Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Ghulam Ali, Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad
On 30 January 2013, the Port Singapore Authority (PSA) abandoned administrative control of Gwadar port in Pakistan — five years into a 40-year agreement. Read more…
Author: Sunil Dasgupta, UMBC and Brookings Institution
In 1971, India intervened militarily on behalf of Bengalis in the civil war in East Pakistan, dividing the country in two and helping to create Bangladesh.
In 2013, prospects of another civil war in Pakistan — this time one that pits radical Islamists against the secular but authoritarian military — have led once again to questions about what India would do. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
China’s longstanding relationship with Pakistan and the challenge of China’s remarkable economic rise have encouraged many in the West to see India as a natural Chinese competitor and a useful pawn for the United States in Sino-American strategic play. Read more…
Author: Robert G. Wirsing, Georgetown
If one were on the lookout for the region with the most meagre potential for cooperative management of its transboundary river basins, South Asia would be a strong contender.
Author: Sajjad Ashraf, NUS
As the United States, the Karzai government and the Afghan resistance (branded as the Taliban by the Western powers and media) engage in various moves to secure an advantageous peace in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan are jostling to fill the vacuum US forces will leave behind when they leave.
Afghanistan’s importance derives from its location as a bridge between Central and South Asia. Read more…
Author: Sajjad Ashraf, NUS
Defying threats of US sanctions, Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formally launched construction of the Pakistani side of the Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline on 11 March 2013. Iran has almost completed its side of the work.
The US$7.5 billion pipeline will deliver 750 million cubic feet (21.5 million cubic metres) of gas per day to Pakistan. Read more…
Author: Sajjad Ashraf, NUS
After a better-than-expected win by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by two-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Saturday’s (11 May) Pakistani elections, the country awaits the change of government with a lot of hope.
This is the first time in Pakistan’s volatile 66-year-old history a democratic dispensation will replace another. Read more…
Author: Ghulam Ali, National Chengchi University
On 11 August 2011 China successfully launched Pakistan’s communication satellite, Paksat-1R, into space from its Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) in Sichuan Province.
The satellite covers all of Pakistan, parts of South and Central Asia, the Far East, Eastern Europe and East Africa. It will replace the aging Paksat-1, which is approaching the end of its 15-year life span this November. Read more…
Author: Mahendra Ved, New Delhi
Pakistan’s former military strongman, the retired general Pervez Musharraf, recently returned from over four years of exile and declared his hope to contest the election and ‘save’ Pakistan by ruling the country once more.
Now, he has been thrown out of the electoral race, restricted from leaving the country and is facing a combination of legal and political battles. Read more…
Author: Rosita Armytage, ANU
When Pakistan holds elections on 11 May 2013 it will be the first time in Pakistan’s history that an elected government hands over power to another elected government.
Though this is a positive development, most Pakistani and international observers are not optimistic that the elections form part of a broader transition from procedural to substantive democracy Read more…