Southeast Asia

Students switch off from media careers

Journalism schools in Pakistan have been reporting low enrolment. Teachers say poor job prospects and industry issues are discouraging students from pursuing media careers

"Muslims are the principal target"

With elections on 19 April, India looks set to re-elect Narendra Modi's BJP party, greenlighting an ongoing process of Hinduisation on the subcontinent. The persecution of Muslims and other minorities will intensify. Yet India has little to fear in the way of criticism from its Western allies, says political scientist Achin Vanaik

World's third largest democracy at a crossroads

On 14 February 2024, some 205 million Indonesians are going to the polls to choose a new president as well as new national and regional parliaments. Over the past 25 years, the nation with the world's largest Muslim population has evolved into a stable democracy. Yet observers now fear autocratic tendencies

Pakistan faces a looming water crisis

Pakistan is facing a looming water crisis that threatens to exacerbate food insecurity. Political instability and economic fragility are complicating the situation further. The government is taking steps to address the problems, but much more needs to be done. By Abdur Rehman Cheema

The need to prove you're Indian

Nearly 2 million people in India's Assam state – over 5% of the region's population – are staring at a future where they could be stripped of their citizenship if they are unable to prove they are Indian. Sheikh Saaliq and Shonal Ganguly report

Inside the death squad

Bangladesh's elite counterterrorism force is committing extrajudicial killings, DW and Netra News reveal in a new investigation. Insiders confirm high-ranking approval. By Christian Caurla, Naomi Conrad, Arafatul Islam and Birgitta Schuelke

The cross-border fight for water

Our readers' favourite articles this year

At the end of every year, the team at Qantara.de gives you a run-down of the ten most-read articles on the site over the past 12 months. Here is a quick overview of the stories that attracted the most attention in 2022. Happy New Year to all our readers!

Pakistani movie "Joyland" banned at home

The local screening of a Pakistan-produced movie portraying a love affair between a married man and a transgender woman hangs in the balance after the film was cleared by censors, then banned by the government under pressure from Islamists

India's predicted urban boom

India is projected to see an explosion in its urban population in the coming decades, but its cities already cannot cope and climate change will make living conditions harsher still

Bangladeshi mystic fights demons with psychiatry

Evil spirits bedevil the families that seek blessings from an elderly Sufi mystic – but he knows his prayers alone are not enough to soothe their troubled minds