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South Asia
A million Hindus throng Shivaratri Festival
Thousands of Hindus from both Nepal and India thronged the famous Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu to observe the festival of Maha Shivaratri by offering worship to Lord Shiva, one of the three main Gods of Hindus, on February 27. As the name suggests, it is the night (ratri) of Lord…
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South Asia
Indian farmers grapple with drought
Water budgeting expertise sought after among farmers Amid continued drought in rural areas in India, farmers struggle to cultivate crops with less and less water. In some rural areas, illiterate farmers use their knacks in farming with less water and their farming expertise has now become a much-requested skill among…
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South Asia
Why dozens of Pakistani peacocks perish?
Peacocks and peahens on the verge of extinction in area Like every year, drought and extreme hot weather in Thar Desert of Southern Sindh province of Pakistan have started hitting the birds as dozens of peacocks have died and hundreds of birds fallen sick in different villages. The drought and…
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War-torn Afghanistan holds successful election
The first round of Afghanistan’s presidential election was held Saturday and, based on most reports, so far so good. That is particularly true in light of the threat of violence posed by the Taliban and, potentially, other heavily armed elements in and outside the country. Turnout among the 12 million…
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South Asia
Sindh through Centuries
Korean, Japanese, Indian, American, German and other research scholars explore hidden aspects of Great Indus Civilization Around 25 foreign research scholars from South Korea, Japan, India, USA and Germany joined local historians and scholars at 3-day International Seminar on ‘Sindh through Centuries’ from March 24 to 26, 2014 at Karachi,…
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South Asia
African presence in Sindh
Prof. Adams B. Bodomo, hailing from Ghana, who headed the Department of African Studies at University of Hong Kong and University of Vienna, Austria, and also a visiting professor at Ansted University, Malaysia, rightly said over a decade ago during a lecture that despite not-so-tenuous historical, cultural and linguistic connections…
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Afghan election unlikely to be decisive in first round
Amidst the biggest security operation in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, the country held a landmark presidential election on Saturday. There was high overall turnout of an estimated 7 of 12 million eligible voters, a third of them women, well in excess of the approximately 4.5 million people…
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East Asia
[Books] An Afghan Odyssey from Within
A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story By Qais Akbar Omar | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2013 Unlike many books on Afghanistan written by foreigners and Afghan expatriates, A Fort of Nine Towers is a memoir of native Afghan Qais Akbar Omar. Omar presents a rare first…
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South East Asia
[Asia Round-up] Keeping people and tigers safe
Editor’s note: Followings are summaries of editorials from major Asian media on current issues. Keeping people and tigers safe As conservation of wild species becomes more successful, higher levels of human-wildlife conflict are being reported. The “man-eating tiger” incident in the Nilgiris district, which ended in the gunning down of…
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South Asia
Gold for garbage: Innovative way of waste management
Twenty years back people laughed at Ms. Nargis Latif, who hails from a well-off family of Karachi, when she started collecting municipal waste for recycling and propagated the slogan “waste for gold” as an idea aimed to create self-employment opportunities and get rid of environmental problems. Even though she did…
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