Bisaria Cover Image Courtesy: Amazon India
22 February 2024

Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan

A new book on India-Pakistan relations by former High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria, brings his practitioners’ knowledge to the fraught bilateral. He reiterates that the determining factor is still Pakistan’s quest for identity based on territory and security, and the paranoia of the Pakistani army. The book contains fascinating insights about his predecessors’ suggested solutions and lays out three scenarios for the future.

pakistan economy Courtesy: Reuters
24 May 2023

South Asian Currencies in Crisis

India’s South Asian neighbours have all seen sharp currency devaluations since early 2022. These are a result of maintaining artificially strong exchange rates, made possible by remittances from migrant workers. However, by postponing the inevitable devaluations, these states have made their economic crises much worse.

Pashtuns Devasher Courtesy: HarperCollins Publishers India
10 January 2023

Tangled history: the Pashtun

Tilak Devasher's book The Pashtuns: A Contested History delves into the Pashtun tribe, highlighting its geopolitical significance and far-reaching consequences in the South Asian region. Reviewer Tim Willasey-Wilsey says the book brilliantly explains how the Pashtuns were strong-armed into joining Pakistan and why the prospect of Pashtun unity poses a threat to security in Pakistan and the entire region.

Pashtun Book 12 Courtesy: HarperCollins Publishers India
3 November 2022

The Pashtuns: A Contested History

Tilak Devasher’s book on the Pashtuns brings out the dynamics of the Pashtun, their code, their relationship with Islam and with Pakistan. It contextualizes the current geo-political challenges in South Asia, making it required reading for those who want to understand not only the Pashtuns but regional strategic and security dynamics.

SCO Iran Courtesy: Iran Press News Agency
1 September 2022

Players & partners at SCO Summit

The relevance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has increased due to the clear divisions developing in the world, since the Ukraine crisis began. Several leaders will probably attend in-person, a chance to advance their regional and economic interests. India has good relations with most SCO countries, and sees the upcoming Summit as a way to secure its strategic and security objectives.

Imran Khan 2021 Courtesy: AFP/Getty Images
15 August 2022

The convulsions in Pakistan

The genesis of Pakistan’s current political and economic problems lies with the pre-1947 Pakistan movement. But, its immediate problems stem from the political engineering done by the Pakistani army to install a hybrid regime led by Imran Khan who, they realised much later, was unable to deliver either on the economy or on governance.

sco meeting pngf Courtesy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan
4 August 2022

A fruitful SCO foreign ministers’ meet

The SCO foreign ministers met in Tashkent in July to plan for the all-important SCO summit in September. New additions and old issues remain, but the SCO is now growing into a significant grouping, with importance to India