A military-backed caretaker government supported by the international community assumed power in Bangladesh on January 11, 2007, promising a corruption-free and clean democratic environment to usher in a new era in politics. It has introduced a series of electoral reforms and has taken action against the 'corrupt'. As Bangladesh is poised for parliamentary elections by the end of December, doubts remain about whether politics in Bangladesh will change for the better, however.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• November 2008
• Strategic Analysis

• Darini Rajasingham Senanayake
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

This article deals with financing of Islamist terror in Bangladesh, which on occasions becomes jihadi in nature, especially when it is directed towards India. The exercise undertaken studies developments in the area of terrorist finance in Bangladesh post-9/11, but does not claim to fully estimate the volume of terror financing in that country. The attempt has been made to throw some light on an area where little research has been done. The article argues that the Government of Bangladesh has shown a half-hearted approach towards checking the finance of terrorism.

• Anand Kumar
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

For several decades, religion has been a visible and potent force in the domestic politics of Muslim countries. Within Asia, the issue has attracted considerable debate and a good case study of this is Malaysia. Issues of religious conversion, demolition of temples, apostasy, and Islamic state discourse have widened fault lines among different religious communities in Malaysia.

• Pankaj K Jha
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

In recent years India, along with China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has been following a policy of diplomatic engagement with Myanmar. India has also clarified its diplomatic stand that such a policy engagement will positively serve its national interests.

• Pradip Saikia
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

In order to construct an operational nuclear device, terrorists need to obtain the requisite fissile materials - Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) or plutonium. It has been proved that, generally, it is much simpler to devise a crude nuclear bomb with HEU than with plutonium. Hence, terrorists can have 'reasonable confidence' in the performance of weapons-grade HEU bombs. The magnitude of the threat of nuclear terrorism from Pakistan's HEU-based nuclear weapons programme is assuming alarming proportions. However, adequate preventive steps can be taken to minimize the danger.

• Reshmi Kazi
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

• Pradeep Jeganathan
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

• M. D. Nalapat
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

• Darini Rajasingham Senanayake
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

The February 2009 Swat deal between the Taliban and the Pakistan Government, the current Pakistani Army offensive against Taliban strongholds in various areas of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and the Talibani response to those operations through terror attacks in various Pakistani cities, sharply underline the clear and present threat to Pakistan.

• P. K. Upadhyay
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

The reactions of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India indicate a new regional consensus that state sponsored terrorism cannot be dealt with only at the bilateral level.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• September 29, 2016
• IDSA Comments

Through a pragmatic strategy coupled with national will, India should undertake calibrated responses to defeat Pakistan’s proxy war game plan with a view to making its misadventures prohibitively costly and unsustainable.

• G.G. Dwivedi
• September 23, 2016
• IDSA Comments

The advocacy by Pakistani analysts of the Indian disinclination to retaliate massively in response to their use of TNWs on their own soil indicates either a flawed analysis or a bluff that the Indian armed forces would be inclined to call.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• September 21, 2016
• Issue Brief

Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal has a whole pile of problems lying unsolved at home. And he has only nine months, as set by his coalition partners, to deliver on his promises.

• Umesh K. Bhattarai
• September 16, 2016
• IDSA Comments

India has failed the Valley by not countering the false narratives of Pakistan’s false lexicon on Kashmir.

• Prabha Rao
• September 08, 2016
• Issue Brief

The Prachanda regime’s success in bringing India-Nepal ties back on track will greatly depend on his domestic performance; that is where the goodwill which can give him political heft lies.

• Rajesh Singh
• September 05, 2016
• IDSA Comments

India will have to keep a close watch on the developments within PoK and highlight the Pakistani strategy of promoting terror in Kashmir and expose its policies towards both the regions within PoK

• S. K. Sharma , Ashish Shukla
• August 19, 2016
• Issue Brief

While a higher volume of trade through Petrapole should benefit both countries, this new ICP mechanism needs to be suitably leveraged to ensure that the north-east also derives benefits.

• Gautam Sen
• August 02, 2016
• IDSA Comments

India must avoid policy incoherence and inconsistency on PoK that has spanned decades, and navigate a course that helps reshape the domestic as well as external discourses on PoK and pursue Indian claims in a firm, consistent manner.

• Priyanka Singh
• August 01, 2016
• Policy Brief

The political reality in PoK is that ‘azadi’ is a chimera, and substantive control of the area is shared between terrorist organisations such as the LeT and HM and the political elite of Islamabad. However, a narrative has been fed in the Kashmir Valley that Pakistan is a more favourable option than India.

• Prabha Rao
• July 28, 2016
• IDSA Comments