A significant factor that emerged after India launched Operation Sindoor against Pakistan in May 2025 was the strain in the India-US relationship under the Trump administration, driven by aggressive tariff disputes and policy friction. This indirectly accelerated India’s push to diversify partnerships, prompting New Delhi to lean more pragmatically into closer economic and strategic ties with middle powers such as Australia.
India and China need not share identical geopolitical visions to agree that a stable border, prosperous border communities and transparent rules are preferable to uncertainty. The most useful measure of Nathu La’s success may therefore be not how many tonnes cross the pass, but how routinely two neighbouring systems learn to work together.
December could therefore become much more than Victory Month. It could become a test of whether Bangladesh's next chapter will be written through democratic accommodation or another round of political vengeance. The danger is that a leader returning to face her past could inadvertently reopen the country's deepest wounds.
Russia wants to use the Far East to diversify away from the West, but it risks becoming excessively dependent on China. That is why Southeast Asia, India, Japan and other Asian partners matter to Moscow as they provide Russia with a wider Asian field and fallback and reduces the risk that Russia’s entire eastern pivot becomes a one-way dependence on Beijing.
With her Awami League in power since 2009, Bangladesh has seen the army keeping away from a political role, has witnessed relative political stability and rapid economic strides, marking higher human development indicators better than most others in South Asia
South Asia will require at least another decade to recover from the sociological maladies of the post-pandemic global transformations. The looming economic crisis in South Asia may also cause multiple regime changes in the region, potentially producing greater political instability
Therefore, to create greater understanding between the civil societies of South Asia, we must encourage far more civil society interaction on B2B and people-to-people basis.
Now India and Bangladesh have to look for a new foundation to take the relationship between the two countries to a higher level. And deepening of economic ties can create that new foundation.
Overall, many of the vexing problems of long standing can be mitigated quickly by bold and quick measures, denying ammunition to detractors of India-Bangladesh ties on both sides and letting our relationship flourish to its full potential
The JRC discussion should have recognised the sufferings of the people of both sides because of the water scarcity during the lean season flows of the Teesta river and struck a win-win deal that was beneficial to both sides
Both Gwadar and Mundra ports are close to a turbulent region that is violent and militancy-prone. If Gwadar has security problems from within, Mundra has them from without
India has repositioned its earlier policy of providing a home to refugees from Tibet, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka and is forcefully deporting Rohingya refugees
Given these roadblocks, it is not a surprise that the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a runaway winner in every opinion poll to the dismay of its adversaries who wonder why the economic difficulties of inflation and unemployment are not holding it back
While this exercise was a long overdue and necessary measure, the whole gamut of India’s coastal security in view of terrorist threats and other crimes must function effectively and consistently as there have been instances of breaches in coastal security after 26/11
Defence sources said it was significant that the Dornier was handed over to Sri Lanka by India a day before the high-tech Chinese satellite tracking ship docked at Hambantota
India should also project the values and aspirations of the Indo-Pacific into Atlantic waters to help global development. The SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region) model can be extended to a much larger canvas of mutual cooperation and benefit
If Australia is to emerge as the destination of choice for Indian students, its India strategy needs to be rethought. If this were to happen, international education and institutional collaboration would emerge as a critical building blocks in the bilateral space
The world must remember the refugees’ lives depend on how the international community responds to caring for them as Bangladesh alone cannot afford to support this huge Rohingya population
The question being raised in Pakistan@75 should be welcomed, that how come Pakistan, carved out as a safe home for the Muslim minorities of the Indian subcontinent, has failed to provide safety to its own minorities? Only Pakistan has the answer
