When we look back at over half a century of the political histories ofIndia and Pakistan, there is one development that outshines all others. The debate over the basis of identity, which began in earnest in the immediate run-up to independence, continues to engage both countries. What we see are two states still contesting the ideological underpinnings of nation; still ostensibly wrestling with tensions that were evident at the time of partition.

Not surprisingly much of the analytical focus on the BJP's rise to power has been on its revolutionary political and cultural program. The ideology of 'Hindutva' not only challenges the secular basis of the Indian state, threatening to overturn it altogether, but it also proposes a communal reconstruction of national identity. India is projected by the Sangh Parivar as constituting a primordial Hindu community, which transcends regional, language and cultural difference and is bound together by a common history, civilisation and destiny. A new religiously exclusive India beckons in which nationality and citizenship are to be couched in terms of Hinduness, potentially rendering as foreigners millions of non-Hindu Indians and threatening the very preservation of the Indian Union.

It will be very sad news for his many friends and colleagues in the South Asian Studies Association of Australia (SASA) to learn that Dr. Denis Wright, another stalwart of the Association, died in Armidale on 7 December. Denis was one of those rare academics who shunned the limelight and was prepared to work tirelessly and unheralded behind the scenes as a productive scholar, highly-rated teacher and valuable colleague. It is therefore fitting that tribute be openly paid to the many contributions he made during his 35 years of service in the field of South Asian studies.

Over the last 50 years, newspapers have provided Australians with much of what they know, or rather apprehend, about Islam as a religious system and Muslim culture in general. This stands to reason. On the one hand, very few non-Muslims would bother going to the length of consulting the Qur'an, the prime source of Islamic theology, to discover for themselves the prescriptions for life it lays down and embodies. On the other hand, the press has long superseded all other forms of literature as the instrument of mass communication, a register of current national and international information, and the medium through which the world's changing landscape can be regularly viewed.

Studies on the impact of terrorism on an affected country's economy tend either to be discussed from a comparative cross-country perspective in development terms, a method considered unreliable and highly speculative (Sultan, 2013), or related more to the counter-terrorist measures adopted by developed (rather than developing) countries where detailed economic data is more readily available. Typical of the former approach is the World Bank's 2011 Development Report: 'Conflict, Security and Development', which broadly canvasses the ways conflict, violence and insecurity have impacted on and impeded the economic development of 'fragile' states. These are states that are deemed institutionally incapable of protecting their citizens from violence and oppression, and constitute, ostensibly in the World Bank's perspective, most of the non-developed world (World Bank, 2011). While the violent situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan is alluded to as 'consuming the attention of global policy makers' (World Bank, 2011), the report's focus is more on Africa than Asia. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan simply figure as a statistic in the selected World Development Indicator tables of comparative socioeconomic data for 135 economies (World Bank, 2011). In so far as terrorism is mentioned, it is undifferentiated as one of several 'new forms of violence' characterizing twenty-first century conflict.

The provision of adequate labour standards is of vital significance to women workers in Asia's industrial work forces. Women form a significant proportion of the total labour force - except in South Asia - and in some industries, notably garments, are an overwhelming percentage. Since women generally work in the lowest-paid jobs, with the lowest security of employment, and often work long hours in unsatisfactory working conditions, the acceptance and enforcement of good labour standards and practices has become a matter of critical concern. What is understood by labour standards and how do they become incorporated into national labour laws? What are some of the reasons why, despite considerable pressure for improvement from international and national groups, labour standards for women workers remain below acceptable norms in many Asian countries? How does the weakness of union representation for women workers contribute to the failure of organised labour to exert sufficient pressure for change.