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Public posturing apart, moderate Tamils in Sri Lanka seem to want India to intercede on their behalf all over again and help arrive at a political settlement on the ethnic issue with their nation's government.

With the international community refusing to take its focus off the human rights situation in Sri Lanka even in the midst of developments in West Asia and North Africa, there are now expectations that it could well be Colombo's turn to be called to account for, though to be at a lesser degree.

With the international community reacting on expected lines on the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the matter could now be expected to be taken up by the West in forums where they have a say.

If anyone in southern Tamil Nadu, or across the Palk Strait in Sri Lanka, thought that there would be a grandiose shift in India's policy towards the southern Sri Lankan neighbour under a new, BJP dispensation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a lie to their hopes and claims.

The Sri Lankan Government's current efforts at reviving the PSC process may have come a little too late in the day, but then it could claim that it was more focussed on conducting the Northern Provincial Council polls, as promised by President Rajapaksa, in September.

जैसे ही कर्ज़ जाल सबंधी आलोचना तेज़ होती जा रही है, चीनी प�

A delegation of senior journalists from Sri Lanka and Maldives visited Observer Research Foundation and held interaction with its faculty on July 5, 2011. The interaction, chaired by Mr. H.H.S. Viswanathan, Distinguished Fellow, ORF and a former ambassador.

The Sri Lankan Premier Mahinda Rajapakse has completed his three-day visit to India over the weekend from July 17 to 19. He was here on the invitation of the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Last year’s economic crisis crippled the island nation, but it also provided India an opening to offset some of the inroads that China has made in Sri Lanka.

Once again, the country is forced to seek a bailout from the IMF – with all the costs and benefits that entails.

The country continues to be a prime area of competition for both Asian powers in the South Asia region.

As Sri Lanka descends into economic despair, only two options are open to it: Either seek further assistance from the IMF or seek loans from individua

Indian security agencies will be keeping their fingers crossed as, for the first time in 57 years, passenger buses start plying on April 7,2005, between Srinagar, the capital of Jammu & Kashmir (J) and Muzzafarabad, the capital of what Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir (Free Kashmir) and what we in India call Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK).

Against several odds, what began as the Srinagar conversation has transformed into the Srinagar Consensus, making it arguably the most far-reaching po

Nishcal’s killing has drawn a spotlight on the much-criticised domicile law, which has faced opposition from a cross-section of the society in Jammu

Several high-priority issues will need the new government¿s immediate attention as it assumes office. The Kashmir issue and its impact on the ongoing Indo-Pak entente should be one of them.

As the liberal order yields to an age of uncertainty, a new initiative is needed if the nuclear taboo has to hold.

Dr. Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, spoke to Rahul Mukand, Junior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, in New Delhi recently. This interview was conducted before the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007.

Stalin is no longer a bad name in Russia. Russian scholar Sergey Kurginyan says a recent opinion poll suggests that that "80% of the Russian population feel the peo ple were better off during the Soviet period."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's engagement with Asia is primarily aimed at completing two specific national projects, while at the same time positioning India at the helm of global affairs.

The ongoing challenge for the Indian and US governments is to define what exactly the "strategic relationship" is in form and function, in which context a defence relationship will mature.

What are the imperatives if the international community has to ultimately prevail over international jihadi terrorism of the Al Qaeda brand?

Since April, 2005, there has been a co-ordinated escalation of acts of jihadi terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Jammu and Kashmir (J) State of India. It is my assessment that the coming months will see more and not less incidents of jihadi terrorism in these three areas.

The Aam Aadmi Party's unprecedented electoral victory in Delhi has revived the debate on full statehood to Delhi. But how practical is the statehood for the national capital? What are the issues? To discuss these issues, ORF organised a panel discussion with experienced bureaucrats, academics and experts.

Following the two national conventions held by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, the race to the White House has gained more steam. It was an opportune time to take the debate on the US Presidential election

As evolved in the US and the UK, an Integrated Defence Staff, in which 'army controls army', is the need of the hour for better implementation of required reforms. This weakness can be resolved only through a constitutional amendment or to the Rules of Business of the Government, or both, says Lt-Gen. S. Pattabhiraman (Retd).

If India decides to abstain from the CHOGM meeting in Colombo, New Delhi should be clear that it will isolate itself totally vis a vis the Sri Lankan leadership and thereby lose any opportunity to influence affairs in Sri Lanka, including the interests of the Tamils.

As a new phase begins in the tragic history of Afghanistan, sulking can't be Delhi's strategy. India must keep an open mind, engage all the major Afghan formations, intensify the dialogue with all the regional and international stakeholders, and find ways to influence the outcomes.

Russia has long depended on migrant labour. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, and a devaluing Ruble have impacted migrants economically. These developments, coupled with institutional hurdles and rising xenophobia in Russia, have pushed migrant labourers to seek alternate employment destinations. Notably, workers from countries such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine are swaying away from Russia, even as

A healthy respect for China's power under Xi and an appreciation of what it means for international relations, rather than romantic notions about building an Eastern Bloc against the West, must guide Indian diplomacy in Durban.

Two sets of people are upset with the way India is pursuing the peace process with Pakistan. In the first group are those in Kashmir who are, quite abruptly, faced with the reality of being irrelevant in the entire process. The second group is in Islamabad which is not quite sure about the direction the process is taking and is therefore discomfited.

The Indo-US bus, stalled since 2009, is moving again. It has new tyres, engine and a coat of paint, and its cocky new Indian driver is determined to take it in his chosen direction: not just towards a particular country but the world at large.

It is necessary to detail the steps that our transit agencies can take in the face of the restart after 17 May.

Better sense must prevail and both India and Pakistan must avoid serious conflict that will hardly help either. True progress will happen when Pakistan starts to wind up its terror factory

India and China have themselves shown how it is possible to manage disputes. However, it requires a pragmatic ability to confront festering issues and resolve them. By being unusually forthright in his speeches in Beijing, that is what Modi was trying to tell China.

The ¿steep fall¿ and the ¿smart recovery¿ of stock prices with every bit of new information, misinformation and disinformation, on government-formation at the Centre has once again proved the volatility of market sentiments, often not grounded in political realities or economic fundamentals.

Head of the Syrian delegation to the 68th United Nations General Assembly and Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Walid al-Moallem, said that aggressive policies towards Syria must stop for any effective solution to the Syrian crisis to develop.

Our brand of secularism is too passive for anything but harmful politicking. It is time to make it proactive and more effective. Perception is everything in today's social media-powered world. Let's not squander our common future for petty temporal gain.

Some despatches have made out that India "after starting the war in 1984 occupies higher positions." India did not start the war in 1984, but today occupies the heights. Pakistan started the war in 1947 and has continued that in different forms since then.

Storm strikes are common in the Indian Sundarbans Delta on the northern Bay of Bengal and will only become more frequent and intense in this era of climate change. Every time a cyclone has hit the Sundarbans, the attempt has been to adapt in situ by creating protective infrastructure, and later return to the same conditions prevailing prior to the disaster. Such reliance on the notion of ‘resilience’ has become increasingly unsustainable and

The China-Maldives FTA encourages economic cooperation between the two countries, potentially resulting in China's debt share growing to unsustainable

While resource exploitation in the Artic may offer short-term gains, the long-term consequences for the planet outweigh them

Given India's high stakes in the Indian Ocean, it is important for it to ponder the possibility of using both soft and hard power resources to create dependencies for the other countries, and the same time, seek possibilities to engage with China.

A solely American perspective would be ill-suited to understanding the complex dynamics and goals of China's military ambitions

India and Japan’s economic vision is that of an ‘Asia and Africa Growth Corridor’ (AAGC) empowering states to peacefully counter and constrain Chinese revisionism. However, a stable AAGC will depend on enhanced security cooperation and the current rules-based order upheld by the US-led security framework. While current Indian and Japanese engagements in Asia are conducive to successful cooperation, weaker economic and military engagements w

It is indeed tempting to wax eloquent about the shikaras full of tourists on the Dal Lake in Srinagar and the peace moves in the air between India and Pakistan. However, a pragmatic assessment of the military situation in the fifteenth year of insurgency reveals that a state of strategic stalemate now prevails in Jammu and Kashmir (J).