Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was told to "move to Pakistan" when he complained about intolerant acts towards India's Muslim minority. Punit Paranjpe / AFP
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was told to "move to Pakistan" when he complained about intolerant acts towards India's Muslim minority. Punit Paranjpe / AFP

South Asian sectarianism is lost among the babble



The debate about religious harmony and the sacredness of difference in parts of South Asia brings to mind the late Yogi Berra’s observation on the desirable balance between speaking and listening. “It was impossible to get a conversation going,” the legendary American baseball player once complained, “everybody was talking too much.”

Something similar may be said to be happening in India and Bangladesh. Too much talking, especially on social media, is preventing real communication about shared values – what to keep, what to junk and what, more crucially, to do about what matters. Both are constitutionally secular countries but seem unable to decide if secularism, the policy of each state, should be allowed to promote secularisation, which is a social process. Is the secular becoming too foreign and profane for South Asia?

India, for instance, is greatly exercised by actor Aamir Khan’s comments. Last week, he made so bold as to admit on television that rising intolerance – violent attacks on Muslims and intellectuals – was leading to a deepening sense of insecurity. He criticised India’s leaders for failing to speak up and enforce rule of law – an obvious if disguised reference to prime minister Narendra Modi and leading lights of his Bharatiya Janata Party. He added that his filmmaker wife had even wondered if the couple should leave the country, implying that India was failing in the practice of secularism.

This provoked fury on Twitter and television and a flurry of questions about Khan’s loyalty. Hardline Hindus urged him to move to neighbouring Pakistan, the default destination generally suggested for Indian Muslims unlucky enough to provoke right-wing anger. Mr Modi’s party spokesman said the actor had committed a “moral offence” by defaming India. Members of the exclusivist Shiv Sena party, which is powerful in Mumbai where the actor lives, announced a 1 million rupee (Dh55,100) award for anyone who slapped him.

These might seem like elements of an absurdist play but there is no disguising the utter seriousness of what was being discussed.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, the mood is even darker, with a series of unsolved deadly attacks on foreigners and freethinking bloggers this year. In late September, ISIL claimed as its handiwork the fatal attack on an Italian aid worker in the capital Dhaka. It was the first time that the group had made such a claim in Bangladesh, where it has not announced a branch. Just days ago, police revealed that at least 10 Christian priests in the northern city of Rangpur had received death threats. The unidentified letter-writer said Bangladesh would be governed under Muslim laws. A rash of social media comment about Bangladesh’s “lawlessness” and “culture of fear” inevitably broke out, amid criticism of the government’s apparent indifference to attacks on people who wrote or campaigned against extremism.

Somewhat like Mr Modi in India, Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said little about the domestic ferment over secularism and intolerance. While the omission may be unwise but unsurprising for Mr Modi, whose party has often taken a Hindu national stance, it is more significant for Ms Hasina. Her Awami League party has always described itself as secular. Five years ago, she supported the verdict of the Bangladesh Supreme Court in restoring the four pillars of the state mentioned in the 1972 founding constitution: democracy, nationalism, socialism and secularism.

The silence at the very top says a great deal about India and Bangladesh. Both countries, albeit in different ways, seem manifestly uneasy about the transplanting of the secularism label, which draws from European enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Spinoza and may consequently be considered an elite imposition. It is no surprise that this is happening now, 68 and 43 years, respectively, from independent statehood. In both countries, religious nationalism of a highly organised and occasionally violent kind is proving to be a dangerously spreadable social and political glue.

This is why India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh, was able to tell parliament on November 26 – the first officially observed event to mark adoption of the constitution on that day in 1949 – that the country’s “problems in ensuring social harmony” were rooted in the “misuse” of words like secularism.

Meanwhile, Ms Hasina could blame “illegal money or arms or terrorists” from Britain for the export of radicalism from West to East. Bangladesh’s next election is not until 2019 and it may be convenient for the prime minister to allow every side its way while she neuters the opposition by hounding its politicians at considerable cost to the country’s democratic and legal institutions.

In the babble, it is hard to tell where all this will end. What’s plain is that the artificial social media storms, which repeatedly roil the debate and buffet it into extreme them-and-us positions, are not helping. In the furore over Aamir Khan’s comments for instance, there was little thought to why a cerebral, much-loved actor with a well-documented instinct for helping social causes should have felt impelled to speak up about his fears. Instead, many thuggish hashtags including the ominous #AamirKhangetlost started trending, driven higher by India’s huge internet-user base.

It’s being called the “McDon­ald­isation of debate”, dishing out an instant popular protest menu that hides the failure of political vision and leadership and neglects to address national priorities. It may not necessarily portend an irrevocably hellish descent into social chaos for India or Bangladesh. Perhaps it is only a marker of how far the discourse must fall before it is recalled to its sense of self.

Rashmee Roshan Lall is a writer on world affairs

On Twitter: @rashmeerl

What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
 
  • Grade 9 = above an A*
  • Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
  • Grade 7 = grade A
  • Grade 6 = just above a grade B
  • Grade 5 = between grades B and C
  • Grade 4 = grade C
  • Grade 3 = between grades D and E
  • Grade 2 = between grades E and F
  • Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

World Cup warm-up fixtures

Friday, May 24:

  • Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
  • Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)

Saturday, May 25

  • England v Australia (Southampton)
  • India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)

Sunday, May 26

  • South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
  • Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)

Monday, May 27

  • Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
  • England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)

Tuesday, May 28

  • West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
  • Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Mubadala World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule

Thursday December 27

Men's quarter-finals

Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm

Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm

Women's exhibition

Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm

Friday December 28

5th place play-off 3pm

Men's semi-finals

Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm

Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm

Saturday December 29

3rd place play-off 5pm

Men's final 7pm

Honeymoonish
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Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

((Disclaimer))

The Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG (“Bank”) assumes no liability or guarantee for the accuracy, balance, or completeness of the information in this publication. The content may change at any time due to given circumstances, and the Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG is under no obligation to update information once it has been published. This publication is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer, a recommendation or an invitation by, or on behalf of, Liechtensteinische Landesbank (DIFC Branch), Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG, or any of its group affiliates to make any investments or obtain services. This publication has not been reviewed, disapproved or approved by the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) Central Bank, Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”) or any other relevant licensing authorities in the UAE. It may not be relied upon by or distributed to retail clients. Liechtensteinische Landesbank (DIFC Branch) is regulated by the DFSA and this advertorial is intended for Professional Clients (as defined by the DFSA) who have sufficient financial experience and understanding of financial markets, products or transactions and any associated risks.

Results

5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Nadhra, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Dars, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Musannef, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Taghzel, Malin Holmberg, Ernst Oertel

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: M’Y Yaromoon, Khalifa Al Neyadi, Jesus Rosales

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m; Winner: Hakeem, Jim Crowley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

 

 

Drishyam 2

Directed by: Jeethu Joseph

Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy

Rating: 4 stars

Leading all-time NBA scorers

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419

Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: AgriTech

Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs 

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Frida%20
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction

Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.

Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.

Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.

Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.

Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.

What are the guidelines?

Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.

Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.

Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.

Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.

Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.

Source: American Paediatric Association