Indian Navy warships in Indian Ocean

Cocos (Keeling), Sabang and Car Nicobar: India’s Quiet Maritime Rewiring

India and Australia are not building a grand alliance; they are building useful capacity. Indonesia, through its archipelagic geography, fits into that larger maritime dynamic. Taken together, these developments show how strategy is increasingly made through nodes, not narratives.

China’s Water Threats, India’s Malacca Leverage and Growing Indo-Pacific Contestation

While China's leverage over India runs through an upstream river Beijing controls, India's leverage over China runs through a chokepoint India will now sit astride. The Strait of Malacca is a 930-km passage between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra through which an approximate of  40–50 percent of global trade and 80 percent of China's crude oil imports transit.

Is Hamas Expanding Footprint into South Asian Nations, Including Pakistan and Bangladesh?

The presence of Hamas in Bangladesh should not be ignored by security agencies across the region, including those in Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar, as such a presence may ultimately have serious consequences.

India’s Indo‑Pacific Assertion: Act East Policy in Action in Modi Visit

The significance of PM Modi's visits marks a shift from episodic diplomacy to structured engagement. The convergence of defence, economics, and technology across these four partnerships signals a pragmatic foreign policy. 

More on Geopolitics and Strategic Affairs

Whither Afghan peace? Taliban throws the gauntlet to Washington

Walking out from the US-proposed intra-Afghan talks in Turkey, Taliban has cocked a snook at Capitol Hill indicating it will commence attacking foreign troops next month, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor

Pandemic's devastating impact on education in South Asia: Need for intra-regional cooperation

The digital economy gives a strong option for all countries of South Asia to connect not only within themselves but also globally, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor

Dark clouds over India-Pakistan trade: Will politics continue to mar prospects?

The upshot is that there is only one direction that bilateral trade between India and Pakistan can now go due to politics. This entails a huge loss in potential opportunities, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

Bangladesh facing an increasingly violent Islamist ecosystem

Hasina, now basking in the glory of having led Bangladesh to phenomenal economic and human development progress in the golden decade of development, has her task cut out, writes Subir Bhaumik for South Asia Monitor

La Perouse: Quad emerges as strategic fulcrum of like-minded nations

Over the last year, both UK and Germany have also indicated that they propose to send their naval units to the IOR periodically for joint exercises, given the salience now accorded to the Indo-Pacific as a region, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor

Is India turning its back on its benevolent past to shut doors on immigrants?

This is another aspect of the ‘Idea of India' on which the ruling party differs from the views of its opponents who swear by India’s multicultural society against the “one nation, one people, one culture” concept of the Hindu right, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor

The overseas Indian and the false notion of Indianness

It is simplistically assumed that no matter what, the overseas Indian considers himself/herself to be, first and foremost, Indian. When the person does not conform to such expectation, there is a sense of betrayal and of feeling let down, writes Amb Amit Dasgupta (retd) for South Asia Monitor 

Pakistan’s 1971 war debacle: A Bengali judge's report lies buried with little accountabilty

The five-year effort of Justice Rehman and two high court chief justices, and their damning indictment, seem to have made no impact either on the political class or the military in Pakistan in the long run, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor 

Can the UAE bring India and Pakistan back on dialogue path?

Had the Pakistan government had the moxie to act on recent thawing developments on the trade front, it could have given a golden opportunity for both nations to start discussions and dialogue, opening new doors to enhance bilateral, social, political, and economic relations, writes Asif Rameez Daudi for South Asia Monitor

South Asia needs strategic integration for closer economic cooperation

The COVID-19 pandemic which has brought about a common set of challenges to all countries of the South Asia region necessitates the need for developing and strengthening a common agenda for trade and economic cooperation, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor

Kathmandu’s deteriorating air quality: Nepal should seek compensation from China, India

Nepal has all the right to claim compensation from its two neighbouring countries – China and India - two of the world’s biggest polluters, write Jivesh Jha & Alok Kumar Yadav  for South Asia Monitor

Pakistan a responsible nuclear state: Uses nuclear energy for economic progress, social prosperity

Pakistan is in a position not only to use nuclear energy for its national programmes for development and progress, but also can provide assistance to other countries of the region in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, writes Rabia Javed for South Asia Monitor

China will dominate Persian Gulf through strategic pact with Iran; major implications for region

The PLA presence in Iran, which may rise, should be seen in conjunction with PLA presence in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and in the garb of civilians in development projects around the world, the Middle East and Oman included, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor

India’s vaccine gift to UN peacekeepers: Helping humanity fight pandemic

India’s initiative in supplying vaccines to UN peacekeeping forces and also to a large number of poor countries is a masterstroke of Narendra Modi’s government in vaccine diplomacy, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor 

Modi visit to Bangladesh: Much to celebrate amid hard political realities

The Modi visit, as well as previous high-level visits on both sides, have without any shadow of doubt made these two neighbours secure a bilateral partnership that can potentially lead to a larger regional role with greater possibilities, writes Sreeradha Datta for South Asia Monitor