If one location matters most to India in Sri Lanka, it is Trincomalee. With one of the finest natural harbours in the world, Trincomalee has immense commercial, naval, and energy value. For decades, strategists in New Delhi have viewed it as critical to the security architecture of the Bay of Bengal.
South Asia cannot remain an archipelago of isolated economies connected only by shared history and mutual suspicion. Changing acronyms does not change reality. Summit declarations will not achieve true economic integration. True integration requires the political courage to dismantle physical and bureaucratic walls. Only then will the region stop holding its immense potential captive.
The resultant reduced trust signals a declining democratic discourse that should be the biggest worry for the nation at this stage. The bill that failed thus tells the deeper story of all that is going wrong in the Indian democracy, bit by bit, in areas that are clearly visible and sometimes in many invisible ways.
Manipur today is not merely a regional crisis. It is a test of India’s democratic resilience. It highlights the limits of governance models that prioritize control over consensus. Without a shift toward genuine political engagement that addresses the fears, rights, and representation of all communities, the conflict will persist and resurface with greater intensity.
The situation however has been somewhat different in certain countries of South Asia which have raised resources through external borrowings despite having current account deficits - Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Caution needs to be exercised by them in resorting to such borrowings.
The salvation for Pakistan’s body politic, wherein democracy is aspired by those who are not democrats themselves, may remain unfortunately with the men in uniform.
There is no light at the end of the repatriation tunnel; one must look at other more viable and pragmatic scenarios rather than transporting almost a million people at gunpoint to Rakhine
From religious bigotry in India targeting Muslims, to Sri Lanka’s economic woes and food insecurity, to the plight of the Afghans, particularly women, discussions at the conference took up these and other issues like the impact of climate change, press freedom and creeping censorship, to transgender rights, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detentions.
India annually celebrated major festival days of all faiths, but these festivities are largely confined to their believers. If those communities, however, were to become more open to secular participation on the principle that if faiths are for believers, associated festivities are for all to enjoy.
Indian and Pakistani politicians can leverage the sport to resolve many outstanding issues between the neighbouring countries, provided there is an honest will on either side and the intentions are well-meaning. And the bilateral series can resume only if a Vajpayee-Musharraf-like initiative is taken by those occupying the highest positions in the two countries.
South Asia must develop a common framework to hold politicians accountable and increase transparency in government dealings. Regional collaboration can reduce vulnerability.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
