South Asia

Regional Arenas - South Asia

July 17—On April 22, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned in her testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that Pakistan was in danger of falling into terrorist hands: “I think that we cannot underscore enough the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by continuing advances, now within hours of Islamabad, that are being made by a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state, a nuclear-armed state.” 

One year later, while the Obama Administration continued its mindless Afghan policy, which no one within the Administration can define, the dynamics within Pakistan have worsened further. There is evidence that Pakistan just might be caught in a whirlpool of violence which could result in an eventual breakup of the country. 

Regional Arenas - South Asia

A multi-nation river project, which has been on the books since the 1970s, and will upgrade or save hundreds of thousands of lives of the poorest people in Asia, otherwise in danger of devastation by chronic floods and diseases, is finally on a path to realization.

On March 22, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told a press conference in Dhaka that during her March 17-19 visit to China, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed made a proposal to her counterpart, Wen Jiabao, to participate in the development of a joint basin-wide management for the Brahmaputra River. "They have described it as a good proposal. We have also made the proposal to India," Dipu Moni said.

Regional Arenas - South Asia

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It would appear that sovereign subjects of Pakistan on its sovereign soil are actively undermining America’s war against terrorism and this too under the tutelage of Prevez Musharraf, for whom Washington has gone to amazing lengths in the belief that he alone can deliver. One example is its apparent acquiescence to Sino-Pak and North Korean-Pak collaboration to undermine US nonproliferation policy – a critical national interest.

Within its larger strategic scheme the US decided to rely heavily on Pakistan in its war against terrorism but over the last sixteen months the latter has demonstrated a singularly duplicitous strategy that has frustrated all US efforts to bring the Taliban and Al Quaida to heel. The so-called cooperating coalition partner has successfully managed to obstruct the US to the point that it is fast finding its military bogged in a virulent guerilla war in Afghanistan. The latest disclosure is the induction of Gulbadin Hekmatyar into the mess we refer to as the War against Terrorism.

Regional Arenas - South Asia

K Santhanam, former Chief Adviser Defence R& D Organization, New Delhi 

Introduction

Communications Security (CS) is the foundation on which the edifice for protection of sensitive information in governmental and commercial transactions is raised. Any security compromise would adversely affect   plans and operations of  the armed forces, the defence establishment and intelligence agencies. This is more  true today than in the past because communications intelligence has become the main source of privileged information in every country. 

It is quite natural that one’s adversaries would conduct focused operations to purloin codes and ciphers so that communication intercepts could be deciphered.  If successful, a rich harvest  would be realized. Correspondingly, the holder of classified information has to exercise constant vigil and thwart every effort to breach the classification barrier. 

Regional Arenas - South Asia

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The workman-like one-day March 12 visit by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to New Delhi not only led to signing of 19 agreements, but also ensured a deepened interaction between Russia and India, in such high-technology areas as nuclear power generation, space exploration, and defense manufacturing. Such deepening of relations between these two powerful nations is bound to have a major impact in the region, which is simultaneously gearing up to utilize the growing economic strength of the two most populous nations on Earth—China and India—amidst acute security threats and the meltdown of the global financial system.

Although the signing of the agreements just occurred, exhaustive discussions between officials from both sides closed the deals over recent months and years. It was also observed that, during this period, China-India relations took a turn for the better, whereby both Beijing and New Delhi have now begun to acknowledge that the two great nations do not have to be competitive, but can be cooperative rivals. In effect, they can grow together, utilizing each other's strength. This is happening despite the fact that most Western pundits, and their echo chambers around the world, are announcing that the enmity between China and India is so deep, that they can never work together. This was pointed out by China's Ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, in an article in China Daily on Feb. 17, 2010. Zhang wrote that, "Although there are certain forces in the world that do not want to see China and India join hands, bilateral relations are standing at a new starting point, facing exciting new opportunities for  development."