Having a refugee and asylum policy will improve India's standing in the global community and avoid unnecessary expenditure from the national and state exchequers, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
India's Push-In Policy on Suspected Illegal Immigrants: Need to Mitigate Human Suffering
Over the past two months, a series of alleged push-in incidents along the Bangladesh-India border has reportedly left scores of people stranded in zero-line and no-man's-land areas under difficult conditions.
From Protectorates to Partners: The US Resets Security Expectations in Asia
The central message at the Shangri-La Dialogue is that America is staying, but on new terms. It will remain the core military balancer in the Indo-Pacific, but it expects allies and partners to become serious contributors. The era of strategic free-riding is ending. The new Indo-Pacific order will increasingly be defined by those willing and able to share the burden of preserving it.
Pakistan Takes Indus Water Issue to Brussels: Internationalising Dispute has Implications Beyond South Asia
The CEPS conference shows Pakistan is shifting the Indus issue from technical water management to geopolitical norm contest. That’s the key transition. Once a river dispute enters Brussels policy networks, international arbitration, climate diplomacy, and security discourse it becomes much harder to keep it bilateral. And that is likely Pakistan’s main strategic objective.
The Islamabad Memorandum Has Stopped the War; It Has Not Settled It
The Islamabad Memorandum has bought time. But time is not neutral. It can be used to construct a more durable settlement, or by spoilers in Washington, Tehran and Tel Aviv to rebuild the case for war. The ceasefire will endure only if the difficult questions postponed in Islamabad are answered before those who opposed the truce succeed in answering them on the battlefield.
More on Geopolitics and Strategic Affairs
Gifting tales from the Indian subcontinent: Toshakhanas have a curious history
While India inherited the British-era law regarding accounting of official gifts received by government leaders, Pakistan and Bangladesh enacted their respective laws only in 1974, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
India's resumption of vaccine supplies will ensure low-cost jabs for the world's poor
The impending resumption of exports thus is good news that will ensure low-cost jabs for the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America and will also be beneficial for the South Asian neighborhood, especially countries like Afghanistan that are facing a humanitarian disaster while coping with the ravages of Covid-19, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Humanitarian assistance of Afghanistan's hapless people: India should push for coordinated international response
India’s position as a non-permanent member of the UNSC and member of BRICS gives it an edge to emerge as a responsible ally and push for coordinated international response not just for humanitarian assistance but also to set precedence for dealing with the Taliban, writes Nandni Mahajan for South Asian Monitor
Modi's US visit: It will be more substance, less optics
The pomp and pageantry that characterized some of Modi's previous visits will be absent this time because of Covid and the more reserved style of the Biden administration, writes Frank F Islam for South Asia Monitor
Pandemic an opportunity for Indian courts to address the issue of prison overcrowding
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
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
