Synergising Indian Navy and the Coast Guard Armed Forces all over the world are beginning to realise the importance of jointmanship, and accordingly enormous efforts have been made of late to promote jointmanship and bring about integration of the three armed forces in India. However, no attempt has been made to formally integrate the Coast Guard, which has also been termed as an armed force of the union, with the other forces, especially with the Indian Navy (IN). Alok Bansal | Summer 2008 | Journal of Defence Studies
Interstate Border Disputes in the Northeast At a time when the India-China border dispute is hogging the limelight and causing unease in the Indian establishment, many festering inter-state border disputes in the Northeast that are sowing seeds of discord seem to elude the attention of policymakers at the Centre. The issue of inter-state border disputes came to the fore recently, when tensions erupted along the Assam-Meghalaya border following the Assam government’s attempt to lay a foundation stone for a primary health sub-centre at Langpih, a border village claimed by both Assam and Meghalaya. Pushpita Das | June 12, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Will Success in the East Pave the Way for Peace and Stability in Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka’s Eastern province is transitioning to a new era. First came Karuna’s exit and subsequent co-operation with the government in Colombo. This was followed by the expulsion of the Tigers soon thereafter. And the latest is the successful completion of Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) elections on May 10, 2008 and the coming into existence of a democratically elected government under Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan after two decades of civil conflict. M. Mayilvaganan | June 12, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Flexibility in Political Dialogue Needed to Avert Chaos in Bangladesh In the ongoing mass arrests in Bangladesh, nearly 20,000 people have been put behind bars. These arrests started on May 28, 2008 after the ban on political activity was lifted. It was expected that after allowing political activity, the government will facilitate the electoral process leading to the holding of elections which were postponed in January 2007. But the mass arrests in the name of deteriorating law and order condition have made the political situation fluid. Anand Kumar | June 11, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Terrorist Attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad On June 2, terrorists exploded a car-bomb outside the Embassy of Denmark in the high-security diplomatic area of Islamabad. The explosion instantaneously killed eight people, injured more than twenty five and damaged properties in the vicinity. People killed in the attack were mainly Pakistanis, including the local staff at the embassy and a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin. It is not clear how an explosive-laden car was able to enter such a highly-guarded area without detection. Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay | June 09, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Signs of the Emerging Third Leg: Strengthening India’s Triad Nuclear weapons are seen as the ultimate guarantors of nations’ security. During the cold war, peace between the two super powers, for instance, was tenuously guaranteed by the fear that conflicts could escalate into a nuclear conflagration. Consequently the nuclear weapon states which had assiduously built their stockpiles, worked with an equal sense of urgency to obviate the use of these very weapons. They did so by paradoxically working to guarantee their usability. Thomas Mathew | Summer 2008 | Journal of Defence Studies
Growth and Implications of Private Military Corporations Security, both as a concept and a policy objective, has been undergoing steady expansion in terms of its scope and focus. The concept, on the one hand, has steadily lost its traditional military-security oriented approach and has been broadened into a more holistic and comprehensive paradigm by linkages with non-traditional security issues. In this connection, the “Security sector reform (SSR) has emerged in recent years as a way of tackling the security and development questions together. Shantanu Chakrabarti | Summer 2008 | Journal of Defence Studies
Problems with Arms Imports Recent announcements of major arms acquisition programmes by the Indian government must have given a sense of elation to the armed forces, which have been waiting for long for some of this equipment. These announcements also give greater confidence to the nation about the military’s capability to tackle national security challenges. But there are other long term implications of arms procurement largely through import. N. Neihsial | June 03, 2008 | IDSA Comments
The Chlorine Gas Leak at Jamshedpur On the afternoon of May 27, the people of Jamshedpur were caught unaware. They were exposed to a dense, pale green, pungent and poisonous gas, Chlorine. This gas had leaked from an unused cylinder lying in the Tata Motor’s water treatment plant for the past 10 years. By the next day, around 150 to 200 people had been hospitalised. The affected people also included company employees and their family members. So far no deaths have been reported. Monalisa Joshi | May 31, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Defence Budget as a Strategic Tool of National Security The practice of converting defence plans into publicly known defence budget is essentially a practice of democratic governments. One reason for public disclosure of defence spending could be that tax payers expect to know directly or through their representative how much is being spent on national defence and on other sectors of economy which affects their security and welfare. Disclosing the defence budget even to the domestic audience was rarely done in the past. In fact, even today, some major powers do not disclose their defence spending to the world. N. Neihsial | May 30, 2008 | IDSA Comments
