News, policy, and perspectives from India and its neighbourhood — tracking the pulse of South Asia
On a clear Sunday morning in May, Kami Rita Sherpa once again stood at 8,848.86 metres, where the sky feels close enough to touch. At 56, the Sherpa mountaineer had just completed his 32nd ascent of Mount Everest — a…
In a significant show of defiance, more than 25,000 landless squatters from 22 districts marched through the streets of Butwal in southern Nepal on Sunday, turning what was once a local grievance into a national political challenge for Prime Minister…
In the high passes of the Himalayas, geography has a way of dictating politics. Recently, Nepal lodged a formal objection to plans by India and China to route this summer’s Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage through Lipulekh, a strategic pass claimed by…
Nepal has objected to India and China routing this year’s Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the Lipulekh Pass, claiming the strategic Himalayan route lies on its territory, a move India has firmly rejected as “untenable” and not based on historical facts.…
On May 1st, in the balmy southern Chinese city of Sanya, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan watched officials from both countries sign a joint-venture agreement and two memorandums of understanding. The pacts cover construction machinery, animal vaccines and medical…
Pakistan has long grown used to external shocks derailing its best-laid economic plans. Few, however, have arrived with quite the speed or expense of the short, sharp war between America and Iran. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif complained to his cabinet…
On April 16th China’s National Bureau of Statistics released its first-quarter GDP figures for 2026. The economy expanded by 5.0% year on year, beating analysts’ forecasts of 4.8% and accelerating from the 4.5% recorded in the final quarter of 2025.…
Barely three weeks after being sworn in as Nepal’s youngest-ever prime minister on 27 March 2026, Balendra Shah – the 35-year-old former underground rapper known as Balen – is discovering that winning power is easier than wielding it.His Rastriya Swatantra…
In the shadow of the Himalayas, a remarkable political earthquake has shaken Nepal. On March 27, 2026 Balendra Shah – better known as Balen, a former underground rapper and civil engineer – was sworn in as the country’s youngest-ever prime…
After seven years of suspension caused by unstable Himalayan geology, concrete began pouring once more this week at Bhutan’s long-delayed Punatsangchhu-I hydropower project, a symbolic and practical milestone in one of the region’s most ambitious bilateral infrastructure endeavours. India’s Union…
In the grand chamber of Punjab’s provincial assembly, a resolution tabled on Thursday has a distinctly ambitious ring. Rana Arshad, A lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has proposed nominating Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Gen Asim…
Death Sentence for Hasina: Bangladesh’s Verdict Shakes India’s Eastern Flank and Risks New South Asian Flashpoint In a courtroom ringed by razor wire and patrolled by armoured vehicles, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday condemned ousted Prime Minister Sheikh…
Sarabjeet Kaur Vanishes from Guru Nanak Jayanti Jatha, Converts to Islam, Marries Pakistani Man, and Goes Into Hiding In the shadow of the historic Wagah-Attari border, where pilgrims cross not just lines on a map but threads of faith and…
In the misty dawn of October 19, 2025, a routine patrol in Srinagar’s Bunpora Nowgam neighborhood unearthed more than graffiti on weathered walls. Handwritten posters, scrawled in Urdu and signed by the enigmatic “Commander Hanzala Bhai,” bore the insignia of…
More than 1.6 million children aged 5-17 are trapped in child labor in Pakistan’s Sindh province, with half a million enduring life-threatening conditions in farms and factories, a bombshell government survey revealed Sunday – spotlighting a persistent scourge despite legal…
In a stark illustration of the tightrope India walks between energy pragmatism and U.S. geopolitical pressure, major Indian refiners have halted new orders for Russian crude oil following fresh American sanctions on Moscow’s oil giants, industry officials have said. The…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for an expedited review of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AITIGA) and proposed 2026 as the “ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation” to deepen ties with the 11-nation Southeast Asian bloc, as both…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday firmly denied any foreign intervention in India’s halting India’s military response to the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir that killed 26 people, asserting in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that India does not…
In a major push to modernize its border security and bolster evidence gathering, India’s Home Ministry has approved the deployment of more than 5,000 night‑vision body‑worn cameras (BWCs) and a select number of biometric scanning units for Border Security Force…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted people to learn all forms of ‘Pranayam’ and practice them every day to defeat the coronavirus pandemic, saying they strengthen respiratory system. In his address to the nation on the occasion of International…
