🇲🇲 🪖The “general’s election” in Myanmar – Southasia Weekly #98

This week has been eventful, with the ramping up of tensions between India and Bangladesh, new revelations about anomalies in the voter roll revisions in Tamil Nadu, and Imran Khan being sentenced for corruption as Pakistan continues to clamp down on political opposition. But our eyes are on Myanmar, which is poised to hold elections this Sunday that look to be neither free nor fair. We’ve been working on stories that will unpack the (inevitable) election result and the extent of military repression in Myanmar - watch this space for that! 

In the meantime, we have important stories this week telling the story of last week’s attacks on Daily Star and Prothom Alo in the wake of Sharif Osman Hadi’s death, revealing the impact of mob justice and the interim government’s political paralysis in the lead up to Bangladesh’s election. And we have Romita Saluja revisiting a story of domestic violence and neglect that made headlines across Kerala, only to fade away. We’re proud to be a platform for stories like these, and we hope to do even more in 2026. If you want to help power our reporting, join our ‘100 for Himal’ campaign and receive a 25% discount on our USD 99 membership plan, which includes our iconic Right Side Up map until 31 December. Help us reach 100 paying supporters before the end of the year!

To contribute more, visit himalmag.com/support-himal.

This week in Himal

Cyrus Naji writes that the violence in the aftermath of student protester Sharif Osman Hadi’s death was 18 months in the making, and reveals how mob justice and political paralysis is shaping Bangladesh’s politics in the lead-up to the February elections. 

State of Southasia will be taking a short break and will be returning with a new format soon. Stay tuned for more updates!