The NIA has busted a Kerala-based Islamic State module that was allegedly planning terror attacks at different places of worship as well as on leaders of certain communities in the state. The module had been conducting reconnaissance missions at potential targets, it said. In another operation, the NIA also arrested an Aligarh Muslim University student hailing from Lohardagga, Jharkhand for […]

Faizan Ansari, the 19-year-old from Jharkhand arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday for his alleged links to the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), is highly radicalised and had formed a group of 10 individuals to carry out a major attack in India, according to sources in the agency. Ansari was in touch with the ISIS operatives in […]

Pakistan and Iran have had historical, political, economic, and cultural ties that have spanned several decades. These ties have been characterized by cooperation in various areas and mutual interests. Iran was the first country to officially recognize Pakistan as an independent sovereign state after its creation in 1947. The formal recognition came just two days after Pakistan’s independence on August […]

The first month of Pakistan’s monsoon season is not even over yet and unusually heavy rainfall has already wreaked havoc across the country. One hundred deaths are attributed to monsoon-related incidents and overflow of rivers in Punjab have displaced 15,000 villagers. Most recently, a strong downpour in the capital Islamabad caused a wall to fall on construction workers sleeping in […]

From their response, it appears that political parties and separatists are either completely baffled or fixated by the recent spate of murderous attacks targeting members of minority communities and migrant workers in J&K. For example, National Conference [NC] MP Hasnain Masoodi seems to be unable to fathom as to “why do you have three to four incidents within such a […]

The Narendra Modi government’s policy of letting Manipur burn without taking political steps to douse the fires, is going hand in hand with its policy of strengthening military relations with the junta ruling Myanmar. Indian arms supplies to Myanmar are being used to suppress rebel tribal communities that live on the Myanmar-Manipur border, according to the pressure group “Justice for […]

Pakistan ever since its inception as an independent Nation State in August 1947 has never been at peace with itself or with its neighbours on both its Western Flank and Eastern Flank— Afghanistan and India. The same holds truer in 2023 when despite its economic and political meltdown which should have impelled Pakistan to sue for peace with its neighbours, […]

US President Joe Biden served as vice-president throughout the presidency of Barack Obama. Sometimes too little significance is given to Biden’s total identification with the major policy initiatives that marked Obama’s two terms in office. The Iran nuclear deal, endorsed by the UN Security Council in July 2015, was regarded by Obama as one of the crowning achievements of his […]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the USA at the end of June provided an opportunity for the two countries to strengthen their relations at a time of growing geopolitical tensions. On the one hand, there are the usual US tensions with Russia and China over the Ukraine crisis, the Taiwan issue and the US-China trade war. On […]

In recent times, the Chinese yuan or renminbi (RMB) exchange rate has undergone significant fluctuations. Since late June, the offshore RMB against the USD dropped below 7.2. Then, in early July, as the USD index declined, the RMB started to rebound and recovered to the 7.15 level on July 14, both onshore and offshore. Nevertheless, starting this week, after the […]