India a regional stability factor

Against the backdrop of the parliamentary elections in India the daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung describes the country as an island of stability in South Asia: "India's democracy cushions the impact of the regional and religious differences better than Pakistan with its mostly military and hard-handed government. Even the conflicts between Hindus and Muslims take a less bloody course than the confrontations between the Muslim majority society and the puritan Islamist minority in neighbouring Pakistan. At a time when individual countries and entire regions are promptly labelled 'rogue states', 'failed states' or 'crisis areas' the election result is well timed. While the prognoses for Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly gloomy and South Asia is becoming crisis region number one not only in Washington's eyes, India has shown that things can be different in South Asia too."

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