Taken together - the staged abduction drama, Zakir Naik’s planned visit, and Zaheer’s clandestine movements - paint a deeply disturbing picture of Bangladesh’s current trajectory. Since the 2024 coup, Islamist influence has expanded alarmingly under the interim regime of Muhammad Yunus, creating fertile ground for extremist ideologies to spread under official tolerance.
India and Pakistan are both interested in establishing influence over Afghanistan. In pursuing control, both adopt a zero-sum approach. India fears that Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan could create safe havens for anti-India elements such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Pakistan fears that India’s presence in Afghanistan could lead to its encirclement and threaten security along its northwestern borders.
Internationally, leading medical institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) in the United States have recognized Integrative Medicine as a legitimate, evidence-informed discipline. They are conducting research, developing protocols, and training healthcare professionals in the art and science of integration.
Bangladesh is not immune to the regional trend of rising religious and political extremism after a dramatic regime change. Credible security analyses warn that, with recent upheavals, hardline groups are reconfiguring networks and testing gaps in the state’s capacity to respond. To weaken the armed forces and other disciplined services is to invite those groups to exploit the vacuum.
Technology collaboration by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers, specifically in the high technology segment, could be great lever of strategic and public policy partnerships for both countries, writes Kumar Deep (@kumar_deep) for South Asia Monitor
India may have jumped the rankings in The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business but foreign and domestic investors seek improvements in the ease of doing business on the ground, especially in the states, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The 'tax charter' ushers India into a new era where the rights of taxpayers in terms of imposition and payment of taxes are recognized for the first time, writes Arun Anand for South Asia Monitor
India Inc’s confidence will certainly be boosted with a more transparent and non-adversarial tax regime and a business-friendly policy framework that improves the conditions for doing business on the ground, especially in the various states, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The IN has been at the forefront in supporting the country’s security and diplomatic initiatives in the region through extensive bilateral and multilateral interaction, writes Cmdre Anil Jai Singh (retd) for South Asia Monitor
If India has to progress towards deeper engagement under the ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, it has to integrate some of the genuine concerns of its strategic regional partners, writes Kumar Deep for South Asia Monitor
The enthusiasm Modi has shown towards the neighbourhood, through his numerous visits has not got translated in overall policy during these years, writes Alakh Ranjan for South Asia Monitor
Fracturing political institutions like the Election Commission, Parliament and the Judiciary are also responsible for the popular apathy and political decay in Bangladesh, writes Akmal Hossain for South Asia Monitor
The BJP may have also harmed itself by its poisonous communalism which cannot but have put off some of the party’s own sensible supporters, not to mention the Left-Liberals, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
The US pullout from Iraq, which will be perceived as withdrawal under pressure, will have a fallout in Afghanistan, writes Lt Gen PC Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
In a country like Pakistan, where freedom of expression is strictly curtailed, guaranteeing that everything is in line with an openly orthodox and conservative interpretation of religion will only multiply the problem, writes Sanchita Bhattacharya for South Asia Monitor
How Ehsan could escape high-security detention and how he could reach Turkey, along with his family, remains a mystery that Islamabad is unable or unwilling to answer, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
If the Muslims were indeed considered equal citizens of a secular India, why would government ministers speak so disparagingly, and even scornfully, of anti-CAA protesters who are mainly burqa and hijab-clad women - ranging in ages from the twenties to the eighties - most of whom are out for the first time in the streets, writes Tarun Basu for South Asia Monitor
What is required to be done is that all enforcement agencies, like ED, CBI and, at the state level, the police, should be completely insulated from political masters, writes Vinod Aggarwal for South Asia Monitor
Increasing Islamic radicalisation and the influence of Pakistan and China in the island nation may be troublesome and India must adopt necessary measures to counter their influence at the earliest, writes Jai Kumar Verma for South Asia Monitor
