Articles in Courtesy: South Asia Monitor
US seeks Mediating role again: Playing into Islamabad's Hands
By: Arul Louis | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 06 Nov , 2017
Having raised India’s role to that of an anchor of Pax Democratiam – the comity of democratic nations – United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has hinted after his October visit to...
Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh (1919-2017): Man of Stupendous Achievements
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 18 Sep , 2017
It is appropriate and befitting, given his stature and distinctive profile, that the only Marshal of the Air Force (MAF), Arjan Singh, was accorded a state funeral with the national flag flown at...
Doklam to Xiamen: Future Uncertain
By: Sujit Dutta | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 13 Sep , 2017
Beijing’s decision to surrender many of its adhered positions and intended goals at this month’s BRICS summit, soon after it had called off its road building work at Doklam and settled for a...
A woman defence minister for India: Can she redress the voids?
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 04 Sep , 2017
Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke a symbolic glass ceiling in Indian politics when it was announced that Nirmala Sitharaman , the erstwhile junior minister for commerce, had been elevated...
India must ensure Myanmar's centrality to 'Act East’ Policy
By: Amitava Mukherjee | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 23 Aug , 2017
There is a strange dichotomy between what India preaches and what she does on bilateral relations with Myanmar. There is a general acceptance in the corridors of power in Delhi that Myanmar is...
Islamic State Establishing Roots in Afghanistan
By: Jai Kumar Verma | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 21 Aug , 2017
The Sunni Salafi organization, Islamic State (‘Daesh’ in Arabic), has been defeated in Iraq and Syria and, according to unconfirmed reports, its Emir, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in the...
India-Vietnam Strategic Cooperation: Challenging the Dragon?
By: Amitava Mukherjee | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 11 Aug , 2017
Vietnam’s open invitation to India, at the Delhi Dialogue IX, to make use of its (India’s) good offices to ensure strategic security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea (SCS) can...
India should employ tough measures against Cross-Border Terrorism in Kashmir
By: Anurag Tripathi | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 28 Jul , 2017
The trend towards declining violence has been reversed in Jammu and Kashmir over the past few years; the current situation in the State is alarming and 2017 could end up being the bloodiest year...
India's security challenge: A two-and-half-front war
By: Cecil Victor | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 07 Jul , 2017
It is summer, and what has been the pattern over the past decade, the season of madness is upon us. Pakistan has intensified its attempts at infiltration of proxy militants into Kashmir through...
Will Khaplang’s death alter course of Militancy in India's North-East?
By: Rupak Bhattacharjee | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 01 Jul , 2017
The death of National Socialist Council of Nagalim (K) Chairman Shangwang Shangyung Khaplang has added a new twist to the protracted Naga problem. Khaplang was one of the strongest insurgent...
SCO membership will facilitate India, China, Pakistan cooperation
By: Joshy M Paul & Soundarya J | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 28 Jun , 2017
India and Pakistan were inducted as full members in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on June 9. It was the first-ever expansion of the organisation...
First Modi-Trump meeting: Will the deal-makers make any deal?
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 26 Jun , 2017
The global and regional strategic context for the first Modi-Trump meeting on Monday (June 26) is reflected in the veiled cautionary statement from Beijing to “non-regional countries” in...
India’s SCO membership: What it means for the country
By: Anurag Tripathi | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 17 Jun , 2017
After a two-year process, India and Pakistan became full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on June 9, 2017. India’s membership was strongly pushed by Russia while...
Modi Foreign Policy is Reflected in India's Rising Stature
By: Martand Jha | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 15 Jun , 2017
The NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed three years in power last month, making this a good time to analyze the kind of approach this government has taken towards foreign...
Kashmir: Anger will not go away soon
By: Syed S K | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 11 Jun , 2017
Kashmir, adorned with sparkling streams, lush meadows, snow-carpeted mountains and dense forests, has long been a muse to many poets. Among the most beautiful places on earth, the valley has been...
Can India and EU ever be viable strategic partners?
By: Ambassador Bhaswati Mukherjee | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 07 Jun , 2017
With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluding his visit to key European allies, Germany and France, and the date of the 14th India-EU Summit, hosted by India, reportedly finalised for later...
Iran will continue its quest for strategic space in South Asia
By: Amitava Mukherjee | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 27 May , 2017
Although Hassan Rouhani, the reformist incumbent Iranian President, has been reelected with a thumping majority in the May 19 presidential poll leaving behind Ebrahim Raesi, his nearest...
Taliban Gaining Strength in Afghanistan: Alarm Bells for Region
By: Jai Kumar Verma | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 15 May , 2017
Pakistan-backed Taliban are strengthening in Afghanistan and slowly but steadily capturing new territories. They now control seven out of 14 districts of Helmand province and are fighting to...
Neglect of national security: PM Modi needs to redress major deficiencies
By: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 13 May , 2017
The month of May this year has multiple relevance for India’s military and strategic security. It got off to an inauspicious start with the beheading of two Indian security personnel on May 1...
Battling India's Maoist insurgency: Saga of neglect, incompetence and ignorance
By: Cecil Victor | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 08 May , 2017
A pair of shoes and socks left neatly in a hollow in the jungle floor has become the leitmotif of neglect, incompetence and a glaring ignorance of how the pervasive “Left Wing Extremism”...