Comment & Briefs

The interim opportunity provided by the Army’s curtailment of insurgent activity needs to be utilised to meet the aspirations of the local population in insurgency affected areas.

While the world community is trying its best to provide help to flood affected Pakistan in spite of aid fatigue, SAARC is conspicuous by its absence.

The present reality of industrial and environmental disasters in China calls for a reality check about India blindly copying the Chinese development model.

Politically isolated in the international community both at the regional and multi-lateral levels, Fiji has found an apt ally in China to ward off any further pressure.

The ISI threat assessment may be received with great enthusiasm in Western capitals and policy circles, but for observers from the subcontinent it is neither ‘fundamental’ nor a ‘shift’.

Apart from alleviating the material plight of the people, transforming the feudal mindset and operationalising reforms to induce fair play and social justice should be one of the long term priority areas for the civilian government in Pakistan.

India has to calibrate its relationship with China, the US, and countries of East Asia with great circumspection in the wake of the resurfacing of tensions in the South China Sea.

On one hand the military Junta is wary of the international backlash in case it tampers with the election process, and on the other it knows what its fate would be if ‘truly fair and democratic elections’ are held.

India needs to chalk out a new paradigm of engagement with the emerging Nepal in which economic and border management issues are prioritised over political issues.

In international conflict resolution, there is a term called ‘disaster diplomacy’, which explains how a disaster in one country may open new ways of interaction and how it brings a new perspective to persisting issues.