This night was not about grandstanding; it was about results. Pakistan leveraged decades of ties with the U.S., deep cultural and geographic connections to Iran, and strong Gulf partnerships to create a channel no one else could. In an era of multipolar tensions, where flashpoints can ignite global crises, Islamabad showed it can convene, de-escalate, and deliver where others could not.
The unfolding conflict is not just a regional crisis. It is also putting the current global order under strain. Legal structures, economic systems and strategic alignments are all feeling this pressure. What we are seeing is not a clear collapse, but something more uncertain. Law is still in place, though its application varies. Interdependence continues, but it is increasingly used as leverage.There is no clearly defined alternative order ready to take the place of what is weakening
The most urgent and vital issue is the future management of the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway supports a large part of the world’s energy supply. For many years, its security relied on Western naval dominance. That belief has now been challenged.Iran has demonstrated it can disrupt, threaten, and influence traffic through the Strait.
However, concerns persist that efforts to reshape Bangladesh’s political landscape have not ceased. There are allegations that Yunus has mobilized aligned groups, including student activists, to push for constitutional reforms that critics argue could weaken the current government and create conditions for renewed political upheaval.
The bond between US intelligence agency CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is well known and recently declassified British documents reveal MI-6 connived with Pakistan and Taliban in Afghanistan, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The most important challenge for South Asia is to revive livelihoods, which the crisis has devastated across the region, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
Paradoxically, but not surprisingly, over the last six decades, the collective commitment to truth as a principle to be adhered to with Gandhian conviction has been diluted progressively, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Gandhi believed in all-inclusive growth and felt that India can only become a great nation when its teeming and impoverished rural masses become better off, writes Anil K. Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor
Terrorists and extremists need discourses in the inculcation of eternal moral values and practicing of yoga and meditation that can contribute immensely to attaining a perfect and balanced personality as described in ancient Indian classical texts, writes Prof. Sudhanshu Tripathi for South Asia Monitor
If Lata’s ‘Allah, Karam Karna’ and ‘Allah Reham” are popular among the Muslims, two of the Indian cinema’s best bhakti (devotional) songs, “Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam” and “Prabhu Tero Naam” are sung six decades after she rendered them in Hum Dono, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
A section of the diaspora has taken a line that it needs to bury the past and open a line with India, which many blame for the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils, writes M.R. Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor
But will this productivity-driving initiative really take off when the most prosperous farmers belonging to the vanguard agrarian regions of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh firmly remain on the path of agitation against government efforts to fix agriculture through reform? writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
Examining new paradigms and alternate formulations often leads to game-changing events, writes Lt Gen PR Kumar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Strangely, Kerry, while extracting ambitious emission cuts during his rounds of developing countries, does not talk about meeting the financial commitments given by President Barack Obama in Copenhagen in 2009. He talks only about initiating a ‘finance dialogue’ with developing countries, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan is also one of the largest recipients of IAEA’s technical and financial help that shows Pakistan has achieved considerable expertise in the application of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, writes Usman Ali Khan for South Asia Monitor
The political crisis in Afghanistan is closely linked with the flow of refugees from the country. The latter cannot be contained without solving the former, writes Anirban Sen for South Asia Monitor
The positive roles played by the American community colleges and universities along with the contributions of the Indian diaspora in the grand American dream are among the key adhesives of the larger bilateral relationship between the two democratic giants, write Dr. Manan Dwivedi and Shonit Nayan for South Asia Monitor
It is only meaningful and sincere cooperation between Bangladesh authorities and a wide array of non-governmental, inter-governmental and development organizations which has, so far, made supporting 1.1 million Rohingyas with such limited resources possible, writes Habibur Rahman for South Asia Monitor
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
