Shortly after his win, and before he formally attended office, Prime Minister Dahal sat down with the Kathmandu fortnightly newsmagazine Himal Khabarpatrika. The following is a translation of the conversation,
Southasia exists – at different levels of intensity and urgency, yes, but it does exist. To many, the region provides the fourth or fifth level of identity, beyond the clan, language-ethnicity,
For me, Southasia is a mindspace. Not the officious but ineffectual SAARC. Not the geographical landmass formerly known as the Indian Subcontinent. Not the subject of profound political analysis and
In the perception of Big Brother India, notwithstanding almost 23 years of Southasian regional cooperation, its greatest threat comes from the borders (including the maritime boundaries) it shares with six
Regional connectivity was the lofty theme at the SAARC Summit in New Delhi last year. To underscore its importance, Southasia's summiteers flagged off a car rally that would
Europe is often held out as a model of what Southasia could become. I do not think that is an appropriate model for emulation, however. First of all, the concrete
Southasia enjoys a strong history of learning through formal and informal systems of education, but the system of education introduced during the colonial period was somewhat alien to the cultural
Karachi is in Madras and Lahore is in Bengal; when will they be in Pakistan, and Pakistan in Southasia? During the late 1840s, the troops of the Bengal Presidency invaded
For me, Southasia has always been an imaginary landscape. I never thought of myself as a 'Southasian', and never had to deal seriously with the category until, aged
The man who oversaw the drafting of the Constitution of India tried his luck again in a by-election in 1954, contesting on a Scheduled Caste Federation ticket from Bhandara, in
