IMPRI

Gurinder Kaur Every year, with the onset of winter, the capital of our country is exposed to the most dangerous air pollution. With the rise of air pollution in Delhi, the Union and  Delhi state governments blame each other instead…

I fondly and vividly recall one of the finest and first ever elections held in the newly liberated Libya in 2012 when the man on the street just looked enthusiastically at their future that might have fulfilled their revolutionary dream. The elections despite an absence of a security outfit and roving militias were carried by the hope of the Libyans. Even though the seeds of its failure were sown in the election law itself and the fear of the Islamists getting the bigger cake, as had just happened in neighboring Egypt where Muslim Brotherhood had taken control of the reins of power. Fear in Libya among the liberals and western command including the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) of this possibility led to nascent parliamentary system’s eventual demise even before it was born. The country was divided between the so called liberals and their masters and the Islamists and their masters. The die was cast and was further cemented post 2014 elections and advent of General Haftar when the dividing lines between the East and West of Libya were drawn for good leading to two legislatures, three Prime Ministers and institutions as the race for oil wealth began. And militias of hue and colors funded and supported by external powers called the shots. Libyan dream once again turned into despair.

T K Arun India Last week’s news was dominated by the mowing down of five people, as a convoy of Sports Utility Vehicles, with Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son inside the lead vehicle, rammed into a crowd of farmers carrying…