Opinions

The horrific bomb blasts in Mumbai last week and the suicide bus bombings in Jerusalem the week before are two reminders that suicide terrorism is a growing trend in the fight for political "justice".

While Beijing and New Delhi are hailing improved ties and success in dealing with border issues, Manik Mehta finds that in reality very little has changed on the ground. Take Tibet, for example.

No matter what Beijing might say and want to hear the world knows that Chinese troops are occupying Tibet, to which they have no more historical rights than Iraq had on Kuwait.

It is not easy being Nepal. The little Himalayan kingdom not only faces a brutal Maoist rebellion, it is also sandwiched between often-antagonistic giants -- China and India -- and regularly buffeted by more distant powers.

Mugecuo lake, known to local Tibetans as Yeti lake, remains one of China's few untainted ecological treasures. Situated in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Sichuan province, it is surrounded by other pristine glacial lakes, primeval forests, and hot springs.

Younghusband

Where traders wait to capture a market, invaders thundered to conquer a nation a century ago. In June 1903, just before the monsoon “burst”, the British India military led by adventurer Sir (Colonel) Francis Younghusband marched through

Well, talking about Tibetan football, here’s a short history. The Tibetan word for football or for that matter for any ball has been colonised by the British Raj as polo. And hence the horseback sport.

The recent Chinese intrusions into the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh underscore the need for Delhi to afford more urgency to the delineation of its disputed frontier with Beijing.

In my last column, and in the aftermath of the recent high-level Sino-Indian talks in Beijing, we dealt with the issue of Tibet from a historical perspective. A parallel analytical exercise with regard to Sikkim would perhaps prove equally interesting.