Trincomalee oil farm

Trincomalee as Regional Oil Hub: Sri Lanka Needs to Act Decisively to Secure its Energy Future

Against this backdrop, in 2025, India, Sri Lanka, and the UAE signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop Trincomalee. The agreement, involving the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the UAE Ministry of Investment, and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Energy, was designed to enhance Sri Lanka’s energy security and integrate the country into regional energy networks.

Pakistan’s Mediation Mirage: Strategic Posturing in a Fractured West Asia

Pakistan’s attempt to position itself as a peace broker in the Middle East may generate headlines, but it does little to advance the cause of stability. If anything, it underscores a larger truth: in high-stakes geopolitics, perceived neutrality without proven credibility is not an asset—it is a liability.

With Global Stability at Risk, India Must Initiate Efforts to De-escalate US–Israel–Iran Conflict

India’s leadership in global forums such as BRICS and the G20 further enhances its ability to bring together diverse stakeholders. Simultaneously, its role as a prominent voice of the Global South enables it to advocate for peace without appearing aligned with any specific 

War Against Iran Enters Second Month: Whither Global Leadership?

Expanding the arc of aerial/missile destruction  to the Bab el-Mandeb would irreparably threaten the last viable option for  Gulf oil exports and a regional war will soon cascade into an ‘epic’  global crisis. Ironically, the tally of death and destruction is barely mentioned and the war sanitized to a daily video ritual. Scroll and move on. Sagacious global leadership  is absent  when it is most needed  and a discerning global civil society has been  paralyzed by the unending Trump  theatrics. 

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Hindu-Muslim brotherhood: Will RSS chief's sage counsel mark a new beginning for Hindutva groups?

The nation, and especially Hindus and Muslims, will be waiting with bated breath to see what impact the RSS supremo’s advice has on the ruling BJP, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor

Dilip Kumar: Last of the titans from Indian cinema's 'golden age'

Dilip Kumar suffered during the phases when neighbors Pakistan and India went to war, but his popularity and the run of his films remained unaffected, on both sides of the border, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

Is Pakistan likely to face more US sanctions after American troops leave Afghanistan?

Pakistan fails to realize that with US troops exiting Afghanistan, Washington will no longer overlook the generation of terrorism and recruitment of child soldiers by Pakistan, especially when it is wedded to Beijing against the US, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor 

Bhutan’s king leads from the front nation's battle against Covid-19

Although Bhutan will succeed in its vaccination drive, the scramble in the South Asian region for doses underscores the highly iniquitous access to vaccines to fight Covid-19, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

Dalai Lama turns 87: Should India continue to keep him at arm's length?

The Chinese Communists were never shy in shaking hands with insurgents and rebels from India. In contrast, the Dalai Lama has never wielded a weapon. In that sense, he is also a Mahatma Gandhi, writes M.R. Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor

Nepal in need of massive judicial reforms to ensure implementation of court orders

The Supreme Court of Nepal issued 246 verdicts in 2019-2020 to be implemented by the various ministries, The government, in most cases, didn’t comply with the court orders, writes Ravi Nayak for South Asia Monitor

How remote-area vaccination is boosting India's security

The government’s vaccination outreach to remote border areas, in Kashmir and the Northeast, and the local people's smiling embrace of these efforts was an indication of their comfort level and confidence in the Indian system, writes Nilova Roy Chaudhury for South Asia Monitor

Can the US underwrite regional stability against emerging Chinese threats?

In the long run, if tactically implemented, the B3W initiative can also help India and its allies balance China’s String of Pearls strategy in South Asia and beyond, writes Pradeep S. Mehta for South Asia Monitor

Uttar Pradesh will be a bellwether of Modi's continuing popularity

A defeat in Punjab or in Goa will not bother the BJP too much. But UP is different not only because its location in the heartland has always provided significant pointers about political trends, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor

Can Imran Khan's 'Pakistaniyat' help improve the country's self-image?

“Hollywood-Bollywood vulgarity” has been one of Imran Khan’s pet peeves for long and he has ordered the drafting of a new nationalist, culturally-centred film policy for Pakistan that is yet to be made public, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

Bangladesh struggling to vaccinate its people amidst a looming third wave of Covid 19

Public health experts believe that Bangladesh, despite having a good record of conducting vaccination programs, has failed in the case of the Covid  jabs because of its earlier reliance on a single vaccine, writes Rakib Al Hasan for South Asia Monitor

Can the Afghan government channelise numerous people's movements into a new anti-Taliban front?

If the Afghan government can accurately manage the spontaneous movements of the people and prevent them from becoming mere tools for the warlords, not only can it create a new front against the Taliban, but also mobilize public opinion to a large extent, as it is already doing to some extent, writes Saleem Payenda for South Asia Monitor

Modi's Kashmir meeting has many regional ramifications, will be keenly watched

Unless Kashmir moves towards democratic governance - and New Delhi is able to reach some kind of modus vivendi over it with Islamabad - it will remain vulnerable to extremist influences and spillovers from the notorious AfPak terror sanctuaries, writes Tarun Basu for South Asia Monitor

US military exit from Afghanistan will be China's strategic gain

The US will realize its strategic blunder of surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban after the entire Af-Pak-Iran region comes under Chinese influence, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor

India's digital talent can be harbinger of new direction in Japan-India cooperation

Hamstrung by the shortage of digitally skilled hands, Japan needs to rope in digital talents from India that constitutes one of the biggest digital talent pools, writes S. Majumder for South Asia Monitor