 21, 2025 00:45 JST NEW DELHI (Reuters) — India’s IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered “countless” government officials to execute such ..read more

By Abu Jakir Bangladesh and India, two neighboring countries that share the world’s fifth-longest border, were once believed to enjoy a harmonious bilateral relationship. Today, however, they are far from close. Following last year’s bloody uprising in Bangladesh, which resulted in the end of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year autocratic rule — widely believed to have been ..read more

Amir Zia Even for Pakistan—one of the world’s most violence-hit countries—the hijacking of a passenger train by terrorists in a remote part of its southwestern Balochistan province was an unprecedented incident. In a brazen attack on March 11, dozens of terrorists belonging to the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up the railway track to stop the ..read more

Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta In early 2014, months before Narendra Modi stormed to power, the Rajya Sabha witnessed a debate that appears much more germane now. Responding to leader of opposition Arun Jaitley’s contention that the parliament did not have the jurisdiction to pass the anti-communal violence bill, Union minister Kapil Sibal invoked the 2002 Gujarat ..read more