Some analysts are of the view that Sri Lanka’s differential access — full executive level for India versus foreign ministry level for China — may reflect Sri Lanka’s carefully calibrated foreign policy. Sri Lanka is leveraging India for urgent, high-impact assistance and wider policy coordination and engaging China for strategic reassurance and medium-to-long-term cooperative alignment that is less intertwined with immediate executive decisions.
India’s challenge, and opportunity, lies in mastering torque rather than seeking a mythical centre of gravity. In a world defined by flux, leverage matters more than alignment, and agility matters more than allegiance. Strategic autonomy will not be preserved through rigid doctrines, but through continuous recalibration anchored in national interest, economic resilience, and confidence in India’s civilisational depth.
India’s response to Iran’s crisis illustrates the dilemmas facing middle powers navigating a polarised global order. While reaffirming principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and dialogue, New Delhi has largely confined itself to cautious diplomacy. For a country that positions itself as a voice of the Global South and a defender of strategic autonomy, such restraint invites scrutiny. Silence at moments of legal strain is never neutral. It contributes to the gradual normalisation of coercive precedent.
If Washington persists down this path, the response from the Global South will not be submission. It will be coordination. China, Russia, Brazil, India, and others have every incentive to deepen trade, energy, and financial cooperation—not out of ideological unity, but out of defensive necessity. Ironically, Trump’s economic nationalism may succeed in what decades of rhetoric could not - forging a more cohesive Global South.
The reign of the "hybrid government" in Pakistan has ended with Gen Munir's military wresting its socio-economic and political control. The arrest of the former ISI spymaster has been made into an example for those who dared act against the military.
The contrast between the Ambani wedding and the lives of millions of Indians struggling to meet basic needs is a stark indictment of this inequality. While the former was a celebration of excess, the latter is a grim reality marked by poverty, hunger, and lack of access to essential services.
For South Asia, particularly Pakistan, this fragmentation poses challenges but also opportunities. Pakistan’s strategic investments in its digital infrastructure, supported by both Chinese and Western technologies, could position it as a bridge between these emerging digital spheres. By fostering regional connectivity and digital cooperation, Pakistan can mitigate the risks of fragmentation and ensure that its digital economy continues to thrive in a multipolar world.
India needs to have a robust competitive framework where political parties ideate, brainstorm and debate on how to give more teeth to the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC), create bodies like the USA's EPA and ensure all environmental laws, disaster management work in tandem under the Gaia’s hypothesis highlighting the “One-Health Approach”.
Apart from being the largest country in the region in terms of geography and economy, New Delhi’s responsibilities as an important player in South Asia also rest on its efforts to improve the region's social and economic parameters.
India offered unqualified support to Hasina over the last decade or so. For India, it will be a major challenge to see how it builds a relationship when a new democratic government emerges in Bangladesh. China had invested more in infrastructure in Bangladesh in the last decade or so; and the relationship was improving. But it did not interfere in domestic political issues.
M R Rangaswami, Silicon Vally entrepreneur, angel investor and philanthropist, and a community leader who founded Indiaspora, said: "I never thought in my wildest dreams that we would have an Indian American running for President of the United States but this is now a reality".
The considerable economic progress under Hasina's governance starkly contrasts with the stagnation in political reforms. Persistent issues such as limited press freedom, corruption, and inadequate improvements in democracy, rule of law, and human rights have marred her administration’s record
The interim government is led by civilian leadership. However, the extent of military control in this government remains unclear. According to some political observers, even if not officially present, the military will have a significant influence on this government.
At a time when unvarnished animus for one another is often the norm in India and Pakistan, not to mention Bangladesh now, the two simple women have offered a lesson in decency, dignity and civility.
Rural women have said that the physical and sexual security of women was strongly protected under the Taliban regime. The women in Afghanistan are caught in a conundrum. While they resent systemic social repression and denial of gender rights under the Taliban regime, the return of political instability in the country they fear can increase their physical and sexual insecurity.
Smuggling activities along the Afghan border are often linked with militant groups and organized crime. The illegal trade of arms has contributed to the proliferation of the "Kalashnikov culture" across the length and breadth of Pakistan.
Given the nature of these 'student' demonstrations, it is apparent that Bangladesh faces serious danger from a network of underground political activists and extremists aiming to destabilise the country. These issues are putting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership to the test
Google and Facebook, which collect vast amounts of user data, will be required to overhaul their data-handling practices to meet the stringent requirements of the bill. Critics argue that certain provisions grant excessive power to the government, potentially undermining the very privacy protections the bill seeks to establish.
A growing area of cooperation between India and the UAE is agriculture. UAE has committed to setting up three food parks in India - in the states of Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - at an estimated cost of $2 billion to address the issue of food security as both countries had also agreed to set up a food corridor.
