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Gen Dwivedi to Retire June 30, Leaves Behind Army With 50,000-Plus Drones
General Upendra Dwivedi will retire as Chief of Army Staff on June 30, 2026, concluding a tenure that saw the Indian Army’s drone inventory grow from a few hundred to more than 50,000 — a figure expected to double again within two to three years, according to defence sources. More than 25 Drone and Counter-Drone…
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Indian Capital in Nepali Markets: Investment, Integration, and Influence
When commentators measure India’s standing in Nepal, they reach for the familiar instruments of statecraft: the 1950 Treaty, water-sharing agreements, summit communiqués, and the occasional border irritant. Yet the most durable strand of Indian influence runs through ledgers, not letterheads. It sits on the balance sheets of Nepali banks, in the turbines of Himalayan rivers,…
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The Teesta Trap: How Chinese Loan Architecture Could Quietly Mortgage Bangladesh’s Budget Sovereignty
When Bangladesh’s interim government revived negotiations for the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project (TRCMRP) with Beijing in early 2025, it framed the decision pragmatically: India had repeatedly failed to deliver a water-sharing agreement, leaving Dhaka with few credible alternatives for one of its most critical rivers. The origins of that frustration trace back…
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Game-Changer or Glorified Export Model? The Capability Gap Pakistan’s Navy Will Not Discuss
When the Pakistan Navy’s PNS Hangor was commissioned at a ceremony in Sanya, China, on 30 April 2026 — attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf — the official narrative was triumphant. Pakistan had finally broken into the advanced submarine club, the country’s strategic communications apparatus declared. What…
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Gwadar as a Transit Port: A Vision Not Yet Matched by Reality
Pakistan is proposing Gwadar Port as a transit hub for landlocked Tajikistan, nearly a decade after the port received its first container ships in 2016. In its best recorded year across that period, Gwadar handled 22 ships. Nine Years and a Ceiling of 22 Ships When CPEC was announced and Gwadar was positioned as its…
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From Black July to Easter Sunday: Sri Lanka’s Tragedy of Collective Amnesia and Majority Rule over Minorities
Sri Lanka’s modern history from Black July in 1983 to the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 is a story of a country that bled lives and wealth while refusing to confront the structures that made violence possible. Between pogrom, war and terror attacks, well over a hundred thousand people were killed and the economy lost…
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The World Must Act: Global Leaders Cannot Stay Silent on Tibet’s Education Crisis
The struggle for educational and linguistic rights in Tibet has become one of the most urgent yet underreported human rights issues of our time. As authorities continue to expand policies that prioritise Mandarin Chinese over Tibetan-language instruction, the future of Tibet’s cultural identity, linguistic heritage, and educational autonomy faces unprecedented challenges. The international community can…
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What a Carrier Can Do That Nothing Else Can: The Case for India’s Third
Recently, China teased in a video an aircraft carrier that is likely to be its fourth and the first one using nuclear power. Strip away the geopolitics for a moment. Set aside the China threat, the Hormuz blockade, the Red Sea crisis, the INS Vikramaditya structural audit, and the industrial arguments about Cochin Shipyard. Ask…
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Professor Rohan Gunaratna: Terrorism Expert? Or Intellectual Mercenary?
This article examines the commercialization of post-September 11 terrorism studies through a critical evaluation of Rohan Gunaratna’s career, framing it as a primary case study of “information speculation” and epistemic opportunism. It maps how Gunaratna systematically pivoted his threat assessments—ranging from hyper-inflated global Al-Qaeda networks for Western defense establishments to regional “octopus-like” Jemaah Islamiyah cells…
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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…