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The last gasps of Khalistani extremism
The recent blasts outside defence linked establishments in Punjab and the subsequent propaganda released by self styled Khalistani groups should not be viewed merely as isolated security incidents. They are part of a broader pattern increasingly visible across transnational extremist ecosystems: when an ideology loses political legitimacy and public support, it often turns toward symbolic violence, digital propaganda, and criminal networks to manufacture relevance. That is pr
Beyond the Binary: Rethinking Muslim voting patterns in Modi’s India
Recent international coverage of India’s state elections has once again revived familiar concerns about the future of Indian democracy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. A recent Al Jazeera analysis framed the BJP’s electoral gains through the lens of democratic anxiety, asking what Modi’s latest victories could mean for India’s democratic trajectory. That debate is legitimate and important. But much of the international conversation around Ind
The Second Bengal Renaissance
Or how to make Kolkata (Calcutta) the centre of Asia again. An AI-modified version of a painting by Sheikh Muhammad Amir; India; ca. 1840; Opaque watercolor on burnished paper. Soon after independence in 1965, Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew used Calcutta (Kolkata) as a benchmark, aiming for Singapore to eventually exceed the standard of the bustling, established city. While he admired its historic role, his later, often-quoted sentiment was that he intended
India’s Great Nicobar Vision: Strategic depth meets sustainable ambition
India’s maritime future is no longer a distant aspiration. It is unfolding in real time, and few initiatives capture this shift more clearly than the Great Nicobar Project. Announced as a transformative development initiative, the project is not merely about infrastructure. It is about redefining India’s strategic, economic, and geopolitical posture in the Indo-Pacific. At its core, the Great Nicobar Project seeks to strengthen India’s presence in the Andaman Sea and its enga
Mediator or Something Else?
In this article, Prof. (Dr.) Manoj Panigrahi analyzes Pakistan’s self-styled mediation in the United States–Iran conflict, highlighting key inconsistencies and geopolitical stakes. US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Islamabad for talks with Iranian officials on April 11, 2026 (in picture: JD Vance with Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and
A new start to Nepal politics: How must India progress?
A new shah in Nepal. (Photo from Balendra 'Balen' Shah's official profile.) A month ago, snap elections in Nepal were held with much hope and curiosity. The results were expected yet surprising. The Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) formed in 2022 won a complete majority, something that Nepal had not seen since the Nepali Congress’s win in 1999. Not only that. Balendra Shah, the rapper turned mayor turned prime minister won nearly 70,000 votes, highest ever in Nepali history, i
Morality v. the scientific test: Examining the International Olympic Committee’s new policy
In 2021, New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became one of the few athletes in the world to compete against her rivals after changing her gender. Identified as a male in the initial years, Laurel then played a female candidate in an altogether different category. This kind of situation has become prevalent in recent years. From an ethical perspective, there have been polarising opinions on what is morally right and legally sound. To instill clarity, the International Olympic Committ
'The case for feminist foreign policy in the India-Pakistan battle’
Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao (retd.), the former foreign secretary of India, reflects on the distortions that often shape debates on India–Pakistan policy, where outrage eclipses strategy and accusation replaces argument. She makes the case for a feminist foreign policy grounded in deterrence with discipline and engagement without illusion. There is a certain genre of writing that substitutes accusation for argument. It begins by assigning motive, then arranges facts, real,
Remembering Genocide Day: Lessons from 1971 and the myth of Pakistan’s ‘Muslim Brotherhood’
The observance of Genocide Day in Bangladesh is more than a solemn act of remembrance; it is a reaffirmation of historical truth in a region where memory is often contested. It is particularly significant that leaders across the political spectrum, including those from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have openly acknowledged and condemned the atrocities of Operation Searchlight. Such bipartisan recognition reflects a growing maturity in confronting the past an example
How China rose, why the US won’t let India rise like that, and what India should do
A new age of competition demands new rules.(AI generated image.) US Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau’s recent statement at the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi —“We won’t repeat the China mistake with India”—signals that Washington views its past openness to China as a strategic error, one it intends to avoid with New Delhi by imposing stricter reciprocity, technology safeguards, and market protections in any deepening partnership. This shifts the terms under which India can leve
America's military assertiveness and its four structural limits
Under President Donald Trump, the US is determined to reverse the growing global opinion about its decline. In the span of nine weeks between January and February 2026, the United States seized a foreign head of state from his own capital, escalated a bombing campaign against one of the world's most militarized states, and watched its president declare America was "reasserting power." The word choice was telling. You do not reassert what you securely possess. The flurry of mi
Trump-Munir Bonhomie: Risking American Interests for Personal Gains?
The suffering of the people of Gilgit started in 1947, when a war enabled Pakistan to snatch this strategic Himalayan territory from India. The loss of Gilgit shifted the regional strategic balance, with India losing border with Afghanistan, and China unexpectedly acquiring uninterrupted access to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan. Gilgit is the first victim of the nefarious China Pakistan-Economic Corridor (CPEC), as it empowers China to treat Gilgit as an extension of its X
Hashtags, hubs, and hidden operators: Tracing the anti-India online nexus in Bangladesh
Relations between India and Bangladesh have long been based on strategic cooperation, economic partnership, and deep historical ties. However, in recent months, certain developments have emerged that have created diplomatic friction between the two countries. Differences over limited but sensitive issues have not only affected political and diplomatic discourse but have also visibly spilled over into the digital space. Against this backdrop, a significant increase in anti-Ind
Manufacturing panic: How disinformation Is miscasting India’s Nipah situation
In recent weeks, a familiar pattern has resurfaced in South Asia’s information ecosystem. A limited, contained public-health incident in India has been deliberately exaggerated into a narrative of national crisis. This time, the trigger is the Nipah virus. Social media accounts, fringe commentators, and a section of Pakistan-based digital outlets are pushing the claim that India is “reeling” under a runaway Nipah outbreak, edging toward another pandemic. The reality, backed b
Mark Carney at Davos: Canada’s return, and the birth of a new voice for the Global South
Mark Carney’s Davos speech will be remembered as more than a policy address. It was an announcement — of Canada’s re-arrival on the global stage not as a passive beneficiary of an old order, but as an active shaper of the new one. At a moment when uncertainty, coercion, and fragmentation define international politics, Carney chose clarity over comfort. In doing so, he displayed the kind of moral courage required to energise a nation facing an existential moment in its history
The Muslim Brotherhood gathers strength
What connects the Jamaat in Bangladesh to a rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Yemen, an Egyptian blogger in the UK, and an appointment by New York's new mayor Zohran Mamdani? The flag of the Muslim Brotherhood with the words, " Allah (God) is our objective, the Prophet (Muhammad) is our leader, the Quran is our constitution, Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope", written in Arabic. The Muslim Brotherhood’s ideological and organizational
Russia has the last laugh: Europe’s new arc of crisis
From Cold War jihad pipelines to Trump’s Muslim Brotherhood designations—and the Gulf split that now runs through London Europe’s vulnerability to radical Islamism is no longer primarily a question of bombs, camps, or foreign battlefields. It is a question of social cohesion, legal intimidation, foreign patronage, and institutional capture—a slow-burn crisis inside liberal societies that adversaries can exploit without firing a shot. It’s literally fuelling the spectacular ri
Why the Supreme Court’s Aravalli order is being misread
Since the Supreme Court’s order of 20 November 2025, the Aravalli mountain range has become the center of a nationwide digital storm, amplified by the #SaveAravalli campaign. The anxiety is understandable. The Aravallis are one of India’s most critical ecological buffers, a shield against desertification, a recharge zone for groundwater, and a biodiversity corridor spanning four states. What is not understandable is the widespread claim that the Court has diluted environmenta
Rethinking Nepal-India relations in the post-Gen Z uprising era
The relationship between Nepal and India has long been unique, shaped by shared cultural and religious ties, an open border regime, democratic governance and a history of cross-border kinship and cooperation. India remained a major destination for Nepali labor migration and higher education for a long time. Recruitment of Nepali youths into the Indian armed forces further reinforces bilateral relations while India’s contribution to Nepal’s democratic transition earned widespr
Why the Pakistan–Libya defence pact could be a strategic disaster for Libya
Libya’s announcement earlier this month that it is entering a US$4.6 billion defence pact with Pakistan has been portrayed in some quarters as a bold strategic move, a chance to rebuild fractured military capability after more than a decade of civil conflict and instability. Yet beneath the polished rhetoric lies a far more worrying reality: this deal risks entangling Libya with one of the least dependable and most troubled militaries in the world, a partner whose own systemi
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