The NATO summit can indirectly transform India from a regional power into a West Asia stakeholder by integrating India into maritime security frameworks, supporting connectivity projects, strengthening intelligence ties, reinforcing India’s role as an alternative to China. The long-term outcome is that India could emerge as a pillar of stability linking Europe, the Gulf, and the Indo-Pacific
Japan has also proposed developing a Bay of Bengal–Northeast India Industrial Value Chain aimed at transforming the region into an integrated industrial zone. As part of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision, this includes strengthening cross-border connectivity with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
China's expressed interest in modernising and upgrading both Chattogram and Mongla ports suggests the emergence of an interconnected infrastructure network linking the Bay of Bengal with southwestern China through Myanmar. If realised, such connectivity would enhance trade flows, improve regional logistics and deepen China's economic footprint across the Bay of Bengal littoral, while simultaneously increasing Bangladesh's importance as a regional transit and connectivity hub.
While Washington and New Delhi seek to strengthen bilateral ties with Colombo, Beijing has strategically engaged with the political forces that control the government. By engaging directly with actors at the core of Sri Lanka’s governance, Beijing appears to be signalling its strategic intent—projecting influence and reinforcing ideological ties.
EU is now acknowledging what India, through its counter-terrorism dialogues with the West, had been warning for years, that Islamic fundamentalist networks and sleeper cells are active across the EU, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Today, there is nothing in Junagadh and its recent history to indicate the one-time, albeit brief, aspirations of its ambitious and misguided erstwhile Nawab to accede to Pakistan, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Interestingly, the current focus on encouraging inland water transportation along the Ganges and Brahmaputra only reactivates defunct commercial arteries of yesteryear when inland waterways linked Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Bangladesh, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh has witnessed many instances of mass lynchings, which is a major cause for concern as it looks that respect for rule of law has vanished, writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor
Because of the Congress’s failure to get its act together, the entire opposition in India appears to be in a moribund condition while the BJP has cleverly combined its pitch for vikas or development with an occasional dose of communal animosity to propel itself forward, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
India is witnessing the arrival of a new generation of mobility discourses, which are nuanced enough to provide sustainable urban mobility, says Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Urban Development Minister
In this year’s election Joe Biden won and so did the American democracy. That is a good thing for the United States, for India and indeed for the world, writes Frank F Islam for South Asia Monitor
Joe Biden may not drastically reverse foreign policy decisions of his predecessor like Donald Trump did of Barack Obama but Biden’s novel approaches to issues and regions could have ramifications for South Asia even as India-US relationship continues to grow, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
Of the 176 million people expected to be pushed into poverty at the $3.20 per day poverty line, two-thirds are in South Asia. The addition is due to the raising of the poverty estimating line, which has been termed as the new poor, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
India’s timely help to the Maldives is not without detractors, especially the political opposition that has been protesting the presence of the Indian military, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Despite recurrent political chaos, often fuelled by cultural and religious clashes, there are some human rights organisations that are working for the welfare and dignity of each individual in South Asia, writes Reeti Prakash for South Asia Monitor
It would be prudent for Quad to organize itself as a coherent force in an early timeframe to counter the increasing Chinese aggressiveness, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
With both India and the US worried about Chinese designs in Asia and the world, both will be eager to forge strong political, security and economic relations, writes Aneek Chatterjee for South Asia Monitor
Whoever is the winner, the planet would be the loser. The margins of the defeat of the planet would depend on who wins the American presidential race, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
Indeed the time has come when the question should not be whether Pakistan deserves GSP+ privileges, but whether it is time to impose tough economic sanctions on the country, a failed state that has only served to provide a safe haven to tens of thousands of global terrorists and whose only raison d’etre is to kill and harm innocent civilians all around the world and destabilise the peaceful democracies like the European Union and India, writes Sunil Prasad for South Asia Monitor
