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The 20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS), is to be held in Manchester from 8-11 July 2008. The ECMSAS is the largest gathering of South Asia oriented researchers in Europe, covering all fields from the humanities and social sciences to technology, natural sciences and medicine. The conference is held biannually under the aegis of the European Association of South Asian Studies (EASAS), a professional, non-profit organisation of scholars engaged in research and teaching concerning South Asia with regard to all periods and fields of study. The objectives of EASAS are to support and promote South Asian Studies in all countries of Europe.
http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/ecmsas/
Keywords: Afghanistan, Asian area studies, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, South Asia, Sri Lanka,

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) is a network of civil society organisations which was founded in 1997 and seeks to promote democracy and free elections in Asian nations. Its website provides information on the aims of the organisation, its membership and recent activities. It includes press releases about recent and forthcoming Asian parliamentary and presidential elections, plus access to a growing collection of full text election monitoring reports. Other useful features include summaries of the constitutions, electoral laws and election codes of individual nations.Countries covered include: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
http://www.anfrel.org/
Keywords: Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Asia, Elections, In Focus, In Focus 2009, In Focus 2009 Week 17, India, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Politics and society, South Asia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,

Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, India Supplied note: "The latest paper of the Institute For Topical Studies, A-2/3, Bharathi Dasan Colony, K.K.Nagar, Chennai---600078, India, on the above subject is now available at the web site of the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), New Delhi, at [the URL below] - br." Extract: "The Karachi police investigating the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Mrs. Benazir Bhutto at Karachi on October 18,2007, shortly after she returned from eight years of political exile, seem to have ruled out the use of a car bomb by the unidentified perpetrators. They believe that the attempt was made by a suicide bomber, who had probably at least one accomplice. According to them, between 12 and 15 kilos of the high-grade RDX explosive were used in the explosion. The RDX is generally available only from the security forces and is rather expensive. This, if confirmed, would indicate the presence of accomplices in the security forces." - b.raman [The author, Mr B. Raman, is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India. - ed. ]
http://www.saag.org/papers25/paper2420.html
Keywords: In Focus, In Focus 2007, In Focus 2007 Week 43, Pakistan, Politics and society, South Asia,

Network of some 35 national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGOs from nine countries in Asia - namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Its objective is to link microfinance with the financial system. It pursues this objective through research, advocacy, policy dialogue, information sharing and capacity building. The BWTP Network arose out of the Banking with the Poor project of the Foundation for Development Cooperation. The Foundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, whose aim is to strengthen international cooperation and development, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The Banking with the Poor project is aimed at exploring, demonstrating and publicising the potential for increased access to credit for the poor on a sound commercial basis. The essence of Banking with the Poor is to establish linkages between commercial banks on the one hand, and non-government organisations (NGOs) and self-help groups (SHGs) of the poor on the other. WWW site provides details of the structure and governance of the Network, its members and associates, listings of publications (many in full text) and newsletters, links to member's websites and key microfinance sites, and contact details.
http://www.bwtp.org
Keywords: Bangladesh, Banking, Credit, Cultural revolution (1966-1976), Development, Development. Poverty, Economic issues, In Focus, In Focus 2010, In Focus 2010 Week 36, India, Malaysia, Micro credit, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Sustainable development, Thailand,

Utført av Bilquis Tahira (LINS), Hans Jørgen Braathe (LINS) På oppdrag av The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad Utgitt mars 2007 av Norad SerieNorad Collected Reviews 16/2007 Sider40 ISBN978-82-7548-235-6 Land/region Pakistan ProsjektnrGLO-2128 Tema Utdanning og forskning In December 2003 the Norwegian Government signed an agreement with North Western Frontier Province in Pakistan to support the Basic Education Improvement Project (BEIP) with a grant of NOK 72,7 million over a period of 5 years. The BEIP was then defined as a "gap-filling project" to the Institutional Reforms Programme (IRP), funded by the World Bank. The overall goal of the BEIP project is to contribute to Quality Education for All. The initial agreement stated six objectives, with the following areas of contribution for the project: training of school managers, establishment of Local Circle Offices (LCOs)/Local Teachers Resource Centres, training of Primary School Teachers as Mentor Support Teachers, improvement of teachers guides (maths and languages), support to reforms of Parent Teacher Associations, and initiation of the process for mainstreaming Madrassah education. Interesting Findings • The implementation in all components has been slow. After nearly finishing four out of five years of operation BEIP has only utilised 23.3% of the funding. • Trainings have been given to cadres in the educational system, nearly 60% of allocated funds has been utilised. • Teachers' guides for Katchi and Pakki classes have been produced and distributed according to training progress. • Concepts from the training has been observed in rhetoric form, but not observed implemented in the classroom as teaching and learning praxis to any extent. • The Mentor Program has great potential if handled properly. • The potential impact of the Local Circle Offices is a strength of the project. The building of the LCOs will give potential for organising in-service training, sub cluster training and meetings. If properly used, the centres could become the focal point for learning, practice and collaborative support. • The establishing and training of PTAs of each school can be greatly instrumental in enhancing quality of education, such as monitoring absentees of teachers as well as students and working as a buffer between the school and the parents. • The provision of support for the improvement of learning environment and introduction of regular primary education in Madaris will perhaps be the one most sustainable component as they are already committed to upkeep of the facilities as well as continuing the education once offered.
http://www.norad.no/items/10020/38/5335820334/RapportReviewofBasicEducationImpro...
Keywords: Education, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Pakistan, Primary education, Publications, South Asia,

Basic Education Improvement Programme (BWEIP) NWEP / Bilquis Tahira, Hans Jørgen Braathe. - Oslo : NORAD, 2007. - 44 s. (NORAD collected reviews16/2007) In December 2003 the Norwegian Government signed an agreement with North Western Frontier Province in Pakistan to support the Basic Education Improvement Project (BEIP) with a grant of NOK 72,7 million over a period of 5 years. The BEIP was then defined as a "gap-filling project" to the Institutional Reforms Programme (IRP), funded by the World Bank. The overall goal of the BEIP project is to contribute to Quality Education for All. The initial agreement stated six objectives, with the following areas of contribution for the project: training of school managers, establishment of Local Circle Offices (LCOs)/Local Teachers Resource Centres, training of Primary School Teachers as Mentor Support Teachers, improvement of teachers guides (maths and languages), support to reforms of Parent Teacher Associations, and initiation of the process for mainstreaming Madrassah education.
http://www.niaslinc.dk/gateway_to_asia/nordic_webpublications/x506033359.pdf
Keywords: Asia Policies, Bilateral aid, Development, Development. Poverty, Education, In Focus, In Focus 2010, In Focus 2010 Week 36, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Pakistan, Publications, South Asia,

Batting for peace : a study of cricket diplomacy between India and Pakistan / Arne Næss-Holm. - Oslo : Department of Political Science, Universitetet i Oslo, 2007. - 80 p. (Master's thesis) Has cricket diplomacy between India and Pakistan been successful? That is the point of departure for this thesis. The aim this work is three-pronged. First, it discusses the connection between sport and politics, and the relationship between sport and diplomacy. Second, it situates the case of cricket diplomacy in relation to other cases of sport diplomacy. And, finally, it identifies and discusses the particularities of the relationship between India and Pakistan and cricket diplomacy. Sport’s potential for peace has achieved an increasing amount of attention in recent years. It is considered as having ‘the power to bring people together, bridge differences, and promote communication and understanding,’ and not the least contribute to ‘lasting peace,’ in the United Nations Secretary-General’s 2006 report Sport for Development and Peace: the way forward. Sport then, or certain sports such as cricket at certain times, clearly has a significant place in contemporary social life. Cricket is a sport that permeates practically every layer of South Asian societies, and the game has occupied ‘a central place in a range of emerging positions and identities’ in the years after the countries achieved independence in the late 1940s. The term cricket diplomacy was born in 1987 as Pakistani president Zia-ul Haq made an unexpected visit to India to watch cricket, which helped defuse a potentially explosive situation. 20 years on, cricket diplomacy is more relevant than ever, and it has played an important part in the peace process between India and Pakistan starting in 2003.
http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/statsvitenskap/2007/60148/Battingforpeace.pdf
Keywords: Conflict resolution, Conflicts. Terrorism, Culture, In Focus, In Focus 2010, In Focus 2010 Week 36, India, International relations, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Pakistan, Politics and society, Publications, Regional relations, South Asia, Sports,

(CIRDAP) is a regional, intergovernmental and autonomous institution established in July 1979 by the countries of Asia and the Pacific region. The member countries of CIRDAP are Afghanistan, Bangladesh (host-state), India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. CIRDAP works in close collaboration with the national governments, international organisations and development partners with the aim of improving production, income and living conditions of all sections of people, specially small farmers and the landless and other disadvantaged groups by encouraging their participation in socio-economic development process. Current priority themes are: * macro-economic policy issues in poverty alleviation * participatory approaches to employment generation, credit, provision of infrastructure and local resource mobilisation * gender issues; and * environment concerns for sustainable rural development including disaster management WWW site includes details of projects, staff and publications, videos and forthcoming events.
http://www.cirdap.org.sg
Keywords: Agriculture, Bangladesh, Burma - Myanmar, Development, Development. Poverty, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rural development, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam,

Taken from the CIA World Factbook: This page provides a social, political, demographic and economic overview of Indonesia. The guide is divided into several key sections: introduction; geography; people; government; economy; communications; transportation; military; and transnational Issues. The information is updated regularly, and also includes a map and the national flag.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html
Keywords: Pakistan, Politics and society, South Asia,

The constitution of Pakistan hosted by the National Reconstruction Bureau.
http://www.nrb.gov.pk/constitutional_and_legal/constitution/
Keywords: In Focus, In Focus 2008, In Focus 2008 Week 35, Pakistan, Politics and society, South Asia,