This is not new and it’s certainly not accidental that women are participating in every sphere of the Baloch movement, from the streets of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to the suicide operations of the Majeed Brigade. It’s the most precise sociological indicator of how far this conflict has travelled in southwestern Pakistan. Mama Qadeer Baloch conducted 2,000-kilometre march from Quetta to Islamabad in 2013-14, under the banner of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons. It was largely sustained by women.
Barring several imponderable items, the pomp and show and the nine-course meal banquet, Trump essentially returned empty-handed after his visit to China, with the latter asserting over Taiwan, ushering in G2, but with no major trade or investment concessions from Beijing. It is advantage China in this round, and the new-found confidence in Beijing could constrain New Delhi's moves.
Now, Bangladesh has said that future bilateral relations with India will heavily depend on successful renegotiation and renewal of the 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, which expires in December 2026. Bangladesh’s Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee and the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir are pressing for immediate talks on new agreements that should not have fixed tenures.
Amid this regional uncertainty, a new dynamic is emerging. China and Pakistan are taking steps to form a new regional alliance that plans to include Bangladesh as a potential member. This reality may lead to various disagreements about the need for SAARC’s revival. However, establishing active regional cooperation in South Asia would help create geopolitical pressure and push crises like the Rohingya problem towards a coordinated solution.
Recent global adoption indices confirms that South Asia has become one of the most dynamic regions for cryptocurrency engagement, with implications for remittance use. According to the 2025 crypto adoption index by Chainalysis, India secured the top position worldwide in overall crypto adoption across retail usage, reflecting pervasive grassroots digital activity. Pakistan and Bangladesh also feature prominently, with Pakistan ranking among top three in Asia and Bangladesh within top 20
Humans have always pretended we can resist new inventions, from the printing press to electricity to computers, only to discover that the world shifts regardless. AI is different only in degree, not in pattern. It moves faster than our debates, scales faster than our regulations, and integrates faster than our instincts. The question is no longer whether AI will matter. It is whether we will matter in deciding how it is used.
The broader geopolitical implications of Modi’s visit are equally significant. India’s expanding footprint in West Asia reflects its transition from a traditionally non-aligned actor to a proactive participant in regional affairs. Unlike major powers that often approach the region through rigid alliances, India seeks flexible partnerships rooted in strategic autonomy. Its engagement spans Israel, the Gulf monarchies, and Iran, allowing it to maintain a diversified diplomatic portfolio.
The larger lesson is sobering. Pakistan’s experience illustrates the perils of instrumentalising militant proxies for short-term strategic gain. Strategic depth, once viewed as a force multiplier, has become a source of strategic vulnerability. As Islamabad turns to air power to manage a problem decades in the making, the deeper fracture lies not just along the Durand Line—but within the logic of proxy warfare itself.
However, a balanced assessment suggests that India’s superpower trajectory could also generate opportunities for Bangladesh. Enhanced regional connectivity, expanded market access, greater investment flows, and improved regional stability could benefit Dhaka—provided cooperation and mutual respect remain central to bilateral engagement. Ultimately, the impact on Bangladesh will depend not only on India’s power trajectory but also on how both countries manage diplomacy, trust-building, and regional cooperation in an evolving geopolitical landscape.
Yunus paved the way for this election with his credibility as interim administrator intact, but his economic legacy will now be under scrutiny. The man who brought microcredit to the world’s poor — a model replicated across dozens of countries — has struggled to arrest the decline of Bangladesh’s industrial base. Between August 2024 and July 2025, nearly 245 factories closed, displacing approximately 100,000 workers.
Bangladesh’s centrality to South Asia is grounded as much in material realities as in symbolic politics. As one of the region’s fastest-growing economies and a strategic gateway to the Bay of Bengal, Dhaka plays a pivotal role in initiatives such as BBIN and BIMSTEC. Its ports and transport corridors provide critical access for landlocked neighbors, while its manufacturing sector integrates regional supply chains. Cross‑border electricity trade with India and Nepal, along with prospective hydropower cooperation with Bhutan, highlights Bangladesh’s emerging role as an energy and connectivity hub.
Child sexual abuse within homes must be recognised as a central internal security and public health concern rather than a private family matter. Legal provisions such as the POCSO Act provide a strong framework, but enforcement gaps and social stigma continue to undermine protection. A coordinated response is required: universal child safety education, consistent training for frontline workers, faster court processes, and expanded counselling services across regions.
The most immediate and delicate challenge for the new government lies in its relationship with India. Following the events of August 2024 and the subsequent transitional period, the bilateral bond has faced unprecedented strain. The presence of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in India remains a friction point, yet the early signs of 2026 suggest a pragmatic "reset." Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s congratulatory call to Tarique Rahman on February 13, 2026 signals New Delhi's recognition of the changed political reality. However, the path forward requires addressing deep-seated issues that have long simmered.
Sri Lanka has a wide range of monetizable opportunities based on its strategic location and also existing domestic business landscape. The ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup is one example. No other country in South Asia, other than Sri Lanka, will find it possible to host a match between India and Pakistan. It is time Sri Lanka works towards leveraging its geographical location to weather global trade reset, while effectively leveraging its cultural foundation to boost its global soft power.
More than 60 percent of Pakistan’s 241.5 million population (2023) is below the age 30, with a median age of about 20. It is one of the youngest nations in the world living in a country that has remained adrift since its creation. Cricket was once a source of national confidence for young Pakistanis, but in recent years even that has vanished. The T20 defeat is just another instance of the crisis of confidence gripping the country that is also debilitating its cricket team.
AI is neither inevitable trauma nor guaranteed transformation. It is an amplifier. The Delhi summit must therefore convey Bharat’s civilisational wisdom — the natural intelligence systems that sustained life long before algorithms. The future of nature will depend not on how intelligent our machines become, but on whether humanity remains wise enough to align them with the only system that has sustained life for billions of years. Artificial Intelligence may dominate global conversation. But Natural Intelligence remains the foundation of survival.
Declining Trump’s invitation would not signal hostility toward the United States. It would signal coherence in India’s own diplomacy. It would affirm that New Delhi will not lend its name to a project that concentrates authority in a single capital at a time when global cooperation demands broader legitimacy and shared accountability.
A deliberate drift toward Beijing or Islamabad as counterweights to India would alarm New Delhi and risk regional polarization. Bangladesh’s strength lies in balanced diplomacy—engaging China economically, maintaining relations with Pakistan, but grounding its immediate neighborhood policy in stability with India.
All of this would be consequential even under a fully elected government with a clear popular mandate. It becomes more troubling when done by an interim administration. Trade and security alignments of this magnitude shape a nation’s geopolitical posture for decades. They influence relations with China, Russia, India, the European Union, and ASEAN. They affect bargaining positions in multilateral forums. They alter perceptions among investors and strategic planners. After the national election on February 12, the elected government will inherit this architecture. They will face a choice: comply and accept narrowed autonomy, or attempt renegotiation and risk economic retaliation.
