IDSA Comments

Though tensions between India and Nepal over a few disputed pockets along the border have persisted for more than three decades, the first half of 2009 witnessed an increase in the frequency of border disputes. An obvious fallout of the disputes was the drumming up of anti-India feelings in Nepal and tension in bilateral relations.

• Pushpita Das |
• August 31, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

With the killing of three women and a nine-year old girl, absurdly described as a police informer, the Naxals have lost any moral justification that they may have had to wage war against India. This heinous crime proves that their acts are much worse than the so-called police atrocities against which the Naxals claim they protect the people. This may be the last straw on an already overloaded government camel reeling under the burden of procrastination, confusion, weak governance and plain indecision.

• Ramesh Phadke |
• August 31, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Japan seems set to overhaul its pacifist security policy with the ongoing formulation of a new National Defense Programme Guidelines (NDPG) for fiscal 2010-2014. The NDPG lays out Japan’s basic policy on its defence strength. The current NDPG expires at the end of this year.

• Shamshad A. Khan |
• August 27, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

“There is credible information of ongoing plans of terrorist groups in Pakistan to carry out fresh attacks. The area of operation of these terrorists today extends far beyond the confines of Jammu & Kashmir and covers all parts of our country…In dealing with the terrorist challenge we need to be prepared for encountering more sophisticated technologies and enhanced capabilities.”

- PM’s speech at CM’s conference on internal security, 17 August 2009

• Ali Ahmed |
• August 26, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Iran has unfortunately witnessed a deep political upheaval in the wake of recent Presidential elections leading to vertical polarization among its ruling elite between two major factions, one led by President Ahmadinejad and supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the other by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi backed by big personalities and former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hashemi Rafsanjani. The conflict between the two elite factions is internally driven and one that is difficult to discern fully.

• P. Stobdan |
• August 25, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Incidents of racial profiling of Indian citizens at American airports have been reported time and again. The latest incident of ‘secondary questioning’ of a film star whom the United States embassy in New Delhi considers a ‘global icon’ and a welcome guest in the US, has once again brought to the fore the contentious practice of racial profiling in the name of effective counter-terrorism.

• Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay |
• August 24, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

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.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik |
• August 24, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

As a harbinger of change in a conflict ridden country, the Afghan presidential elections being held on August 20 are important for both the people of Afghanistan and the international community. Hamid Karzai’s government is seen as weak, ineffective and corrupt. During the last eight years, progress has not been commensurate with the people’s expectations. With rising insecurity and instability, the international community views a credible election as a key plank in the stabilisation of Afghanistan.

• Shanthie Mariet D'Souza |
• August 19, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

A Constitutional court recently dismissed a petition about alleged electoral irregularities filed by opposition presidential candidates Megawati Sukarnoputri and Jusuf Kalla. The decision effectively clears the decks for a second term for the incumbent president Bambang Sushilo Yudhoyono. Both Megawati and Kalla registered complaints against voting list frauds and bogus voting in the constitutional court on July 28 and demanded reelection.

• Pankaj K Jha |
• August 19, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Eight winters since the launch of Enduring Freedom, the turmoil in Afghanistan continues. When contrasted with the progress in Iraqi Freedom, the gloom only deepens. Having applied the necessary mid- course corrections to the ‘ wrong war ’ (Iraq), there is hope on the horizon; despite the Obama administration’s shift of gaze and focus to the ‘ right war ’ (Afghanistan) to include a renewed and reworked military thrust, the initiative continues to rest with the Taliban.

• Raj Shukla |
• August 17, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The liberation of Turtuk block and Siachen glacier in 1971 and 1984 respectively eliminated any threats that could have come from Pakistan having a contiguous border with China along the crest of the Karakoram Range and endangering India’s sovereignty over Jammu & Kashmir. Today, they form part of the Nubra sub-division of Leh district.

• Senge H. Sering |
• August 17, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

In early August, India’s Minister for External Affairs S. M. Krishna visited Australia as part of his trip to attend the Pacific Island Forum meeting, held in Cairns. India is a dialogue partner to the Pacific Island Forum, comprising the countries of the South-west Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand. Most of Mr. Krishna’s time during this trip went in visiting Melbourne and Sydney, where a number of Indian students had been attacked in recent months.

• Rahul Mishra |
• August 17, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The security architecture of any state is normally based on traditional concepts like dealing with issues related to war and peace. This is no longer true in the 21st century when threats cannot be defined only in military terms. Swine flu pandemic is an example of this. Such threats demand solutions which lie beyond routine medical cure.

• Ajey Lele |
• August 13, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The United States and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral cooperation on energy, climate change and environment during their recently concluded strategic and economic dialogue (SED). This MoU follows from a previous agreement, the Framework for Ten Year Cooperation of Energy and Environment (TYF) that was signed during the 2008 round of the SED.

• Avinash Godbole |
• August 10, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

As the din and the dust raised by the Sharm al-Sheikh document settles down, it seems to be opening new possibilities for India to effectively deal with the emerging situation in Pakistan by finally being able to encourage and back ideas of democratic federalism and non sectarian polity in that country. The reference to Baluchistan in the Sharm al-Sheikh Joint Statement has invited the sharpest reactions. But, has not that reference elevated the issue of continuing Pakistani persecution of the Baluchs to an international level?

• P. K. Upadhyay |
• August 07, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

April saw the foot soldiers of Taliban moving to Buner and Dir, after consolidating their position in Swat. The march of Taliban to Buner, which is separated from Islamabad just by the district of Haripur created a fear psychosis in the minds of the ruling elites in Islamabad. The shock and awe that Taliban had managed to create was clearly evident as the Pakistani parliament pushed through Nizam-e-Adl resolution, without refering it to any parliamentary committee on April 13.

• T. Khurshchev Singh , Alok Bansal |
• August 07, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

In a reality check to the wild celebrations that broke out in Pakistan after the Supreme Court declared ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ the emergency that was imposed by General Pervez Musharraf on 3rd November 2007, former Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain reminded his compatriots that “two trucks and a jeep” rolling out of the military headquarters in Rawalpindi is all it takes to disrupt democratic rule in the country.

• Sushant Sareen |
• August 05, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Recent Chinese writings indicate that the Chinese see themselves as a major player in international affairs. They see the global economic crisis as an historic opportunity to redefine the Chinese role. The following is a summary of broad points made in recent Chinese writings on a variety of international issues.

• Arvind Gupta |
• August 04, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

India is taking its time to reopen the dialogue process with Pakistan that has been suspended since 26/11. The meeting between Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s President, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, on the sidelines of the SCO meeting in Yekaterinburg in June had opened up possibilities of resumption. However, the joint statement following the one-on-one session between the two prime ministers at Sharm-el-Sheikh ran into rough weather.

• Ali Ahmed |
• August 04, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Security planners often grapple with the question of how far out they should be looking and planning, and it is not a problem to take lightly. Many believe that as the pace of technology quickens and the number of possible interactions in a globalized, flattened world increase, the real horizon of meaningful forecast moves ever closer. But in my view that only forces us to look farther out, to things that seem distant today, but can be anticipated, and to take a longer view.

• Peter Garretson |
• August 03, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments