Fig: Dr Nalinda Somasiri

AI, Energy, Health, and Integrity: South Asia’s New Frontline Against Procurement Corruption

South Asia’s future depends on reliable infrastructure and trustworthy public services. Artificial intelligence—especially advanced technologies such as Graph Attention Networks—offers governments a powerful tool to reduce corruption in procurement, improve healthcare delivery, strengthen energy security and enhance public trust.

How to Lose a Country in Four Years: Will the Taliban be Architects of Their Own Demise?

Yet ordinary Afghans refuse to stay silent. In Balkh province, people are turning public walls into canvases of defiance, spray-painting graffiti demanding education, rights, and freedom. These acts of artistic resistance, risking arrest and worse, echo the courage of exiled artists like Shamsia Hassani and Fatima Wojohat, whose work continues to amplify the cry for justice. Such quiet rebellion signals a population no longer cowed.

Trincomalee Energy Hub Development Will be a Strategic Milestone in India-Sri Lanka Ties

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.

SAARC vs BIMSTEC: Why Regional Integration is Failing in South Asia

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.
 

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China factor will continue to impact India-US relations

With both India and the US worried about Chinese designs in Asia and the world, both will be eager to forge strong political, security and economic relations, writes Aneek Chatterjee for South Asia Monitor

Whoever wins the US election, Earth is the loser

Whoever is the winner, the planet would be the loser. The margins of the defeat of the planet would depend on who wins the American presidential race, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor

EU must use its moral weight to put Pakistan on the blacklist of FATF

Indeed the time has come when the question should not be whether Pakistan deserves GSP+ privileges, but whether it is time to impose tough economic sanctions on the country, a failed state that has only served to provide a safe haven to tens of thousands of global terrorists and whose only raison d’etre is to kill and harm innocent civilians all around the world and destabilise the peaceful democracies like the European Union and India, writes Sunil Prasad for South Asia Monitor 

Is Pakistan really concerned about a safer environment?

Pakistan is good at making policies but very bad at implementing them. The negligence of the Pakistan government in making development and business entities follow the EMP procedure has neither been debated nor discussed nor followed by strong laws, writes Furqan Hyder Shaikh for South Asia Monitor

Is Pakistan on the cusp of a revolution?

The likelihood of more rebellions against the Imran Khan government and army threatens to tear asunder the fragile religious and societal fabric of Pakistan, writes Pranay Kumar Shome for South Asia Monitor
 

Remembering Indira Gandhi: Repression and partisan goals lead to chaos

Many lessons could be learned from Indira's murder. The first is that there will be repercussions for repression and authoritarian tendencies; and second, political power should not be used for partisan goals, write Dr Vineeth Mathoor & Sunil Kumar for South Asia Monitor 

With growing US interest in South Asia, can Bangladesh reduce its dependence on China?

For the first time, Biegun made it clear through his visit that Bangladesh has strategic importance. This is for the first time an attempt has been made by the US to engage Dhaka directly since China took several proactive measures to help Bangladesh deal with COVID-19, writes Swadesh Roy for South Asia Monitor

Pakistan Army in growing political storm: Risks of umpire becoming a player to shield 'proxy' PM

Even during the rule by earlier ‘proxies’ of which Nawaz was certainly one, the military was not exposed to attacks like the ones at the three back-to-back opposition rallies through October at Gujranwala, Karachi, and Quetta. This is an unprecedented situation. The Army has lost some of its image as the nation’s ‘saviour,’ writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor

India should take steps like the US to sustain its artists in COVID era

Given the enormity of the challenge - there are nearly a dozen classical and more than 150 folk dance forms in India - efforts to support artists need to be scaled and replicated throughout the country, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor 

India, US draw strategically closer in shifting global geopolitics

Most major Asian  nations have deep concerns about Chinese assertiveness and hegemonic orientation under President Xi Jinping, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor

Pakistan on the boil: Political instability will impact economic revival

The attention of the current regime in Pakistan will be diverted to firefight for survival and inevitably delays the implementation of crucial reforms to strengthen the economy, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor

Sextortion a growing trend in South Asia; needs to be tackled globally

According to the Bangladesh National Woman Lawyer Association, every year an average of 11 women in the country commit suicide due to cybercrime, writes Monira Nazmi Jahan for South Asia Monitor

Time for India to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with Taiwan

The inhibitions of the Indian government to upgrade relations with Taiwan are baffling. It stems from keeping the military out of strategic security formulations, status quo bureaucratic advice and needless fear of China, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor

Rohingyas pose a grave security threat to Bangladesh: Relocation and repatriation an urgent necessity

The recent deadly clashes between the two Rohingya groups at the camp in Cox's Bazar has posed a major security threat to Bangladesh, writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor

Violence against women: Indian society must internalise the message of Durga Puja

If rape in India is to be meaningfully addressed, the onus lies on society to review and correct deeply ingrained socio-cultural norms and practices that are inherently biased against women and the girl child, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor