Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Alicia Mollaun, ANU
The lead-up to Pakistan’s historic 11 May elections was bloody. From the beginning of April to polling day more than 120 people were killed in election-related violence and many parties were severely restricted in their ability to campaign due to threats of brutality, primarily from the Taliban.
On election day, more than 600,000 security personnel were deployed 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: Sandy Gordon, ANU
Pakistan has just experienced the first democratic change of government in its history.
It did so despite a violent campaign by religious extremists to derail the election, and targeted at secular-oriented parties such as the ousted Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Read more…
Author: Alicia Mollaun, ANU
Pakistan’s forthcoming elections on 11 May are monumental not just for Pakistan but for the West, which should be watching with great interest.
For Pakistan, this year’s elections mark the first time in its history that one democratically elected government will be replaced by another democratically elected government. 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: 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: 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…
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: 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: 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: Frederic Grare, Carnegie Endowment
On 4 February, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari met near London at the invitation of British prime minister David Cameron.
The summit was also attended by the two nations’ foreign ministers, top military leaders and intelligence chiefs, and seems to have been successful in a number of areas. 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: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The Indian economy continued to struggle through 2012. Growth remained sluggish at about 5.3 per cent of GDP for the September quarter (year on year).
Although starting to fall, inflation — always politically sensitive in India — remains high.
Author: Alicia Mollaun, ANU
Life in Pakistan in 2012 left a lot to be desired.
Politically, 2012 will be remembered as the year the judiciary took on the government and won, successfully ousting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on contempt of court charges.