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The 2nd ‘Belt and Forum Initiative’ meeting at Beijing concluded last weekend. It saw the participation of heads of states from 36 countries. Over 90 institutions, including the UN and the IMF and nearly 5,000 participants including media, academic, corporate and others also participated in the forum. This included all Southeast Asian countries, except Indonesia, all Central Asian republics except Turkmenistan; 2 out of 8 South Asian countries, Mongolia from East Asia, UAE from West Asia, 12 European nations including Russia and Azerbaijan, 5 countries from Africa (as against only Ethiopia and Kenya in 2017 meeting), and one from Latin America (Chile). Many big countries were conspicuous by their absence at the 2nd BRI meeting including three out of five BRICS members, the United States, UK, Germany, France, Japan (only represented by the ruling party representative), South Korea, Australia, Spain, Turkey and others. Days before the forum meet, China released its assessment on “Belt a

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. This was the first meeting between the two leaders. It was termed as an important meet; as Moscow and Pyongyang are Cold War allies and this meeting took place as Russia stepped up efforts to increase its influence in the region. It also helped Moscow to reassert itself once again in the regional conundrum after Russia seemed to be pushed back after the developments that took place between North Korea and US. While the meeting between President Putin and North Korean leader Kim was on, military drills between US and South Korea also took place which outraged Pyongyang; though the scale of the drill was smaller in place of the large scale annual drill called ‘Key Resolve and Foal Eagle’ joint military drills. As the negotiations between North Korea and the US had met with a stalemate in Hanoi, US had imposed fresh sanctions on Pyongyang. North Korea too has hyped up its

All it seems is not well in Pakistan. With its economy on a nose dive and International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout not coming yet, the country’s Finance Minister Asad Umar had to step down. Though, Islamabad down played the event; the very fact, that the country’s Finance Minister had to resign before the Imran Khan led dispensation has completed even a year in office, reflects the way things are happening in Pakistan. Islamabad has been pressing for a bailout of US$ 18 billion from the IMF. If approved, it would be the 13th consecutive bailout from the international agency. Already Saudi Arabia, UAE and China have offered ‘soft loans’ of around US$ 10 billion to Pakistan. Analysts expect that it might take up to two months before the Washington based IMF grants a bailout, the figure could be well short of what Pakistan has been demanding. It has been speculated that the size of the bailout package could be between US$ 8 and 12 billion. There would be tough riders along the bailout.

On Easter Sunday, April 21, eight suicide bombers attacked churches and hotels in three different places in the island state of Sri Lanka—at Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa—killing over 250 persons, including 38 foreigners. Surprisingly, it took Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) more than two days to claim this heinous act of terror through a video, which showed the leader of the attack, Zahran Hashim, leading the pack of seven attackers, pledging their loyalty to ISIS chief, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. Following the bloody attacks, Lankan authorities apprehended over 70 suspects. During the raids, one woman, purportedly wife of one of the attackers blew herself up with her two children in Colombo. At least two explosives in different locations were defused indicating that there could even be more such attacks by the group, which conducted the attacks. Primary reports revealed that the attacks were masterminded by Zahran Hashim, who hailed from Kattankudy in Batticaloa. He belonged to

Early this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would not renew exemptions for waiver for importing oil from Iran. India, China and US’ allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey will be impacted the most by the non-renewal of waiver. The other three currently exempted countries, Italy, Greece and Taiwan, have reduced their imports to zero. Since its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump administration has been taking steps to economically and diplomatically isolate Iran. The exemptions were granted in November 2018 for a 180-day period for India and other countries. This is due to expire on May 02. That an announcement of such nature would be made by the United States was expected. India’s Ministry of External Affairs had stated that India ‘continues to engage with the United States administration’, indicating that the matter was being discussed. India had been in continuous talks with American officials and was working towards continuation of

In a major milestone in Ukraine’s chequered political history, comedian turned politician Volodymyr Zelenskiy has won a landslide victory in the country’s presidential elections. Winning more than 73 per cent of votes, Zelenskiy, a native Russian speaker of Jewish lineage will become the youngest Ukrainian President. Zelenskiy’s elevation epitomises the proverbial life imitating art. Zelenskiy had played the role of a crusader President in a popular television series, now has shifted gears, to govern his country as its President. A political greenhorn, Zelenskiy had declared his candidature only four months before the polls and set up a political party even more belatedly. The electoral result in Ukraine broadly reflects the growing global trend of politically inexperienced candidates emerging victorious by riding a wave of populism and anti-establishment sentiment. Pitted against the incumbent Petro Poroshenko who had anchored his strategy on whipping up patriotism through the sloga

The world’s largest electoral exercise is over in more than 300 constituencies. With the conclusion of the third phase of elections in India, sixty six per cent of the 18.85 crore electorate in the third phase exercised their franchise to elect 116 representatives to the lower House of Indian Parliament. Election Commission of India has overseen smooth conduct of elections for three phases out of the total seven; in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Indian electorate has already cast their ballot in 303 Parliamentary constituencies out of the 543 seats. In the midst of a feverish election campaign, star campaigners of various political outfits are lending their weight behind their respective candidates. In the third phase of polling, as many as 1640 candidates were in the fray for 116 Parliamentary constituencies. That a large number of candidates contested elections surely demonstrates the strength of India’s vibrant and participative democracy. The 66 per cent voter turnout is a firm

The official North Korean News Agency (KCNA), of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) last week declared that the country has tested a guided weapon. While it is clear that the test was not of a nuclear or intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) nature, it has been termed by the KCNA as the one for an ultramodern but tactical guided weapon, meaning that the range of the weapon might not be long enough to reach the United States. In addition to the weapon test, the North Korean government has asked the United States to replace Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, as Trump administration’s representative for negotiations with North Korea. This statement shows that North Korea is trying to gain diplomatic leverage vis-à-vis United States. The response from the White House has been mild and cautious offering to engage Pyongyang in a constructive dialogue signalling that the Trump administration would not like to get the bilateral dialogue process derailed. The repo

What had started as a peaceful Easter Sunday morning in churches across an island-nation that is known the world over for its serendipity, Sri Lanka was witness to a series of deadly terrorist attacks before the morning was over. It began with a bomb blast in a church in capital Colombo followed minutes later by a second blast in another church in the east coast town of Batticaloa, 250 kms away. These were followed by more bomb attacks targeting another church and three luxury hotels in Colombo. The church attacks took place while members of the island’s Catholic community—an estimated six per cent of the population—were attending the Easter Mass. Altogether, eight bombs blasts were carried out within a short span of six hours. More than 290 people were killed and about 500 others have been wounded—making it the deadliest attack witnessed in Sri Lanka so far. Also, among the dead were several visitors from Europe and America, besides six Indians. To many, the terror attack was remini

Robert Blackwill, a former US Ambassador to India, has graded President Donald Trump ‘B Plus’ in his assessment of the American President’s policy especially towards India. The timing of the assessment is significant. President Donald Trump is now campaigning for a second term in office and so is the incumbent Indian government. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) led by Blackwill, in its special report said, Trump’s foreign policy is better than they seem. It added President Trump “deserves credit for promoting strategic ties with India in a sustained manner”. Unlike the US, a non-biased assessment by Indian academics on India’s foreign policy in general and her achievements in carrying forward strategic partnership with the United States will most likely fetch India an A Grade. In Ambassador Blackwill’s opinion, President Trump should be given credit for further strengthening Washington’s strategic ties with India that has been in an upward swing from the beginning of the 21st c

Bhutan has decided to boycott the second BRI forum, which is scheduled to be held later this month in Beijing, China. Thimphu gave no specific reasons for this decision. Bhutan had boycotted the first BRI forum held in May 2017 as well. Bhutan had explained then that the BRI was a new project and it did not have sufficient information about that, and therefore, Bhutan would choose to wait and understand the dynamics of BRI before joining. Bhutan took the decision three days after India decided not to take part in the second BRI forum, while other South Asian countries including Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have confirmed their participation in that event. India reiterated its position on the BRI that the “connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality, and must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Bhutan’s decision on B

India, this week, successfully flight tested its first indigenously designed and developed long –range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay” from a test range in Odisha. The ‘Nirbhay’ is a land attack cruise missile which can carry nuclear warheads to a strike range of 1,000 kilometers. The missile is capable of loitering and cruising at 0.7 Mach at altitude as low as 100 metres covered the designated target range. The state-of-the-art missile is highly manoeuvrable with “loitering capabilities “to first identify and then hit the intended target with precision. The flight test achieved all the mission objectives, right from lift-off till the final splash, boosting the confidence of all scientists associated with the trial; sources said, adding it has an engine with rocket booster and turbofan jet. The sophisticated missile took-off in a programmed manner and all critical operations like launch phase, booster deployment, engine start, wing deployment and other parameters were demonstrated

Sudan has experienced more changes in the past one week than it did in the three decades under President Omar al-Bashir who was deposed in a coup earlier this month following several months of sustained mass protests. Since seizing power in 1989, Bashir had managed to navigate his way through a permanent state of national crisis. He survived a crippling civil war that resulted in loss of one-third of Sudan’s territory and three-quarters of its oil revenue when South Sudan achieved independence in 2011. He turned more than two decades of international isolation to his political advantage, deflecting blame for his own failures onto his foreign adversaries. But his day of reckoning dawned on 11th April. For most Sudanese, the most urgent task today is to protect their hard-fought revolution from leaders who they are afraid will do everything in their power to subvert it. Protesters have tasted some initial success, rejecting the self-appointed Head of the new transitional military counci

The recent terrorist attack in Quetta that killed 20 and injured 48 members of the Hazara community is a grim reminder of the state of minorities in Pakistan, especially the targeted killing and systematic execution of the Hazaras. The increasing attacks on the Hazaras have raised questions about the nature of such crime against minorities in Pakistan. Some label the violence as a spill-over of the Sunni Shia sectarian violence, while others label it as a systematic targeting of the Hazara community. The sit-in protests by the Hazara against the provincial and federal government are continuing. Their demands revolve around two things, first, action against the militant organizations responsible for the targeted killing of their community and second the effective implementation of the long-promised National Action Plan (NAP). It is pertinent to know who the Hazaras are and why are they on the hit list of the terrorist groups in Pakistan? The Hazaras of Pakistan are an ethnic group with

In the backdrop of the growing tensions between North Korea and the US, especially after the Hanoi talks were cut-short without a statement, the first session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) of North Korea at Pyongyang witnessed a big reshuffle of the country’s leadership. Many prominent North Korean leaders were replaced and others promoted to key positions. New posts have been created and the country’s budget for the year 2018 and projected budget for 2019 were approved. Newly elected deputies discussed about the election of the chairman of the State Affairs Commission (SAC), “of state leadership bodies” and “modifying and supplementing the Socialist Constitution.” The talks were focussed on the theme “state normalisation” to redefine the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)’s political system. Kim Jong-Un has been re-elected as the Chairman of SAC and as conferred with the new title of “Supreme representative of all the Korean people”. It signifies that he remai

India’s average economic growth of the past five years has been in excess of 7%. This has made India one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth, coming in the wake of an economic slowdown in many countries, several downside risks being faced by global investments, strong winds of trade protectionism and uncertainties over ‘Brexit’, is all the more commendable. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest report has lauded India’s economic progress and forecast a growth of 7.3% over the fiscal 2019-2020. It also projected a marginal increase in investments in India. The IMF primarily attributed such growth to the major reforms carried out by India over the last few years. While achieving this growth, India has ensured that inflation is under control and gross fiscal deficit remain within the targets set in the budget. India has unleashed a slew of major economic reforms which have been appreciated by the trade and economic pundits, both within the country and

Hundreds of Pakistani minorities living in the United States staged a protest in Washington recently, over the atrocities carried out against religious and other minorities in Pakistan for the last several decades. The protestors expressed anger over their exploitation too by the Pakistani State. The protestors in Washington DC comprised of Mohajirs (refugees who had gone to Pakistan from India), Balochs, Pashtuns and some religious minorities too. The protestors belonging to the Mohajir group, Muttahida Qaumi Movement‘s (MQM) USA chapter told the American media that the Pakistani military establishment has meted out a lot of injustice to its minorities. Every day there are reports of indefinite number of cases related to killings and disappearances of minorities. The group said, they, as Pakistani protestors wanted to raise their voice in front of the White House and other human rights organisations. The protestors called for international help for the minorities in Pakistan and othe

The 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on 13 April this year, marks a watershed moment in Indian history. Over 1000 innocent men, women and children were killed in cold blood on this day at Jallianwala Bagh, a public garden in Amritsar. The decision to kill these innocent civilians was taken by the British officer, Colonel Reginald Dyer, who later testified that he considered it his “duty to fire on them”. The issue of the cold-blooded killings are relevant as the world marks this tragic anniversary. The Massacre threw a spotlight on the human rights of Indians in British India. The nature of the crime horrified even the British political class. In a debate on this Massacre held in the British House of Commons in 1920, Sir Winston Churchill, whose animosity towards India’s freedom struggle is well documented, called the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre “a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation”. India’s national poet, Gurudev Rabindranath Ta

India is witnessing the world’s largest democratic exercise. It got kicked off yesterday with the beginning of the general elections that is being dubbed as the ‘mother” of all poll battles in the billion plus nation. Ninety-one Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states and two Union Territories voted in the first-phase on Thursday in the poll which, barring some incidents of sporadic violence was by and large peaceful. Fate of 1,279 candidates in the Lok Sabha polls was sealed in the first phase. The mammoth size of the exercise, proudly proclaimed as India’s festival of democracy, could be gauged from the fact that, in the first phase alone, as many as 140 million voters of the total 900 million voters were eligible to vote. 900 million voters mean more than three times the population of United States. Voting was also held for Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha. The highest turnout of 81 per cent was witnessed in West Bengal where the ruli

India has declined China's invitation to attend the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) which is scheduled to take place later this month in China. This is for the second time that India has turned down the invite for participating in the BRI forum. India had spurned the invitation earlier in 2017. This year representatives from over 100 countries including about 40 leaders of governments are likely to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum. India is of the view that inclusion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through parts of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir under illegal occupation of Pakistan, as a flagship programme of the Belt and Road Initiative reflects lack of understanding and sensitivity to India's concerns on the issues of sovereignty and territorial integrity. These concerns have been raised with China at various levels on different occasions. The CPEC is a conglomeration of infrastructure projects meant to deepen economic ties between China

India’s Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra paid a two day official visit to Sri Lanka. During the visit he called on the President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne. During the visit, both countries agreed to enhance their regional security cooperation including cooperation in dealing with non-traditional security issues such as human trafficking and drug smuggling. Capacity building and training of armed forces of Sri Lanka has been the core area of cooperation between the two countries. In this regard both the countries agreed to increase the number of training personnel from Sri Lanka. As part of the visit, the Indian delegation participated in the 6th Indo-Sri Lankan Defence Dialogue. Since 2012, the dialogue has become a platform to review the security and defence cooperation issues between the two countries. India’s keen interest in increasing its regional security cooperation wi

It appears that a game of bizarre is being played out in Pakistan. The Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made preposterous allegations in Multan against India saying that New Delhi could be upping the ante in the coming days; amidst the still looming tension between the two countries post-Pulwama. India rejected the irresponsible and preposterous statement by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. India in a strong reply said, this gimmick appears to be a call to Pakistan-based terrorists to undertake a terror attack in India. New Delhi further added that Pakistan needs to take credible and irreversible steps against terrorism operating from all territories under its control rather than making hysterical statements to obfuscate the core issue that bedevils our region: cross- border terrorism. The outlandish statement of Mr. Qureshi could be attributed to the malaise that is presently prevailing in the ruling Paksitan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party. It has been reportedly widely

After six months of Presidential elections, the third multiparty parliamentary elections were held in the Maldives last Saturday. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) secured a majority in the Parliament by winning 67 out of the 87 seats. MDP secured majority of the seats from Male city, Addu city and Fuvahmulah. This number is the highest any party has won since Maldives adopted a democratic multiparty system in 2008. The partners in the joint coalition which was formed during the Presidential elections in September 2018-MDP, Adalath Party (AP), Jumhoori Party (JP), and Moumoon Reform Movement (MRM) - contested separately in the parliamentary elections as they failed to come into a consensus on seat sharing. MRM backed independent candidates for 20 seats of which only one candidate won. AP, which contested for nine seats, failed to win a single seat. JP which formed an electoral alliance with the opposition-Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) won five out of 41 seats it had contested

Food insecurity continues to be a global challenge. Increasing population, rising incomes, changing diets, falling water tables, more foodless days, slowing irrigation, increasing soil erosion, climate change and melting water reserves have all contributed to food insecurity. These are particularly so in rising economies. At a time when the quantity of food produced worldwide is sufficient to feed all, the number of food-insecure people, paradoxically, remains high. Much progress has been made in reducing hunger and poverty and improving food security and nutrition. Gains in productivity and technological advances have contributed to more efficient resource use and improved food safety. But major concerns persist. The latest Global Report on Food Crises says that 113 million people in 53 countries experienced food insecurity in the world’s most severe food crises in 2018. Moreover, an additional 143 million people in another 42 countries are just one step away from facing acute hunger