Introduction Pakistan’s electoral contest on 25 July 2018 has been billed as being between Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) - even though he is debarred from contesting or holding a party office – and Imran’s Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). A major achievement for Pakistan is that this would be the third election to be conducted after the revival of the democratic processes in 2008.

A Roundtable interaction with Mr. AKM Chowdhury, former minister of Commerce and a ranking leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was organised at Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on June 8, 2018.

... Tibetans are imprisoned for expressing their opinions or beliefs ... monasteries are under police surveillance ... the Chinese Communist Party – not Tibetan Buddhists – has the authority to identify and appoint reincarnated Tibetan Lamas, including the Dalai Lama ... Tibetan nomads are being removed from their land and relocated in ’socialist villages’ ... a number of urban centers in Tibet now have a majority ethnic Chinese population ... and the use of the Tibetan language is discouraged ....

An interaction on India-Nepal relations and future prospects was held at the VIF on 27 March, 2018, with Prof. Vijay Kant Karna as the lead speaker. The session began with opening remarks by Mr. Sahay who complemented the people of Nepal, the political parties and the Election Commission of Nepal for smooth conduct of the massive exercise of holding elections at the local, provincial and national levels over an extended period of time, in a peaceful manner that gave a clear mandate to the new democratic order.