This month marks the 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet. His departure exposed the rift between the Tibetan faithful and the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.), one which has not closed in the six decades since—and which threatens to become even deeper once the current Dalai Lama, 83-year-old Tenzin Gyatso, passes on.
Although propitious political circumstances made the Balakot crisis between India and Pakistan manageable, Pakistani terrorism remains the principal continuing threat to stability in South Asia. U.S. policy moving forward must relentlessly pressure Pakistan to crack down on jihadi groups or risk continuing crises in the region.
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India will hold elections from April 11 to May 19 to decide whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins a second term as leader of the world’s largest democracy. Around 900 million voters will elect 543 lawmakers to the lower house of parliament, the chief election commissioner Sunil Arora said. Counting will take place on May 23 and results are likely to be announced that day. Opinion polls show Modi, who secured biggest electoral victory in three decades in 2014, may win the most seats but fall short of majority.
The deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir last month has triggered renewed questions about China’s continued protection of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. Will China continue to block international sanctions against JeM’s leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, who has claimed credit for the attack?
India isn’t keeping the best company. When Reserve Bank of India officials reviewed the global economy at February’s meeting, they ticked off a list of major emerging markets that had struggled: China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa all got a must-do-better grade. Disappointing numbers released Thursday mean policy makers can add one closer to home: India itself.
Addressing members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Friday said the fight against terrorism is not a confrontation against any religion. Swaraj, who has been invited as a guest of honour at the meet of the 57 countries, said, “Terrorism and extremism bear different names and labels. It uses diverse causes. But in each case, it is driven by distortion of religion, and a misguided belief in its power to succeed.”
Indian jets conducted air strikes against a militant camp in Pakistani territory on Tuesday, India’s foreign secretary said, and a Indian government source said 300 militants had been killed, but Pakistan denied there had been any casualties. The airstrikes hit a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the group that claimed credit for a suicide car bomb attack killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on Feb. 14, ratcheting up tensions between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
Statement By Indian Foreign Secretary
Indian Aircraft Violate LoC, Scramble Back After PAF’s Timely Response: ISPR
This new crisis—and the attack that provoked it—should come as no surprise, given two notable trends over the last few years. First, JeM has been resurging after a period of relative inactivity, along with the public re-emergence of its leader, Masood Azhar…The other trend that makes the current India-Pakistan crisis unsurprising is the changing dynamics of instability in Jammu and Kashmir where the nature of the insurgency has shifted and become more locally driven in recent years…
Also Read: Drivers, Decisions, Dilemmas: Understanding The Kashmir Crisis And Its Implications
The BJP and its allies went from governing six of India’s 29 states in 2014 to holding 21 by early 2018. So firm seemed Modi’s grip on power that many Indian liberals began drawing parallels to the slide toward one-man rule in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey. A series of surprising setbacks late last year have dissipated this aura of invincibility.
India has begun to implement plans to expand its diplomatic footprint across resource-rich Africa, appointing ambassadors to countries where previously it had no representation, such as Djibouti and Burkina Faso. New Delhi seeks to extend its diplomatic reach to 47 out of 54 African nations, up from the existing 29, with the new appointments.
