Articles in Courtesy: South Asia Monitor
Pakistan planned Kartarpur as a corridor of deceit, not peace
By: Jai Kumar Verma | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 11 Dec , 2018
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi remarked that Prime Minister Imran Khan had bowled a “Kartarpur googly,” which obligated India to engage Pakistan, even though New Delhi had...
Pakistan must eliminate terrorism to find road to prosperity
By: NS Venkatraman | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 06 Dec , 2018
While so many acts of terrorism have taken place on Pakistani soil in recent years, killing hundreds of people, including innocent school children, the recent terrorist attack on the Chinese...
The complicated India-Pakistan Dynamic: Can it build on the Kartarpur hope?
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 30 Nov , 2018
The politics, and the complicated dynamics, enveloping the troubled India-Pakistan relationship came into sharp focus once again at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the “Kartarpur...
China gets tough with Imran Khan, but will side with Pakistan
By: Jai Kumar Verma | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 10 Nov , 2018
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan returned empty handed from his four-day visit from China on November 5. The high profile visit, at the invitation of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, was...
Trump's populist pitch: Tough choices before Modi
By: Saroj Mohanty | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 06 Nov , 2018
When Americans go to the polls on November 6, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – like many world leaders – would be keenly watching the turnout, as a lot is riding on the mid-term...
The rise of Barelvi militancy in Pakistan - with army's tacit support
By: Divya Anand | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 03 Nov , 2018
Pakistan’s political discourse has always been marred by the close nexus between its dominant and all pervasive institution, the Army, and right wing religio-political groups. Seen from a...
Turbulence in Sri Lanka: Are leaders playing the proxy India-China game?
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 31 Oct , 2018
Sri Lankan politics witnessed unexpected turbulence when President Maithripala Sirisena decided to sack his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and, in a surprising move, appointed his arch-rival...
India, China must cooperate to bring stability to Afghanistan
By: Tridivesh Singh Maini | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 21 Oct , 2018
A senior Chinese diplomat in India has underscored the need for New Delhi and Beijing to work jointly to counter the trade protectionism being practised by US President Donald Trump. The US...
Tough words for Pakistan: Introspection time for new government
By: Khurram Shahzad | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 10 Oct , 2018
Pakistani Foreign Minster Shah Mahmood Qureshi made history at the United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) by giving a speech in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language. However, the contents of...
Pakistan should be wary of Chinese designs in Gilgit & Baltistan
By: Jai Kumar Verma | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 29 Sep , 2018
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dream project. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will pass through Pakistan Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan...
India distributes its strategic dependence: Prioritising US, but no dilution...
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 20 Sep , 2018
The twice-postponed 2 plus 2 talks between India and the USA which brought the foreign and defence ministers of both countries together at one forum concluded on an upbeat note in New Delhi on...
India bound by international law against any intervention in Maldives
By: N Koiremba Singh And Sarthak Roy | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 17 Sep , 2018
South Asia – and the region – are keenly following events unfolding in the Maldives. The Maldivian Supreme Court in a landmark decision on February 1, 2018 ordered the government to release nine...
2+2 dialogue will strengthen Indo-US convergences
By: Nilova Roy Chaudhury | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 05 Sep , 2018
New Delhi intends to convey to Washington that it will keep its own relations with Tehran and Moscow in place when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis come to...
While Taliban are strengthening, peace in Afghanistan can come only through...
By: Jai Kumar Verma | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 28 Aug , 2018
The beleaguered Afghan government has offered a ceasefire to the Taliban, after the latter kidnapped about 200 bus passengers on 20th August in the Northern Province of Kunduz. The Taliban...
Imran’s New Government: Old hands provide hope for improved India Ties
By: Tridivesh Singh Maini | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 20 Aug , 2018
Imran Khan’s new team consists of a number of familiar faces. Of the 21 member council of ministers, 12 have been part of General Pervez Musharraf’s cabinet, while five have been members of...
Remembering history: Can Imran go against the will of the Pakistan Army?
By: Syed Badrul Ahsan | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 10 Aug , 2018
Much conversation has centred around the recent election in Pakistan which has brought the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, till now a fringe party, close to power in Islamabad. There is little...
A new broom in Pakistan: Will Imran follow a different tack with India?
By: Mayank Chhaya | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 07 Aug , 2018
A new broom in the form of Pakistan’s likely new Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to sweep clean simply because his political bristles are hard and straight. His upbeat messaging about...
Better Civil-Military Relations Needed for Improved Security of Indian State
By: Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 22 Jul , 2018
Only a diehard optimist would expect that India’s elected representatives would find the time to reflect on national security. But, with Parliament in session, should the improbable come to pass,...
India needs to recalibrate its South Asia policy
By: Tridivesh Singh Maini | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 17 Jul , 2018
In recent years, some countries in SAARC which earlier had deep strains with India, have sought to improve ties with New Delhi. Two instances of this are Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (which have...
Eastward ho! India looks beyond SAARC
By: Sreemati Ganguli | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 13 Jul , 2018
India, once again, is thrown into a piquant situation in its own neighbourhood. In the penultimate year before this NDA government goes to the polls, its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy of 2014...