Comments on: Hey…did you check out the new neighbors?

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:02:06 +0000

Well, there has been an interesting tradition of Indian scholars studying Central Asia during Soviet times. I had some of them on my uni’s reading list – and to be honest with you, their stuff was among the best the literature had to offer. They were not affected too much by Cold War thinking and analysed the region in a very sober and scholarly fashion.

There is also a discussion of State’s decision here: http://www.registan.net/?p=6162

By: RC

RC — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 17:34:28 +0000

The other notable thing is that the central Asian “stan”s have been inaccessible during the USSR period. Iron curtain and all. They are only accessible since 1992, when India devoloped relations with these nations. I am assuming the same for Pakistan.

By: technophobicgeek

technophobicgeek — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:12:45 +0000

Yes, Central Asia has a lot of similarities with the Xinjiang region of China, but not with the majority of (Han) Chinese. India has plenty of ancient connections with the region (via the silk route and thereafter). And my buddies at the Lonely Planet forums tell me that Bollywood is a great ice-breaker in many of the stans. I think Indians just need to export Bollywood diplomacy aggressively and the world will be ours

By: ms

ms — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:29:29 +0000

This is slighlty OT, but I was wondering what others here think about this - Wikipedia's PIO page has the following bit:

Government policy, especially in lieu of India's reaching out to expatriates for investment (and extending, in some cases, offers of dual-citizenship), has refused to recognize Pakistanis and Bangladeshis as, officially, Persons of Indian Origin.

By: anand

anand — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 07:41:06 +0000

LOL so America/the West/whitey gets to define/manipulate/categorize/unite/divide who and what we are again.

rice is black.

By: Amitabh

Amitabh — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 06:47:15 +0000

If the only two choices for the State Dept. are to move the Central Asian republics into the South Asia bureau or keep them in the Europe bureau, it probably makes more sense to make the move. However, ideally they would have their own bureau (probably not feasible right now). They obviously do have SOME cultural and historical links with South Asia (mostly endless invasions of India) but clearly form their own cluster. “South Asia” is already pushing the limits in terms of being a viable label for the region (in my opinion). Extending and expanding this to include wider and wider arcs (with less and less tangible cultural links) dilutes the whole concept even more. A lot of these Central Asian republics have links with Turkey; should we include Turkey in our new grouping? Not only that – they are quite different from the countries already included within South Asia. If you compare India and Pakistan for example, regardless how much the Pakistanis may deny it, the cultural similarities are obvious; compare Kazakhstan with India and the similarities are few and far-between.

By: Manish Vij

Manish Vij — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 05:35:18 +0000

Do you see how hypocritical this is...

Bullshit. We claim nowhere to represent anyone other than ourselves. You're mixing up topics with tokenism.

By: RC

RC — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 04:41:32 +0000

Take a look here. An Ex RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) operative is saying in India Defence Review, that 'India needs to refocus attention on Pak-occupied Gilgit and Baltistan' Gilgit and Baltistan are in the NWFP area of Pakistan.

India has old relations with the Central Asian region and the region figures prominently in its energy policy apart from, India's regional domination ambition. Just in recent past India and Russia agreed to jointly operate out of Tajik Air Base

Following are excerpts from RAW analyst article:

"If we are to be dependent on the uncertainties and unreliability of Pakistan for our energy supplies, it is also necessary to look elsewhere. Land routes from Russia and Kazakhstan through Kashgar could also reach India," former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing Vikram Sood said in an article.

Vikram Sood of RAW says :

Referring to the situation in Gilgit-Baltistan which fall in the Federally Controlled Northern Areas, he said violence against the Shia majority, especially by Pakistani security forces, continued unabated as the people protested state oppression or demanded better living condition

He adds:

"The practice of anti-Shia pogrom started in the 1980s, and one of the persons who led a brutal campaign against Shias in Gilgit in 1988 was Brig (now General) Pervez Musharraf, who was then based in Khapalu," Sood said.

By: epoch

epoch — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 03:33:55 +0000

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blockquote>I know that it isnÂ’t going to go over well with some people that Russian speaking Muslims are moving in to their Â“neighborhood.Â”

I for one welcome our new state department appointed eurasian uncles and aunties.

It is interesting to note that the most popular group blog in the 'neighborhood' is (save anna) made up of penis toting ethnic Indians. Do you see how hypocritical this is, or are Indians the new whites ?

By: Amrita

Amrita — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 03:24:09 +0000

She’s probably gotten confused from hearing India being called ‘Hindustan’ somewhere in the course of her recent travels. Maybe we’d better start calling India Bharat right away, print new maps, etc…. My question is, what are the chances Condi’s going to be around to do all this integrating — in Real Life? Or is her idea that the bureau, once reorged, will take on a life of its own?