Contemporary South Asia

The wrong statement is (a) because the chapter says that South Asia has different political systems, and while some countries are democratic, not all are. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives have had mixed experiences, so it is not true that all South Asian countries are democratic.

Commonalities:
- Both countries have had military rulers as well as civilian democratic governments.
- In both, the democratic experience has been unstable and interrupted by authoritarian rule.

Differences:
- Bangladesh has been a democracy in the post-Cold War period and since 1991 representative democracy based on multi-party elections has been working there.
- Pakistan began the post-Cold War period with elected governments, but it suffered a military coup in 1999 and was ruled by the army; since 2008 it has again had democratically elected leaders.
- Bangladesh’s democracy restored after mass movements, while Pakistan’s democracy has faced a stronger and more persistent role of the military.

The chapter mentions three main challenges to democracy in Nepal:
1. The monarchy retained full control for a long time and restricted democracy.
2. The Maoist insurgency created armed conflict against the monarch and ruling elite.
3. The king and the army ended even limited democracy in 2002 by abolishing parliament and dismissing the government.

So, the three challenges are monarchy, Maoist armed struggle, and army-backed royal interference in politics.

The principal players in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka were:
- the Sinhala majority and Sinhala nationalist forces,
- the Tamil minority, especially the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The conflict arose because the Sinhala-dominated politics ignored Tamil concerns, leading to militant Tamil nationalism and the demand for a separate Tamil Eelam.

Prospects of resolution:
The chapter shows that the conflict was very difficult and violent, with armed struggle, Indian intervention, and international mediation. But it also says that the armed conflict finally ended when the LTTE was vanquished in 2009. Sri Lanka has maintained democracy and economic growth despite conflict. So the prospects for resolution improved only after a long and difficult struggle, and peaceful settlement required negotiation and ending militancy.

Some recent agreements between India and Pakistan mentioned in the chapter are:
- the Indus Waters Treaty (1960),
- the agreement not to attack each other’s nuclear installations and facilities (1988),
- the Simla Agreement (1972),
- the Lahore bus journey / Peace Declaration (1999),
- and efforts such as the Agra Summit (2001), though that was unsuccessful.

We cannot be sure that the two countries are well on the way to a friendly relationship. The chapter says that although there have been confidence-building measures, bus routes, trade, and easier visas, recent times have seen changes, and both governments still remain suspicious of each other. So the relationship is still fragile.