2017

Excessive military presence in public spaces, a rigid approach adopted by the ruling power in India and, most importantly, the grave human rights violations in the aftermath of the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani have increased home-grown militancy and radicalization among the Kashmiri population. Educated Kahmiri youths, who don’t even know how to use arms, are standing up for a …

Pakistan gained independence in 1947. Born as an inherently weak state with meagre means of survival, the country was anticipated, by some of its opponents, to dissolve within six months of its creation. Yet, Pakistan not only survived as an independent state, it progressed too. However, one wonders if, after seven decades of independence, Pakistan can be called ‘a truly …

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a project pregnant and brimming with immense geopolitical and geo-economic dimensions, has even deeper geo-strategic connotations. It has already set forth a massive upheaval in the dynamics of the Af-Pak and South-Central Asian regions and portends even starker ramifications for the Indian Ocean/Arabian Sea region as well. The United States, under President Donald Trump, is still …

World Population Day (WPD) is observed on the 11th of July every year. Governments, NGOs, educational institutions and media houses across the world observe this day as a national and global cause to highlight the seriousness of the issue of population growth and to educate people in this regard. It is pertinent to mention here that the other world days …

Washington’s recent doubling down on aggressive military posturing has led to wide speculation that Pyongyang could be the next target for unilateral action. Even though the administration has indicated that military option is among the options under review, there are many signs that North Korea is not Syria – as military action against the former carries far greater risks. 1. …

Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and its suspected hacking of French President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign servers, should surprise no one, given President Vladimir Putin’s (mis)understanding of soft power. Before his re-election in 2012, Putin told a Moscow newspaper that “soft power is a complex of tools and methods to achieve foreign policy goals without the use of …

On June 7, 2017, IS that had nothing to do with Iranian regime for many years, suddenly appeared in Tehran and carried out armed attacks on Iran’s two most significant symbols of the 1979 Revolution – the Parliament and the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran – though they are the most secure centres …

The international legal framework that deals with nuclear weapons may collectively be styled as the international nuclear law; and this framework obviously, like other areas of international law, is not static. One aspect that calls for a comment is that the international nuclear law falls in a shared domain of both the jus ad bellum (law of war) and the …

In March 2015, Yemen’s president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was forced to flee the country by Zaidi Shia Houthi rebels. The Houthis had the support of some Ali Abdullah Saleh loyalists in the country’s military. To quell the rebels, and to restore Hadi government to power, Saudi Arabia forged a coalition of a dozen countries, including the Gulf Cooperation Council states …