South Asia - Global Experts

Religion and the Public Sphere in India

May 23rd, 2011, Comment & Analysis

In contrast to most South Asian countries, modern India has always been officially â€œsecularâ€, a word the country inscribed in its Constitution in 1976. Secularism, here, is not synonymous with the French â€œlaÃ¯citÃ©â€, which demands strong separation of religion and the state. India’s secularism does not require exclusion of religion from the public sphere. On the contrary, it implies recognition of all religions by the state. This philosophy of inclusivity finds expression in one article of the Constitution by which all religious communities may set up schools that are eligible for state subsidies.

Gurmeet Kanwal

March 3rd, 2011, Asia, Asia, Author/Novelist, Defense and Security, English, Hindi, India, Military, New Delhi, Panjabi, Terrorism, Think tank/Research center, War and Conflict

Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (Retd) is Director and CEO of Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in New Delhi, India.

David Claridge

March 1st, 2011, Asia, English, Europe, London, Military, North Africa and Middle East, Terrorism, Think tank/Research center, UK

Dr. David Claridge is Managing Director at the Janusian and a recognised specialist in the assessment of terrorist threats.

Terropiracy in South and South East Asia

October 6th, 2010, Comment & Analysis

South and South East Asia are faced with the likelihood of profit motivated-pirates committing acts of terror and politically driven terrorists resorting to piracy. Unlike terrorism that emanates from South/South West Asia and piracy that originates from South East Asia, terropiracy is linking South and South East Asia together. Swadesh Rana, Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute and former head of the Conventional Arms Branch in the Department of Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations, provides an exclusive analysis for Global Expert Finder.

Samina Ahmed

South Asia Project Director, International Crisis Group

September 28th, 2010, Afghanistan, Asia, Asia, English, India, Islamabad, Non-Governmental, Pakistan, Pakistan, Terrorism, Think tank/Research center, Urdu, War and Conflict

Dr. Samina Ahmed is South Asia Project Director for International Crisis Group. She is a specialist on South Asian affairs, particularly the insurgencies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She oversees Crisis Group’s work in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. Together with a network of analysts throughout the region, she prepares reports on the political, social, economic and military factors that increase the risks of extremism, internal conflict and war, and she makes policy recommendations to overcome these threats.

Our Conscience Keepers: Lessons in Disarmament

September 23rd, 2010, Comment & Analysis

Dr. Swadesh Rana is the former chief of the United Nation’s Conventional Arms Branch in the Department of Disarmament Affairs, and currently Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute. In this interview with Antony Adolf, on behalf of Change.org, Dr. Rana talks about what she has learned about disarmament in her decades-long career, and the lessons for resolving conflict in South Asia, the world’s most populous Muslim region.