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522 Attacks, 66 Dead: Inside Bangladesh’s Devastating Year of Communal Violence in 2025
On 19 January 2026, Muhammad Yunus posted on social media that his government had investigated 645 incidents involving minorities in Bangladesh during the previous year. Of those, he said, only 71 could be classified as communal in nature. The remaining 574, the government maintained, were ordinary criminal or social disputes — land conflicts, theft, sexual…
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Pipes Over Politics: How the India–Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Became a Lifeline in Times of Crisis
Somewhere beneath the paddy fields and dusty market towns of northern Bangladesh, a steel pipe runs quietly underground. Most people living above it have no idea it exists. But every time a farmer fills his irrigation pump, or a bus pulls out of a depot in Rangpur, or a hospital generator kicks on without interruption…
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From Integration to Elimination: The PLA’s Absorption and Dissolution of the Tibetan Military
China’s dismantling of Tibet’s military marked one of the clearest signs that its promises of autonomy under the 1951 Seventeen-Point Agreement were never intended to be honoured. The Seventeen-Point Agreement publicly framed Tibet’s annexation and integration into the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a “peaceful” and “mutually beneficial” arrangement. But this narrative was a…
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Operation Sindoor: India’s Strategic Pivot from Restraint to Proactive Deterrence
In the early hours of May 7, 2025, India executed one of its most consequential military operations since the Kargil War. Codenamed Operation Sindoor, the campaign was a tri-service strike against nine terrorist infrastructure sites across Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and the Pakistani province of Punjab. More than a military action, it announced a…
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Beijing’s Courtship, New Delhi’s Concern: The Quiet Battle for Nepal’s Strategic Alignment
India and Nepal share an open border, a cultural affinity that predates both countries’ current forms, and a bilateral relationship with more complications than either government tends to acknowledge publicly. China and Nepal share a high-altitude frontier, a history of limited direct contact, and a relationship that has grown considerably more active since 2015. Two…
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Child Soldier to Double Agent: The Untold Story of Kagusthan Ariaratnam Spy Tiger: The 05 File
In this powerful interview, former child soldier Kagusthan Ariaratnam shares his extraordinary journey from being forcibly recruited into the Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War to becoming an intelligence operative and global peace advocate. Kagusthan’s memoir Spy Tiger: The 05 File reveals the hidden realities of war, espionage, survival, and the psychological toll…
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Geopolitical Alignment or Strategic Autonomy: Sri Lanka’s Defense Posture and the 2026 Indian Ocean Crisis
The decision by the administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to deny the United States military access to the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in March 2026 represents a critical inflection point in the maritime security of the Indian Ocean Region. While the Colombo government maintains that this refusal was a calculated act of “strict neutrality”…
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The Geopolitical Transformation of Asymmetric Naval Warfare: From the Sri Lankan Littoral to a Grand Strategy for the Strait of Hormuz
The modern maritime security environment has undergone a fundamental shift from blue-water fleet engagements to highly complex asymmetric confrontations in the littorals. This evolution is best exemplified by the conflict between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Sea Tigers, a non-state actor that pioneered the use of suicide…
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SADF Podcast Alert: “A Tale of Child Soldier: In Discussion with the Authors of ‘Spy Tiger 05 File’
Join us for an eye-opening episode as we delve into the harrowing yet inspiring journey of Kagusthan Ariaratnam aka Murali, a former child soldier of the LTTE. In these podcast, our host Natasha Fernando discusses with Kagusthan Ariaratnam and Michael Bramadat-Willcock, the authors of ‘Spy Tiger 05 File’ the untold stories of resilience, survival, and…
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The Geopolitical Crucible and the Intelligence State: An Investigative Analysis of the 2019 Easter Sunday Bombings and the China-Rajapaksa Proxy Hypothesis
The coordinated suicide bombings that struck Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019, targeting three churches and three luxury hotels, represent a seminal moment not only in the history of South Asian terrorism but in the shifting architecture of the global order. While the immediate aftermath saw the Sri Lankan government and international entities such as…