As the Taliban enforces more severe moral policing and hijab standards in Herat and other provinces, women in Afghanistan speak of escalating public terror and coercion
Journalist Pranaya Rana and law student Anjali Sah talk to Himal editors about the persistence of Nepal's political old guard and whether a new generation of politics is genuinely possible after the 2026 election
Sociologist Samina Luthfa talks about how women have been caught between an interim government failing to protect them and rising Islamist conservatism targeting their freedoms
The sexual assault case that shook Malayalam cinema, in which the actor Dileep was the suspected mastermind but was acquitted, shows how Kerala’s systems continue to shield the powerful and well-connected – especially men
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’s charms lent a deceptive lustre to its ultra-conservatism, which helped pave the way for the brazen misogyny and Hindu nationalism in Hindi cinema three decades later
