Author: Syed Ali Mujtaba
Publisher: New Dawn
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 226
ISBN/UPC (if available): 1932705406
Description
Soundings on South Asia is an attempt to provide a compendium of the region’s development. The book highlights the various issues, which are generally being debated in the region. The focus is first on individual countries and then on larger South Asian context to help understand the broader dynamics at play in the region. Since most of the issues are still relevant, by putting them in the proper perspective, the book provides a panoramic view of the developing themes in the region.
South Asia’s inability to forge a regional identity is challenged by theories which argue that the differences between countries are not as large as they seem. The book begins with the hypothesis: can South Asia ever become the United States of South Asia (USSA) and answers that the task is difficult, but not impossible. The author discusses the reasons that are responsible for coming in the way of regional integration and formation of South Asian identity.
The core argument remains that salvation of the region lies in mitigating the subcontinental differences and sewing a pan-south-Asian identity. Soundings on South Asia is a collection of over seventy articles on ear contemporary themes. It’s a layman’s manual to understand the region in its totality. The book contains fifteen chapters including Soundings and Resounding as the first and last chapters.
Contents
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Soundings on South Asia
Partition of India and Its Aftermath: Did Jinnah Want Pakistan? Pakistan-The Unfulfilled Dream
India-Pakistan: Breaking the Shackles of History
Kashmir: The Genesis of Kashmir Issue
Sri Lanka: Nuances of Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Problem
The Maldives: The Maldives on Developmental Path
Bangladesh: Bangladesh: Emergence and Lessons
Nepal: Nepal at Crossroads
Bhutan: Bhutan Faces Identity Crisis
Myanmar: Military Rules Myanmar
Afghanistan: Afghanistan after soviet Withdrawal
South Asia I: Insecurity Plagues South Asia
South Asia II: South Asia: Problem of Ethnicity Conflagrate
Saarc: Regionalism through Saarc
Resounding on South Asia
Index