This week saw the acting head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Tarique Rahman announce his return to the country. But Rahman will return to a country in crisis after the killing of an independent candidate led to fresh political turmoil. A wave of anti-India hatred has already begun spreading. Last night, the Daily Star and Prothom Alo were set alight by angry protesters, with many journalists trapped inside for a tense night before being rescued. Just this October, we heard Daily Star correspondent Zyma Islam discuss how genuine frustrations around corruption and state violence were also fuelling hate. Her words are prescient in light of last night’s events.
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This week in Himal
Sumithra Prasanna writes about a sexual assault and kidnapping case that has prompted a reckoning for Malayalam cinema and exposed a long-standing culture of sexism and sexual harassment in Kerala society, despite its progressive veneer.
This week in Southasia
Tarique Rahman returns to fresh wave of anti-India hate after independent candidate killing in Bangladesh
On 17 December, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Tarique Rahman announced that he would be returning to the country after 17 years. Rahman returns as his mother, BNP leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia is critically ill, with Rahman expected to take up party leadership in her stead in order to contest in elections slated for February 2026. Political turmoil is heating up ahead of the election with the shooting of Sharif Osman Hadi, a student protester and activist running as an independent candidate for Inqilab Mancho. After his death on 18 December, supporters protested and vandalised the offices of Bangladesh newspapers Daily Star and Prothom Alo, with trapped journalists later freed by firefighters.
Hadi’s speeches calling for accountability in the wake of the July 2024 uprising struck a chord with students. He was also outspoken on foreign interference in Bangladesh, especially from India. In the run up to and after his death, there has been a fresh wave of anti-India hatred fuelled by Inqilab Morcha and the student protester-led National Citizen’s Party, with accusations that those behind Hadi’s killing were linked to India – a charge India has denied. The Bangladesh High Commissioner to India was summoned after there were threats directed at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, while the Indian visa application centre in Dhaka has been closed. To read more about the simmering tensions between India and Bangladesh even prior to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, revisit Kamal Ahmed’s article in the archive section below.
Elsewhere in Southasia
- Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirms state plans to appeal trial court’s verdict on sexual assault and abduction case after top Kerala actor Dileep, accused of orchestrating the assault acquitted
- Taliban government diverts water from Kunar River along Pakistan border amidst lingering tensions, threatens water security and supply to Khyber Paktunkhwah months after India suspends Indus Waters Treaty
- Union ministry censors screening of 19 films at Kerala Film Festival, including several related to Palestine, as India’s external affairs minister visits Israel seeking expanded cooperation
- Over 200 charged with violations of voting laws ahead of junta-scheduled December 28 elections in Myanmar
- Indian government indicts two Pakistan-based militant groups for April Pahalgam attacks
- Bondi Beach shooter revealed to originate from Hyderabad, India, reportedly last visited in 2022
- Dawn News and radio station CityFM89 banned from hosting government advertisements, signaling growing repression of media outlets in Pakistan
- Russian-manufactured suicide drones commissioned for use by Myanmar’s junta against resistance groups
- Delhi government requires employers to arrange 50 percent work from home in wake of severe air pollution levels in Indian capital
- Voting for new chairperson of UML party in Nepal commences after former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli ousted from government in September, with Oli among candidates
- Maldivian government establishes new ethics code for journalists outlining penalties for subverting national security after media control laws come into effect despite protests from journalists
- Sri Lanka’s National People’s Power government faces criticism after news that serving military officer is being considered for post of Auditor General
Revisit the below archival stories from Himal adding more context to this week's news updates from Bangladesh, India and the Maldives
Also read: New Delhi faces the gravest geopolitical fallout from Sheikh Hasina’s exit
Also read: Ahmed Naish on Maldives’s controversial new media regulation law: State of Southasia #34
Snap Southasia
Where in Southasia was this photo taken? Click on your guess below (and check back in next week to see if you were right!)
