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

Smruti S. Pattanaik

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Dr Smruti S Pattanaik is a Research Fellow (SS) at the MP-IDSA. Her area of specialisation is South Asia. Her current research project is titled as “India’s Response to China’s Presence in South Asia: Challenges and Policy Options”.

Dr Pattanaik has been a recipient of many international fellowships. She was a Visiting Asia Fellow (Asian Scholarship Foundation, Bangkok) at the Department of International Relations, Dhaka University in 2004 and follow-up grantee in 2007, researching on politics of identity in Bangladesh. She was a recipient of Kodikara Award in 1999 (RCSS, Colombo), a Post-doctoral Fellow at FMSH (Fondation Maison des Science de l’Homme), and was attached to the Centre for International Relations and Research (CERI, Science Po), Paris. She was selected to attend the Symposium on the East Asian Security (SEAS) Program conducted by the US State Department and USPACOM in 2011. She was a Visiting Fellow (September-October 2011) at the International Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), she was a Visiting Professor on ICCR’s India Chair at the University of Colombo for a semester.

She has lectured on India’s foreign policy and South Asia at the Colombo University, Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Asia Centre in the University of Melbourne, University of Karachi, University of Peshawar and University of Dhaka.

She was the Course Director of the India-Bangladesh Studies Programme jointly conducted by Jamia Millia Islamia and Dhaka University. She developed a course on “Political Developments in Bangladesh 1971-2010” as part of the European Union-funded project on Curriculum Development on Peace- building in Europe and South Asia, organised by the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia in 2011.

Dr Pattanaik has published more than 60 research articles in various peer-reviewed journals both in India and abroad. She has contributed more than 50 chapters in edited books, and delivered lectures on security issues both in India and abroad. She has authored a book titled Elite Perception in Foreign Policy: Role of Print Media in Influencing India-Pakistan Relations 1989-1999 (Manohar Publishers & RCSS: 2004), and a Monograph titled Afghanistan and its Neighbourhood: In Search of a Stable Future (PRIO-IDSA, 2013). She has edited two books South Asia: Envisioning a Regional Future, Pentagon Press, Delhi, (2011) and Four Decades of India Bangladesh Relations: Historical Imperatives and Future Direction, Gyan Publishing House, (2012), and two reports titled Pakistan on the Edge (2013) and Unending Violence in Pakistan: Analysing the Trend (2014). She is a member of MP-IDSA’s task force on neighbouring countries and is coordinator of Pakistan project. She writes for the Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) and is on the Editorial Board of MP-IDSA’s flagship journal, Strategic Analysis published by Routledge.

Research Fellow

Publication

SAARC at 25: Time to Reflect

Instead of taking up new areas in its summit declarations, SAARC should focus on trade, connectivity and security and the need to develop a regional identity. Only a regional identity will generate a regional approach.

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The imperative of a national government in Nepal

Nepal Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who heads a twenty-two party coalition government, chose India for his first official foreign visit after assuming office two months back. This ‘goodwill’ visit was undertaken against the background of Nepal’s increasingly fragile peace process. The bilateral agenda was just a pretext. What brought him to New Delhi were several domestic factors. While this is not to say that there are no urgent bilateral issues between the two countries, the most crucial factor today is India’s support for Nepal’s coalition government.

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Is the BDR Mutiny a Conspiracy?

The mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers which started on February 25, 2009 with the brutal killing of army officers has sent shock waves through Dhaka. Even though many in Bangladesh empathize with their demands and genuine grievances, none have been able to fathom the reason for the brutality with which Army officers were killed. The officers were shot, bayoneted and dumped in mass graves and sewerage. The massacre also included the killing of family members, ransacking their houses and in some cases looting valuables.

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Ascendancy of the Religious Right in Bangladesh Politics: A Study of Jamaat Islami

The ascendancy of Jamaat Islami to power in a country that was born on the basis of secularism indicates the changing political dynamics in Bangladesh. Its syncretic tradition rooted in its language and culture limited Jamaat's success. Nevertheless, given the role the party played during the liberation war, its political ascendancy speaks of the changing political landscape. This article argues that though the party has exhibited some political success, it faces challenges from the secularists in the socio-cultural sphere, thereby limiting its growth and expansion.

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Imperative of Exercising Control over the ISI

The deadly terrorist attack in Mumbai is set to derail India-Pakistan bilateral relations. With all the evidence pointing towards Pakistan, it has become difficult to advocate that India must go ahead with the composite dialogue. The Indian government is understandably frustrated with Pakistan’s reluctance and/or inability to act against radical groups within its territory. In spite of repeated Pakistani assurances, radical groups are still operating openly in Pakistan, raising funds for jihad, and imparting armed training to jihadists.

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Kashmir has nothing to do with stability in Afghanistan

The contention that stability in Afghanistan is linked to the resolution of the Kashmir issue is fallacious. It only serves the interests of a particular interest group, which has consistently tried to link stability in the subcontinent to the Kashmir issue, and which is now illogically stretching this argument to include stability in Afghanistan. This argument gives the impression that the dynamics in the two cases are interlinked, when they clearly are not.

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Re-emergence of the Military and the Future of Democracy in Bangladesh

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.

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