Representational Photo

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

Sheikh Hasina visit to India: Needed a landmark agreement on water sharing, better border management

Overall, many of the vexing problems of long standing can be mitigated quickly by bold and quick measures, denying ammunition to detractors of India-Bangladesh ties on both sides and letting our relationship flourish to its full potential

India-Bangladesh ministerial meet on rivers: A precursor to a larger deal next week but without Teesta?

The JRC discussion should have recognised the sufferings of the people of both sides because of the water scarcity during the lean season flows of the Teesta river and struck a win-win deal that was beneficial to both sides

Gwadar and Mundra: Strategic importance of two ports to Pakistan and India

Both Gwadar and Mundra ports are close to a turbulent region that is violent and militancy-prone. If Gwadar has security problems from within, Mundra has them from without

Chronicles of Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and international failure

India has repositioned its earlier policy of providing a home to refugees from Tibet, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka and is forcefully deporting Rohingya refugees

Who can take on Narendra Modi in 2024? Contradictions and ego hassles mar opposition unity

Given these roadblocks, it is not a surprise that the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a runaway winner in every opinion poll to the dismay of its adversaries who wonder why the economic difficulties of inflation and unemployment are not holding it back

India’s coastal security challenge - and preventing another 26/11

While this exercise was a long overdue and necessary measure, the whole gamut of India’s coastal security in view of terrorist threats and other crimes must function effectively and consistently as there have been instances of breaches in coastal security after 26/11

Sri Lanka allays Indian concerns, says it believes in regional solidarity; extra regional powers have no strategic leeway in South Asia

Defence sources said it was significant that the Dornier was handed over to Sri Lanka by India a day before the high-tech Chinese satellite tracking ship docked at Hambantota

Indian outreach to Latin America and Caribbean: Needed more frequent and diversified interactions

India should also project the values and aspirations of the Indo-Pacific into Atlantic waters to help global development. The SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region) model can be extended to a much larger canvas of mutual cooperation and benefit

International education as a building block in growing India-Australia relations

If Australia is to emerge as the destination of choice for Indian students, its India strategy needs to be rethought. If this were to happen, international education and institutional collaboration would emerge as a critical building blocks in the bilateral space

Will Michelle Bachelet’s visit to Bangladesh expedite Rohingya repatriation?

The world must remember the refugees’ lives depend on how the international community responds to caring for them as Bangladesh alone cannot afford to support this huge Rohingya population

Pakistan@75 does some welcome introspection on minority persecution

The question being raised in Pakistan@75 should be welcomed, that how come Pakistan, carved out as a safe home for the Muslim minorities of the Indian subcontinent, has failed to provide safety to its own minorities? Only Pakistan has the answer

India's weak-kneed response to Beijing's bullying sets a bad example for neighbours

We need to learn a lot from China’s foreign policy; and when our own response to China is weak-kneed, how do we expect Sri Lanka to take up cudgels with Beijing?

Starvation, poverty and all-round despair: Afghanistan and its people face a bleak future

If the Taliban’s original purpose in taking over Kabul last year was to gradually gain some international recognition for what it calls the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it now stands fully destroyed

India@75 : Much to be proud of, amid some worrisome trends

The ideological shift in politics towards prioritizing the majority religious denomination that has morphed into assertive political Hindutva goes against the fabric of the 'Idea of India' enshrined in the constitution

India@75: On right path, but some drags on growth

During the last eight years, Prime Minister Modi has elevated the quality of governance to a higher level  and has introduced several imaginative schemes,  keeping in view the requirement of the people at the lower economic level as well as the compulsive need to forge ahead in terms of technology and productivity