Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

Priyanka Singh

Dr.Priyanka Singh is Associate Fellow at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. She holds an Honours degree in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, and a PhD from the University of Lucknow. Her PhD thesis was titled “Indo-US Relations in the Last Decade – 1990-2000: Shifting Paradigms.” She joined MP-IDSA in September 2007 and is presently associated with the South Asia Centre. Formerly, she worked for the US, Europe &Nuclear centre at the institute. Her broader research interests include Indo-US relations, US engagement in Pakistan and the Cross Line of Control Confidence Building Measures between India and Pakistan. Currently focusing on Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), she is progressing towards developing expertise and extensive subject matter knowledge on various dimensions related to PoK. She is also part of the MP-IDSA project team on Pakistan and PoK. She was the lead author of the PoK Project Report titled “Pakistan occupied Kashmir: Changing the Discourse” published in May 2011.

Her current project is titled“Growing Sino-Pak Ties: Impact on Kashmir issue”. Since 2008, she has been compiling and editing MP-IDSA’s monthly newsletter on PoK.She has travelled extensively across the state of Jammu and Kashmir.She undertook a postgraduate course in Peace Research at theUniversity of Oslo conducted by the International Peace Research Institute,Oslo (PRIO) during June-August 2009. She has frequently delivered lectures/talks on Pakistan occupied Kashmir in Delhi and other parts of the country. She has participated in various officers training programme/courses at MP-IDSA including those for the Indian Air Force and Border Security Force.

She is the author of the monograph Situating Gilgit Baltistan in the Kashmir Discourse (March 2013). Her second monograph is titled: Re-positioning Pakistan occupied Kashmir on India’s Policy Map: Geopolitical Drivers, Strategic Impact (forthcoming 2017). She is the editor of the book The Role of Media in Promoting Regional Understanding in South Asia (Pentagon Press, 2016), co-editor of Proliferation and The Emerging Nuclear Order In the Twenty First Century (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009) and Saving Afghanistan (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009). Her recent publications include: “Army: The be-all or end-all of Pakistan Politics,”Strategic Analysis, 39(3) May/June 2015; “The China Pakistan Economic Corridor: Gauging Implications for India’s claim on Pakistan occupied Kashmir,”CASSJournal, (Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies)April-May-June 2016; “Prospects of Travel and Trade Across the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC),” International Studies, Volume 50 (1& 2) ( 2016); and “Radicalization in Pakistan: Youth Bulge as a Factor,” in S. D. Muni & Vivek Chadha (Eds.) Asian Strategic Review (Pentagon Press 2016).

Associate Fellow

Publication

China’s Role in Afghanistan and Pakistan Post US-Nato Withdrawal: Implications for India

The monograph examines the inception of China's geostrategic/geo-economic pivot towards Pakistan— and more recently, Afghanistan— before charting the trajectory of its expanding role in the Af-Pak region. It assesses the viability of the evolving geopolitical triangle comprising China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, before evaluating possible Chinese strategy behind deepening engagement with a region marked by chronic volatility. The study, in particular, assesses China's strategic interests in Afghanistan and how Pakistan remains central to its Afghan policy. The monograph also seeks to explore whether the return of the Taliban and China's rising profile in the region would signal the evolution and fruition of China's Af-Pak strategy. By examining both convergences and divergences in Afghanistan and Pakistan's bilateral ties with China, the study investigates the contours of a potentially hyphenated approach. It concludes by outlining prominent security paradigms in the region and the inherent dilemmas that shape China's strategic calculus in this complex geopolitical theatre.

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Kashmir Under 370: A Personal History by J&K’s Former Director General of Police

Soon after acceding to India in October 1947, the princely State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) became synonymous with what was to be known as ‘the Kashmir issue’, ‘the Kashmir conflict’, ‘the Kashmir problem’ or ‘the Kashmir dispute’. From India’s standpoint, Kashmir’s embroilment was mainly due to Pakistan’s invasion of the state, the geopolitically-motivated mess at the UN (when India registered its complaint on the Pakistani aggression) and the retention of territory by Pakistan it illegally occupied during the invasion. Within India and outside, the span of 78 years post Pakistan’s invasion has produced an ocean of literature on multiple issues concerning the former state. Comparatively, there are fewer books that have come out after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. Obviously, the rescinding of the special status from Jammu & Kashmir is still fresh andmore importantly, the new reality is still to sink in completely.

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Priyanka Singh’s Research Article ‘India’s Engagement with Afghanistan under the Taliban: Promises, Opportunities, Perils’ Published in Himalayan and Central Asian Studies Journal

Associate Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Priyanka Singh's research article ‘India's Engagement with Afghanistan under the Taliban: Promises, Opportunities, Perils’ was published in the Afghanistan Special issue of the Journal Himalayan and Central Asian Studies (Vol. 29,Nos.3-4, July-Dec. 2025).

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Discerning India’s Kashmir Strategy: Approach, Challenges and Outcomes

The annulment of Article 370 on 5 August 2019 is considered a watershed in the seven-decade long history of India's approach towards Kashmir. The rescinding of a separate special status and, subsequently, the endorsement by the Supreme Court verdict on 11 December 2023 marked the culmination of India's long haul project to constitutionally absorb the former princely State of Jammu and Kashmir.

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