NEIGHBOURS OF INDIA - 2 - ANSWERS

1. A. Bagmati

(Bagmati River at Pashupatinath Temple)

The Bagmati River runs through the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal and separates the city of Kathmandu from Lalitpur (Historically known as 'Patan'). It is considered holy by both Hindus and Buddhists. A number of Hindu temples are located on its banks including the Pashupatinath Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu.

2. C. Hamid Karzai

The Kabul International Airport has been renamed as "Hamid Karzai International Airport" in 2014 in honor of former President Hamid Karzai. The decision was made by the National Assembly of Afghanistan and the Cabinet of President Ashraf Ghani.

Kabul International Airport was originally built in the early 1960s by Soviet engineers when Afghanistan began to modernize. Tourists began visiting the country via Kabul International Airport until the 1978 Saur Revolution (a coup led by the Soviet-backed People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) against the rule of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan on 27–28 April 1978. Daoud Khan and most of his family were killed at the presidential palace.), especially after the 1979 Soviet invasion.

The airport was used by the Soviet Army during the Soviet–Afghan War, from 1979 to 1989 and by the military forces of the former President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah. Control of the airport switched between different sides during the civil war after 1992. Following NATO's invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Airport was bombed by United States and coalition forces. After the “International Security Assistance Force” (ISAF) took over control, the airport began to be developed slowly over the years.

Hamid Karzai became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime by the US invasion in late 2001. During the December 2001 “International Conference on Afghanistan” in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as Chairman of the Interim Administration. He was then chosen for a two-year term as Interim President during the 2002 Grand Assembly that was held in Kabul, Afghanistan. He became the elected as the President of Afghanistan in 2004 and 2009 Presidential elections and held on the position till September, 2014.

3. C. Physics

Mohammad Abdus Salam (29 January 1926 – 21 November 1996) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for his contribution to the “Electroweak Unification Theory”. He was the first Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize in science and the second from an Islamic country to receive any Nobel Prize (after Anwar Sadat of Egypt). Salam was science advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology in Pakistan from 1960 to 1974. He was the founding director of the “Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission” (SUPARCO) and responsible for the establishment of the “Theoretical Physics Group” (TPG) in the “Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission” (PAEC). As Science Advisor, Salam played a role in Pakistan's development of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. However his role in the atomic bomb project of Pakistan in 1972 is disputed.

In 1974, Abdus Salam departed from his country to London in protest, after the Parliament of Pakistan passed unanimously a parliamentary bill declaring members of the “Ahmadiyya Movement” to which Salam belonged, as non-Muslims.

4. A. Cox's Bazar

Cox's Bazar Beach, a top tourist destination of Bangladesh, located at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, is the longest natural sea beach in the world running about 150 – 155 kilometres.

5. C. Sun Yat-sen

Sun Yat-sen (born Sun Wen; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese philosopher, physician and politician, who served as the provisional first President of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He is referred as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China due to his instrumental role in the overthrow of the 268 years old Qing dynasty during the Xinhai (Chinese) Revolution of 1911.

But his rise as first provisional President of the Republic of China in 1912 was short lived. A bitter power struggle rose within the Government led by Yuan Shikai, who played a intermediary between the revolutionaries and the Qing Dynasty as the new provisional Government were weak militarily. Sun soon went to exile in Japan for safety relinquishing the rein to Yuan Shikai.

(Sun Yat-sen (seated) with Chiang Kai-shek, his successor)

Later with the emergence of Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1921, Sun Yat-sen began a policy of active cooperation with the CPC. But He did not live (died in Beijing of gallbladder cancer on 12 March 1925) to see his party unify the country under his successor, Chiang Kai-shek in the Northern Expedition (a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang).