Priyanka Singh

Dr.Priyanka Singh is Associate Fellow at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. She holds an Honours degree in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, and a PhD from the University of Lucknow. Her PhD thesis was titled “Indo-US Relations in the Last Decade – 1990-2000: Shifting Paradigms.” She joined MP-IDSA in September 2007 and is presently associated with the South Asia Centre. Formerly, she worked for the US, Europe &Nuclear centre at the institute. Her broader research interests include Indo-US relations, US engagement in Pakistan and the Cross Line of Control Confidence Building Measures between India and Pakistan. Currently focusing on Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), she is progressing towards developing expertise and extensive subject matter knowledge on various dimensions related to PoK. She is also part of the MP-IDSA project team on Pakistan and PoK. She was the lead author of the PoK Project Report titled “Pakistan occupied Kashmir: Changing the Discourse” published in May 2011.

Her current project is titled“Growing Sino-Pak Ties: Impact on Kashmir issue”. Since 2008, she has been compiling and editing MP-IDSA’s monthly newsletter on PoK.She has travelled extensively across the state of Jammu and Kashmir.She undertook a postgraduate course in Peace Research at theUniversity of Oslo conducted by the International Peace Research Institute,Oslo (PRIO) during June-August 2009. She has frequently delivered lectures/talks on Pakistan occupied Kashmir in Delhi and other parts of the country. She has participated in various officers training programme/courses at MP-IDSA including those for the Indian Air Force and Border Security Force.

She is the author of the monograph Situating Gilgit Baltistan in the Kashmir Discourse (March 2013). Her second monograph is titled: Re-positioning Pakistan occupied Kashmir on India’s Policy Map: Geopolitical Drivers, Strategic Impact (forthcoming 2017). She is the editor of the book The Role of Media in Promoting Regional Understanding in South Asia (Pentagon Press, 2016), co-editor of Proliferation and The Emerging Nuclear Order In the Twenty First Century (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009) and Saving Afghanistan (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009). Her recent publications include: “Army: The be-all or end-all of Pakistan Politics,”Strategic Analysis, 39(3) May/June 2015; “The China Pakistan Economic Corridor: Gauging Implications for India’s claim on Pakistan occupied Kashmir,”CASSJournal, (Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies)April-May-June 2016; “Prospects of Travel and Trade Across the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC),” International Studies, Volume 50 (1& 2) ( 2016); and “Radicalization in Pakistan: Youth Bulge as a Factor,” in S. D. Muni & Vivek Chadha (Eds.) Asian Strategic Review (Pentagon Press 2016).

  • Associate Fellow
  • Email:priy2007[at]gmail[dot]com
  • Phone: +91 11 2671 7983

Publication

The Diamer Bhasha Dam in Gilgit Baltistan: India’s Concerns

This article is an attempt to understand India's concerns over the Diamer Bhasha dam project within the overall ambit of India's approach towards Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). It makes a holistic assessment of the feasibility of the project, the political and technical issues involved in it, the long-term strategy of Pakistan and China in the region, and the local reactions, which must inform India's future policy preferences regarding PoK. The article is divided into three parts.

Stephen P. Cohen and Others, The Future of Pakistan

Post 9/11, the regional strategic discourse in and on south Asia has been overwhelmed by Pakistan and Afghanistan. The past 10 years witnessed Pakistan’s degeneration into a violent, terror-infested state with diminishing authority of the civilian set-up. Moreover, its role in abetting terrorism as an instrument of state policy became known and was acknowledged internationally. The prevailing situation in Pakistan is grave and the likely future scenarios dismaying.

Whither Aid? Future of US Assistance to Pakistan

Post 9/11, accepting the indispensability of Pakistan in solving the Afghan problem, US sanctioned massive flow of aid in Pakistan. Having committed substantial amount of aid henceforth, US feels its security objectives and efforts are frustrated by Pakistan’s duplicitous acts in the war against terror. In the wake of the Osama killing, US policy makers are debating how to devise an aid policy which could strike balance between short term objectives of counter terrorism and long term goal of stabilizing Pakistan by making aid more development oriented.

First Draft: Witness to the Making of Modern India by B.G. Verghese Westland, 2010, 573 pp., Rs. 695, ISBN 9-7893-8028-3760

Verghese, B.G. has written several books in his multifaceted career, spanning over six decades. His latest work First Draft: Witness to the Making of Modern India is somewhat unique and is a summing up of his variegated experiences. It is a valuable addition to the body of work on India's modern ‘general history’ on which, according to the author, little work has been done (p. xii).

The United States in South Asia: An Unending Quest for Stability

Seth G. Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2010, pp. 430, ISBN 978-0-393-33851-5 (paperback

Forrest E. Morgan, C. Christine Fair, Keith Crane, Christopher S. Chivvis, Samir Puri, and Michael Spirtas, Can United States Secure an Insecure State , RAND Corporation, US, 2010, pp. 232, ISBN 978-0-8330-4807-3 (paperback)