News Story: Number of terrorist attacks dropped worldwide in 2016 - U.S. State Department

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that terrorist attacks and fatalities from terrorism dropped globally in 2016 for the second straight year.

According to a State Department report on global terrorism, the total number of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2016 was 11,072, and 25,621 deaths were caused as a result, decreasing by nine percent and 13 percent respectively compared to 2015.

"This was largely due to fewer attacks and deaths from terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Syrian, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Yemen," said Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism Justin Siberell at a briefing with reporters.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Chinese Newspaper Says India’s Fears of Beijing’s Military Build-Up Exaggerated

India's home-grown Carrier INS Vikrant built by Cochin Shipyard

India shouldn’t “overly interpret” Beijing’s military development or big-ticket projects as encircling the country, an article published in China’s state-run Global Times on May 7 said. Experts said China’s military build-up is aimed more at the US than India and New Delhi should focus on its own goals.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Global Times’ article came after Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat said that the country should work to encircle its adversaries. He suggested that India should build closer ties with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan to achieve this objective.

To this, the Global Times responded: “China advocates peaceful development and it has and will never seek hegemony in the region… Beijing’s military development is part of its national construction, and New Delhi should not overly interpret it.” It also said that India can’t match China’s military spending and capability even if scales up its defense budget. It cited the slow development of the Indian aircraft carrier project, despite an early start as one such example.

News Story: Belt and Road Initiative plays crucial role in development of entire South Asia - experts

KATHMANDU, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Experts from Nepal and China have stressed on combined efforts of China, Nepal and India to promote the Belt and Road Initiative, saying the China-proposed initiative can play a crucial role for the development of the entire South Asia region.

Experts from the two countries made such remarks during a two-day conference organized jointly by Xinhua news agency's Kathmandu bureau and Hebei University of Economics and Business of China, which concluded on Wednesday.

Professor Li Tao, who is the executive deputy director at the Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University, said the Belt and Road Initiative has received affirmative response from partner states including Nepal.

"Both China and South Asian countries (Nepal included) are developing countries. They have reached a consensus in developing economy so as to improve livelihood of its citizens."

Nepal's peaceful co-existence and non-alignment policy is in line with China's independent foreign policy of peace, Li said.

The rise of Asia is a major development in 21st century, she said.

Wang Yiwei, professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, said the Belt and Road Initiative will help other nations achieve their dreams so that prosperity is shared by all.

"Nepal is an ancient civilization-state and deserves such kind of future of common revival of civilizations by joining Belt and Road Initiative," he said.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, proposed by China in 2013, aim to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Read the full story at Xinhua

Think Tank: Asia 2017 - strategic transformation accelerates

Rod Lyon

In a recent podcast for Foreign Policy, editor David Rothkopf interviewed Thomas Friedman about his latest book—essentially an argument for why, in 2017, we should feel optimistic about the future. Friedman’s core argument is that we’re living in an age of ‘three non-linear accelerations’, which include: Moore’s law (growth in IT capabilities), the market (growth in digital globalisation) and Mother Nature (dramatic changes in biodiversity, climate and population). I have to say that I find Friedman’s argument suggestive but not compelling. Indeed, it’s reminiscent of an argument I recall from the early 1990s—namely that Chinese authoritarianism couldn’t endure because Madonna and the internet were on our side.

But Rothkopf and Friedman have made me think more specifically about what the Asian strategic environment looks like in 2017 and, in particular, to confront the question of whether that environment is more worrying now than it was in earlier years. Depressingly, the answer is ‘yes’. Long-running trends (like the growth of Asian economies and militaries, power diffusion, and—because of technological change—increasing uncertainties about comparative power balances) are being exacerbated by a geographical and positional competition between Asian great powers, doubts over the future US role in the region, and a heightened risk profile at the key flash-points (Korean peninsula, Taiwan and South Asia). Those flash-points aren’t new, but regional strategists have long understood that if major conflict broke out at any of them the casualties would number in the millions.

News Story: China's "One Belt One Road" to play crucial role in South Asia infrastructure development - Nepalese minister

KATHMANDU, Dec. 22 (Xinhua)-- The "One Belt One Road" initiative introduced by Chinese President Xi Jinping can play a crucial role in the infrastructure development of Nepal and the entire South Asia region, a Nepalese minister said here Wednesday.

Nepalese Minister for Federal Affairs Hitraj Pandey made the remarks during a meeting with a visiting delegation of the Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress of China, which arrived Wednesday at the invitation of Nepalese Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti.

"Nepal has already welcomed the 'One Belt One Road' initiative introduced by the dynamic Chinese leadership under President Xi Jinping, while we have also become one of the founding members of the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)," the minister said.

"Our government believes that China's such tremendous initiatives can play crucial role in the infrastructure development in Nepal and the entire South Asia region," he said.

The minister said that Nepal wants to reap benefit from China's rapid socio-economic development.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Center of Global Power Shifts to Asia - Turkish Deputy Parliament Speaker

The center of the global power was moving to the Asian region, Turkish Deputy Parliament Speaker Ahmet Aydin told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Aydin said that the Energy corridor and the Silk Road passed through the region will facilitate turning of the Asian region into "the world center of power and attraction."

The parliament speaker noted that the region would continue developing, since Turkey would soon complete the construction of the railway linking Europe and Asia. Agricultural sector, livestock, industrialization are also promptly developing in the region, Aydin said. 

Aydin stressed that among the Asian countries, India remained number one in the sphere of information technology, while China continued to generate sustainable economic growth with the rest of the Asian countries trying to follow the trend of development.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: China calls for Asian community of shared future

BANGKOK, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Delegates from 34 member countries of Asia Cooperation Dialogue(ACD) gathered in Bangkok to talk about Asian cooperation, development and integration during the 2nd ACD summit held here on Monday.

China called for an Asian community of shared future for the continent.

"It is time for us to vigorously build an Asian community of shared future driven by the two wheels of cooperation and dialogue," said Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao at the summit, under the theme "one Asia, Diverse Strength."

Li said the Asian community of shared future is about facilitating common development, promoting common interests, enhancing common security and taking on common responsibilities.

According to him, to build the Asian community of shared future, Asian countries need to enhance unity and coordination to maintain stability in the continent, strengthen connectivity to deepen integration and promote beneficial cooperation to boost development.

"China supports a multi-tiered Pan-Asian connectivity network to facilitate comprehensive integration of infrastructure in Asia," Li said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Nepal says to initiate necessary consultation on successfully holding 19th SAARC summit

KATHMANDU, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Nepal, current chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), said Sunday that it will initiate necessary consultation on successfully holding the 19th SAARC summit.

The statement came two days after Pakistan, the host nation of the summit, announced postponement of the summit amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

The 19th SAARC summit had been slated for November 9 and 10 in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Critics Welcome Kabul's Decision To Boycott SARRC Summit

by Sharif Amiri

Afghan government on Thursday said it will not participate at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SARRC) summit expected to be held in Pakistan as long as big security issues in the region are addressed.

"Afghanistan will not participate at SARRC summit in Pakistan as long as the neighboring countries' vision is clarified about security and other issues in the region," said Shahussain Murtazavi, deputy spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani.

Meanwhile, a number of analysts said they welcome the move by Afghan government and that Afghanistan can use more options to isolate Pakistan.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Story: Experts from South Asian countries gather in Nepal to discuss effectiveness of SAARC

KATHMANDU, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Experts and parliamentarians from South Asian countries gathered on Thursday in Kathmandu to join a two-day regional conference on the effectiveness of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Addressing the conference, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal lamented over the slow pace of the SAARC.

"SAARC's process has been very slow over the years. Several agreements have been made in the past and I would say it is a time for SAARC member states to go for implementation of those agreements," the prime minister said.

The SAARC has not been able to make significant progress compared with other regional blocks around the world, he added.

Stressing the importance of enhanced connectivity and deeper economic integration for better peace, stability and prosperity in the region, Dahal said the SAARC member states should make collective efforts to overcome challenges such as poverty and underdevelopment.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: India's PM Says Pakistan's Support of Terror Is Destabilizing Asia

Anjana Pasricha

NEW DELHI — Slamming Pakistan as an exporter of terrorism, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused his country's South Asian neighbor of trying to destabilize Asia and vowed to isolate it in the international community.

These were Modi's first public comments since a terror attack on an Indian army base heightened tensions between the two countries. They were made at a rally of his Bharatiya Janata Party in the southern Indian city of Kozhikode.

"People of Pakistan should question their leadership on why, when both countries gained freedom together, while India exports software to the world, Pakistan exports terrorists," he said.

Alluding to Pakistan, he said that while all Asian countries were working to ensure that the 21st century belongs to Asia, there was one nation working to ensure that this would not happen.

Modi named Afghanistan and Bangladesh as other countries in the region that were also suffering because of terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

The hard-line leader has been under pressure to give a tough response to the attack that killed 18 soldiers at an army base close to the the border with Kashmir. India blamed the attack on the Pakistan-based Islamic militant Jaish-e-Mohammad group. Islamabad strongly denied any involvement and said India had not provided proof to back its accusations.

News Story: Nepal eyes South Asia's development through China's Belt and Road Initiative

KATHMANDU, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has regarded China's Belt and Road Initiative as a milestone to turn promising South Asia into a developed region in the world.

Addressing a seminar on "South Asia China Cooperation under One Belt One Road Initiative" held here on Thursday, Nepal spoke highly of the Chinese initiative which will create immense economic opportunities for the region.

"China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative will connect Asia and Europe, creating more opportunities in trade, investment and infrastructure development in our region", Nepalese Minister for Industry Som Prasad Pandey said while addressing the seminar.

The minister further said that the economic belt would take the whole Asia into a new height by exploring development.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Enhancing cooperation tops SAARC meeting

POKHARA, Nepal, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The 37th session of the Council of Ministers of the South Asian Association for the Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held here Thursday with enhancing cooperation among the members high on the agenda.

Nepal's Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli inaugurated the one-day event in the beautiful lake city in the Western part of Nepal in the presence of foreign ministers from eight SAARC member states, namely Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Addressing the event, the prime minister stressed on enhancing cooperation among the SAARC member states on a various areas including connectivity, technology and telecommunication.

"Connectivity remains a key enabler for robust regional cooperation. Connectivity of infrastructures as well as of ideas, connectivity in terms of information and telecommunication technology as well as of knowledge, connectivity in terms of energy as well as of literature and culture, connectivity of markets as well as of minds can indeed unleash the potential of South Asian cooperation. It can promote meaningful cooperation in trade and investment, in tourism, in finance, and in energy with multiplier effects," Prime Minister Oli said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

USA: Possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Pakistan for F-16 Block 52 Aircraft

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2016 - The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Pakistan for F-16 Block 52 Aircraft, equipment, training, and logistics support. The estimated cost is $699.04 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on February 11, 2016.

The Government of Pakistan has requested a possible sale of:

Major Defense Equipment (MDE):

Eight (8) F-16 Block 52 aircraft (two (2) C and six (6) D models), with the F100-PW-229 increased performance engine

Fourteen (14) Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS)

Non-MDE items included in this request are eight (8) AN/APG-68(V)9 radars, and eight (8) ALQ-211(V)9 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suites (AIDEWS). Additionally, this possible sale includes spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistical and program support. The estimated cost of MDE is $564.68 million. The total estimated cost is $699.04 million.

Editorial: The New Politics of War and Peace in Afghanistan

Image: Flickr User - ResoluteSupportMedia

By Tamim Asey

It is time to end “Great Game” politics in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan and the region are witnessing a fundamental shift in the variables and dynamics of war and peace. The stakes are higher this time and any miscalculations will have far more dire consequences for the region than ever before.

There are new players, new variables, and higher stakes in the war and peace calculus of Afghanistan. The rise of Daesh (or ISIS), the power struggle within the Taliban, increased criminalization, and the regionalization of war have changed the rules of war within the country and beyond.

Until recently – the war in Afghanistan had three main components: a sponsor, a safe haven, and a proxy group with a specific political agenda of overthrowing the Afghan government and establishing an Islamic regime based on Sharia. This is no longer the case. Today, the Taliban movement is divided and entangled in a leadership power struggle, Daesh is increasing its footprint in Taliban strongholds and recruiting from among Taliban dissidents, and criminal networks are shifting their loyalty to Daesh as a reliable partner to ensure the smooth operation of their criminal enterprises along the borders of Pakistan and Iran.

Left unchecked, these new fast-paced geopolitical and security realities have the potential to alter the rules of the game and the geopolitical security architecture of the region. But they also present opportunities and challenges for the region to work closely together to tackle a brutal and clever criminal enterprise and terrorist network.

What Afghanistan, Pakistan and the entire region requires is hard headed realpolitik to clearly define their common friends and foes. This must be followed by the construction of a common framework of action on their interests and differences. The first step must be a commitment to stop the use of terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy. A regional anti-terror alliance could then follow. The policy of containment, dual games, and “Great Game” politics is over – this time the entire region is exposed to the danger.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: How South Asia Will Save Global Islam

Image: Wiki Commons

By Akhilesh Pillalamarri

The South Asian traditions of Islam offer a compelling alternative to the religion’s practice in the Middle East.

The Middle East and indeed much of the Islamic world is on fire, driven by the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and worsened by their politicization of Sunni and Shia communities. As Muslim communities come under increasingly radical influence, it sometimes seems to those from other regions that the Islam–at least as seen in the Middle East–is especially austere and harsh. In order to overcome this, one solution advocated by some is the “Turkish model,” which not only attempts to create a secular state but uses the state to intervene in and rework religion to suit the state’s purposes. Yet this too has deleterious effects.

But the world of Islam is not monolithic, nor is it limited to the Middle East, as is often pointed out. The largest population of Muslims in the world lives in South Asia. Per a 2009 survey, an estimated 484 million Muslims live in South Asia, mostly in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, more than the 315 million inhabitants of the Arab world. Over half of Muslims in the Asia-Pacific region and a third of all Muslims are South Asian. India and Pakistan together have as many or more Shia than Iran, and some of the largest Sunni populations in the world. Sunni-Shia tension was rare in South Asia until a few years ago and grew due to increased Saudi influence in mosques. Nonetheless, pluralism is highly valued by South Asian Muslims, 97 percent of whom believe it to be a good thing for there to be freedom of religion for different faiths. This is the greatest percentage of Muslims who believe this in any region of the world, including the West.

While Southeast Asian Islam, primarily represented by Indonesia, the largest majority-Muslim country in the world, is considered culturally and intellectually peripheral to the Muslim world, with few scholars or thinkers of influence and no major centers of Muslim world wide learning, South Asia is, on the other hand, along with the Middle East, the most important region of the Muslim world in terms of influence and importance. There is a very large corpus of religious literature in Urdu. The South Asian tradition of patronage and pilgrimage led to a large presence of Hindustanis, as the Persians called them, and Hindis, as the Arabs called them, in the port cities of the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. Soon enough, these South Asian Muslims came to Mecca by the 19th century, where they constituted 20 percent of the population.

Because of these connections, the Islam of the subcontinent has global influence, and influence in the Arab world, which often sets the tone of Islamic life. South Asian Islam has a unique charm that could and should be influential in the greater Islamic world, both because it maintains practices that have declined elsewhere and due to its unique characteristics. One such practice is its interpretation of Sufism.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Can South Asia Make Nice in 2016?

Image: Flickr User - ResoluteSupportMedia

By Muhammad Akbar Notezai

This month has seen yet another attempt at repairing fractious relationships.

Early this month, the fifth Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process Summit was opened by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Attending were the foreign ministers of ten countries – including all four of Pakistan’s neighbors. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was making his second visit to Islamabad this year, and was joined by Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had reportedly been reluctant to visit Islamabad given an upsurge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan and the derailing of the peace talks with the Afghan Taliban following the revelation of the death of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omer, both developments severely straining bilateral ties.

However, according to Afghan media reports, China’s ambassador in Kabul conveyed a message from the Chinese leadership, advising Ghani to make the trip. The Pashtun leadership of Pakistan also visited Kabul to convince Ghani to attend the conference. When Ghani did arrive, it was to an impressively warm welcome. Islamabad-based analysts believe that both the political and military leaderships of Pakistan are now keen to improve ties with Kabul, although skeptics say that it is Beijing that has been robustly pushing Islamabad to amend ties with Kabul ever since the announcement of China’s $46 billion investment in Pakistan.

Farooq Sulehria, a senior Pakistani journalist based in Sweden, told The Diplomat, “Civilians have no control over foreign policy, in particular Afghanistan and India-related policies. They cannot issue a press statement on their own. It is a shame that civilians have capitulated so comprehensively. If capitulation is tantamount to similarity of views, we can say that they (political and military leadership) are on the same page. But ‘to be on same page,’ implies having equal strength. This is clearly not the case. Civilians utter the mundane statements they are told to say in public.”

Afghanistan’s intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil, a favorite of American officials and a staunch critic of his government’s policies toward Pakistan, resigned in apparent protest at Ghani’s efforts to achieve a rapprochement with Pakistan.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Do US Presidential Candidates Care About South Asia?

By Akhilesh Pillalamarri

There has been little mention of the region – and that’s unlikely to change.

The campaigning season for the United States’ 2016 presidential elections is now in full swing. Yet, after multiple U.S. presidential candidate debates, we have not heard much about how they would handle American policy toward South Asian countries. So, what do U.S. presidential candidates think about South Asia? Are they willing to articulate their thoughts on this region, albeit one that few Americans are directly interested in, when the political agenda revolves around other issues?

South Asia was not at the top of anyone’s agenda initially, as the campaign season mostly focused on domestic issues. When foreign policy did enter the discourse, it mostly focused on events in the Middle East or security and trade issues in the Asia-Pacific. AsThe Diplomat noted last month, though China was rarely mentioned directly in the third Republican debate, at least “the ubiquity of China implicitly pervaded messaging on tackling federal debt, U.S. global economic competitiveness, climate change, job creation, and bringing manufacturing capabilities back to the United States.” And now, after Paris and San Bernardino, the debate has shifted toward security issues and Islam, its foreign policy aspects are dominated by the chaos in the Middle East and the threat of the Islamic State (IS).

So far, South Asia has barely garnered a mention in the debates or on the campaign trail. Afghanistan—because it hosts American troops—gets the most mentions out of all the South Asian countries. But the candidates, both Republican and Democrat, do not get into the specifics of any strategy that would stabilize the country in the long run, including the problem of Pakistan’s alleged support for the Taliban. However, at the very least, the majority of the candidates agreed with President Obama’s plan to keep troops in Afghanistan after he leaves office in 2017, because, as Bernie Sanders pointed out in October, “Clearly, we do not want to see the Taliban gain more power, and I think we need a certain nucleus of American troops present in Afghanistan.”

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: The ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference: A Fresh Start?

Image: Flickr User - DFID - UK Department for
International Development

By Habib Wayand

A regional conference in Islamabad this week offers another chance at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Pakistan will be soon hosting a crucial regional conference in Islamabad. The conference will discuss the situation in Afghanistan with particular focus on helping the war-torn country’s economy, although the security situation will doubtless also be a major issue. More specifically, the meeting aims to look at ways to strengthen cooperation, deal with security challenges, and build economic ties.

The “Heart of Asia” conference is scheduled to run from December 8 to 10. Pakistan has been trying to convince Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to attend along with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. At the time of writing, official confirmation of the participation of Ghani as well as that of Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj was still pending. However, Ghani and Sharif did meet on the sidelines of the COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris last week, a meeting mediated by British Prime Minister David Cameron and prompted by a recent visit to Kabul by Pashtun leaders from Pakistan.

Ghani’s courageous outreach to Pakistan following his inauguration suffered a huge setback when the Murree talks in July this year failed. Pakistan had promised the Afghan president that it would bring the Taliban leaders to the negotiating table, but the last minute confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar, the former spiritual head of the Taliban, not only derailed the talks but raised serious doubts about Pakistan’s intentions.

As the talks failed Kabul witnessed several major terrorist attacks – worse than it had experienced at any time over the past 14 yearss. The incidents prompted Kabul to rethink its approach towards Pakistan, deciding only to initiate talks with Islamabad when the latter was ready to talk honestly about peace in Afghanistan.

This week’s conference gives both Pakistan and Afghanistan a real opportunity to work out their differences and negotiate a settlement. The other key stakeholders, like Swaraj and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, along with senior representatives from Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and the UAE could also use this platform to pressure Afghanistan and Pakistan to reach a peace settlement with insurgent groups on both sides of the border.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Public Diplomacy - A Way Forward for South Asia

By Shah Meer

An initiative by the Swedish Institute is having a profound impact on its participants.

Regional integrity seems a distant dream for South-Asian nations, at least when it involves what is known as Track 1 or “official” diplomacy. Three decades have passed since the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the aspiration of bridging the gaps between South Asian countries, while providing them with a platform to discuss regional issues and come up with practical solutions. Unfortunately, SAARC has proven to be a lethargic platform that has been able to bring close neighbors together, let alone more distant ones. Political grudges, blame games, and a deficit of trust have consistently proven to be stumbling blocks to regional integration. Rivalries among states instill negative thoughts in the minds of naïve citizens as well. Conflicts among the states are rarely limited to the government level; they sow the seeds of hate in the hearts and minds of citizens as well.

South Asian countries have been pushed many times by external powers to set aside their political grudges and strive for peace and prosperity in the region. All such nudges have been in vain. But rarely have external powers been motivated to try initiating people-to-people contact as an alternative path to regional unity and connectivity. People-to-people contact or “public diplomacy” remains the unfulfilled agenda of SAARC.

In 2013, the Swedish Institute – a public agency of Sweden – began an interesting initiative, creating the Young Connectors of the Future (YCF) program, a fellowship for young leaders of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The program has already proven productive, with participants continuing to advocate for lasting peace in the region while doing their utmost to eliminate preconceived prejudices that people have about their neighbors.

Read the full story at The Diplomat