Pakistani students gather in a corridor of Karachi University, during a break from their classes, in Karachi, Pakistan, April 3. When asked which system of government they preferred, 29 percent of young Pakistanis between the ages of 18 and 29 said they would prefer democracy as a political system; 38 percent picked 'Islamic sharia'; and 32 percent picked 'military rule.' (Fareed Khan/AP)
1:25 pm ET -As a crucial vote for Pakistan's new civilian government looms, candidates are trying to sway a sizable and politically active generation – but one whose sentiments are unclear.
Top Asia: South & Central (View all)
- Bangladesh united in grief over a failed rescue from collapsed factory
- Day after cracks were found, Bangladesh factory collapse leaves 125-plus dead (+video)
- China tests its borders again, this time in the mountains
- Climate change sends India's apple farmers up the Himalayas
- Pakistan's Musharraf slips treason charges, but is held incommunicado
- After rape of 5-year-old girl, India debates even stricter punishments
- Is Musharraf's arrest a sign of a political shift in Pakistan?
- Could mining bonanza be Afghanistan's next source of funding?
- Can Pakistan drive the Taliban out of its tribal belt?
- Pakistan elections: Who's running?
More Asia: South & Central
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Story changes? Diplomat now said to be on foot when killed in Afghanistan (+video)
A witness contradicts the story told to relatives of the young diplomat Anne Smedinghoff that her group was traveling in an armored vehicle.
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Musharraf returns to 'save Pakistan,' but nation skeptical
General Pervez Musharraf ruled Pakistan for nine years until pushed into self-imposed exile. He returned today to stand for parliamentary elections in May.
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Pakistan's education crisis: What ever happened to Malala's friends?
Almost half a year after Malala Yousafzai was attacked on her school bus, the two girls injured alongside her also symbolize Pakistan's uphill battle with girls' education.
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Latest gang rape in India highlights risks for women, this time foreigners (+video)
Police have made three arrests in the alleged gang rape of a Swiss tourist who was camping on a bicycle trip with her husband.
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Pakistan's parliament makes history
Pakistan's parliament became the first since the country's founding in 1947 to complete a full term of five years. That sets the stage for elections.
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After years of nonviolent protest, could Kashmiris return to the gun?
A pro-Pakistan militant group claimed responsibility for an attack today on a paramilitary compound that killed five Indian police.
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Pakistan arrests members of anti-Christian mob, but convictions rare
Upset over an alleged blasphemy incident, a mob in Lahore destroyed at least 50 Christian homes over the weekend. Such violence against religious minorities is rarely punished in Pakistan.
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USAID to put $300 million into women's rights in Afghanistan
Can aid agencies and other foreign actors, even with $300 million, truly influence attitudes in a society that has so long treated women as second-class citizens?
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Sardines in India latest indicator of how your food is on the move
Mumbai’s new sardine bounty is an example of how warmer temperatures may be redrawing the world’s geographic distribution of food with potential implications for what and how we eat.
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From wooden skis to Olympic hopefuls: Why Pakistan's Air Force is training skiiers
In Pakistan's isolated Naltar Valley the Pakistani Air Force is training children who learned to ski on wooden planks tied to boots with wire for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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India's 'human safaris' banned, as fight for tribal rights goes on
India finally halted the practice of allowing tourists to ogle the native tribes of a secluded Island in the Andaman Islands. But with a growing tourism industry there, the battle might not be over.
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Out of the sheds: Women fight segregation in rural Nepal
For generations, the custom of chaupadi forced menstruating women to sleep outside of their homes in small sheds or in the family stable.
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Pakistan textbooks raise debate about 'curriculum of hate'
Government-sanctioned textbooks across Pakistan contain numerous examples of anti-minority and anti-Western language, prompting activists to encourage teachers to stop using them.
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Afghan president orders US troops out of volatile province on Kabul's flank
President Hamid Karzai has asked US Special Forces to leave Wardak Province, raising concerns about how security might be affected in Afghanistan's capital city.
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For some Indians, latest bombing brings sense of déjà vu
Suleman Sultan, a survivor of a blast almost identical to the recent attack in Hyderabad, says the government's response is following the same old script.
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India to investigate Hyderabad bomb blasts, eyes the Indian Mujahideen ... again (+video)
But as India investigates the Hyderabad bomb blasts, analysts are highlighting India's past failure to crack terrorism cases.
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For India's 'untouchables,' a rare moment of inclusion
In a major break from caste system constraints, some of India's Brahmins welcomed a group of India's lowest ranking members to join a Hindu ritual historically closed to them.
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Pakistan announces operation after bombing, but is it just for show?
The Pakistani government announced a security operation against those responsible for the bombing that killed at least 89 people over the weekend and set off three days of protests.
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India-controlled Kashmir seethes as curfew extends to seventh day
The curfew follows the secret execution of a Kashmiri man convicted for his role in a 2001 attack on India's parliament. The execution and India's crackdown have sparked talk of renewed unrest in Kashmir.
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Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh
A protest that has at times swelled into the hundreds of thousands entered its ninth day today in Bangladesh’s capital, touched off by the outcome of a war crimes trial.
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