Comment - Himal Southasian

More mass graves at Chemmani and Sri Lanka’s old failures of justice

An observer of the 1999 Chemmani exhumations reflects on newly uncovered mass graves and Sri Lanka’s continued failure to deliver justice for Tamil victims of war-time crimes

By Ingrid Massagé

/ 28 Oct 2025

An archaeologist at the the Chemmani mass grave site excavates partially unearthed human skeletons from the sandy ground, wit

A sports journalist’s journey alongside the rise of Sri Lankan women’s cricket

The success of Chamari Athapaththu and Sri Lanka’s women’s cricket team is showing a new generation of girls where their dreams can take them, and opening doors to women in media and other adjacent fields

By Estelle Vasudevan

/ 24 Oct 2025

Captain Chamari Athapaththu raises her arms in celebration during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match between Sri Lanka W

Despite Wickremesinghe’s arrest, Sri Lanka’s politics is stuck in its old loop

Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested for misuse of public funds, but opposition leaders have opted to grandstand rather than press for reform

By Marlon Ariyasinghe

/ 26 Aug 2025

Ranil Wickremesinghe surrounded by police and lawyers coming out of the courtroom after being arrested for misusing state fun

How the Tablighi Jamaat is reshaping Khyber Pakhtunkhwah and opening doors for radicalisation

The Tablighi Jamaat’s orthodox Islamic preaching has gained mass popularity in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwah, where many Pashtuns complain it is transforming their culture and creating the potential for radicalisation and militant recruitment

By Naveen Khan

/ 8 Aug 2025

Bangladesh’s flawed attempt at transitional justice after Sheikh Hasina

The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, constrained by its own limitations and a volatile political climate, risks continuing the abuses of the Sheikh Hasina regime in its efforts at transitional justice

By Cyrus Naji

/ 26 May 2025

A group of activists in Bangladesh participate in a protest holding photographs of missing persons. They are carrying signs w

Pakistan loses nothing from India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty

Pakistan’s paranoia over India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam attacks is unfounded, lacking an understanding of geography, hydrology or its water security

By Daanish Mustafa

/ 20 May 2025

Pakistan loses nothing from India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty

India’s complete surrender to war lust after Pahalgam

Operation Sindoor, India’s strikes on Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack, set off unprecedented warmongering, with the media, the Hindu Right and even the opposition baying for an India–Pakistan war

By Rahul Rao

/ 16 May 2025

India’s complete surrender to war lust after Pahalgam

Youth protests take on the Maldives’s political culture after a woman’s fall

A woman’s unexplained fall from a Malé building has set off protests against “nepo-babies” and an alleged cover-up as a new generation confronts the Maldives’s political culture

By J J Robinson

/ 2 May 2025

Youth protests take on the Maldives’s political culture after a woman’s fall

The future of Bangladesh’s fragile media freedom

Under Mohammad Yunus’s interim government, a Media Reform Commission has set out to address long-standing problems facing journalists in Bangladesh – but old threats and patterns of control remain

By Cyrus Naji

/ 8 Apr 2025

Four men standing in a row holding protest signs in Dhaka. The man in the centre holds a sign that reads 'JOURNALISM IS NOT C

Ranil Wickremesinghe in the hot seat over Batalanda torture site

Why I confronted the former president with the Batalanda Commission report during his Al Jazeera interview – and why Sri Lanka must face up to the torture, disappearances and human rights abuses of the 1980s JVP insurrection

By Frances Harrison

/ 21 Mar 2025

An old black and white photograph of two men in white shirts and ties crouching on the ground near a tyre. The man on the rig

New reports caution Bangladesh against “replicating poor practices” of the Sheikh Hasina regime

Reports from the United Nations and Human Rights Watch confirm the Awami League regime’s responsibility for the bloodshed of the Monsoon Revolution, but also warn the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government about persisting abusive practices

By Cyrus Naji

/ 20 Feb 2025

Ten or more Bangladesh police officers drag a protester across the streets of Dhaka by force.

A fraught new frontier in Bangladesh–Pakistan relations

Bangladesh’s relationship with Pakistan has become markedly more friendly since the fall of Sheikh Hasina, even as anti-India sentiment has reached an all-time high in the country

By Cyrus Naji

/ 14 Jan 2025

Muhammad Yunus (left) shakes hands with Shehbaz Sharif (right) amid a group of officials at a reception in New York in Septem