Southern Asia

In the face of the obvious failure of US policy in Afghanistan, Pakistan stepped up its efforts to peacefully resolve the Afghani conflict.

The Kashmir conflict, which began at the time the two new sovereign nations of India and Pakistan were formed at the end of 1940s, continues to garner attention from the New Eastern Outlook. It remains one of the most volatile political issues of the Indo-Pacific region. In fact, it is among other acute woes plaguing this part of the world, which stem from the troubles on the Korean Peninsula, around Taiwan, the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf region.

On August 5 of this year, a fairly noteworthy event occurred in India, which can be viewed as an important phase in the transformation of the complex socio-political environment within this nation. It is bound to impact (possibly indirectly and with a delay) the relationship between India and Pakistan, which is among the key foreign policy issues for New Delhi.

The incident that occurred on the night of 16 June in one of the mountain regions along the China-India (quasi) border is hard to evaluate as anything but a possible signal about the process at the world political table potentially transitioning from respected gentlemen putting their cards down on the table to undisguised physical assault.

A recent border dispute between China and India have resulted in multiple casualties including deaths. It is the first time in decades that this scale of violence has been seen between the two nations. Western headlines have immediately tried to play up the notion of conflict between China and India, but to what end?

As expected, the Indian government announced what will be the fifth phase of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the last day of the phase four (18 – 31 May), which is going to last until the end of June. No matter how much people are yearning for India to be unlocked completely, with all restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus lifted, the latest statistics suggest that this would be a very unwise move.