By the estimates given in the Supreme Court order dated 7 May 2021, almost 90 percent of prisoners released last year had returned to prisons between February and March this year, writes Anju Anna John for South Asia Monitor
Saudi-Pakistan defense pact has profound implications for India, Middle East
In broader geostrategic terms, the defense pact is also an indicator of growing apprehensions in the Middle East about the United States as a reliable security guarantor any longer. It is also possible that Washington may have at least tacitly approved of the defense pact.
Nepal Needs Change: Protests Must Transition To Productivity And Renewal
Nepal's dependence on remittances and decades of corruption, unemployment, and political stagnation came to a head during the Gen Z protests, which cost the lives of 72 people. Their sacrifice must lead to a ten-pillar change that turns vandalism into rebuilding, corruption into trust, and protest into the start of Nepal's renewal.
Trans-Border Rains: How Climate Change is Drowning India and Pakistan
Shared river systems, shared vulnerabilities, and shared futures mean that India and Pakistan must set aside hostility and cooperate on vital planetary issues. Equally, both must press the world’s richest polluting nations to deliver on promised climate finance. The deluge is already here.
Trade Wars Are Less About Tariffs, More About Power: India’s Strategic Autonomy in a Shifting World
Yet India’s response is neither impulsive nor reactionary—it is rooted in a long tradition of strategic autonomy. From Nehru’s Cold War non-alignment to today’s “multi-alignment,” successive governments have insisted on freedom of action, refusing to let outside powers dictate India’s role in the world. This ethos, born of colonial subjugation, now guides New Delhi’s diversified diplomacy
More on Spotlight
After US' Afghanistan pullout Quad summit to have a renewed Indo-Pacific focus; India could play bridge role for EU
Biden has shifted his priorities to the Indo-Pacific where a direct confrontation with China is building up and, in fact, he cited that as a rationale for pulling out of Afghanistan, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor
High time India and Australia resume FTA negotiations to seal a conclusive deal
India and Australia have come strategically closer through forums such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), writes Rahul Nath Choudhury for South Asia Monitor
Closer Bangladesh-Myanmar ties have great economic potential - but Rohingya issue must be resolved
Enhanced bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar could contribute to the growth of trade and investment relations with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries, writes MD Pathik Hasan for South Asia Monitor
World Bank proposal to integrate Rohingyas into Bangladesh unsustainable for both host nation, refugees
The country expects the world communities to consider all relevant issues including the socio-economic conditions in Bangladesh before making any recommendations to resolve the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis, writes Kazi Mohammad Jamshed for South Asia Monitor
The Terror Guardians: How Pakistan tripped the US in Afghanistan
The ISI’s guardianship of terror groups led to the inevitable Talibanisation of Pakistan at the cost of the secular space in politics, writes M R Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor
India should revisit FTA with ASEAN; have new economic partnerships with emerging Asian nations
Notwithstanding India not joining the RCEP, it is likely to become the potential gateway for accelerating China’s backdoor entry into India, writes S. Majumder for South Asia Monitor
The Taliban must develop Afghanistan, protect women’s rights to get world recognition
But getting global recognition could be far from easy for the Taliban because the Western countries have a negative perception about them, with many people in these nations still considering them terrorists, writes MD Ishtiak Hossain for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan needs multidimensional and intersectoral policy approaches for energy-water-food security integration
A key facet of the water-energy-food nexus in Pakistan is the heavy dependence of agriculture on groundwater irrigation, write Haris Mushtaq and Taimoor Akhtar for South Asia Monitor
Flawed US AfPak policy a boost for Taliban, a boon to China
America’s expectations that Afghanistan would not become a haven for terrorists (which it already was) and that the US will remain sheltered from terrorism emanating from that soil, are both misplaced, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
After PTA, Bangladesh and Bhutan can cooperate to solve regional issues, tackle Covid
Once the PTA comes into force, more people in Bangladesh will get access to good apples and oranges from Bhutan, while the fashion-conscious Bhutanese can choose from more varieties of quality apparel from Bangladesh, writes Md Pathik Hasan for South Asia Monitor
A new street battle by Afghan women that Taliban may not be prepared to fight
The sense of losing everything - after a quarter-century of modernization and social progress - seems to have broken the Afghan women's fear of confronting the Taliban, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
South Asia's cricket rivalry: Is the Indian pace battery a notch-up on Pakistan's feared pace attack of the last century?
The difficulty level the current Indian pacers had to overcome to achieve consistency and success in top-flight international cricket is substantially higher than what their counterparts from Pakistan had to surmount decades back, writes Sirshendu Panth for South Asia Monitor
Augury of a 'failed' Afghanistan: Global sympathy should be with the Afghan people
So, what the future looks like for Afghanistan? In one word: hopeless, writes Anondeeta Chakraborty for South Asia Monitor
India must shed its diffidence on a full-fledged FTA with UK
If India seeks greater market access, it must also allow the UK to sell more of its goods and services, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
