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This brief examines India’s defence allocations for 2022-23. It outlines the conceptual and definitional aspects of the defence budget, examines defence allocations from the prism of state of the economy and public finance, and explores the potential impacts of the budget announcements on the defence production sector of the government’s self-reliance mission, Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The analysis also utilises a comparison of India’s mi

Bangladesh and India are standing at a take-off stage in their relationship despite anti-Indian groups and political parties trying to find fault with Hasina's moves. The Chinese and Pakistani lobbies are unhappy with this growing engagement.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has gained more importance recently because of the many hurdles that have come in the way of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) since 2016, mainly due to issues between India and Pakistan. This brief explores the possibilities of stronger trade and investment ties between the BIMSTEC nations by expediting the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (F

There was a massacre of hundreds of Shias of Gilgit in the Northern Areas (NA) of Pakistan (before 1947 called the Northern Areas of Jammu & Kashmir) in 1988 following a demand raised by them for the creation of an autonomous Shia state to be called the Karakoram State, consisting of the Shia majority areas of the NA, Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

If the BJP stands by its leader Arun Jaitley's illogic, it must necessarily oppose any negotiation of India's land boundary disputes with any of its neighbours, including China, Pakistan and Nepal. If this is a considered position of a party that is in striking distance of power, one shudders to think what the foreign policy of a BJP government might look like.

Blackouts in South Asia: बांग्लादेश, पाकिस्तान और श्रीलंका की ऊर्जा नीत�

Blackouts in South Asia: बांग्लादेश, पाकिस्तान और श्रीलंका की ऊर्जा नीत�

The crisis of the state in Pakistan is only getting worse.

Beijing's approach to Af-Pak can be attributed to its growing geostrategic interest in South Asia and the Indo-Pakistani rivalry.

Visiting Pakistani journalists informed a select gathering at Observer Research Foundation that the ongoing turmoil in their country was the result of a transition from military dictatorship to coalition politics in the democratic setup.

The continued collaboration between various stakeholders is crucial to effectively foster trust and maintain peace in the Valley.

26 November 2018 marked a decade since 10 Pakistan-based terrorists killed over 160 people in India’s financial capital of Mumbai. The city remained under siege for days, and security forces disjointedly struggled to improvise a response. The Mumbai tragedy was not the last terrorist attack India faced; there would be many others since. After every attack, the government makes lukewarm attempts to fit episodic responses into coherent frameworks

Decisive and ruthless crackdown on jihadis is the need of the hour, not more empty rhetoric ---- Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), headed by Hafiz Saeed based in Pakistan, is a threat to India's security and sovereignty and must therefore be branded as 'enemy of the nation'. There need not be a legal provision to do so. The Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is empowered to take such a decision.

Pakistan who always exhibited the tactics of an intransigent bully and every time the Commission bowed to her intransigence.

Giving support to Khalistani terrorists against India hyphenates Canada with Pakistan. This has security and strategic implications for the world.

More than the Pakistani elections of 2018, it is the Indian General Elections 2019 that could see some movement on the Indo-Pak track, if at all.

Imran’s unceasing attacks on the government and the military have increased the instability in Pakistan

The foremost geostrategic challenge for India vis-à-vis Bangladesh is to counter the machinations of the China-Pakistan axis.

अफ़ग़ानिस्तान और पाकिस्तान में सक्रिय संगठनों को क़ाबू �

अफ़ग़ानिस्तान और पाकिस्तान में सक्रिय संगठनों को क़ाबू �

Chauhan has served many commands and staff postings in the North and Northeast. As major general, he commanded the Baramulla-based 19th Infantry Division in the Northern Command. So, he has invaluable experience in countering cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. His biggest strength, however, is his stint in the China-facing Eastern Command, from where he retired as commander in May 2021.

Iran's cancellation of $500 million funding to Pakistan for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline indicates Iran's clout in regional energy affairs. It is unclear why Iran took this sudden step. Is President Rouhani merely fine-tuning some of the policies of his predecessor? But there is certainly more to this than meets the eye.

China needs to strategically reconsider its calculations in South Asia amidst the ongoing shift in the region.

India needs to cement its position as a geopolitical actor of consequence versus China.

China will continue to shield Pakistan. The Wuhan spirit, if it ever existed, is gasping for breath — and New Delhi will have to firm up its response to China.

Beijing’s move, though unsurprising, is not without significance.

Chinese Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan's tri-nation goodwill tour started with Pakistan on March 22, 2004 and ended with Thailand, with an in-between five-day visit to India from March 26 to 30.

If New Delhi lets domestic political passions overwhelm the need for a carefully crafted strategy towards Pakistan, it will find the Afghan dynamic will soon make matters a lot more difficult for India.

China's relation with Pakistan has become one of the most comprehensive one that Beijing has with any country. The strategic imperatives of developing Pakistan as a bulwark against India has been among Beijing's overriding objectives in influencing the balance of power in South Asia.

India might be deceiving itself by believing China will limit itself to "grey-zone operations" along the Sino-Indian border, avoiding all-out war. Thi

Against the backdrop of Chinese aggression at the border, the new border law by China is setting off alarm bells in India

New Delhi’s Indian Ocean woes aren’t confined to Sri Lanka. Across the Indian Ocean’s littorals, the Chinese navy has been preparing to establish a stronger security presence. On Pakistan’s Makran coast, the PLAN has deployed regularly, including at Gwadar, also constructed by CMPorts. Earlier this year, the PLA is said to have initiated talks with the Pakistan military for another outpost at Jiwani.

This brief aims to examine one of China’s possible responses to the various extremist and terrorist activities that plague the internal security of Pakistan, given the necessity of securing its USD 62 billion investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Given that Pakistan is failing to control this problem, China will have to take measures of its own to secure CPEC. The response of China could possibly be inspired by its strateg

China’s ambivalence on Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror as state policy stands in the way of any umbrella agreement on cooperation

India should expand its offensive capabilities in the cyber domain to counter the cyber attacks from China and Pakistan

India paid a high price for failing to anticipate the Sino-Pak nuclear nexus in the 1970s and 1980s. It is erring again by neglecting the potential for a maritime alliance between China and Pakistan that could severely constrain India's freedom of action in the Indian Ocean.

It is not often that Pakistan's leaders justify their outreach to India by citing its all-weather friend, China. That is precisely what Pakistan's premier Yousuf Raza Gilani did last Sunday when he welcomed the talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Maritime security — on which much else depends — is interconnected with events in landlocked countries. Afghanistan is a prime example: Over the p

Civil wars are drawn-out conflicts, often lasting up to a decade or even longer before a political settlement is reached. Pakistan's military campaign against Pashtun militants, variously allied to the Afghan Taliban, the al-Qaeda, and often fighting for localised interests has stretched into its 12th year.

Despite all its controls, the army still does not trust mainstream politicians.

India has always lacked the counter-narrative to Pakistan’s misinformation campaigns, but will the current communications clampdown make it lose the

Erdogan’s current stance vis a vis the Uighurs is unrecognisable to his previous position. The rationale behind this turnabout? Trade.

Confidence-building measures (CBMs) were first developed in the context of Western international relations as a means of ensuring norm diffusion between adversarial states. While South Asian states have also turned to CBMs to minimise hostilities, the literature on their impact has been limited. This brief fills the gap by examining the influence of CBMs between India and Pakistan, and India and China, on norm diffusion in the region. The brief c

It is usually only the politically naive who are optimistic about the future of India's relations with Pakistan. The terms "enduring rivalry", "protracted discord" and "communal conflict in armour" have become part of the global political vocabulary because of the depressing saga of India-Pakistan ties.

Beijing’s growing interest in co-conspiring with Pakistan on Afghan soil adds to the growing tensions in the subcontinent, heightening concern over

Policy influencers and diplomats will have to find a way to market private investments in an appealing manner for all stakeholders involved.

The internal dynamics of Jammu and Kashmir have assumed significance in the context of the ongoing India-Pakistan normalisation process, on the one hand, and the Centre's continuing efforts at peace-building with non-militant political groups in the State, on the other. Often, efforts aimed at understanding the complexities of the issues are bogged down by the past, or are confined to the 'Indian angle'. There is very little reference to Pakistan

Young Suryanarayana is a life that has been cut in its prime. He was the vic- tim of a bigoted doctrine taught in Pakistan for nearly three decades; for the Taliban are only another manifestation of the Islamist drive of General Zia-ul-Haq. The Indian died in a terrorist act after his abduc- tors demanded that all 2,500 Indians in Afghanistan vacate immediately. It was an absurd demand and no government would ever have agreed to it.

आतंकवाद के उभरते ख़तरों के मद्देनज़र भारत ने आतंक-निरोध �