This study aims at finding a sustainable solution to the decades long Rohingya crisis. Since the second world war, the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) and the extremist groups of people have been trying to evict the Rohingyas from the place they have been living from ancient times. The world has witnessed such crisis in many parts of the world. For the Rohingyas, suffering for over half a century, there have been efforts to find a permanent solution in light of the events and experiences at other places. However, traditional methods have proven ineffective in giving a community of more than one million people any opportunity to live with a national identity, a sense of dignity, and self-esteem. Several established mechanisms in operation in preserving human rights where states fail to protect its citizens have been futile. Meanwhile, those engaged in the study of the phenomenon consider various ways of resolving the crisis – sheltering the displaced people, acting on bilateral discussions between the parties, repatriation and rehabilitation, etc. This article, considering various issues, attempts at suggesting a permanent and viable solution by analyzing whether or not humanitarian intervention through the implementation of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Protected Return to Protected Homeland (PR2PH), the UN approved Independent Referendum in Myanmar could put an end to the crisis. The findings of the research are expected to present a sustainable solution to the Rohingya people, which would give them the power to decide their fate and help them to be self-dependent, dignified, freed and protected.

Sri Lankan Muslims form a small (less than 10% of the population) but peaceful community within Sri Lanka’s ethnopolitical landscape. However, the rise of intolerance against the non-mainstream schools of thought, such as Sufism, and violent movements among Muslims as a defensive mechanism during the Sri Lanka government’s war against the Tamil Tigers and after the war in 2009, mainly against Sinhala-Buddhist targets, radically questioned the peaceful nature of Sri Lankan Muslims. This paper attempts to provide some notes on (a) Sri Lanka Muslim elites’ quest for identity formation by intensely resorting to the Islamic faith and values and rejecting the Tamilian identity among Muslims whose mother is mainly Tamil, and (b) the growth of Islamic seminaries among Sri Lankan Muslims or ‘Moors’ as a result of the elites’ construction of Islamic identity for Sri Lankan Muslims. The paper uses both primary and secondary sources to understand the complex ethnoreligious development among Muslims. Apart from a literature review, interviews of former Madrasa students through zoom between October and November 2020 provided inside perspectives about the goals and global views of Madrasas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges thronging the economy off-guard at a time when the country is stepping onto its 50th years of independence. There has evidently been a reversal of the gains made in terms of socio-economic progress because of the economy’s fundamental weakness in absorbing shocks, which has been further aggravated by the pre-COVID19 fault lines. The government’s business as usual responses appear as ‘active inaction’ as opposed to embarking upon a framework of ‘active restraint’, as suggested in the article, comprising public good provision, redistributive policies, macro-financial intervention and structural policy reforms. Accordingly seven principles and seven programs for overcoming the crisis are listed here and if these are fulfilled, relatively a discriminatory K recovery pathway can be avoided.

Why is it essential to have maritime connectivity in South Asia? How do domestic and external actors play a role to promote maritime cooperation between Bangladesh., India and Sri Lanka? This article pursues answer to these questions. It argues that there is growing maritime challenges in the South Asian region. Additionally 90 percent of South Asian trade depends on the sea. Hence, maritime trade contributes significantly to the South Asian economy and development. Consequently, securing the maritime area of the region is of paramount interest in South Asia. Additionally, there are vast untapped maritime resources that need to explored and exploited. For this South Asian maritime connectivity will be imperative enough. The article argues that the role of the domestic and external actors in building maritime connectivity in South Asia needs to be taken into consideration seriously for successful maritime connectivity in the region.

The Maldives, South Asian smallest nation, adopted democracy in 2008. The years has been seen the country hurtle from one political crisis to another, including the premature end to its first democratic government; an authoritarian reversal; and a tentative return to democracy. This article examines the type of society which has produces and, has been produced by, such political upheaval; and it reviews the role that region has played in shaping contemporary Maldivian society and politics. It asserts that the island nation’s geography, its isolation and long history of authoritarian rule and the long-term pursuit of centralized and unequal development policies has engendered a society increasingly torn between strengthening democracy and ‘defending [salafi] Islam’ the only religion its democratic Constitution allows. As the Indo-Pacific region becomes central to international geopolitics, and the geographical location of the Maldives becomes important to regional and global security strategies, this commentary provides an introduction to the factors and actors at play in contemporary Maldivian society.

Following the third wave of democracy, several countries got stuck in their transition to full-fledged democracy. These countries have been labeled, among others, as hybrid regimes. Hybrid regimes are neither fully democratic nor entirely autocratic, thus incorporate elements of both democratic and authoritarian systems and these present valuable research questions for political scientists. One avenue for research is legitimization and protests movements in a hybrid political environment. This paper explores how hybrid regimes respond to protests movements and the relationship between protest and legitimacy. Can protest movements provide an opportunity for these regimes to seek legitimacy? Protests movements in Bangladesh between 2013 and 2018 are examined. Two arguments are presented: first hybrid regimes adopt different strategies of responses co-optation or repression depending on a) the nature of the movements, whether the movement is pro or anti-government and b) the level of competition from the opposition; and second protests can provide political opportunities for hybrid regimes to utilize identity- or repression-based legitimacy. By analyzing the question of domestic legitimacy and the relationship between protests and legitimacy in hybrid regimes, this articles aims to provide insights into the mechanism that hybrid regimes use to consolidate their power.

Indian’s engagement with other South Asian states is inevitable and essentials. Despite the interdependence growing albeit slowly in the region, India and its South Asian neighbors view each other through gauze of misgivings, suspicion and mistrust. Despite the continued bilateral engagement with its neighbours, it is apparent that despite al the incentives, advantages and attractions, economic cooperation does not appear to be the fulcrum that could optimize the opportunities that India and the region offer. Progress n the political front is imperative for the region to progress , and India and its South Asian neighbours all need to work this through.