South Asia

==Definition==
[[File:South Asia (definitions).png|thumb|340x340px|Various definitions of South Asia, including the definition by the [[United Nations geoscheme]] which was created for "statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories."<ref name="Millenniumindicators.un.org">{{cite web |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm |title=Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use |publisher=United Nations |access-date=25 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711220015/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm |archive-date=11 July 2017 |url-status=live}} Quote: "The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations."</ref>]]
The geographical extent is not clear cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical.<ref name="Ghosh1989">{{cite book |last=Ghosh |first=Partha Sarathy |date=1989 |title=Cooperation and Conflict in South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0TBqJCE4k8C&pg=PA5 |publisher=Technical Publications |pages=4–5 |isbn=978-81-85054-68-1 |access-date=12 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516185842/https://books.google.com/books?id=O0TBqJCE4k8C&pg=PA5 |archive-date=16 May 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Beyond the core territories of the Indian Empire (territories of the British Empire which were under the system of British Raj), there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia.<ref>Bertram Hughes Farmer, ''An Introduction to South Asia'', pages 1, Routledge, 1993, {{ISBN|0-415-05695-0}}</ref><ref name=Razzaque3>{{cite book|first=Jona|last=Razzaque|title=Public Interest Environmental Litigation in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7E7al37aYBEC&pg=PA3|year=2004|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=978-90-411-2214-8|pages=3 with footnotes 1 and 2|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007120534/https://books.google.com/books?id=7E7al37aYBEC&pg=PA3|archive-date=7 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=mmann>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Mann|title=South Asia's Modern History: Thematic Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uh0cBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT13|year=2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-62445-5|pages=13–15}}</ref><ref name=anderson5>{{cite book|first1=Ewan W.|last1=Anderson|first2=Liam D.|last2=Anderson|title=An Atlas of Middle Eastern Affairs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-VJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-64862-5|page=5}}, Quote: "To the east, Iran, as a Gulf state, offers a generally accepted limit to the Middle East. However, Afghanistan, also a Muslim state, is then left in isolation. It is not accepted as a part of Central Asia and it is clearly not part of the Indian subcontinent".</ref> There is no clear boundary – geographical, geopolitical, socio-cultural, economical, or historical – between South Asia and other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia and West Asia.<ref>Dallen J. Timothy and Gyan P. Nyaupane, ''Cultural Heritage and Tourism in the Developing World: A Regional Perspective'', page 127, Routledge, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-134-00228-3}}</ref>

The common definition of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the Indian Empire,<ref>Navnita Chadha Behera, ''International Relations in South Asia: Search for an Alternative Paradigm'', page 129, SAGE Publications India, 2008, {{ISBN|978-81-7829-870-2}}</ref> with several exceptions. The current territories of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan which were the core territories of the [[British Empire]] from 1857 to 1947 also form the core territories of South Asia.<ref name="The World Bank">{{cite web|title=The World Bank|url=http://data.worldbank.org/region/SAS|access-date=5 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151110061347/http://data.worldbank.org/region/SAS|archive-date=10 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="eldis.org">{{cite web |title=Institute of Development Studies: Afghanistan |url=http://www.eldis.org/go/home&id=16238&type=Document |access-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601015811/http://www.eldis.org/go/home%26id%3D16238%26type%3DDocument |archive-date=1 June 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, two independent countries that were not under the British Raj but were protectorates of the Empire,<ref>{{cite book|author=Saul Bernard Cohen |title=Geopolitics: The Geography of International Relations|date=2008|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers| edition=2| page=329| isbn=978-0-7425-8154-8}}</ref> and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included.<ref name="McLeod2002">{{cite book |last1=McLeod |first1=John |title=The History of India |year=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=1 |isbn=978-0-313-31459-9}}</ref> By various definitions based on substantially different reasons, the [[British Indian Ocean Territory]] and the [[Tibet Autonomous Region]] may be included as well.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Keith |first1=Arthur Berriedale |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |title=A Constitutional History of India: 1600–1935 |year=1936 |publisher=Methuen & Co |pages=440–444 |oclc=18526}}</ref><ref>N.D. Arora, ''Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination'', page 42:1, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2010, 9780070090941</ref><ref>Stephen Adolphe Wurm, Peter Mühlhäusler & Darrell T. Tryon, ''Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas'', pages 787, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, Published by Walter de Gruyter, 1996, {{ISBN|3-11-013417-9}}</ref><ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/south-asia#Columbia_Encyclopedia_d_ans "Indian subcontinent" > Geology and Geography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220121713/http://www.answers.com/topic/south-asia#Columbia_Encyclopedia_d_ans |date=20 February 2012 }}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Haggett |first=Peter |title=Encyclopedia of World Geography (Vol. 1) |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2001 |page=2710 |isbn=978-0-7614-7289-6}}</ref><ref>[http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-Sentinel-Security-Assessment-South-Asia/Territories-British-Indian-Ocean-Territory.html Territories (British Indian Ocean Territory)], Jane's Information Group</ref> [[Myanmar]] (Burma), a former British colony and now largely considered a part of Southeast Asia, is also sometimes included.<ref name=Ghosh1989/><ref name=Razzaque3/><ref name=mittal/> Afghanistan is also included by some sources.<ref name=Ghosh1989/><ref name=Razzaque3/><ref>{{cite book|first=Keith|last=Robbins|title=Transforming the World: Global Political History since World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dxknBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT386 |year=2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-29656-6|page=386}}, Quote: "Some thought that Afghanistan was part of the Middle East and not South Asian at all".</ref>{{sfn|Saez|2012|p=58|ps=: "Afghanistan is considered to be part of Central Asia. It regards itself as a link between Central Asia and South Asia."}}

[[File:South Asia UN.png|thumb|left|United Nations map of South Asia.<ref name=unmapsworld>
[https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm United Nations Cartographic Centre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630232206/http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm |date=30 June 2017 }} Retrieved 18 June 2015</ref> However, the United Nations does not endorse any definitions or area boundaries.{{refn|group=note|According to the UN cartographic section website disclaimers, "DESIGNATIONS USED: The depiction and use of boundaries, geographic names and related data shown on maps and included in lists, tables, documents, and databases on this website are not warranted to be error free nor do they necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations."<ref name=unmapsworld />}}]]

The [[South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation]] (SAARC), a contiguous block of countries, started in 1985 with seven countries{{snd}}Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka{{snd}}and admitted [[Afghanistan]] as an eighth member in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461-98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=53216 |title=SAARC: Afghanistan comes in from the cold |author=Sarkar, Sudeshna |date=16 May 2007 |website=Current Affairs – Security Watch |publisher=Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich |access-date=6 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614091639/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461-98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=53216 |archive-date=14 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saarc-sec.org/ |title=South Asian Organisation for Regional Cooperation (official website) |publisher=SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu, Nepal. |access-date=6 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216014912/http://saarc-sec.org/ |archive-date=16 December 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of full members of SAARC.<ref>Chatterjee Aneek, ''International Relations Today: Concepts and Applications'', page 166, Pearson Education India, {{ISBN|978-81-317-3375-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2 December 2014 |title=SAARC Membership: India blocks China's entry for the time being |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/saarc-membership-india-blocks-chinas-entry-for-the-time-being/articleshow/45342607.cms |newspaper=The Economic Times| access-date=17 March 2015| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181218222754/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/saarc-membership-india-blocks-chinas-entry-for-the-time-being/articleshow/45342607.cms |archive-date=18 December 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[South Asia Free Trade Agreement]] admitted Afghanistan in 2011.<ref>[http://globalsummitryproject.com.s197331.gridserver.com/archive/saarc/saarc-sec.org/areaofcooperation/detailfeb2.html?activity_id=36 Global Summitry Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712052452/http://globalsummitryproject.com.s197331.gridserver.com/archive/saarc/saarc-sec.org/areaofcooperation/detailfeb2.html?activity_id=36 |date=12 July 2020 }}, SAARC</ref>

The [[World Bank]] and [[United Nations Children's Fund]] (UNICEF) recognizes the eight SAARC countries as South Asia,<ref>[http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,pagePK:158889~piPK:146815~theSitePK:223547,00.html South Asia: Data, Projects and Research] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414234252/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,pagePK:158889~piPK:146815~theSitePK:223547,00.html |date=14 April 2008 }}, The World Bank</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://saarc-sec.org/areaofcooperation/detail.php?activity_id=36|title=SAFTA Protocol|access-date=20 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315005650/http://saarc-sec.org/areaofcooperation/detail.php?activity_id=36|archive-date=15 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=South Asia|url=https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/southasia.html|website=Unicef.org|access-date=16 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220203433/https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/southasia.html|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=UNICEF ROSA|url=https://www.unicef.org/rosa/where.html|website=Unicef.org|access-date=16 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220203418/https://www.unicef.org/rosa/where.html|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Herfindahl index|Hirschman–Herfindahl index]] of the [[United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific]] for the region excludes Afghanistan from South Asia.<ref>[http://www.unescap.org/tid/projects/agrnego_sama.pdf Mapping and Analysis of Agricultural Trade Liberalization in South Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319013359/http://www.unescap.org/tid/projects/agrnego_sama.pdf |date=19 March 2009 }}, Trade and Investment Division (TID), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific</ref> Population Information Network (POPIN) excludes Maldives which is included as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network.<ref>[https://www.un.org/Depts/escap/pop/bulletin/v07n2ft1.htm Asia-Pacific POPIN Consultative Workshop Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025033612/http://www.un.org/Depts/escap/pop/bulletin/v07n2ft1.htm |date=25 October 2012 }}, Asia-Pacific POPIN Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1995), pages 7–11</ref> The United Nations Statistics Division's [[United Nations geoscheme|scheme of subregions]], for statistical purpose,<ref name="Millenniumindicators.un.org"/> includes [[Iran]] along with all eight members of the SAARC as part of [[Southern Asia (UN geoscheme)|Southern Asia]].<ref>[http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#asia Geographical region and composition] {{Webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713041240/http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#asia|date=13 July 2011}}, Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings, United Nations</ref> The [[United Nations Industrial Development Organization]] includes [[Iran]] as well as [[Afghanistan]] as parts of South Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in Asia and the Pacific Region |journal=United Nations Industrial Development Organization |pages=4–5}}</ref>

The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how the region is defined. South Asia's northern, eastern, and western boundaries vary based on definitions used, while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery. Most of this region rests on the [[Indian Plate]] and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers.<ref>
[http://www.answers.com/topic/Asia#Columbia_Encyclopedia_d_ans "Asia" > Geology and Geography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223002115/http://www.answers.com/topic/asia#Columbia_Encyclopedia_d_ans |date=23 February 2012 }}. ''The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia'', 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "Asia can be divided into six regions, each possessing distinctive physical, cultural, economic, and political characteristics... South Asia (Afghanistan and the nations of the Indian Peninsula) is isolated from the rest of Asia by great mountain barriers."
</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/38479/Asia "Asia" > Geologic history – Tectonic framework] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501014535/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/38479/Asia |date=1 May 2011 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2009: "The paleotectonic evolution of Asia terminated some 50 million years ago as a result of the collision of the Indian Plate with Eurasia. Asia's subsequent neotectonic development has largely disrupted the continent's preexisting fabric. The first-order neotectonic units of Asia are Stable Asia, the Arabian and Indian cratons, the Alpide plate boundary zone (along which the Arabian and Indian platforms have collided with the Eurasian continental plate), and the island arcs and marginal basins."</ref> Much of the region consists of a [[peninsula]] in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north, the [[Hindu Kush]] in the west, and the [[Chin Hills|Arakanese]] in the east,<ref name="Baker2002">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Kathleen M. |last2=Chapman |first2=Graham P. |title=The Changing Geography of Asia |year=2002 |orig-year=First published 1992 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=10 |isbn=978-1-134-93384-6}}: "This greater India is well defined in terms of topography; it is the Indian peninsula, hemmed in by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Khush in the west and the Arakanese in the east."</ref> and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the [[Arabian Sea]] to the southwest and the [[Bay of Bengal]] to the southeast.<ref name=Oxford/><ref>{{cite book |last1=McLeod |first1=John |title=The History of India |year=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=2 |isbn=978-0-313-31459-9}}</ref>

[[File:Indian subcontinent.JPG|thumb|While South Asia had never been a coherent [[Geopolitics|geopolitical]] region, it has a distinct geographical identity<ref name=mittal/><ref name="Baker2002" />]]

The terms "[[Indian subcontinent]]" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably.<ref name=McLeod2002/><ref name=Oxford>"Indian subcontinent". ''[[Oxford Dictionary of English|New Oxford Dictionary of English]]'' ({{ISBN|0-19-860441-6}}) New York: Oxford University Press, 2001; p. 929: "the part of Asia south of the Himalayas which forms a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Historically forming the whole territory of greater India, the region is now divided between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh."</ref><ref name=norwineplus/><ref name="BoseJalal2004" /><ref>''The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia'', 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2003: "region, S central Asia, comprising the countries of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and the Himalayan states of Nepal, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka, an island off the southeastern tip of the Indian peninsula, is often considered a part of the subcontinent."</ref> The Indian subcontinent is largely a geological term referring to the land mass that drifted northeastwards from ancient [[Gondwana]], colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Palaeocene. This geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.<ref name="Jones2011p267">{{cite book|author=Robert Wynn Jones|title=Applications of Palaeontology: Techniques and Case Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrPiq_8pkAwC&pg=PA267 |year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49920-0|pages=267–271}}</ref> Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot state that the term "Indian subcontinent" describes a natural physical landmass in South Asia that has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia.<ref name="AsherTalbot2006">{{citation|last1=Asher|first1=Catherine B.|last2=Talbot|first2=Cynthia|title=India Before Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvaGuaJIJgoC|date=16 March 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-80904-7|pages=5–8, 12–14, 51, 78–80|access-date=9 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424074737/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvaGuaJIJgoC|archive-date=24 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

The use of the term ''Indian subcontinent'' began in the British Empire, and has been a term particularly common in its successors.<ref name=norwineplus>Milton Walter Meyer, ''South Asia: A Short History of the Subcontinent'', pages 1, Adams Littlefield, 1976, {{ISBN|0-8226-0034-X}}<br />Jim Norwine & Alfonso González, ''The Third World: states of mind and being'', pages 209, Taylor & Francis, 1988, {{ISBN|0-04-910121-8}}<br />{{Cite book |last1=Boniface |first1=Brian G. |first2=Christopher P. |last2=Cooper |title=Worldwide Destinations: The Geography of Travel and Tourism |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c46i9jr9mhgC&pg=PA344 |isbn=978-0-7506-5997-0 |access-date=19 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919153240/https://books.google.com/books?id=c46i9jr9mhgC&pg=PA344 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |url-status=live }}<br />Judith Schott & Alix Henley, ''Culture, Religion, and Childbearing in a Multiracial Society'', pages 274, Elsevier Health Sciences, 1996, {{ISBN|0-7506-2050-1}}<br />Raj S. Bhopal, ''Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies'', pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-19-856817-7}}<br />Lucian W. Pye & Mary W. Pye, ''Asian Power and Politics'', pages 133, Harvard University Press, 1985, {{ISBN|0-674-04979-9}}<br />Mark Juergensmeyer, ''The Oxford handbook of global religions'', pages 465, Oxford University Press US, 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-513798-1}}</ref> South Asia as the preferred term is particularly common when scholars or officials seek to differentiate this region from East Asia.<ref name=inden>Ronald B. Inden, ''Imagining India'', page 51, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, {{ISBN|1-85065-520-0}}, Quote:"It is very common today in academic and official circles to speak of the Indian subcontinent as 'South Asia', thereby distinguishing it from an 'East Asia'."</ref> According to historians [[Sugata Bose]] and [[Ayesha Jalal]], the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance."<ref name="BoseJalal2004">{{cite book |last1=Bose |first1=Sugata |author1-link=Sugata Bose |last2=Jalal |first2=Ayesha |author2-link=Ayesha Jalal |year=2004 |orig-year=First published 1998 |title=Modern South Asia |edition=2nd |publisher=Routledge |page=3 |isbn=0-415-30787-2 |quote=Indian subcontinent{{snd}}or South Asia{{snd}}as it has come to be known in more recent and neutral parlance}}</ref> This "neutral" notion refers to the concerns of Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly given the recurring conflicts between India and Pakistan, wherein the dominant placement of "India" as a prefix before the subcontinent might offend some political sentiments.<ref name=mittal/> However, in Pakistan, the term "South Asia" is considered too India-centric and was banned until 1989 after the death of [[Zia ul Haq]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=boM8DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22South+Asia%22+term+academic+banned+as+too+India+centric+Pakistan&pg=PT305|isbn = 978-0-19-908940-6|title = International Relations Theory and South Asia (OIP): Volume II: Security, Political Economy, Domestic Politics, Identities, and Images|date = 13 November 2014|publisher = Oxford University Press}}</ref> This region has also been labelled as "India" (in its classical and [[Middle kingdoms of India|pre-modern]] sense) and "[[Greater India]]".<ref name=mittal>Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, ''Religions of South Asia: An Introduction'', page 3, Routledge, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-134-59322-4}}</ref><ref name="Baker2002" />

According to Robert M. Cutler – a scholar of political science at [[Carleton University]],<ref name="Amineh2007p112"/> the terms South Asia, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia are distinct, but the confusion and disagreements have arisen due to the geopolitical movement to enlarge these regions into Greater South Asia, Greater Southwest Asia, and Greater Central Asia. The frontier of Greater South Asia, states Cutler, between 2001 and 2006 has been geopolitically extended to eastern Iran and western Afghanistan in the west, and in the north to northeastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and southern [[Uzbekistan]].<ref name="Amineh2007p112">{{cite book|first=Robert M.|last=Cutler|editor-first=Mehdi|editor-last=Amineh|title=The Greater Middle East in Global Politics: Social Science Perspectives on the Changing Geography of the World Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PevCQAAQBAJ|year=2007|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-474-2209-9|pages=xv, 112}}</ref>

Identification with a South Asian identity was found to be significantly low among respondents in an older two-year survey across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.<ref>Kishore C. Dash, ''Regionalism in South Asia'', pages 172–175, Routledge, 2008, {{ISBN|0-415-43117-4}}</ref>