Thoughts on Police Reforms

Somehow, we have a great Indian trait of conducting movements of energizing answers to questions which themselves are vague. Then we conduct seminars and debate the issues, find workable practical answer and at the end of it hand that all over to the same politicians and bureaucrats who are resisting change.

Indo Bangladesh Relations – People Are the Key

India and Bangladesh have covered a lot of ground in this one year of Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister despite Hasina cozying upto China as articulated in an earlier post, Bangladesh Calling China. Despite this post, the two countries have made significant progress in bilateral relations through a range of  initiatives as articulated below. [...]

Two Fronts and a Beleaguered Backyard

Two Fronts India today is passing through interesting and challenging times along its periphery. Pakistan, with its focus on Afghanistan despite the floods, has not lost its balance, and continues fomenting trouble in Kashmir and elsewhere in India. Kayani, with an extended term on American insistence, has redoubled his efforts at keeping India out of any progress in [...]

Politics of Pakistan Floods

This is a satellite picture of the devastating path of the Indus that has rendered 4 million homeless and affected 20 million. This NY Times imagery gives a bird’s eye view of the extent of the calamity. Putting the pieces of this devastation back would be a herculean task for any government. Especially a government [...]

NATO in Afghanistan – Between Rock and a Hard Thing

These faces of war in Afghanistan are a grim reminder that the Taliban are evolving their tactics better than the ISAF in this war on terror. The increased levels of sophistication and expertise in using IEDs and conduct of guerrilla warfare indicates the tenacity and vibrancy of the so called backward Taliban to contest all that is [...]

Burma Elections 2010

The announcement of November 7 as the date for elections has sparked off a race to boycott the elections by various ethnic groups. This cartoon in Irrawady highlights the mood in Burma. An article highlights the troubled path where various ethnic and political groups including the NLD are following to stay away from the elections [...]

This Independence Day

This Independence Day can we take a pledge to align our National Interests with the interests of millions of deprived, starved and undernourished children? Can we prevent our grains from rotting and fill these hungry mouths so that evils of naxalism do not stalk us? Children who are to carry the flag late into this [...]

Balkanising Pakistan

It is time to Balkanise Pakistan, says Michael Hughes.In his article titled Balkanising Pakistan: A collective National Security Strategy the author has articulated the “Why” of his suggestion through a compelling argument. This has serious ramifications for the region, especially for India. The basic proposal of fragmentation is to break off and allow Afghanistan to [...]

The Larger Game

There is a bleeding hearts story doing the rounds that Kashmiri youth have been alienated and they have “spontaneously” taken up Intifada to seek justice and may be Azadi. Much against the common perceptions that the events in Kashmir are spontaneous (and labeling them as Intifada), the signatures of Pakistan-sponsored proxy operations have been revived at both the [...]

How Much Convincing Does the World Want?

What Chris Alexander, the Canadian diplomat, brought to the notice of the world on the heels of WikiLeaks and a three-year extension to Kayani, obviously has made no impact on Obama. Obama said Monday that Pakistan is doing all it can to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. The revelations made by the Canadian Diplomat, who [...]

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