Insurgency, Drugs and Small Arms in Myanmar
The many links between drugs, small arms and insurgency have been widely discussed and addressed by scholars. The literature in particular has convincingly shown how several insurgent groups in Myanmar have used the drug business to finance and sustain their violent movements. Funds generated from drug production and circulation help the insurgent groups to procure arms, and are widely believed to be supporting the protracted nature of these movements.
Arrest of Yasin Bhatkal: An Analysis
The arrest of Bhatkal, head of the Indian Mujahideen, highlights the measures taken by security agencies including improved coordination in different states to apprehend a number of terrorists in the last few years.
Maoists Link in Odisha: Case of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh
The Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS), an association of peasants, bonded labours and the tribal, is a classic case of a popular movement being hijacked by the Maoists to get their foothold in Koraput, Malkanagiri and Rayagada districts of Odisha.
Political Economy of Madrassa Education in Bangladesh: Genesis, Growth and Impact , by Abu Barkat, Rowshan Ara, M. Taheruddin, Farid M. Zahid and Md. Badiuzzaman
Madrassas in Bangladesh have seen a rapid increase in their number in recent years. As per 2008 estimates, 9,827,742 students were enrolled in 54,130 Madrassas in the country. That meant that any third student in Bangladesh studied at a Madrassa. It is projected that by 2050 the number of Madrassas will increase to 155,108. What is alarming is not so much the number of Madrassa students as the fact that only 25 per cent of Madrassa students manage to get employed. The rest, i.e., 75 per cent remain unemployed.
The Students Islamic Movement of India: The Story So Far
The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) continues to pose serious threats to the national security of India. Despite having been banned for 12 years, SIMI, it has been alleged, works through radical outfits like the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its front organizations. It has also been charged with having links with terror outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), and the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) of Bangladesh. At the same time, the government’s decision to ban SIMI has been questioned by one section of its members.
Nepal: The Constituent Assembly that was…..
Nepal’s Constituent Assembly did have some positive achievements, the most important among these being the integration of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the UCPN-M, although it failed to fulfil its other main task of finalising a constitution.
Mawlana Mawdudi and Political Islam: Authority and the Islamic State by Roy Jackson Routledge, New York, 2011, 202 pp.
The religious and political ideas of Sayyid Abdul A'la Mawdudi (Mawlana Mawdudi) provide the ideological current to groups contending for the supremacy of Islam (rather than Islamic Revivalism). Mawdudi's brand of political Islam has gained widespread acceptance in South and South East Asia as well as the Middle East. His influence on Hassan al-banna (better known as ‘Salafis’ and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), Palestinian scholar Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (believed to have taught the Islamic values to Osama bin-Laden) and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini bear testimony to it.
SIMI Regrouping: A Reality Check
The recent activities of SIMI as well as its suspected links with groups like the Popular Front of India and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity and even the Indian Mujahideen suggest that it is regrouping to undertake terrorist attacks in different parts of India.
