Spotlights
The Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNW) Conundrum
By: Maj Gen PK Chakravorty | Issue: Courtesy: CLAWS | Date: 20 Oct , 2016
Introduction The Indian Army needs to be complimented for undertaking precise surgical strikes at numerous locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the night of 28 and 29 September. Though...
Does SAARC have a Future?
By: NS Venkatraman | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 19 Oct , 2016
The recent cancellation of the 19th summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that was scheduled to take place in Islamabad on November 15-16 has led to serious doubts as...
The Importance of Passive and Active CBRN Defensive Measures
By: Dr Sanjay Badri-Maharaj | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 18 Oct , 2016
Even before the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes against terrorist targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on the night of 28-29 September 2016, Pakistan has long been fond of rattling...
The Most Remote Indian Village on the Indo-Tibet Border
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 17 Oct , 2016
I am posting below an telling email received from the most remote Indian village on the Indo-Tibet border. I have repeatedly mentioned on this blog the difficulty to connect the last village of...
China’s Shenzhou 11 Mission: A Step Closer to a Permanent Space Station
By: Puneet Bhalla | Issue: Courtesy: CLAWS | Date: 16 Oct , 2016
On 15 September 2015, a Chinese Long March 2F rocket put Tiangong-2 (Heavenly Palace), the 8.6 tonne Chinese Space Laboratory into the low Earth orbit (LEO) of 380 kilometres. Over the next...
Damming the Brahmaputra: Is Beijing sending a message to New Delhi?
By: Amitava Mukherjee | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 15 Oct , 2016
For India, disturbing news has come from the Himalayas. China has announced that it would block the water of the river Xiabuku, a tributary of the Brahmaputra River (called Yarlung Tsangpo in...
China Loves Tibet: An Unacknowledged Victory for the Dalai Lama?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 14 Oct , 2016
There was a time when the Chinese considered Tibet the most backward, uncultured part of the Middle Kingdom, mainly inhabited by barbarians. This is not the case anymore and this has important...
Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Plan: All Talk and Little Action
By: Dr Sanchita Bhattacharya | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 13 Oct , 2016
In implementation of its National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism, the Pakistani government, as reported on September 26, 2016, initiated a widespread fiscal crackdown against over 8,400...
Reclaim PoK: India’s Statutory Obligation
By: Rakesh Kr Sinha | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 12 Oct , 2016
The Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) reminds this nation of an unfinished task of the partition, a scar, deep somewhere in the collective conscience of this country. The PoK can be broadly...
India’s Surgical Strikes into Pakistan: The Unintended Consequences
By: Dr Subhash Kapila | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Analysis Group | Date: 11 Oct , 2016
India’s surgical strikes into Pakistan has not only been a game-changer for India’s strategic assertions but as an unintended consequence stirred more notably a domestic debate within...
Kashmiri Shops in Tourists Spots - Is there More than What Meets the Eye?
By: Sanjeev Nayyar | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 10 Oct , 2016
While all suspect tax evasion and money laundering of corruption or crime proceeds merit investigation, the curious case of Kashmir shops that pay rent in excess of market rates but do not...
INSTC and CPEC: Conflicts and Politics of Corridors
By: Brig NK Bhatia, SM (Retd) | Issue: Courtesy: CLAWS | Date: 09 Oct , 2016
South Asia is in for some exciting times ahead with fast changing geo political developments with primary focus being on connectivity. China’s quest to establish “One Belt One Road”, an...
Revitalising Indian Governance
By: Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, AVSM, VSM | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 Oct , 2016
Even as India has begun its quest to be a major power, desiring a marked increase in its Comprehensive National Power (CNP), it is hampered by its governance model. The current model is a British...
Surgical Strike and Pakistan’s Options
By: Maj Gen Harsha Kakar | Issue: Courtesy: www.dailyexcelsior.com | Date: 07 Oct , 2016
Post the Uri attack, the nation was on the boil, seeking a military response from the government. It did put Kashmir on the backburner, enabling the state and the central governments to enhance...
Surgical Strike and its Likely Aftermath
By: Col (Dr) Tej Kumar Tikoo (Retd.) | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Oct , 2016
One of the options available to the Central Govt to avenge the Uri attack, was what was eventually undertaken by troops of 9 and 4 Special Forces Battalions, assisted by the Ghattak Platoons of...
Uri, Surgical Strikes and International Reactions
By: Vivek Chadha, Rumel Dahiya, Neha Kohli and Shruti Pandalai | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 05 Oct , 2016
The Uri Terrorist Attack On September 18, 2016, four terrorists belonging to the Pakistani jihadi group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) struck at an Indian Army camp in Uri. The camp housed more than the...
Indus Water Treaty: Should India Turn the Tap Tight?
By: Brig Anil Gupta | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 04 Oct , 2016
Ever since the Uri misadventure carried out by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, India has put in cold storage the policy of “strategic restraint” and declared an all-out offensive against...
China’s One-Road-One Belt Initiative: A New Model of Global Governance
By: Mukul Sanwal | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 03 Oct , 2016
South Asia is the least integrated region in the world, and that is not in line with global trends. This is a major reason constraining India’s economic potential and its re-emergence as a...
Post Uri: Moving For a Coherent Policy towards Pakistan
By: Bhaskar Roy | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Analysis Group | Date: 02 Oct , 2016
The Pak-based terrorist attack on the Indian army camp in Uri on September 18, which killed 19 Indian soldiers, has hit a raw nerve in India. This audacious, well planned attack across the LOC...
India’s ‘Surgical Strike’ Across the LoC: A Preliminary Assessment
By: Angshuman Choudhury | Issue: Courtesy: IPCS | Date: 01 Oct , 2016
On 29 September 2016, the Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) announced that India had conducted overnight pre-emptive ‘surgical strikes’ against terrorist targets along...