A lot of stuff is happening in South Asia, and so are elections which are scheduled for either this year or the next.
Pakistan:
Despite having a PM get disqualified by the Supreme Court Pakistan has been getting better. From CPEC to successes in the War on Terror it appears things are looking up for the country. However, Trump has decided to mess things up by making an illogical tweet out of nowhere insulting Pakistan. Effects have yet to be seen. Recently there has been an Indian terrorist spy who was captured by Pakistan named Kulbhusan Jhadav, who admitted on camera to supporting Baloch terrorists. Not surprising that India, which is also funding the Pakistani Taliban, would also support terrorists which are more anti-Punjabi than pro-Baloch. Pakistan had every right to hang him, but India cried to the International Court of Justice and as such Jhadav was not hanged (yet). Pakistan, in an humanitarian gesture, led Jhadav speak to his mother and wife. Of course, there were some harsh guidelines for what Jhadav's family could and could not do, understandable in this case, after all, Jhadav did admit to supporting terrorists, but try telling that to the Indian news media, which threw a big fit.
Pakistan has an election this year, probably scheduled in May. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, a fiscally conservative party which calls for great ties with the US, India and the EU, and is generally pluralist when it comes to religious policy (Islam is promoted, yet Hindus and Christians should practice their faith in peace) is being led by Nawaz Sharif's brother, Shehbaz Sharif, has a good shot at winning in 2018. The Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (Pakistan movement for Justice), led by famous cricketer Imran Khan, has a good chance of getting second place. With KPK, FATA, and some Balochistan and Punjab seats it could very well become second place. First place, however, I doubt it. PTI is an anti-corruption, welfarist, nationalist, populist, critical of America and Sinophilic party. The PTI also makes alliances with Islamists. Speaking of KPK and FATA, many are expecting it to merge into one province, due to FATA not having the same rights as KPK. The people of both provinces want it, and so do I, and so is a lot of Pakistanis including the PTI. However, now the question is
how they will merge.
In any case in 2018 there are the big losers, and the biggest one is People's Party. From a party being led by corrupt socialist buffoons who won now they are being led by corrupt socialist buffoons who
lose. Not many nice things to say about them, except that Zulfiqar Bhutto started the nuclear program, and that's it. I guess the downfall of the PPP has to be Asif Zardari's (Benazir's widow) mismanagement of the party in 2013. Now, they are only popular in Sindh, as the Bhutto family which controls the PPP are Sindhis.
Then they are terrorists. Of course, religious extremists run. In NA-120 (Nawaz's former seat) there was a by-election and a candidate with ties to the Kashmiri terror group Lakshar-e-Taiba got 3% there. Then they are ethnic terrorists. The Awami National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party, likes to put up a great show of being anti-Taliban, and when nobody is looking hire Taliban militants to kill social media activists (
https://www.dawn.com/news/1370071/local-anp-leaders-hired-taliban-militants-to-assassinate-parveen-rehman-suspect-tells-jit). The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a party in Karachi is also an ethno fascist party, claiming to represent Muhajirs, Indian Muslims which went to Pakistan after partition.. They caused a lot of terrorism in the 1990s after the Pakistan army tried to subdue them following revelations that they were separatists. Even today they rule Karachi with an iron fist. They hire thugs to intimidate voters, and run Karachi like a mafia. Recently the MQM has been agreeing on a merger with the PSP (Pak Sazerameen Party), which split from the MQM because they accuse the MQM of having ties with India. In return, the MQM accuses (or at least, accused) the PSP of having ties with the army.
India:
While Pakistan has religious extremists run in elections, and most of them lose, India's religious extremists win. From Modi to Adityanath India is going down a volatile path, a path which leads to religious turmoil. Already, a large ethnic group in India, Kashmiri Muslims, want to break away, so why alienate them further? Recently state elections were held in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. The former saw a BJP victory (+1 gain from Congress), and so did the latter (BJP held Gujarat since 1995). The latter, however, saw Congress increase the number of seats in the Gujarat assembly, and even Modi's hometown voted for Congress. Now Karnataka is up next, and Karnataka is controlled by Congress. If Congress loses Karnataka, it might be over for them (after all, BJP leaders are calling for "Congress Mukt Bharat", which means "Congress Free India").
Recently a Triple Talaq Bill is passed. Triple Talaq means Triple Divorce, where a man can divorce his wife by just saying "Talaq". However, if the man regrets the decision he can reconcile with his wife, but two more divorces and that's that. A man can also say "Talaq Talaq Talaq" which means it's basically over for the marriage, and there is no chance for remarriage. Many Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, banned the practice (Pakistan did so in the 1960s, and when religious parties objected they were banned for a while because Pakistan in the 60s was a military dictatorship). A main argument is that the BJP doesn't care about Muslim Women, and just wants to hurt Muslim sentiments in India. Either way, the bill was passed yesterday.
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh has had pretty unfair elections under the Awami League. The Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina Wazed (daughter of Bangladesh's first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) has been accused of vote rigging and extrajudicial rigging. The Awami League is a secular, leftist party, though that does not automatically make it good. The opposition to the Awami League is the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party, a more conservative party led by Khaleda Zia, wife of Bangladesh's 7th president, Ziaur Rahman, and was once PM herself from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. The rivalry between Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Khaleda Zia has been described as the "Battle of the Begums". While the BNP has shown interest in contesting the 2018 election after boycotting the 2014 election they have again threatened to boycott the 2018 elections. The BNP is in an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which during the 1971 independence war collaborated with the Pakistanis and participated in the genocide. Many leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami have been hung as war criminals.
Recently, the BAL led government has made a deal with the Burmese government about Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh has agreed to repatriate them.
