COMMENTARIES
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Maoist Violence and its Limitations
Devyani Srivastava · 31 Jul, 2009 · #2926 · Commentary
Since the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in September 2004, the armed activities of the Maoists have gained unprecedented lethality and frequency across India. The virtual absence of the Indian state in some areas and excessive...
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Bombings in Jakarta
Tuli Sinha · 31 Jul, 2009 · #2925 · Commentary
On 17 July 2009, Jakarta was shaken with the twin terror attacks at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton. The bombings in the heart of Indonesia’s commercial hub came after a long hiatus since the deadly Bali bombings in 2002. Indonesia is known...
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Arunachal Pradesh’s Border Roads
Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman · 29 Jul, 2009 · #2924 · Commentary
The state of Arunachal Pradesh in India’s northeastern frontier has been appearing quite regularly in the Indian national security and strategic imagination for some years now. Strident Chinese territorial claims, particularly over the Tawan...
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Tibetan Waters: Coming Conflict?
Kimberley Layton · 29 Jul, 2009 · #2923 · Commentary
On 24 July the Indian Agriculture Minister announced a contingency plan to tackle the water crisis affecting India’s north. Well-below average monsoon rainfall has led several states to declare drought and more states look likely to follow s...
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India’s Manned Space Flight: Scope and Significance
Radhakrishna Rao · 29 Jul, 2009 · #2922 · Commentary
Not withstanding a snag affecting the performance of India’s maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 launched in October 2008, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going ahead with India’s first manned mission slated for launch ...
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Rohingyas: Systemic Abuse in Myanmar and No Respite in Thailand
Harnit Kaur Kang · 27 Jul, 2009 · #2921 · Commentary
Myanmarese refugees can hardly be blamed for wanting to escape the brutality and poverty inflicted upon them by their military rulers. Freedom from fear and want are highlighted in the Preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the upper...
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Indo-Pak Dialogue at the NAM Summit: Real Progress?
Kate Swanson · 27 Jul, 2009 · #2920 · Commentary
On 16 July at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani met for the second time after the Mumbai terrorist attacks. The informal yet impo...
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Taking China Seriously
Bhartendu Kumar Singh · 27 Jul, 2009 · #2919 · Commentary
The recent publication of the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) Annual Report 2008-09 has a welcome note - unlike previous reports, when military and strategic developments in China were either ignored or marginally treated, the latest report elabo...
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Mapping the Afghan Elections
Raghav Sharma · 25 Jul, 2009 · #2918 · Commentary
“If I say a [fully free and fair] election is possible at this time it is merely a lie. If I say it is impossible I block the only way forward.” This observation made by a provincial councilor of the insurgency-ridden Ghazni province v...
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G-8 Declaration and India: Be Cautious not Paranoid
Yogesh Joshi · 25 Jul, 2009 · #2917 · Commentary
The 8 July G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy and the agreement among the G-8 members on restrictions over transfers of sensitive technologies like enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) to non-NPT members has created much hullabaloo in New Delhi. The...
