South Asia must develop a common framework to hold politicians accountable and increase transparency in government dealings. Regional collaboration can reduce vulnerability.
Jaish-e-Mohammed's Female Brigade: ISI-Backed New Jihadi Units Intensify Counterterrorism Challenges in South Asia
Unlike earlier jihadist cells dominated by Pakistani nationals, this unit deliberately recruits women from Indonesia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, and other foreign countries. Reason behind recruiting non-Pakistani nationals serves a dual purpose: it complicates attribution and shields Pakistan’s security apparatus from direct accountability. Such operational sophistication reflects ISI’s continued role not merely as a passive enabler but as an active architect of jihadist adaptation.
Securing The Digital Frontier: A Unified Call For Cybersecurity In South Asia
South Asia has the potential to be a global digital leader. It has a young population and a booming tech industry. However, this potential will only be realized if the region is secure. We must treat cybersecurity as a pillar of national security, just like border defense. This requires better technology, smarter laws, and stronger regional ties. The digital threats of 2026 are fast and complex. To meet them, South Asia must be faster and more united. The time to build a collective digital shield is now, before the next major crisis occurs.
Aid, Ports, And The Limits of Incrementalism: What India’s Budget Says About Its Foreign Policy
Yet the strategic costs are real. Reduced engagement in Bangladesh risks ceding influence at a moment when Dhaka is actively diversifying its partnerships. Hesitation over Chabahar weakens India’s leverage in Iran and Central Asia and underscores its vulnerability to US pressure even as it seeks a more multipolar foreign policy. The 2026–27 Budget does not signal a dramatic shift in Indian foreign policy. There is no abandonment of neighbours-first rhetoric or of connectivity-led diplomacy. What it reveals instead is a narrowing circle of feasible economic action.
Mob Rule As Political Strategy: Reshaping Bangladesh's Secular Memory And Pluralistic Bengali Culture
The ideals of 1971 represent inclusivity, human dignity, and resistance to oppression. Baul and Sufi traditions reject radical views and promote humanism and coexistence. Islam in Bengal arrived largely through Sufis—from Persia, Arabia, and Central Asia—who emphasized spirituality, tolerance, and accommodation. These traditions resonated with local Hindu practices and gave rise to syncretic forms such as Baul philosophy. Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam embodied this civilizational synthesis.
More on Spotlight
Myanmar's suspected nuclear ambitions will pose a grave threat to region
If Myanmar acquires a nuclear capability, it would be a disaster for South and Southeast Asia. A nuclear Myanmar is not in India, China, or other neighbouring countries' interests. Recent border tensions between Myanmar and Bangladesh are the best example to understand the gravity of the situation.
The evolving terror funding matrix: Pakistan, ISI and D Company and its global criminal web
Since Dawood moved to Karachi, the D Company syndicate has expanded incredulously. He is said to have invested over USD $28 billion in assets in Karachi alone and has diversified his businesses in several countries such as India, Morocco, the UK, UAE, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Italy and France.
An agenda for BBIN countries: An idea whose time has come
The demonstrable success of BBIN cooperation may draw Sri Lanka and Maldives also into its ambit in the near future. India's government and corporate sectors must work together to make BBIN cooperation a success to mutual advantage.
Red flags in India's Northeast: Is Act East Policy losing focus?
The question also arises – is Delhi losing focus and getting diverted from the AEP by QUAD, Chinese influence on RCEP, and so on. If so then Delhi must decentralise the AEP to make it effective
BJP seeks to etch new lines on the political map of Jammu & Kashmir: Will this end its electoral drought in the Valley?
This doesn’t erase the irrefutable fact that a community that used to align with Kashmiri parties until now was shifting its preferences, the impact of which is bound to be felt in the electoral battle in the forthcoming assembly polls. If the BJP succeeds in reaping the electoral benefits in Jammu & Kashmir, it will have much more to tell the nation ahead of the 2024 polls in the country.
Bangladesh's Rohingya camps are growing security and environmental hazard
Activities of militant organizations have developed around the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar. A web of militancy is spreading in the camps with the money coming from six countries including the Middle East and Pakistan.
Pakistan's Chinese bugbear: Growing attacks pose a new security challenge for Islamabad
The Chinese presence in Pakistan, with or outside of the CPEC, and the TTP's defiance, although not directly related, do pose growing security challenges to Pakistan and China, especially when the two want to combine forces to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan.
RSS leader's outreach to Muslims: Reconciliation or cooption?
Today the international image of India, courtesy the RSS-BJP, is a Hindu supremacist one where minorities are insecure, where identity issues are getting precedence over the issues of livelihood. RSS is the fountainhead of this politics; it needs introspection if it is serious about the process of dialogue and reconciliation.
India and Sri Lanka need to circumvent irritants, focus on diversification of ties
India could reset its approach by engaging with Sri Lanka as a country in the Indo-Pacific region and not just as a neighbour.
India ‘matters more', seeks to be the 'bridge', the 'voice' for the developing world; generous recognition for India's actions
For India, global governance reform starts with Security Council reforms and here New Delhi got support across blocs at the General Assembly meeting from both the US and Russia, as well as other countries. It is the only country to get the backing of both Washington and Moscow.
Bangladesh should tread cautiously in resolving growing border tensions with Myanmar, step up diplomacy
In a broadcast on Wednesday, Bangladesh Army Chief General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed stated that his troops were prepared to respond against Myanmarese provocations if necessary.
In the absence of water-sharing deal, India should help Bangladesh with Teesta water management
Building a reservoir on the Teesta will help Bangladesh create a climate-resilient infrastructure which will be useful in better managing the common river water.
Bangladesh making steady progress in ensuring labor rights
Functioning trade unions, decreasing number of child labourers and the introduction of labour courts and foundations are demonstrations of the extraordinary achievements of Bangladesh in ensuring labour rights.
Foreign policy in a divided world: Will India rise to the occasion?
Today, several other countries are gaining greater respect and acceptability in the comity of nations. India, certainly, is one of them. What is perhaps likely to happen is that global leadership would be a shared responsibility.
