South Asia and Beyond

Parul Chandra

Professional newshound, have navigated through typewriters, computers and mobile phones during my over three-decade-long career working in some of India's finest newsrooms (The Times of India, Financial Express). Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan are my focus, also Sri Lanka (when boss permits). Age and arthritis (that's a joke) have not dimmed the thrill of chasing a story. Loves music, animals and pasta.

NSAs Trilateral Meet Looks At Threats Posed By China, Radicalisation

NEW DELHI: A little known regional security arrangement bringing together the national security advisers of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives has met in Colombo. The revival, after a gap of six years, was at India’s initiative and appears at least partly driven by Delhi’s concerns about China’s expanding profile in the Indian Ocean, and […]Read More

Bangladesh: Creeping Radicalisation And A Complicit Government

NEW DELHI: The space for those expressing secular, liberal or progressive views is shrinking rapidly in Bangladesh–this is a view expressed by Bangladeshis as they see hardline elements gaining increasing salience in the Muslim-majority nation. Even more worrying, they say, is that such radical views are no longer confined to Islamist outfits but have spread […]Read More

Shringla’s Nepal Visit May See Land Borders, Air Space Reopened

NEW DELHI: Winds of change in the India-Nepal relationship? That remains to be seen, but the visit later this week of India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Kathmandu suggests a determination to address the bumps in the relationship. The most recent bump of course, is the bitter border dispute over Nepal’s claims to the […]Read More

Look Before You Tweet, Sober Advice For US Govt On Pak Radical

NEW DELHI: Look before you leap should be standard advisory for the US government’s various Twitter handles, especially those concerning Pakistan. Days after the US Embassy in Islamabad re-tweeted a tweet critical of Prime Minister Imran Khan, another blunder, this time by the Florida-based US Central Command (CentCom). It condoled the death of Khadim Hussain […]Read More

At Virtual SCO Summit, Modi Slams BRI/CPEC, Warns Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity while executing connectivity projects, an indirect reference to China’s Belt & Road and CPEC projects that run through territories India claims. Modi was addressing the 20th Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State on Tuesday, a virtual summit where China’s […]Read More

Suu Kyi Expected To Win Myanmar Polls Despite Fading Lustre

NEW DELHI: A lot can change in five years and no one realises this better than Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s state counsellor (equivalent to prime minister). As she leads her party the National League for Democracy (NLD) to polls on Sunday, the expectation is of an emphatic win though perhaps short of the landslide […]Read More

In Big Win, India Back On UN Budgetary Panel

NEW DELHI: In a significant diplomatic victory for India at the United Nations (UN), its candidate has been elected to the prestigious Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ)–which controls the purse strings of the UN. Vidisha Maitra, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 2009 batch had been fielded by India for […]Read More

India Calls Upon UK For Convergence On Indo-Pacific

NEW DELHI: “For us, and for many others, the shift in the economic trajectory from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific has been hugely consequential,” with that India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla laid out for his hosts in London, the idea of a “rules-based international order achievable only with a rules-based Indo-Pacific.” He told the […]Read More

India Slams Pak Move To Grant Gilgit Baltistan Status Of Province

NEW DELHI: The announcement by Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday granting provisional provincial status to the disputed region of Gilgit-Baltistan has been slammed by India as one aiming to “camouflage its illegal occupation” and conceal human rights violations there. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivsatava said India “firmly rejects the attempt by […]Read More

Sri Lanka Voices Concerns On Quad’s “Militarisation”

NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka has flagged concerns about the “militarisation” of the `Quad’, expressing the worry that it may trigger a “cool war” in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This apprehension has been voiced by Sri Lankan foreign secretary Jayanth Colombage, just days after India decided to invite Australia to participate in the 24th edition […]Read More

Pompeo Roasts “Predator” China in Sri Lanka, Maldives

Sorry Mr Secretary @SecPompeo, we’re busy promoting #China-#SriLanka friendship and cooperation, not interested in your #AlienVsPredator game invitation. The US can play two roles at the same time as always. NEW DELHI: Thus went the tweet by the Chinese embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Tuesday afternoon as it mocked the visit of the US […]Read More

Landslide Win For Seychelles Opposition, Ramkalawan New President

NEW DELHI: For the first time in 40 years, Seychelles opposition LDS (Linyong Demokratik Seselwa) led by Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalwan has won the presidency. When results were announced on Sunday, Ramkalawan had decisively defeated incumbent president Danny Faure 55% to 43.5% . His victory’s doubly sweet with his party winning a majority in the National […]Read More

Will The Force Be With Kamala Harris On Voting Day?

Question: Have you ever felt discriminated? Kamala Harris: Oh my whole life. I remember the neigbours kids who we played with one day told us, “No, our parents said we can’t play with you because you’re Black.” NEW DELHI: That sense of being “othered” because of her skin colour may have been the driving force […]Read More

India Keen On Assumption Island, Awaits Seychelles Poll Outcome

NEW DELHI: Over three days beginning Thursday, the Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles will hold simultaneous elections for a new president and parliament. Like other major powers, India too is keeping a close eye on the upcoming polls. The western Indian Ocean archipelago’s geo-strategic location is what has kept major powers like the US, China […]Read More