NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 09, 2015

Q: Hundreds of people, including writers, publishers and bookshop owners, took to the streets of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, to protest over a string of Islamic fundamentalist attacks, including the recent murder of a publisher of secular books. Where is the southern Asia nation of Bangladesh?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Secular liberals also are being murdered by religious fundamentalists in the nation that nearly surrounds Bangladesh. Which nation is that?

A. Afghanistan

B. India

C. Myanmar

D. Pakistan


B. Writers in India have returned literary awards to protest the murders of rationalist professors and writers. India's government has been accused of ignoring attacks by Hindu extremists who share the same far-right ideology as Prime Minister Narenda Modi. Bangladesh is bordered by India to its west, north and east; and Myanmar (Burma) to the southeast.


Q: The territory of the former British Indian Empire long has been the site of bloody conflicts among Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. Which of these present-day nations was NOT part British Indian Empire?

A. Afghanistan

B. India

C. Myanmar

D. Pakistan


A. Through three wars with Britain Afghanistan remained mostly independent and never became part of the British Raj (rule in Hindi). Religious leaders on all sides have stirred up sectarian conflicts in the region as they sought political power. Recently, fundamentalist Hindus in India have beaten and killed people over eating beef.


Q: Bangladesh came into being only in 1971, long after British rule ended in 1947. Bangladesh was part of which nation from 1947 until 1971?

A. India

B. Myanmar

C. Nepal

D. Pakistan


D. When British rule ended, its Indian Empire was divided mostly along sectarian lines, creating a majority Hindu state of India and majority Muslim state of Pakistan. At that time, the largely Muslim area that is now Bangladesh became East Pakistan. The two parts of Pakistan split after a bitter war which drew in neighboring India.


Q: Some Buddhist monks have been accused of stirring up anti-Muslim hatred and violence in which nation?

A. India

B. Myanmar

C. Nepal

D. Pakistan


B. Buddhists are the majority in Myanmar, and the monks wield considerable political power. Two years ago Buddhist mobs killed at least 40 and wounded 61 Muslims. Thousands of other Muslims have fled the country on ramshackle ships often being left stranded and dying at sea.