South East Asia

Why Southeast Asia Remains a Hotbed for Piracy

Late last month, Japan and Malaysia concluded a weeklong joint coast guard exercise focused on combating piracy in Southeast Asia. Despite a recent decline, piracy is still a threat across the region and cooperation between states—including some, like Japan, that are outside the region—is seen as an important mechanism for mitigating it. In an email interview, Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, a foreign affairs and security analyst on Asia-Pacific issues and a former lecturer at the School of Social Sciences at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, discusses the state of piracy in Southeast Asia and what kinds of multilateral responses have emerged to counter it.

Quiet on the Line of Control: Progress in India-Pakistan Relations?

In February, India and Pakistan announced the resumption of a 2003 cease-fire along their fiercely disputed border — representing a first step toward easing tensions between the nuclear rivals. Soon after, leaders in both countries made forward-looking statements, sparking optimism for rapprochement. While bilateral progress has proven short-lived in the past, and longstanding political and security obstacles remain, could these developments open space to address the underlying drivers of conflict?

Pakistan Army’s ‘Culture Of Entitlement’ – OpEd

If an outsider was to say that there’s rampant corruption in Pakistan army, especially within the top echelons, Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] would label that person a “RAW agent” trying to malign the military and terming such assertions as “motivated”, outrightly dismiss the same. However, what explanation can ISPR offer when patriotic and well-meaning people in Pakistan level similar charges against Rawalpindi?

Tracing The Role Of Ideas And Tactics In The Kashmir Conflict – Analysis

The conflict in Kashmir has undergone several changes and has kept itself relevant by drawing upon ideas and tactics from elsewhere.

Since its outbreak in 1989, the conflict in Kashmir has survived by adopting or dubbing ideas and tactics from the events elsewhere. Conflicts in today’s globalised and digitalised world often feed on new ideas as monotonous strategies and tactics are easy targets for counterinsurgencies and conflict fatigue. Thus, non-state actors and agents of conflicts often implement and introduce novel tactics and ideas to cope with the changes and keep their movements alive, and the conflict in Kashmir is no exemption to it.

Resurgence of Terrorism in Southeast Asia

A string of recent terrorist attacks and plots in Southeast Asia has authorities concerned over the enduring threat posed by regional terrorists.

Militant groups tied to the Islamic State have repeatedly sought to attack targets associated with Christians, including churches, as well as police.

In Petition To The Indian Supreme Court, Shi’ite Leader Waseem Rizvi Demands Removal Of 26 Verses From The Koran That Promote ‘Militancy, Fundamentalism, Extremism, And Terrorism’

Syed Waseem Rizvi, an Indian Shi’ite leader known for issuing provocative statements against the majority Sunni Muslim leadership to gain favor with the country’s Hindu rightwing, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India seeking the removal of 26 verses of the Koran on the grounds that the verses spread extremism among Indian Muslims.

Russian Reactions To China-Iran Agreement

On March 27, 2021, China and Iran signed a 25-year cooperation agreement valued at 400 billion USD and integrating Iran into the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.[1] For Russia, the agreement was received on two levels. On one level, Russia, which has been on the receiving end of Western sanctions viewed the agreement as a blow to the sanctions policy and therefore as a positive. On a different level, the Sino-Iranian agreement, coupled with recent activity by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the region that included visits to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman raised the question of Chinese competition for Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was queried about this issue in a press conference at the Valdai Discussion Club think tank. Lavrov welcomed “honest competition”.

NDS kills Al Qaeda commander in eastern Afghanistan

د ملی امنيت دلوی رياست ځانګړو ځواکونو د پکتيکا په ګيان کې د القاعدې د هند وچې غړی دولت بیګ مشهور په ابومحمدالتاجکي دتاجکستان تبعه او طالب ترهګر حضرت علي مشهور په حمزه مهاجر د وزیرستان اوسیدونکی ګيان ته پر لاره وژلي. #اعتماد‌_یک‌_ملت#د_یو_ملت_اعتما‌د#TRUST_OF_A_NATION pic.twitter.com/H49C6T2bPv
— NDS Afghanistan (@NDSAfghanistan) March 30, 2021

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security killed an Al Qaeda commander and a Taliban leader during a recent operation in the eastern province of Paktika. That happened despite the fact the Taliban insists that Al Qaeda operatives, and all foreign fighters, have not been present in Afghanistan since 2001.