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This article attempts to understand how perceptions of Indian Muslims are guided by myths which often masquerade as truths. It looks closely into the institutional discrimination which Muslims in India face both collectively and individually and makes an effort to study the process of the gradual marginalisation of Muslims in Indian public life. It tries to comprehend the crisis of secularism in India. It argues that secularism in India has been a façade to hide animosities, which never went away. Communities continued to distrust each other and Indians had a very limited interaction across communities. Towards the end, it tries to look at some possibilities for the future of India as a truly inclusive society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sri Lanka has traditionally been known as a predominantly Buddhist country, where people belonging to Hindu, Muslim and Christian religions have co-existed, largely peacefully, for centuries. From time to time, opportunistic politicians and a small minority of militant religious leaders have tried to foment unrest among religious groups. The civil war that lasted for 30 years resulted in the murder of Buddhist and Muslim devotees and damage to sacred places of worship. The Easter Sunday attacks in 2021 by Muslim militants set back modest efforts underway to promote religious harmony. This article examines the causes and implications of such challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now well-documented that there is a global trend of right-wing nationalism that perceives minorities, particularly Muslims, as a threat to state identity. India is a pertinent example of this trend wherein its legislation and policies over the last ten years have led to Muslims in India being marginalised -- either through their rights as citizens or in terms of the discrimination and violent attacks they experience at the hands of extremist mobs that believe in the Hindutva ideology. This article will critically explore the scriptural and theological presumptions behind India's laws and assess whether or not these presumptions are true in light of 49:13 of the Qur'an. These presumptions involve a particular conception of religious identity, theological belief and nationalism. 49:13 is a useful verse in the Qur'an that deals with all of these conceptions and by investigating them, one may be able to cut through right-wing nationalist rhetoric and engage in fruitful and truthful dialogue about what exactly the Qur'an states about constructing a harmonious society that involves a majority and minority population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of its history, Pakistan has been analysed through binaries that suggest an existential conflict between liberal democrats and illiberal theocrats. In fact, ideological polarisation has always existed within Pakistan's militarised structure of power. This article proposes a revisionist reading of Pakistan's history prefacing foundational logics of class, ethnic-national and state power. It is only by explicating such underlying structural logics that one can make sense of persistent palace intrigues as well as the dialectic of local political economies and regional/global geo-politics. Rehabilitating the normative horizon of decolonisation can animate a meaningful transformative politics in our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The partition of India began to take shape after years of contestation over nationalism, the rights of citizens, and minorities between the Indian National Congress, which claimed to represent all Indians and stood for a secular, democratic and united India, and the All-India Muslim League which claimed to represent all Muslims within the subcontinent. This article argues that Partition memory is selective, and that, like all memories, it is appropriated by post-colonial states to justify and legitimate their exclusive sovereign control over their populations and territories. In the case of Pakistan, the partition memory has also been important for Islamisation which began quite soon after the country's formation and which has proceeded apace since. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess whether Pakistan is moving towards or away from modernity I examine here the evolution of three key aspects: the overall idea system of society, the political system, and national culture. A meaningful analysis must begin with pre-colonial India, examine how British rule made fundamental changes, and the emergence of Pakistan as a result of Muslim religious identity. Although the beginnings of Pakistani modernity were shaky, the earlier inclination was to equalise with the developed world at large. In the mid-1980s this changed profoundly with the advent of political Islam, explicit repudiation of overt forms of western modernity, and a sharply increased tendency to seek examplars in the Islamic past. That trend has since accelerated under the influence of social media. But most Pakistanis, I argue, still want to hedge their bets and seek the fruits of modernity within a framework that they perceive as not inimical to their faith in Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses epistemology and worldview, Pakistan was conceived as a bid for sovereign power by modernist Muslims influenced by the thought of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. These Muslims identified the main cause of the decline of their community as being a lack of effective engagement with modern science and ideologies.

This article aims to explore relations between Pakistan and Turkey, who have emerged as two strong Muslim powers in military terms since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. It is, argues the article, not enough to provide only a general sketch of the bilateral relationship between these countries; rather, an in-depth and systematic analysis is needed. Traditionally these states had developed close relations even before the 9/11; yet, in terms of core security and strategic interests, those relations were not significant until 2001 when global terrorism forced the two countries to reconsider their mutual interests and shared responsibilities. Two fundamental factors, namely security and strategic interests, have led them to co-operate in three different areas – counter-terrorism, Pakistan-Afghanistan-Turkey Trilateral Summits (PATTS), and long-term defence cooperation. Nonetheless, PATTS, which aims to ameliorate Pak-Afghan relations, still has some limitations. To make them fruitful, Turkey needs to focus on advanced mechanisms, such as a strategic partnership, flexible consensus, and bilateral crisis management system that could serve to normalise inter-state relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers several commonwealth countries news briefs. Topics include that India's foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has defended Delhi's controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act; Lesotho's prime minister, Thomas Thabane, failed to appear in court to face murder charges; and the British government announced that it would withhold discretionary funding from the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The Malaysian General Election 2014 (GE14) was one of the most anticipated in Malaysia's political history as it was to determine the fate of Barisan Nasional (BN) under the leadership of the scandal-hit Prime Minister, Najib Razak. As in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak once again became the frontline – or 'fixed deposit' – states as their support was crucial for BN's survival. There were multiple claims that BN would return to power in Sabah once again, albeit with a reduced majority considering the strong anti-BN sentiment that was felt across all strata of society. The chances of Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), the key opposition party in the state, were downplayed as it was assumed that the party's strength was only concentrated in the East Coast of Sabah. Hence, to comprehend BN's defeat in the GE14, it is significant to turn towards the particular affinities and affiliations, particular commonalities and connections, particular stories and self-understandings, particular problems and predicaments of the socio-political dynamics in Sabah. Contrary to the claims that national politics were disconnected from Sabah, 'problems and predicaments' emanating from Peninsular Malaysia did indeed have a 'connection and commonality' upon the way they impacted people's voting decision. The external factor of the strong tide of the anti-BN sentiment, fortified with the internal particularities of the political dynamics in the 'stories and self-understandings' of constituencies, illustrates how a jolt was caused in BN's power bases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the strategies of both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) in trying to reach out to youth voters. It seeks to understand the factors that led to PH winning 80% of the youth votes despite the political structures in place that were skewed against the Opposition and BN's strong youth outreach. The article argues that BN's brand of politics which employs Malay-Muslim supremacy is reliant on a practice of feudalistic politics which privileges older Malaysians and thus tends to disempower youths. Since BN utilised this brand of politics to remain in power, it became exceedingly difficult for its component parties to avoid alienating Malaysian youths. This allowed PH to seize the initiative for the youth vote by crafting strategies that sought to rupture the hierarchical nature of Malay-Muslim supremacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information related to the return of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka in Colombo after an emphatic win for Rajapaksa in the November 16, 2019 elections. It mentions that campaign had been relatively peaceful but broadcasts of both private and state-controlled television networks had been highly biased; and aims of Rajapaksa on nationalism in Sri Lanka.

The mobilisation of Indians in Malaysia's 2018 general election can be understood using Michael W. McCann's politico-legal mobilisation theoretical framework. The mobilisation was largely class-based when it started in the 1990s in response to the retrenchment and eviction of Indian Tamil plantation workers. The state agencies' mishandling of the 2001 Kampung Medan Malay-Indian neighbourhood clash then led to the construction of 'Indians' as a mobilising identity. Ethno-religious discontents over Hindus' conversion to Islam and the demolition of temples subsequently produced, in 2007, the lawyers-led Hindu Action Rights Force (HINDRAF). Skilfully marrying the class-based grievances of the Indian underclass and the communal grievances of non-Muslim Indians, HINDRAF mobilised both the Indian underclass and middle class through a combination of civil disobedience, strategic litigation and electoral mobilisation. This caused the decline of the Malaysian Indian Congress beginning in 2008, and contributed to the end of Barisan Nasional's 61-year rule in 2018. How the process was operationalised is the focus of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the manner in which over the past few years, the major political parties in the largest Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have calibrated their policies with the objective of wooing Muslim voters. It examines the factors which shaped Muslim electoral behaviour in the general election of 2014 to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) and how the electoral arithmetic was transformed in the run-up to this election. By analysing institutional, political and intra-community factors, it explores the reasons for the declining importance and representation of Muslims in the electoral arena of Uttar Pradesh. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the relations between Christians and Muslims in Kenya. Topics discussed include the shared cultural values between both the religions in the country, the role that the values of African hospitality plays in the peaceful coexistence of the people of both religions, and several incidences of sectarian violence in the country.

The article focuses on problems of democracy and nation-building in Pakistan. Topics include Pakistan was established in 1947 as the state for the Muslims of India; Pakistan has failed to stabilise as a Muslim/Islamic democracy while in the regional and international arena it enjoys the unenviable reputation of being a sanctuary for terrorists and terrorist networks; and Jinnah had kept the idea of Pakistan vague, using Islamic identity as the main reason for a separate state outside India.

This article examines religious fundamentalism, constitution-making and democracy in Kenya with regard to the arguments surrounding the inclusion of the Kadhis Courts in the country's new Constitution promulgated on 27 August 2010. Kadhis Courts deal with matters of Muslim law and have been entrenched in Kenya's Constitution since the country's independence in 1963. The article argues that the Church and clergy took a fundamentalist position regarding the inclusion of the Courts with the aim of influencing the country's predominantly Christian voters to reject the proposed new constitution at the referendum stage. Kenyans, however, the majority of whom are Christians, overwhelmingly endorsed the constitution. The article underscores that the Church, therefore, lost its moral responsibility and institutional legitimacy as an agent of democracy. The Kenyan experience indicates citizens can ignore religious fundamentalism for the common good of society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay offers an alternative analysis of Muslim - Christian relations in Nigeria, rejecting a 'clash-of-civilizations' approach as both too generalized and politically self-serving. A more nuanced analysis might focus on the social variables in the different sites of conflict and on the underlying factors, both historical and current. It is argued that, for the most part, Muslims and Christians have lived peacefully alongside each other in Nigeria for a century now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the work of the theologian Miroslav Volf, and developed in the context of Christian–Muslim interaction, this paper explores the use of the Christian scriptures as a resource in conflict and post-conflict situations. It considers their value especially for those who perceive themselves as victims, enabling new understanding and expression of issues of land and identity, revenge, memory and reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conceptualizes security as a discourse of violence that masks violence in the name of counter-violence, killing in the name of protection. As the case of Hindutva in India illustrates, violence against minorities is normalized in the name of personal, communal, national and even international security. The will to secure the Self has as its corollary the will to make insecure the Other, the desire to control and use violence. Using the example of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, the paper examines some of the ways in which a stereotypical image of Muslim men (the figure of ‘the Muslim’) is seen as constituting the danger against which the Hindu body politic needs to be secured. The violence against minority Muslims is facilitated and justified in the name of achieving security for the Hindu Self at individual, community, national as well as international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]