Opinion

US Withdraws from UN Agencies, Indian Could Step In

14/01/2026
Asad Mirza The US President Donald Trump has ordered US withdrawal from 66 international organizations including 31 UN entities and 35 non-UN bodies, targeting climate, human rights, and gender equality institutions. The administration characterizes these organizations as serving globalist agendas contrary to American interests. However, this mundane decision leaves the field open for countries like India to revitalise and reform the UN and push the Global South leading the interna...

The Forgotten Uprising: How the Martyrs of 1966 Transformed Jammu’s Academic Destiny

14/01/2026
Devraj Thakur Every year in mid-October, as the autumn breeze settles over the plains of Jammu, the quiet campus of GGM Science College comes alive with ritual: incense smoke curls upward near a modest memorial, students assemble outside the gates, and a small procession makes its way through the corridors of Jammu’s institutional life. For a few hours, a long-buried history is allowed to resurface. Then, almost as quickly, it fades again into the folds of public forgetting. T...

Kashmiri Pandits pay tribute to martyrs

07/01/2026
K N Pandita On December 27, Kashmiri Pandits gathered in good numbers at the Abhinav Theatre, Jammu to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of Pandit Prem Nath Bhat. At least a thousand persons of the community attended the function. The first notable martyr of KP community was Pandit Tika Lal Taploo. He was gunned down by the local JKLF terrorist outfit outside his house on 14 September 1989. The second martyr was Justice Nilakanth Ganjoo who fell to the bullets of the same outfit...

American Onslaught on Latin America

06/01/2026
America’s recent actions in Venezuela do not simply seem to be that of a rogue state but something far worse: that of a rogue superpower and the global comity needs to take an immediate and strong action against this American swashbuckling politics. Asad Mirza During the past one year, perhaps no other man has garnered so much news headlines and space as the American President Donald Trump. This is not due to any of his humane policies or pro-people announcements, but based s...

Goodbye 2025, globally a deadlier year for scribes

05/01/2026
Nava Thakuria As the year 2025 bids farewell, it emerged as a deadlier year for journalists since the beginning of the century, after 2024. At least 165 media professionals were killed in 31 countries, where 2024 witnessed 179 journo-casualties around the world, said the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), adding that by regions, the Middle East leads with 87 deaths, ahead of Latin America with 27, Asia with 23, Africa with 16, Europe with 10 and ...

Debunking Muslim Stereotypes

05/01/2026
Asif Ullah Khan For much of Hindi cinema’s history, Muslim characters have occupied a narrowly defined moral and visual frame. In earlier films, they appeared either as upright allies - Inspector Khan or Ali, loyal and self-sacrificing - or as caricatures: the street urchin in a skull cap and mesh vest chewing paan or the sherwani-clad Nawab Sahib bending at a ninety-degree angle in elaborate ‘adaab’. These figures were recognisable but rarely real, their identities flattened into shorthan...

Myanmar expanding economic ties with India

04/01/2026
Nava Thakuria Even though the global community is yet to appreciate the ongoing elections in Myanmar (earlier known as Burma and Brahmadesh) as a pragmatic way to transform the southeast Asian nation into a multi-party democracy, the Burmese military rulers start working to enhance bilateral ties with its neighbours including India. According to the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar, the poverty-stricken country is now working with China, India, Thailand, Russia and Middle ...

Indian Diplomacy in 2025

31/12/2025
Asad Mirza India’s foreign policy in 2025 continued to be anchored in the dual ethos of “Bharat First” and “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” balancing national interest with global cooperation. Strategic autonomy, non-alignment, and economic diplomacy remained central pillars of its international engagement. India maintained a multi-aligned posture, strengthening ties across diverse blocs without committing to any single power during the past year. The strategic focus remained on managin...

Somaliland Recognised by Israel

29/12/2025
Asad Mirza On Friday last (26 December) Israel became the first country to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, a breakthrough in its quest for international recognition since it declared independence from Somalia 34 years ago. However, the move has prompted a critical international and regional response. The Guardian has reported that the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced on Friday that Israel and Somaliland have signed an agreement establishing full diplomatic ...

TTP threatens PoK: India’s national security options

29/12/2025
K N Pandita and Fatima Baloch On 24 December 2025, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced its organisational structure across Pakistan. The new structure will encompass Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including Gilgit-Baltistan. Under the new plan, Pakistani armed forces are likely to face ambushes while their military bases are likely to be attacked. The upgraded structure envisages establishing an Air Force unit under the supervision of an experienced drone technocrat. He is...

TTP Threatens PoK and Indian Options for National Security?

28/12/2025
By Fatima Baloch On 24 December 2025 Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced its organizational structure across Pakistan, which also extends into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) including Gilgit-Baltistan, where Pakistani armed forces are expected to face ambushes and military bases are likely to be attacked in the near future. In this structure TTP declared the establishment of an Air Force unit under the supervision of Salim Haqqani, which will employ sophisticated portable dron...

Project Sunrise – Charity or Business?

23/12/2025
Asad Mirza The proverbial ‘cat’ is indeed ‘out of the bag’, after a hiatus of more than two years, following the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. The details of the alleged ‘Project Sunrise’ was shared by the Wall Street Journal, over the weekend. The proposal is to rebuild the war-torn Gaza into a high-tech, luxurious coastal destination over the next two decades and it has been pitched to possible donor and investor countries. Apparently, the project, costing $112 billion over th...

Trump’s Plan To Reshape The World

19/12/2025
Asad Mirza The last week witnessed both a loss and a win for the Indian diplomacy. The win was being include in the latest proposal by the American President Donald Trump to form a new regional grouping called C-5, and the loss was India being denied a seat at the Pax Silica. US President Donald Trump is reportedly looking to present a new global alliance, the ‘C5’, or ‘Core Five’, as a forum for global powers. It would include the US, Russia, China, India and Japan. It would seek ...

Bandhu Ji — Rise from the Ashes

18/12/2025
Rajiv Bhat Recently, Mr Raina who was a little child when his parents were forced to leave their ancestral village of Drusu in 1990, made a courageous decision to return and reclaim his land that holds the memories of generations. Driven by a heart aching for the warmth of his roots, Mr Raina returned to his ancestral village, Drusu, and decided to fence his ancestral lands that lay in ruins. But instead of the welcome he had hoped for, his neighbours met him with cold resistance ...

India Extends Warm Welcome to Russian President Vladimir Putin

06/12/2025
By Farooq Ganderbali India warmly welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin on his arrival for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received him at the airport—an honour that reflects the deep strategic trust and time-tested friendship between the two nations. The visit, marked with dignity and respect, reaffirmed India’s spirit of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, symbolising harmony, coexistence and gracious hospitality. High-level discussions be...

Honouring those who braved the brunt of militancy

02/12/2025
K N Pandita Externally sponsored and internally abetted armed insurgency in the Kashmir Valley and the adjoining regions of Jammu is running its 36th year. The security forces and their affiliates, in particular the J&K Police force, have performed a crucial role and made valuable sacrifices in securing the Kashmiri civilian population from the man-made scourge of terror. The concept, planning and execution of armed insurgency, which employed high skills of involving the local m...

SMVDS Medical College Faces Uproar

01/12/2025
K N Pandita Chief Minister Omar Abdulla defends a bizarre and controversial event that happened recently at the SMVD Hospital at Kakriyal, Katra. The admission of MBBS students in the SMVD Medical College has become a subject of controversy. The controversy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir after 42 out of 50 MBBS seats at the newly established Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) went to Muslim students in the first-ever admission cycle for the 2025–26 sessio...

Minority Status for SMVDIME To Address Hindu Sentiments

26/11/2025
K B Jandial The ongoing turmoil surrounding admission of the first batch of fifty MBBS students for the 2025-26 academic year at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) has exposed the systemic fault lines and sensitive issue of Hindu Muslim parity in J&K. What should have been a routine academic exercise has escalated into a full-blown crisis, fuelling unending public protests of different sections of civil society especially the Hindu organisations. It has ...

Desperate Pakistan Launches Anti-Taliban Drive, Risking Another Afghan Civil War

25/11/2025
By Fatima Baloch When the Afghan Taliban captured Kabul on August 15, 2021, Pakistan celebrated. The Prime Minister, military officials, and other high-profile politicians declared it a victory for Pakistan. Yet continued attacks from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the secular Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), combined with the Afghan–Pakistan clashes of October 14–15, 2025, quickly shifted the narrative. In the context of Afghanistan’s improving regional relations, Pakistan no...

Talaq, Once Again in Focus!

24/11/2025
Asad Mirza Recent observations by a Supreme Court bench on the topic of Talaq, has yet again opened a Pandora box. The issue could be resolved once and for all if the Muslim jurists make a review of the practice in keeping with the modern times. On November 19, a Supreme Court bench questioned the legality and social impact of Talaq-e-Hasan, as practiced by Indian Muslim men. It particularly objected to husbands using lawyers to issue divorce notices and indicating the matter may...

India and Afghanistan: A New Phase of Strategic Relations

20/11/2025
By Fatima Baloch India has long-standing historical ties with Afghanistan, consistently supporting Afghan governments in healthcare, education, development, infrastructure, and foreign diplomacy to safeguard Afghanistan’s sovereignty and security. These efforts have always been directed toward the welfare of ordinary Afghans. To further deepen bilateral relations, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited India from October 9 to 15, 2025. His objectives included strengthenin...

Pakistan’s Sir Creek Strategy and Indian Objectives

19/11/2025
By K N Pandita & Fatima Baloch During Operation Sindoor and the India–Pakistan conflict in May 2025, the Pakistani military and air force retaliated against Indian strikes targeting terrorist camps. The Indian military focused on dismantling Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups and military installations across the Line of Control (LoC), Punjab, and Sindh. Although India has paused Operation Sindoor, it issued a stern warning: any future terrorist attack in Kashmir will trigger it...

Pakistan-sponsored terrorism still threatens Kashmir’s path to peace

19/11/2025
By Farooq Ganderbali Pakistan-sponsored terrorism remains the most serious threat to peace and progress in Jammu & Kashmir. Even as the people of the region look forward to development, economic stability and a flourishing tourism sector, cross-border terror networks continue their attempts to disturb the hard-earned atmosphere of calm. Officials confirm that Pakistan-based handlers are increasingly using social media to target Kashmiri youth. By monitoring their online searches—especia...

US Weighs Selling F-35 To Saudi Arabia

18/11/2025
Asad Mirza US President Donald Trump has said he is considering Saudi Arabia’s request to buy F-35 fighter jets, as intelligence officials warn China could gain access to the aircraft’s latest American technology. The sale has also raised Israeli concerns as it will bring the Saudi fighters closer to Israel. US President Donald Trump last week said on Friday (November 14) that he is pondering a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets, which are made by Lockheed Ma...

Pakistan’s Constitutional Amendment: Military Above the Nation

16/11/2025
by Farooq Ganderbali Pakistan’s recent Constitutional Amendment has officially placed the military—and especially Field Marshal Asim Munir—above all civilian institutions. The amendment grants him lifelong authority, immunity, and complete control, making him the most powerful man in Pakistan with constitutional protection. In a normal country, the army exists to protect the people. But in Pakistan, the people exist to protect the army. No elected leader or constitutional authority i...

Operation Sindoor 2.0: The Ultimate Solution

13/11/2025
By Fatima Baloch Following the 1971 Indo-Pak war and the subsequent Shimla Agreement, India and Pakistan entered a prolonged phase of uneasy peace. The war, which culminated in the creation of Bangladesh, left Pakistan militarily weakened and politically fragile. In the ensuing years, Islamabad remained apprehensive about potential Indian offensives—particularly regarding Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) and the possibility of Indian advances into Punjabi towns where Sikh religious si...

TTP and BLA: Security Guarantees for Afghanistan and India

10/11/2025
By Fatima Baloch The religious insurgent group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) emerged in 2007 amid the Afghan Taliban’s resistance against U.S. and NATO forces. Simultaneously, it launched a campaign against Pakistan’s military establishment, aiming to dismantle the military-dominated state, overthrow its controlled democracy, and establish an Islamic Sharia-based government modeled after the Afghan Taliban—known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA). Its vision: a corruption-free...

From Holy Guest to Namak Haram – Disloyal Afghans

08/11/2025
By Fatima Baloch For Pakistan, a strong, independent, and nationalist Afghanistan has long been perceived as a strategic threat. Islamabad feared that such a government could reignite Pashtun nationalism—reviving calls for an independent Pashtunistan or a merger with Afghanistan—challenge the legitimacy of the Durand Line, and potentially support Baloch separatism. This would threaten Pakistan’s territorial integrity from both the west (Pashtunistan) and the south (Balochistan). Pak...

American deep state and Kashmiri Brahmans

04/11/2025
K N Pandita On September 1, the World News reported that President Trump's Trade Advisor, Peter Navarro, doubled down on his accusation that India is profiting from the Russia-Ukraine war by buying Moscow's oil at a discount, refining it, and selling it to buyers in Europe and elsewhere. In an interview with Fox News, Navarro dubbed New Delhi a "laundromat for the Kremlin" and slammed the country's elite for profiteering "at the expense of the Indian people." Trump's trade czar cl...

Trump-Xi Meeting: Just Optics, No Concrete Deliverables

03/11/2025
Asad Mirza The much-awaited meeting between the US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, finally took place last week in Busan, South Korea. Reportedly, the two adversaries reached a wide-ranging trade and economic agreement at the meeting. The deal addresses fentanyl precursors, rare earth export controls, tariffs, and semiconductor trade restrictions, signalling a possible stabilisation in US-China ties. The Busan meeting between US President Trump and his Chi...