Images of Bangladesh

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program The People and Nations of South Asia  Page 25 of 30

Key Indicators

Although the region of South Asia has a common heritage, it suffers from long-standing and sometimes violent political and religious conflicts. These conflicts dominate international news coverage of the region.

The recent introduction of nuclear weapons in the region has dramatically increased news coverage of these conflicts.

• The religious and ethnic diversity in South Asia has given rise to often violent community conflicts, whose effects have been felt across the nations of the region.

• One of the most well known recent communal conflicts involves the site of the Muslim Babri Mosque in India. When Hindu fundamentalists in India claimed that this site was the birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram, they released an outbreak of violence between Hindus and Muslims, that extended to these populations in Bangladesh.

• The creation of Independent nations in South Asia brought with it divergent claims to the territory they believe is rightfully theirs.

• The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has been the site of tremendous conflict and violence between India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars over the area since they gained independence from Great Britain in1947.

• The scale of the conflict has increased dramatically with the potential of nuclear weapons playing a part in the struggle.

• In his recent trip to South Asia, US President Clinton met with leaders in India and Pakistan to try to diffuse tensions around this issue.

• Entitlement to the waters of the Ganges River is a long-running area of dispute between India and Bangladesh. India currently controls water distribution from the Ganges to Bangladesh via the Farraka Barrages, which it constructed for that purpose.

• Mutually beneficial use of water resources is a key issue in the region, where flood management, irrigation, river basin development and the generation of hydro-power are critical to its countries.

Images of Bangladesh

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program The People and Nations of South Asia  Page 25 of 30

Key Indicators