Strategic Analysis

Indo-Bangladesh Talks on Sharing of the Ganga Waters

A major irritant in Indo-Bangladesh relations has been the question of sharing Ganga waters between the two countries. Though negotiations for the settlement of the problem have been going on for the last five-and-a-half years, a final agreement is still elusive. At times, it appeared that the two countries would not reach any agreement and the issue would affect their relations. Fortunately, the deadlock, which persisted for some time, was broken in April last. Now it appears that India and Bangladesh have been negotiating satisfactorily and a final agreement would be signed soon.

What Can EAEU-India FTA Bring to Indian Industrial Development?

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2017, the Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Veronika Nikishina and India’s Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman met to sign a joint statement on the start of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and India.

Bangla Desh and Our Policy Options

It is necessary to have a detached and realistic assessment of the military situation in Bangla Desh. During the last one week, our press reports were over-optimistic and these reports need careful reassessment now.

State-Level Concept and Scope of Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement for Verification of Undeclared Nuclear Material and Activities

The safeguards verification measures of comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA) of non-nuclear-weapon states (NNWS) with the international atomic energy agency (IAEA) for verifying presence or absence of undeclared nuclear material and undeclared facilities and activities using the provisions of Additional Protocol (AP) is well recognized. Recently, the IAEA has proposed State-Level Concept (SLC) for verifying the presence or absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in the state within the provisions of the CSA.

India Versus China: Why They Are Not Friends

‘We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow’, thus spoke Lord Palmerston in 1848, then still the foreign minister of the United Kingdom.1 ‘Nations neither have enemies nor friends but only interests, the national interest’ is an aphorism which has been subsequently attributed from Winston Churchill to Henry Kissinger.

Taiwan’s Quest for World Health Assembly Participation

Taiwan’s striving for institutional recognition has made its campaign to obtain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) a distinct case in international relations (IR). The first section briefly introduces framing as an analytical approach governing the arrangement of this research. The second section articulates how Taiwan’s utilization of framing has shaped public opinion and helped advance its interests. The third section adopts ‘a scorecard approach’ to evaluate Taiwan’s efforts to engage with the WHA comprehensively.

Conundrum of an Island: Sri Lanka’s Geopolitical Challenges

Sri Lanka, one of the most strategic islands in the Indian Ocean, is mired in several domestic political, security and strategic challenges since the end of the armed ethnic conflict in May 2009. However, with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the post-war economic boom, it was largely believed that no one would shed tears anymore in the teardrop island. Such hopes and expectations were belied when the country witnessed multiple terror attacks in different locations in Colombo on 21 April 2019.

Historicising the Birangona: Interrogating the Politics of Commemorating the Wartime Rape of 1971 in the Context of the 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh

Two decades ago, ‘1971’ was deemed to not have a market within Indian publishing houses and media outlets. Yet, one is struck by the contemporary Indian focus on the iconic figure of the Birangona – brave women, a title given by the State of Bangladesh to women raped by the Pakistani army and their Bengali and non-Bengali collaborators during the Bangladesh war of 1971.

Operation Kilo Flight: Night Attack By Otter Aircraft – A First-Hand Account

Operation Kilo Flight was inaugurated on 28 September 1971 by Air Chief Marshal P. C. Lal in the presence of Group Captain A. K. Khondker, who was our second-in-command with the Armed Forces/Mukti Bahini during the liberation war of 1971, Sqn. Ldr. Sultan Mahmood, Flt. Lt. Shamsul Alam, Flt. Lt. Badrul Alam, Capt. Khaleque (Ex-PIA), Capt. Sattar (Ex-PIA), Capt. Muqueet (Ex-PIA), Capt. Shahab (Ex-PIA), Capt. Akram (Ex-Plant Protection Pilot), Capt. Sharfuddin (Ex-Plant Protection Pilot) plus 58 airmen of various technical trades of the PAF.

Shamsul Alam |
November 2021 |
Strategic Analysis

Bangladesh: A Half Century into Freedom

The article is an observation of the fifty years that have gone by since the liberation of Bangladesh through a guerrilla war against Pakistan in 1971. It spells out the causes behind the military and political collapse of the Pakistan state in Bangladesh, formerly the eastern province of Pakistan. Furthermore, the article is a brief study of the conditions confronting Bangladesh at birth, which at a certain point pushed the country into reverse gear through the rise of illegitimate regimes in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.