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Nepal's outgoing Ambassador in India, HE Mr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, gave an impassioned call to all countries in the South Asian region to cooperate in curbing, if not eliminating, the culture of violence and fighting insurrectionists. 'Weapons do not respect sovereign borders'
The process of rapprochement between India and Pakistan began during the SAARC summit at Islamabad in January 2004. The two estranged neighbors set aside the bitterness of the recent past and decided to work together for peace and stability. That such a beginning could be made is itself a major achievement.
Analyses and discussions in matters relating to Indo-Pakistan economic relations continue to be marked by considerable wishful-thinking, superficial analysis and illusions. This article, in the form of questions and answers, tries to project the problem in its proper perspective.
Since January, 2004, there has been a wind of change in Indo-Pak relations for which credit has to be equally shared by Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, the former Prime Minister, and Dr.Manmohan Singh, the present. Rhetoric has given place to seeming reason and confrontation to conviviality.
As part of the Indo-Pak Composite Dialogue process, the two countries will hold official-level talks in nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs) on June 19-20, 2004. This is a welcome development since the last round of such discussions was held at the ill-fated Lahore summit in February 1999, even though the CBMs agreed upon were rather general in nature and, at least in spirit, the Pakistan army was not a willing party to them.
The pressures to change in Pakistan are real. It is not inconceivable that over a period of time, Islamabad will recognise that there are alternatives for Pakistan to exercise regional influence.
There is very little doubt that there would be a change of Government in Delhi from June, 2014. It is also most likely that the new Government will be that of the National Democratic Alliance. The BJP is the largest single party among the NDA constituents who will present the new Prime Minister.
As a precursor to the wider project of energy cooperation between Central Asia and South Asia, India and Pakistan must take baby steps towards energy trading as part of their ongoing trade liberalisation. Petro-products delivered by Indian refineries in the north and west to Punjab and Sindh regions would save Pakistan at least $14 per barrel of oil.
A desire to find a solution to the conflict that plagues both India and Pakistan was the common thread that run through the discussion at ORF on the bilateral relations and the way forward between Indian experts and retired military officials from Pakistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's vision of making borders with Pakistan irrelevant seems to have made a measured beginning on the ground.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's initiatives at Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), Thimpu and Chandigarh to improve relations with Pakistan, viewed with much skepticism at the time, were far-sighted. It is time now for even bolder steps.
In a scenario, where there is virtually no interaction between dispassionate sections of the populace who have no vested interested in conflict and acrimony, it is not very tough to up the ante and exacerbate tensions on an issue that should actually encourage cooperation.
Though domestic politics will continue to pose challenges to Dr Manmohan Singh's image, his firm commitment to Indo-Pak engagement has put both countries on course for at least a manageable relationship, if not a cordial one, based on mutual interests rather than vicissitudes and emotions.
Identifying factors that have impaired the once-promising India-Russia relations
The Observer Research Foundation hosted at round-table discussion on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal of July 18, 2005 to look at the hurdles that are being faced in its implementation. Since the agreement was signed, it has been the subject of intense debate and varied interpretation by interested groups in both the countries.
Despite unhappiness and disappointments in India over the repeated US failure since 1981 to call Pakistan to account for its sponsorship of terrorism against India in an attempt to achieve its strategic objectives, a consensus has developed since the terrorist strikes of 9/11 that the Indo-US Co-operation in Counter-Terrorism as developed since 1981 should be kept sustained and further developed.
Much like the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership, Indo-U.S. cyber engagement appears to have plateaued and could benefit from a tailored reset. Adopting various measures to ensure trust in defence hardware is essential to both India and the United States, and should therefore be explored as a mechanism for deeper cooperation.
Though domestic politics have not always promoted closer US-India defence cooperation, changed geopolitical context, regional and global advances now pull India and America together, says the US co-chair of the DTTI, Frank Kendall. Even perceptions of security challenges of both the countries are increasingly converging.
On 25th February, the US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said, ¿We would expect those negotiations will continue by phone, document and the like, probably up through the President¿s visit.¿ The Indo US nuclear deal is not over: it has entered the last few hours of hard bargaining.
Despite a few hiccups in the initial years of the Obama administration, relationship now stands at a comfortable juncture of increased confidence and a substantially high level of cooperation across a host of issues including Afghanistan where the US, despite some initial apprehensions, now increasingly see India's role as positive in nature and pivotal for the economic resurgence of the Afghan people.
Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with RAND organized a two-day Indo-US Strategic Dialogue at ORF Campus, New Delhi, on December 10 and 11, 2003.
Viewed through the prism of recent difficulties in India-US engagement, the focus of PM Modi?s US visit was in the nature of the leadership of the two nations getting to know each other, as well as aimed at building trust and fostering commitment between them, says former Secretary in the MEA, Mr. M. Ganapathi.
Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the fifty- five year old former Army General and the leader of the Partai Democrat (PD, Democratic Party) emerged as winner in the first-ever direct Presidential election held in Indonesia ( Revised election law of March 2003
Given the dependence of Indus River on glacial melt, extensive joint studies on the complex and unique Himalayan systems must be conducted and data must be shared openly, suggested an international conference in Kathmandu organised by ORF, Stimson Center, USA, and Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan.
In a unique move which is expected to give a fillip to research-oriented higher studies in Engineering Education in India, several industry leaders on Saturday, May 31, 2008, pledged to explore ways of developing healthy and mutually beneficial partnerships with engineering institutions across the country.
All insurgencies are political movements supported by the local population and can only be resolved through political means. The military establishment can only ensure that the rebel movement is sufficiently neutralised and violent action curtailed.
India and China have many similarities and the inequalities in incomes are clearly visible in China as in India, according to Mr. M.R. Sivaraman, former Revenue Secretary of the Government of India.
Though infiltration from Pakistan is of great concern, those from Bangladesh in the form of illegal migrants pose a more serious threat to the nation, according to Lt-Gen (Retd) Anand Verma, former Director-General of Military Operations.
India is experiencing the fastest increase in prices among the big emerging market countries. The Reserve Bank raised interest rates 10 times since March 2010 to control inflation, and its adverse impact on the demand for goods and services, investment and corporate profits is already visible.
The UPA government's economic policy is insensitive to the woes of the common man whose share of heady GDP growth is only high prices and misery. The fires of rage now sweeping India was only to be expected.
The moon and Mars initially will be mined for generating fuel and water, but permanent mines to extract helium-3 and other materials cannot be ruled out in the future. The costs are high and technology is still in the nascent stage, but these problems do not appear giant in the face of environmental degradation on Earth.
The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is one of several infrastructure megaprojects underway in India, intended to boost industrial modernisation and generate manufacturing employment for India’s young, largely unskilled workforce. Field research in DMIC investment sites in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh shows that its implementation is highly uneven across States and regions. The research, along with the literature, suggests that regional ind
Sri Lanka has remained a fractured country for the major portion of its existence due to the ethnic divide between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. Today, it is again at the crossroads as it awaits the results of the snap general elections, due on April 2, 2004, following the dissolution of Parliament on February 7, 2004 in the wake of seemingly irreconcilable differences between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister R
That there is massive change in the mindset of Pakistanis towards India is an impression that this writer got during a visit to Pakistan last August. This impression has got further strengthened during a recently concluded visit. The desire for peace with India is no longer limited to the usual suspects; rather it is to be found even in the quintessential establishment types who have traditionally thrived on India-baiting.
For an Indian journalist, meeting the jihadis in Pakistan always makes for a great story back home. But despite the omnipresence of the jihad factory in Pakistan, it has never been easy to get hold of important jihadi leaders. Post-9/11, and especially after the ban imposed on some jihadi organisations, setting up meetings with jihadis has become even more difficult. With Pakistan's famed ¿agencies¿ quite chary of the jihadis talking to journal
That there is massive change in the mindset of Pakistanis towards India is an impression that this writer got during a visit to Pakistan last August. This impression has got further strengthened during a recently concluded visit. The desire for peace with India is no longer limited to the usual suspects; rather it is to be found even in the quintessential establishment types who have traditionally thrived on India-baiting.
Amanullah Khan, chairman of the JKLF, is most unhappy with the peace process between India and Pakistan. For a man who knows what it means to be first used by a state and then unceremoniously disposed off after the state has achieved its purpose, Khan realizes that the peace process, if successful, is probably the end of the road for people like him. There was a time in the late 1980's and very early 1990's when Amanullah Khan was a really happen
At a roundtable on "Understanding Contemporary Bangladesh", attended by vice-chancellors from nine universities of Bangladesh, the consensus view was that regional integration is not only beneficial for Bangladesh but for all of South Asia.
China and India, sooner than later, must assume regional leadership, which must be inclusive, allowing for not just coopera-tion and collaboration but the accom-modation of all stakeholders in energy. Despite their burgeoning share in energy market, both countries remain price takers rather than price makers now.
Under its International Terrorism Watch Project, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) organised a one-day Workshop at New Delhi on October 20, 2004, on the theme: "Recent Intelligence Failures in the USA, the UK & Russia: Their Lessons for India".
India has had to deal with terrorism and conventional threats but our capacities to watch these threats are minuscule compared to US abilities. In a way, threats to India from terrorism and hostile neighbours are far more immediate. There is now the added problem of involvement of Indian youth in the terrorism of ISIS.
Intelligence and the world of espionage are as old as history. Rameshwar Nath Kao, the first chief of R, used to say that his friend, Comte Alexandre de Marenches, the French chief of intelligence during the Seventies, described this world as the best. Marenches used to say that espionage was an unscrupulous game played by gentlemen.
There has been an intensified hunt for Osama bin Laden and other surviving leaders of Al Qaeda on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
In a reforms-minded India, where subsidies have become a 'bad word' for some policy-planners, questions will be asked on making a massive project on inter-linking of rivers to pay for itself, post facto.
India's North-East remains a challenge for the policy makers. Keeping together this diverse region, which is home to more than 250 tribes, speaking more than 190 languages and dialects, and addressing the long drawn conflicts to preserve ethnic identities and over land and other resources is an arduous task. Recent months have witnessed a lot of debate on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) introduced by the Central Government to counter
