The upcoming meeting of Indian and Pakistani Rotary Club members and others at Kartarpur this week highlights Rotarian efforts to develop an Indus Peace Park near the Kartarpur entrance writes Beena Sarwar for South Asia Monitor
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
Media and Islamophobia: Need for reconciliation and understanding
International communities should criminalize the intentional propagation of hatred towards a particular faith, write Monira Nazmi Jahan and Nusrat Jahan Nishat for South Asia Monitor
India’s closer engagement with UAE is a win-win situation for both
The CEPA’s larger significance is that it serves as a template for an FTA with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) whose members include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
ICJ should not give legitimacy to the Myanmarese junta in Rohingya genocide case
The junta will likely leverage the hearings to gain substantial de jure recognition as the legitimate government of Myanmar within other UN bodies and beyond, writes Parvej Siddique Bhuiyan for South Asia Monitor
Has quest for 'strategic depth' become Pakistan’s tactical disaster?
As of now, Pakistan’s much-sought ‘strategic depth’ with a friendly government in Afghanistan has proved elusive, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
Why Indian money rules world cricket
Millions of Indian cricket fans across the globe are the real foundation of the Indian cricket board's financial power, writes Qaiser Mohammad Ali for South Asia Monitor
In India's hijab row, Muslim girls' education trapped between extremists of both religions
The Hindu rightwing gets its due provocation from Muslim communalism and extremism. Is there any role of Muslim communalists in fueling the hijab row?, writes Ram Puniyani for South Asia Monitor
Nepal power: Caught between Chinese capital and Indian market
Nepal will be permitted to export power to Bangladesh via India at a later time in order to fulfill the expanding energy demands of that country, writes Benedict B. George for South Asia Monitor
After Beijing, its destination Moscow for Pakistan PM Imran Khan: Can Russia take Islamabad at its word?
Russia is well aware of how Pakistan has been facilitating the movement of ISIS cadres from Iraq-Syria into northern Afghanistan at the behest of the US, writes Lt Gen P.C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
An adrift Congress in India is a serious problem for democracy
It takes no great political intelligence to point out that a tumultuous democracy like India desperately needs a credible national counter to Modi’s BJP, writes Mayank Chhaya for South Asia Monitor
Growing presence of women in India’s armed forces: An issue that should not be politicized
One major reason the Indian Army has not allowed women officers in fighting arms and would not like to do so is that it does not want them captured by the enemy, writes Col Anil Bhat (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The interplay of caste and politics in India's most populous state
The recent trends in elections have shown undeniable evidence that women no longer remain passive voters, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh has stake in peace and stability in India's Northeast
Connectivity and infrastructural development with Bangladesh will also open up new routes to India's Northeast, Bhutan and Nepal, writes Benedict B. George for South Asia Monitor
India’s intangible heritage: Its composite, living culture carries a multidimensional message in trying times
Such recognition by UNESCO, whether of Durga Puja or Srinagar as a Creative City, helps to underline that India’s culture is a living culture, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Nightingale has fallen silent: Lata Mangeshkar's music had universal appeal
Numbers have defied easy recording, whether Lata sang 25,000 songs or 30,000, for an estimated 1,000 films, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
