After a lull, the demand for Khalistan, an independent homeland for the Sikh community covering the Punjab area of India, has hit headlines in Canada, the US, and the UK. It has seen four murders in recent months, and India and Canada have expelled senior diplomats. On Sept. 18, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Indian government agents were involved […]

The India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC), announced during the 2023 G20 Summit, holds significant potential for enhancing economic integration, trade, investments, and fostering cooperation among the participating countries on multiple fronts. This ambitious project aims to establish a seamless trade route connecting India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Jordan, Israel, and Europe, with the potential […]

Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai on Wednesday called on countries in the region and beyond to stop spreading “negative propaganda” against the Islamic Emirate and instead take positive steps to ensure stability in Afghanistan. Speaking at a ceremony in Kabul to mark World Tourism Day, Stanikzai reiterated that peace in Afghanistan is important for the […]

In the first half of 2023, India bore witness to a disturbing surge in hate speech events targeting its Muslim minority population. This article delves into the documented instances of such events, the underlying causes, and the potential ramifications for Indian society and politics. While India lacks an official definition of hate speech, we adopt the United Nations framework, which […]

Right from the inception of Pakistan, it has had the insatiable desire to keep Afghanistan under its tacit control; anything and everything for Afghanistan should go through Pakistan. Pakistan, from the 1980s, increasingly meddled in the affairs of Afghanistan. From training and nurturing the Taliban in the early 1990s to supporting the US in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) […]

Within the legal framework of India, provisions exist to facilitate a transition, if necessary, from the usage of Bharat with India as is the case today to only Bharat with the complete exclusion of India. It is plausible for this transition to occur, but contingent entirely upon political resolve and a societal climate conducive to change. All talk, till it […]

Malaysia faces a tough crossroads of economic choice in choosing to end its reliance on China or to align more closely on the West for long term economic assurance, albeit in a slower term. Kuala Lumpur will need to have a strategic long term reorientation of its economic fundamentals, especially on ensuring a dependable and sustainable external economic dependence. Current […]

Malaysia’s August 2023 state elections have left the country’s political landscape in a precarious equilibrium. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim kept the opposition at bay, but his unity government — an alliance of political forces anchored by the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition and the former long-time ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (National Front) — lost ground, mainly in Malay-majority constituencies. […]

On 13 September, Afghanistan’s acting Prime Minister, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, and the Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, welcomed China’s newly appointed ambassador, Zhao Sheng, at the presidential palace in Kabul. Subsequently, the Chinese embassy in Afghanistan urged the international community to continue engaging in dialogue with the Taliban and, in turn, encouraged the Taliban to adopt moderate policies and establish […]

The UN Security Council is holding a meeting on Afghanistan on Tuesday where Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s special representative for Afghanistan, will present her report on the situation in Afghanistan, especially that of women and girls. Nasir Ahmad Faiq, head of Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, as appointed by the former republic government, and UN Women […]