Full Coverage: South Asia

30.07.2009 The Bangladesh government has announced the "biggest withdrawal" of army troops from the Chittagong Hill Tracts since a peace accord was signed over a decade ago in an attempt to bring stability to the long-troubled region.

29.07.2009 The Sri Lankan government should immediately release the more than 280,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians held in detention camps in the north, an international rights group said.
+ Sri Lanka: the challenges ahead

28.07.2009 About 1.5 million Pakistanis displaced by fighting in the Northwest Frontier Province have yet to be repatriated and need assurance that their safety will be respected and humanitarian assistance will continue, says an aid charity.

27.07.2009 Campaigner Bianca Jagger and musician Nitin Sawhney will stand alongside indigenous activist Sitaram Kulisika of India's Khondh people at British mining company Vedanta's AGM today to protest against a proposal to open a massive bauxite mine on their spiritual homeland.
+ Other London events

27.07.2009 Over the last year the Sri Lankan government has upset UN agencies, outraged human rights groups and insulted European ministers. Why has the IMF agreed to a $2.6 billion loan facility?

26.07.2009 An overwhelming welcome in Nepal awaited Gurkha champion and actress Joanna Lumley, who has headed the campaign to enable Gurkha veterans to have the right to settle in Britain.

24.07.2009 Repeated protests by indigenous people in Orissa, India, have blocked the mining plans of one of Britain’s biggest companies, leading to a costly delay.

23.07.2009 Sri Lanka has set a six-month timeline for rehabilitating Tamils displaced by the recently ended conflict between its armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

22.07.2009 A Dalit (Untouchable) community in India is being punished for one person's alleged crime, according to a human rights organisation in Gujarat: it claims 12 households have been living under a boycott which denies them work, the use of village shops, contact with non-Dalits and access to parts of the village.

19.07.2009 Valuable analysis of the regional power relationships influencing Sri Lanka's prospects of obtaining IMF funding. groundviews

16.07.2009 A UN refugee agency staff member was shot dead at a camp outside the northwest Pakistani town of Peshawar today.
+ Killing sparks outcry from top officials
+ Ruthlessness in Chechnya
+ Call for thorough investigation into killing of Russian activist

15.07.2009 The UN and India’s National Human Rights Committee have been asked to stop a controversial bauxite mine in India.

09.07.2009 The Yes Men, two US filmmakers whose funny but alarming documentary feature is to be released in UK cinemas next month, are to bring the plight of the people of Bhopal to the West by dispensing Bhopal drinking water to Londoners on 13 July.

09.07.2009 Heavy monsoon rains have been falling on the Indian state of Assam and neighbouring states for several days, causing floods which have forced 500,000 people from their homes.

03.07.2009 Britain’s largest retailer Tesco today comes under fire over 7p-an-hour garment workers in Bangladesh as shareholders prepare to hail the company’s record £3 billion profits at its annual meeting.