India and China: the “diplomacy of strings”

By K N Pandita

Last week, a news item in Hindustan Times disclosed that our Defence Ministry would be doing a mega joint exercise in the Andaman Sea. The contingents of Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Coast Guard are to take part in the drills. IAF’s Jaguar maritime strike aircraft, transport aircraft, destroyers, anti-submarine warfare corvettes, amphibious warships with ship-borne helicopters among others will take part in the exercise. Continue Reading…

Pakistan’s expectations from Biden admin

By K N Pandita

Prime Minister Modi’s farewell message to Donald Trump on the conclusion of the latter’s last visit to India was “ab ki bar Trump sarkar”. The wish did not come true. It is a stark reminder that the results of democratic elections are unpredictable. Continue Reading…

Fast-tracking of Indo-Pacific partnership

By K N Pandita

The Eurasian Times of 17 January reported de-classification of a US highly confidential ten-page report prepared by Assistant Secretary Robert C O’ Brian which, among other things, highlights the importance of India in the US’ Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific as the Trump Administration’s overarching strategic guidance for implementing the President’s 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) within the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region. Continue Reading…

A new chapter in India-Saudi relations

By K N Pandita

In his six-day-long (9 – 14 December 2020) visit to the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Army Chief, General MM Naravane was given a red carpet reception by the hosts as it was the first visit of any Indian Army Chief to the two strategically important countries in the Gulf region. In both countries, the Commander met and interacted with his counterparts and other top military and civilian brass besides visiting some of their prestigious defence establishments. The itinerary of the General’s engagements in the two countries shows the importance attached to the visit. Continue Reading…

Farmers’ strike has notable lessons

By K.N. Pandita

The recent strike by sections of Punjab-Haryana farmers may not arguably pass for a nationwide strike. Nevertheless, some political opposition parties and those with vested interest tried to expand the strike to other states as well. Thus behind the cover of farmers’ protest, these political parties have been trying to challenge the sovereignty of the Parliament. It is politics of disruption and not of nation-building. However, notwithstanding its geophysical aspects, we should not shy away from making a dispassionate analysis of the upsurge because for more than one reason it is a notable event in the contemporary political history of India. Continue Reading…

South Asian conundrum- strategies and statesmanship

By K N Pandita

China made a grave miscalculation in opening front against India in the Eastern Ladakh. It shows that PLA has turned into a typecast unable to keep pace with the dynamics of changing world order. Her intrusive economic ventures globally have induced many developed countries in the West to look for the protection and perpetuation of their commercial wellbeing. Continue Reading…

Muslim tirade against French President

By K.N. Pandita

Last week saw a widespread outburst of the people in many Muslim countries against the President of French Republic Mr Emmanuel Macron. In certain cases like Pakistan, the mobs after Friday prayers became uncontrollable and turned violent so much so that the authorities had to deploy riot force to control the unruly mobs. Continue Reading…

Supreme Court verdict on Shaheen Bagh lockdown

By K.N. Pandita

The verdict of the Apex Court in a petition filed by BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg has mostly focused on the constitutional and administrative aspects of the last winter’s Shaheen Bagh sit-down agitation that had caused great inconvenience to the public in a crowded part of the capital for a long time. The sit-down strike ended in March last and the verdict has come seven months later. The long time gap is reflective of rather low priority with which the Apex Court treated the matter. Continue Reading…

Isn’t the dragon getting oversized?

By K N Pandita

Expansionism by force and by treachery is China’s well-known forte. If the originator of the chain-Hindi Bhai Bhai naiveté became its hopeless victim, bring not the onus to the doorsteps of China. The great lessons that India learnt from the 1962 debacle are primarily twofold. One is the bitter truth that “power flows from the barrel of the gun”, and the second is that “the internal enemy is far more dangerous than the external one” more so when the latter is patently in cahoots with the enemy. Continue Reading…

A tiny lamp versus the tempest

By K.N. Pandita

If Kangana Ranaut’s critical statement hurt anybody or any institution, the right thing to do was to make her judicially answerable on refusing to apologize. In no case, it warranted taking the law into one’s hand. This country has to be ruled by the law of the land and not the jungle law. Continue Reading…

Iran in new regional alignment

By K.N. Pandita

CIA overplayed capitalist hegemonic role in Iran during the Iranian oil nationalization movement under Dr Mussadegh in the 1950s. Thereafter Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, inexperienced in national politics and regional diplomacy, failed to interact with the Iranian Left, the Jibbeh-e-Milli and also the Iranian clergy, both opposed to the monarchical rule. Some self-seeking intransigence political leaders who emerged from time to time hardly enjoyed popularity with any solid constituency in Iran. Though the Left was suppressed but not eliminated. The clergy expanded their influence fairly well in rural Iran. Continue Reading…

Muslim world: the deepening fissures

By K.N. Pandita

The new Islamic syndicate, though still at the conceptual stage, is pushed mainly by Turkey and Pakistan. Iran, the lone Shi’a Muslim State, and traditionally not friendly with the Sunnis would be an odd man in the contemplated syndicate. Continue Reading…

India-Iran relations under strain

By K N Pandita

Iran has not officially announced dropping of India from Chahbahar’s three-fold project. The buzz emanating from The Hindu is actually attributed to two middle rank Iranian officers but not to any senior official spokespersons. Hence, till date the buzz remains only a quasi-official rumour. Continue Reading…

AEHRF makes interventions in the HR Council Session

Asian Eurasian Human Right Forum (AEHRF), a Delhi-based NGO with ECOSOC status made two video interventions in the 44th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on July 13 and 16. Speaking on item 3 of the agenda on ‘Human Rights of Women in prisons, Dr’ K. N Pandita, President AEHRF reminded the Council of “United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners” (Nelson Mandela rules) that the essence of these rules is to treat the female prisoners as human beings and not targets of human rage, revenge, or lust. Continue Reading…

Sub-continent: What is in the throes of danger?

By K.N. Pandita

Chinese intrusion in Eastern Ladakh some weeks ago is neither an isolated nor a sporadic event. It is a pre-meditated plan with close relevance to the ominous situation developing in South Asia from the Himalayan heights to the Indo-Pacific region. China’s threatening postures and dubious moves either in the South Sea or in Galwan Valley of Eastern Ladakh, are signs of coercion and hence an indirect threat to peace in the region. Continue Reading…

Why Muslims neglect the Uighurs

By K.N. Pandita

The US Secretary of State announced the imposition of visa restrictions on such Chinese officials as are found responsible for perpetrating atrocities on Uighur Muslims of the autonomous region of Xinxiang, formerly known as Eastern Turkestan. Continue Reading…

India invited to G-7 Camp David summit

By K.N Pandita

During a 25-minute telephonic talk on June 2, President Trump invited PM Modi to the G-7 Summit likely to be held in Camp David in September this year. Originally scheduled for 10-12 June, the summit had to be postponed owing to the corona pandemic. Continue Reading…

Pakistan: An enigma for the Islamic world

By K. N. Pandita

One wonders whether Pakistani leaders are conscious that the Muslim world in general, and the Arab world in particular, are unable to ascertain the locus standi of their country among the comity of Islamic nations. Their confusion stems from the fact that Pakistan was created as the homeland for the Muslims of India but India still, 73 years after the partition, retains more Muslims than Pakistan, indeed is the home to the second largest Muslim population in the world. Continue Reading…

The great game in Inner Asia

By K.N. Pandita:

India-China standoff in Eastern Ladakh is something more than what meets the eye. A plethora of reportages and commentaries on the Sino-Indian flare-up on Eastern Ladakh border has been published by the international media. Experts and observers have expressed various shades of opinion on the incident and have also tried to link it to the history of border skirmishes between the two sides. Continue Reading…

WHO and Covid-19; Mired in a controversy

By K.N. Pandita

It is not simply the terms of trade but the rise of China and the possibility it may overtake the US as the world’s greatest power that is at stake. At the beginning of the Trump administration, some commentators suggested that before he left office, China would overtake the US in terms of the size of its economy. Continue Reading…