My Blog

Scars of Bangladesh independence war 40 years on   By Shahzeb Jillani South Asia Editor, BBC World Service Indian army soldiers attacking Naya Chor in Sindh in support of Bengali rebels of the liberation army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 I was born in the middle of a cold winter night in December 1971 in Sindh, Pakistan. There was a blackout and bombs were falling. Pakistan was losing a war and it was also losing its eastern half, separated from the rest of the country by more than 1,600km (990 miles) of India. After nine months of internal strife and a military crackdown against Bangladeshi separatists, the full-scale war with India was swift and decisive. It lasted just 13 days. The defeat of the Pakistani army on 16 December 1971 was a triumph for India and the Bengali insurgents it had assisted. For Pakistan, it was perhaps the darkest moment in its history and the ultimate humiliation. The army stood ac...

What is a rating agency? By Rebecca Marston Business reporter, BBC News   A high score from a credit rating agency means cheaper borrowing - a low mark carries a heavy price AAA, Ba3, Ca, CCC... they look like some kind of hyper-active school report. They are, indeed, a marking system, and one that is designed to inform interested parties. The letter formations are given to large-scale borrowers, whether companies or governments, and tell the buyers of this debt how likely they are to be able to get it back. The score card also affects the amount that should be charged by way of return on that borrowing. These letters have been all over the coverage of the financial impact of the crisis besetting the eurozone. A change to the score means a change to the amount a borrower must pay its debt-holders, something that can make it more expensive to borrow as investors demand a higher rate of return for taking on more risk...

India and China, the new Great Game By Andrew North BBC South Asia correspondent   China is to open its first military base in the Indian Ocean in the Seychelles "Beware India!" shouts the headline in one Indian paper. "China to open first military base in Indian Ocean." Nothing to worry about, says the defence ministry in Beijing. The base - in the Seychelles - is just for supplying passing Chinese navy ships. But seen from Delhi, it is another move in what a former Indian defence minister has called China's policy of "strategic encirclement". Even as Indian diplomats insist they want "cordial ties", tensions are rising everywhere between the two giant Asian neighbours, in what looks increasingly like a new "great game" - with the US and other powers upping their stakes. Willliam Burns, America's number two diplomat, is in Delhi this week to try to rekindl...