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Even though the tale of Chinese munificence is marred by unsavoury ground realities, all eyes will be on the future of the Belt and Road Initiative

With growing water scarcity across many parts of the world, competition over access to this vital resource has been known to spark conflict. Following the September 2016 Uri attack in India, the government made plans to retaliate against its neighbour by exercising its right to use water of the western rivers—allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty—by building dams, canals and reservoirs. This paper aims to address the legal, econ

Recent geopolitical disruptions and India’s geoeconomic and geopolitical ambitions necessitate the building of new, more reliable multimodal trade corridors. This report examines the strategic importance for New Delhi of the ten-year agreement on Chabahar Port in Iran, and how it aligns with India’s ‘Connect Central Asia Policy’ and historical ties with the region. The Chabahar Port, along with the International North-South Trade Corridor

Russia’s policy towards South Asia has been the subject of much speculation lately. With closer cooperation between Russia and China and the former’s warming up to Pakistan, it is becoming increasingly evident that Russia is moving away from its India-centric approach in the region. This brief studies the changes, and continuity, in Moscow’s foreign policy towards South Asia as it transitioned from the Soviet Union into the Russian Federati

If the Obama Administration avoids the temptation of returning to business as usual with Rawalpindi, it has an opportunity to get both Afghanistan and Pakistan right.

Dealing with the complex Afghan situation and the slippery Pakistanis will not be any easy task for the Chinese.

While West Asia is volatile, the Chinese are beginning to get more active in Afghanistan, retain their pre-eminence in Pakistan and strengthen ties with Iran. In fact, Iran is the third leg of China?s policy in our immediate western neighbourhood. The Chinese are obviously making preparations for the time when peace returns to the Arab world, which might leave a stronger Iran.

‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ has made a noisy return, especially after the government’s action on Article 370 and Pakistan’s isolation in the international theatre.

ISIS, as an ideology and group, has also attracted many crossovers: ideologically radicalised, predominantly youth, leaving behind more regional and hyper-local entities to join ISIS’s brand of pan-globalist jihad is a trend that continues even today.

India is reshaping the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s priorities on security, counterterrorism and connectivity

Fifty-six years after the ceasefire line was drawn between the Indian and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the underlying seismic fault lines have made a mockery of this line. This map delineation, which was renamed as Line of Control after the 1971 Indo Pak war, has gone out of control, at least temporarily, by the fury of the nature when the earthquake struck this area on 8 October.

The ‘deep state’ has always worked with a king’s party, and there have always been politicians willing to oblige.

An imprisoned Imran Khan directing street protests is a thorn in Pakistan army’s side. The political instability deepens Islamabad’s ‘polycrisis’

With the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, analysts are pondering the kind of organisational form the group would take next. The influence of the so-called Islamic State in South Asia may be minimal, but India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, have all had the shadow of ISIS’ global footprint land on their doorstep. This brief sheds light on how the influence of ISIS spread across South Asia, specifically after 2014, when pro-I

The success of the Indian covert actions in 1971 that led to the liberation of Bangladesh has a legendary place in India’s security consciousness. This paper retells the story of India’s covert actions in East Pakistan between January and December 1971. It lays down some essential rules and principles for successful covert actions that remain applicable even today. These include the need for a culture of covert action that guides the developm

A New Silk Road is magical thinking, given that Afghanistan remains a hotbed of instability plagued by daunting challenges. Lack of security has already delayed Tapi, the natural gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Two immediate observations can be made from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's address to the nation on July 22, 2005. One, he is not willing to take strong and decisive action against extremist and terrorist groups in Pakistan. Two, he cannot take such an action.

The South Caucasus region—comprising Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—is a critical geopolitical hub due to its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, where India has emerged as a new player. This report explores the current India-Armenia partnership in the context of evolving geopolitical dynamics and regional power shifts. It focuses on understanding how Armenia’s strategic importance can serve India’s broader geopol

A survey shows wide youth support for the Modi government’s foreign policy.

Closer home, the Great Power Game will be played in the unstable fields of Ayatollahs' Iran, a Talibanised Afghanistan, whose leaders have their own world view, and a Sunni radicalised nuclearised Pakistan. The main contestants will be China and the US and our strategic planners may have to start planning for an uncertain future.

While New Delhi is getting more diplomatic support for its position, it is doing little to change the threat Pakistan poses.

Any solution to the Kashmir issue requires a two track process involving the domestic separatists and the Pakistanis.

As the International Court of Justice at The Hague moves forth with proceedings on the cases involving India and Pakistan, it is worth considering whether a decision in favour of the Republic of Marshall Islands would truly be the beginning of a new era.

India’s employment of offensive air power in sub-conventional operations has evolved rather slowly for several reasons, primary of which is the quest for restraint in the application of force against internal fissures. There is also a popular reluctance to recognise the capabilities of air power in pursuing counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism and counter-infiltration operations. This brief explores the evolution of a doctrinal clarity for the

New Delhi, having sent a tough message, will hopefully, be working along a coherent policy perspective. Relations with Pakistan are too important to be left hostage to knee-jerk reactions.

Pakistan's offensive against terrorists may have come just too late. Because today, violent Islamic extremism has spread across the country, and is not something that can be tackled by the army alone. But the tragedy of the killing of school children could be the opportunity for Pakistan to make that strategic shift away from using violent Islamic extremists against its neighbours.

With a Muslim population of over 200 million, the third largest in the world next only to Indonesia and Pakistan, India was thought of by analysts to be fertile ground for the recruitment of foreign fighters for the Islamic State (IS). The country, however, has proven such analysts wrong by having only a handful of pro-IS cases so far. Of these cases, the majority have come from the southern state of Kerala. This paper offers an explanation for t

This brief examines the Kashmir conflict from the perspective of the young population who have grown up in tumultuous times in the Valley. It builds on findings of field surveys conducted by the author across the Kashmir Valley over the last two years, covering issues that remain unanswered three decades since the start of the insurgency. These topics include Kashmiriyat, the exodus of pandits, governance and administration, the post-2016 unrest

This paper dissects the history and politics of Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), from the 1980s to the present day. It analyses the policies implemented by Pakistani leaders in the region and how successive political parties have attempted to justify Pakistan’s administrative control of it while disregarding any democratic, secular or moral principles in the ruling of its supposed subjects. The pap

The terror attack in Pahalgam in April this year, followed by a military standoff with Pakistan, have highlighted a nascent anti-India nexus involving Islamabad, Ankara, and Baku. This emerging geopolitical alignment necessitates a re-evaluation of India's strategic imperatives through the lens of Kautilya's seminal work on statecraft, Arthashastra. This brief argues that India's commitment to security and prosperity (Yogakshema) demands recognis

The Haqqani Network, operating out of Pakistan's North Waziristan, with vast training and material resources at its disposal, is likely to step in as a 'service provider' to the groups re-launching terrorist activities in Kashmir.

Thankfully the accidental firing of an Indian missile into Pakistani territory did not lead to escalation, but many questions remain unanswered about what happened.

The strong showing of the six religious party¿s alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in the October 2002 general elections in Pakistan has led to apprehensions among the tribe of Pakistan watchers worldwide about the inexorable slide of a nuclear-armed Pakistan towards ¿talibanisation¿.

On the eve of his recent visit to India, in an interview to an Indian newspaper, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia remarked that "India should have an observer status in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference similar to that held by Russia." He added it would be "beneficial" if India's entry was proposed "by a nation like Pakistan."

Many commentators feel that there is new awakening among the Pashtun. The Pashtun Long March and the ten-day sit-in outside the Islamabad Press Club was meant to kindle that awakening.

Notwithstanding Pakistan’s best efforts to steer the Pulwama narrative to its advantage, what should worry us is the political orchestration that has not ceased yet.

The hyped jingoistic ‘surgical’ action did nothing to deter Pakistani ‘misadventure’

Strategists in New Delhi would have to factor in that a two front confrontation with Pakistan and China cannot be ruled out. US response in this case is an uncertainty. We need to remember that in the ultimate analysis, China is the resident power and the US is a distant power.

It is time to conduct a reality check on the India-Pakistan peace process. In fact, there is a particular urgency for it. For, the peace process seems to have got hijacked by secessionist elements in Kashmir and Pakistan who never had any stakes in it.

By organising the two-day Lahore convention through Hafiz Sayeed and his Jihadi organizations of LeT and JuD, Pakistan wants to demonstrate that the people of Pakistan are not happy with the way the events have taken place in Kashmir.

The latest amendment to the country’s 1973 constitution is related to two overarching aspects—an overhaul in the military’s hierarchy and command structure and the subversion of the judiciary in relation to the executive, effectively denting the already fragile balance of power

The first part of this effort documented the various acts of omission and commission by the non-proliferation ayatollahs that led to the 1998 nuclear weapons testing of India, followed by Pakistan. However, the stark reality of the consequences of the dubious policies adopted by the NPAs towards Pakistani and Chinese proliferation came to light recently in the exposé of the Pakistan¿s ¿nuclear father¿ Dr.A.Q.Khan and his nuclear smuggling rin

This brief examines India’s relations with Pakistan and China using the lens of Kautilya, the ancient Indian strategic thinker—and argues for pragmatism: assessing the basis and severity of the threats, searching for possible strategic opportunities amidst the risks, and overall, avoiding the scenario of a two-front war. It begins by acknowledging that Pakistan and China view India through different prisms: for Pakistan, that of ideology; and

Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August last year and since then, serious security concerns have arisen for India. There is the spectre of terrorist groups in neighbouring countries gaining strength; there is also the threat of Indians travelling to Afghanistan to either live as civilians desiring a home under “Islamic rule”, or else fight alongside terrorist groups. Indeed, other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh are reporting that

The lead-up to the Pakistan visit by Navjot Sidhu et al has been bizarre. How do we understand this? What could now follow?

India ranks 114 out of 142 countries in the Global Gender Gap index this year. Except Pakistan, most of the South Asian countries rank higher than India. What the index shows is a reflection of reality that no matter how rapidly India grows, women's status in society needs faster improvement.

Amit Krishankant Paul, The Siachen Story: The Inadvertent Role of Two German Explorers in Starting the Race to the World’s Highest Battlefield, April 2024, Observer Research Foundation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Balochistan, POK and Gilgit in his Independence Day speech has caused a considerable flutter in Pakistan and India.

Indus project was to arrest the wastage of water flowing unused into the sea and put it to use to irrigate and power between India and Pakistan