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Pakistan's first democratic transfer of power should have been a moment of hope and triumph. But, as it stands, widespread violence has marred the historic elections and all but halted the public campaigning by several prominent parties outside of Punjab.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, who retired on December 12 after heading Pakistan's apex court for seven years, has left behind a contentious legacy of judicial activism, in many senses unprecedented and extraordinarily difficult to follow.

In the ongoing power game in Pakistan, the US would secretly back the Army despite all the ill feeling in recent weeks while publicly supporting the civilian government. Probably the US would prefer that the PPP government be sacrificed in an early election, something the Army would appreciate.

The on-going electricity crisis in Pakistan and the country-wide protests that followed have laid bare the weaknesses in the country's energy policy.

Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani's Independence Day address at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, attracted widespread comments, mostly positive. In fact, Gen Kayani's speech eclipsed the standard presidential address on the occasion in the media.

Madrasas are Islamic religious seminaries, which were originally meant to train young persons, who wanted to take to religion as a profession. They wanted to work as clerics in mosques and as members of the staff in Islamic charitable institutions. In view of the limited career opportunities open to the students of the madrasas, only those who were keen to become religious clerics joined them. Till 1977,

Ever since a crestfallen Dr. A Q Khan admitted sheepishly on PTV that he had masterminded the sale of nuclear designs and materials to other countries, there has been a tirade of articles and letters to the editor berating Pakistan for nuclear proliferation. However, no real analysis has emerged about the implications for India, particularly of the likelihood of Pakistani nuclear warheads falling into Jihadi hands.

The revival of caste and community-based issues in Tamil Nadu (like in Paramakudi and Koodamkulam), the non-resolution of inter-State river water disputes and Sri Lanka-related concerns could added up to the problems of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

As an increasingly powerful China seeks to reorder Asia, Delhi must firmly locate China's Panchsheel campaign in a clinical assessment of Asia's rapidly evolving geopolitics and its consequences for Indian security. China is doing what rising powers, including the US, have done before. But Delhi appears a long way from developing an appropriate strategy to cope with Asia's new power play.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted two features of the Nepal-India economic relationship: Nepal’s ballooning trade deficit, and unrestricted cross-border movement of people of both countries. Attributing the trade deficit entirely to supply-side constraints is neither accurate nor conducive to the overall health of the relationship. This brief suggests ways towards more sustainable trade relations between India and Nepal, among them, India r

Both India and France are guided by fiercely autonomous foreign policies that are paying their dividends in today’s transactional and volatile world

The serial terror attacks in Paris on Friday was the third terror incident in recent times and by far the largest ever in France. These attacks were on the French or Western way of life, for its support to the US in Syria, and are meant to instil fear in the French.

Senate's recent decision to pass the 'National Commission on the Status of Women Bill, 2012' was a step forward for the women's rights movement in Pakistan.

India's interest lies in ratifying the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh because this would not only boost the image of the country but also establish India's reliability in delivering promises. Political parties need to rise above their narrow and short-term political interests and see the larger picture.

Although China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the second largest economy in the world and a rising power on the global stage, its approach to the current Syrian crisis has been nearly as passive as India's policy.

Whoever in India that says West Asia is Middle-East, Jammu and Kashmir is ¿Indian Kashmir¿ and painting the face with the national Tricolour at cricket stadia is the height of patriotism have got it all wrong. If anything, they are fast tracking towards a ¿patented one-world order¿, knowingly or otherwise, with India¿s soul and resilience of the past centuries being tormented, without trace or knowledge.

Get away from the barter system of vote bank politics. Politicians need to rise above petty politics and show they haven't got feet of Vernacular clay. This will be the first step to prove to the world that we are a mature democracy.

A road or a highway will no longer be a 'dumb pathway'. It will be an intelligent network with its own inherent logic and sense of meaning derived from algorithms and predictive software. From the point of view of institutional arrangements, several ministries and departments will have to work together.

The survival of the Communist Party and its legitimacy depends on how seriously they understand the ground voices and act accordingly. The urgency to bring comprehensive judicial reforms may be a survival strategy.

It is time that India seriously consider "outsourcing" some aspects of its foreign policy to its border provinces. Encouragement of deeper cooperation between border states in both India and Pakistan -especially the two Punjabs, the two Kashmirs, and Rajasthan (India) and Sind (Pakistan) -- could be a good beginning for bettering relations.

Nothing, with the exception of the Kashmir issue, has been more debated, researched and written about in the context of Indo Pak relations than the issue of the Iran-Pakistan-India Natural Gas pipeline in the last decade. From Onshore to Offshore options and international consortia and guarantees to people to contact, almost everything and anything has been tossed around and evaluated, yet to no avail. The pipeline still remains a pipe dream.

The peace process in Nepal has been pushed to a corner and it has reached a very critical stage, after the postponement of the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.

The demand for India¿s active engagement with the Sri Lankan peace process has been building up for the past couple of years following the gradual erosion in the credibility of Norway as an impartial ¿facilitator¿. With the election of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is in New Delhi this week, this demand has gained momentum; more so because of the fast deterioration in Sri Lanka¿s internal peace.

Pakistan created the Taliban in the first place to capture Afghanistan politically. It is Pakistan's dangerous, anti-Indian ambitions in Afghanistan that are recoiling on it today, with the Pakistani Taliban as an off shoot of the country's chosen tryst with its anti-Indian destiny.

The contours of the fledgling peace process with the People's War Group (PWG) Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh are gradually emerging. It is the second attempt in as many years. The Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, K Jana Reddy, announced on June 29, 2004 that the government has requested S R Sankaran, a retired Secretary to Government and Andhra Pradesh-cadre officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),

The governments of the South Asian countries can cooperate to solve many of their problems, especially poverty alleviation and fighting corruption. It will bring about stability and good governance. Otherwise, when are people dissatisfied with their lives, they will demand change.

Interest of the people should take precedence in foreign policy formulations which have a direct impact on their lives. This was the overwhelming sentiment expressed by the people living on either side of the India-Bangladesh border during a field visit early May this year.

By directing the Centre to take up stalled works on the ¿Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal Project¿ (SYL) involving Punjab and Haryana recently, the Supreme Court may have re-established the supremacy of the higher judiciary in matters pertaining to inter-State river water disputes, among others. In doing so, Justices Ruma Pal and P Venkatarama Reddi may have also reversed the belief in certain quarters that a political solution may be the best way out

Trump 2.0 has given India-US ties a strategic uplift

After much bonhomie in Beijing, PM Modi has moved on to raise India's strategic profile in two key states on China's periphery - Mongolia and South Korea. Although geography limits New Delhi's role in East Asia, Modi is betting India can win friends and partners through active engagement.

The Peshawar attack offers the Pakistan leadership a corner to turn around - it only needs to first define who is a terrorist? But is the military and civilian leadership of Pakistan capable, and willing, to take on the terrorist groups, especially TTP? The rhetoric and actions on the part of the leadership raise serious doubts about the will.

The Centre for Resources Management, ORF organised a focus group meeting on the need for reforms in pricing petroleum products on February 9, 2009 at its New Delhi campus.

Mitt Romney has already won the nomination race. This is when he needed to move towards appealing to the undecided voters and may be a few disgruntled democrats and liberals. Picking Paul Ryan is unlikely to help convince them.

As the world today looks up to India as a net security provider, Delhi needs to recast its peacekeeping strategy by modernising its decision-making structures, expanding domestic defence capabilities, and strengthening its military diplomacy.

Why has the UPA been so ineffective in pushing GDP growth in its second term? Why has it not been able to tame inflation? Looking back, it was the three stimulus packages that the UPA government gave that was responsible for much of what is wrong today.

During a recent discussion on Indo-US relations, a former senior adviser to the Government of India, who retired some years ago, expressed his surprise that the community of non-governmental strategic analysts in New Delhi had failed to forewarn the policy-makers of the Government of India over the likelihood of opposition from the US to the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan till the Indian border to sell gas to Pakistan a

Piracy in the Arabian Sea has been coming dangerously close to the Indian shores. Piracy and sea terrorism also affect the security and commercial interests of major powers like China who seek to ensure continued supply of energy across the Arabian Sea. The pirates collect logistical data and raise funds for Al-Shahbab, in exchange for protection.

If President Obama stays the current realist course on foreign policy, resists the liberal temptation to intervene everywhere, sustains the focus on rejuvenating America, the world will be dealing with a very different America.

There are strong indicators of a regionally dominant People's Liberation Army of China attempting for an expeditionary status, says Mr. Abraham M. Denmark, Vice President of the National Bureau of Asian Research.