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If India becomes a hotbed of conflicts - many think this may happen in the future - attracting FDIs will be a major problem. Even, our domestic investors are looking for investment opportunities abroad.

Increasing radicalisation and internal strife in Pakistan will destabilise the country and the region, said noted terrorism expert Major General Afsir Karim at a discussion in Observer Research Foundation on Jan. 23 in New Delhi.

The threat that is pre-eminent today is terrorism. And none of the counter terror efforts will succeed unless global powers deal effectively and consistently with the epicentre of terrorism -- Pakistan.

October is a month of special concern and tension in both Indonesia and Thailand due to the third anniversary of the Bali explosions of October 12, 2002, and the first anniversary of the terrible tragedy on October 25 last year, in which 78 Muslim youth, taken into custody by the security forces for participating in a big protest demonstration (1,300 protesters) outside the Tak Bai police station in the Narathiwat province of southern Thailand, a

The Thai authorities continue to face difficulties in their efforts to bring the activities of the jihadi terrorist elements under control in Southern Thailand. The current wave of jihadi terrorist violence in the three Muslim majority southern provinces, which started in January last year, has already cost over 800 lives of Government servants, innocent civilians and suspected Muslim militants.

The Annexure gives available details of terrorist incidents reported from southern Thailand since October 25, 2004, when 85 Muslim youth arrested by the Thai security forces during a demonstration outside a police station died due to suffocation while they and many others were being transported to their place of intended detention.

In the aftermath of the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, the question uppermost in public mind has been, ''Why has India become the most affected target? Are we in a no-win situation against terrorism?''

The question of Palestine has been on the global agenda since 1947. It predates the current phenomenon of global terrorism and is not synonymous with it. It is nevertheless the principal cause of instability in West Asia.

Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf is under pressure.For the first time since he seized power on October 12,1999, there are indications that he and some of his Lts.General, who constitute the real source of his power and not the people, are not on the same wavelength.

This paper proposes a counter-terrorism (CT) framework in terms of three types of CT policies—i.e., offensive, defensive, and confidence-building measures (CBMs)— targeted at a terror outfit that is either resource-constrained or resource-abundant. It argues that defensive measures are a ubiquitous element of CT, as these can prove effective irrespective of whether the targeted terrorist group is resource-abundant or resource-constrained. On

Security Guards belonging to the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) foiled a daring attempt by a group of six terrorists to penetrate a Hindu place of worship at Ayodhya, a holy town of the Hindus in the state of Uttar Pradesh in North India, on July 5, 2005. The site at which the place of worship is located has been a bone of contention between sections of the Hindus and the Muslims for many years.

Investigations into the recent terrorist attacks and the subsequent chain of arrests and seizures in different parts of India, particularly rural Maharashtra, have revealed a growing alliance between jihadi groups operating from Pakistan and Bangladesh with ideologically extreme groups in India.

That is the latest position of the Government of Begum Khaleda Zia, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, in the face of growing international pressure spearheaded by the member-countries of the European Union (EU) to act against terrorist groups operating from Bangladeshi territory.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should take care when detailing the reasons why constitutional reforms are needed. While talking about the external threats, he should be very careful not to unnecessarily cause provocations to either China or North Korea.

There is hope among the politicians of various political groups in Kashmir as well as the people of Kashmir that Narendra Modi as Prime Minister would take some decisive action in keeping with their expectations. Modi himself has moderated his stand to that there should be a discussion on Article 370.

Inaugurating a workshop on 'Role of Universities in Public Policy-Making', hosted by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi, University Grants Commission Vice-Chairman Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, on April 19, 2005, urged Vice-Chancellors and educationists to recreate linkages between universities and Government, research organizations, administrators and society, in order to render universities more relevant and help in enacting effecti

The Mullahs have found a fresh issue on which to trap General Pervez Musharraf. It has both religious connotations and a real possibility of a confrontation in which the General is bound to capitulate. The issue deals with school textbooks in Pakistan. A section of the society in Pakistan feels that textbooks cleared by the Federal Education Ministry's Curriculum Wing are regressive in nature and run counter to the objective of a progressive nati

ORF Kolkata organised its 2nd annual Inter-University Debate Competition on 7 November, 2015. Students of the Tezpur University won the competition that saw participation of representatives from eight universities from eastern and north-eastern Indian states.

Interventions by the military-royalists continue to impede Pita Limjaroenrat’s bid to become the next PM, thus posing serious challenges to Thailand

It is not known why Nepalese businessmen are being made to suffer in their trade with China when relations between the Communist Parties of the two co

The future course as far as the "quad" format is concerned is somewhat unclear.

It is believed that the Kashmir Plan was a tent pole in convincing Jawaharlal Nehru about the prevailing confusion in Sheikh Abdullah's mind.

The recently concluded 19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) brought the world’s attention to the future direction of the CPC. As the proceedings of the Party Congress revealed, sustaining the legitimacy of the CPC’s hold on power is an overriding concern for the country’s political leaders. The Party Congress addressed the corruption plaguing the CPC and the Chinese state writ large, which has deep, long-term consequen

New Delhi is pursuing a strategic partnership with the US because it is in India’s interest, and it is essential to keep in mind the core condition

General elections of 2014 could well be the most interesting election they will witness in their lifetime. Several developments suggest that the elections could mark a big shift of the political paradigm and, in that sense, they could well mark the true beginning of 21st century politics in the country.

As we move more towards a cash-flow based system of lending, companies are building their own risk assessment models for borrowers using both payment

Many states have decided to boycott the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. Is this platform being used to draw the battle lines?

Much has been retained when it comes to the roadmap for China’s diplomacy, while the additions reflect a growing concern for the current internation

The 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October 2022 and the subsequent leadership reshuffle gave a new mandate to a ruling elite that will sit at the helm till 2027. It happened at a time when the CPC is facing strong headwinds, among them a tech war with the United States (US) and a downturn in the domestic economy as a result of President Xi Jinping’s ‘zero-COVID-19’ policy. The CPC saw the protests that ensued a

India can proposition an Aadhaar-based alternative — one that is seen to be a ‘privacy first’ solution that lets governments retain jurisdiction over their data, while allowing indigenous enterprises to flourish.

Berlin might not yet be ready to provide the kind of leadership that some expect, but the real "German question" seems to be whether Europe can really stomach German leadership. Given the uneasy reactions to Merkel's handling of the Eurozone crisis, the answer is clearly no.

It would be a mistake to assume that the US has changed its policy towards the region. It may have changed its style or the way it wishes to handle India and Pakistan but not its overall interests. The US wants to have a stronger presence in India without losing the hold it has on the military rulers in Pakistan.

Should the EU build up its own EU-based security apparatus in light of the US withdrawing from Afghanistan without truly consulting its EU allies?

Pakistan is an important player as far as determining the outcome of a post-2014 Afghanistan is concerned and should be engaged with. But to expect it to play a productive role or to expect Afghanistan and Pakistan to reconcile their differences and jointly work towards stability is a tall order.

Although Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions are low, its contribution to climate change mitigation is critical to global climate action. This report evaluates Africa’s climate policy through the lens of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities,’ an asymmetrical allocation of responsibility for climate action, determined by differences in countries’ contributions to historical emissions and their current capabilities to fight climate c

The African countries are set to launch the African Continental Free Trade Area or AfCFTA, the biggest free trade agreement in the world since the World Trade Organization was created in the 1990s. When implemented, the AfCFTA is projected to increase intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by 2022, from 2010 levels. In turn, higher trade levels can facilitate economic growth, transform domestic economies, and help the countries achieve the Sustainab

Unlike in other regions of the world, the value of intra-Africa trade has remained low over the years. Moreover, Africa accounts for just 2 percent of global trade. In 2021, African countries launched the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to create a single African market for the free movement of goods, services, labour, and capital, and increase intra-African trade. AfCFTA may be able to provide Indian firms and in

Regional African blocs should try to find solutions through diplomacy before the coup in Niger causes regional instability and leads to a full-fledged

The Agnipath scheme may come short on economic merit but could lead to a huge social change in the regimental system.

ACT 1: March 2002. Abu Zubaidah, a Palestinian member of Al Qaeda, was arrested in Faislabad in Pakistani Punjab by the Pakistani authorities and handed over to the USA's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was the operational chief of Al Qaeda; his arrest was a major breakthrough, we were told. This is hardly supported by the report of the 9/11 Commission.

How big a catch is Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a 40-year-old Libyan married to a Pakistani, fluent in Urdu and Arabic and suffering from lucoderma, whose arrest was announced by the Pakistani authorities at Islamabad on May 4,2005?

While the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board is well within its right to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court verdict, the VHP's reaction does not represent the people's will at all.

This weekend at Goa Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign policy team will undertake a significant manoeuvre with SAARC grouping gasping for breath

While the new DPDPB 2022 is a more comprehensive bill, the underlined aim is to protect the data fiduciaries than to protect users from exploitation.