Vivekananda International Foundation | Seeking Harmony in Diversity

Pakistan Study Group Report - June 2024

A meeting of the Pakistan Study Group (PSG) was held in hybrid mode on 20 June 2024. The main items on the agenda were the developments in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan’s Federal Budget-2024-25, Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China and the withering of the CPEC. The meeting was attended by Dr Arvind Gupta (Director, VIF), Tilak Devasher, Lt Gen Ata Hasnain (R), Dr Shalini Chawla, Rana Banerjee, Amb Satish Chandra, Sushant Sareen, and other distinguished fellows and researchers from the VIF. Developments in Jammu and Kashmir

August 23, 2024 Event Report

Pakistan Elections and its fallout

A meeting of the Pakistan Study Group (PSG) was held in hybrid mode on 14 February 2024. The main items on the agenda were—the Results of the Pakistan Elections, Government formation after the Elections and the Probabilities of Coalition between Parties, The Status of PTI-backed Independent Candidates in a Post-Election Scenario, The impact of the election results on Pakistan's Economy, and The Options for the Pakistan Army. The meeting was attended by Lt Gen RK Sawhney (Retd), Mr. Tilak Devasher, Dr. Shalini Chawla, Rahul Bhonsle, Amb. Satish Chandra, Amb.

April 11, 2024 Event Report

Pakistan Insights 2023

Tilak Devasher, Consultant, VIF

Pakistan Insights 2023 is the fourth in the ‘Pakistan Insights’ series brought out by the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) to deepen understanding of Pakistan. Ideas for the various chapters are based on monthly discussions held in the Pakistan Study Group (PSG) that was set up in February 2018 in the VIF. The previous three editions- Pakistan Insights 2019, Pakistan Insights 2020 and Pakistan Insights 2021-22 received widespread acclaim and it is hoped that this edition, too, would be well received.

January 10, 2024 Books/Book Review

Narrative of Despondent Pashtuns: Terrorism, Ethnicity and the Pakistani Military

N Khan

This primary research uses in-depth interviews to investigate the experiences and perceptions of the ethnic Pashtuns of Pakistan’s former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) regarding terrorism, ethnicity and the Pakistani military, especially after the emergence of the Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement (PTM). Since there is a dearth of literature on the perspectives of the terrorism-affected Pashtuns, this original research focusses on their direct experiences.

December 27, 2023 Issue Brief

Interaction with Prof (Dr) Istiaq Ahmed

On 08 June 2023, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organised an interaction with Prof (Dr) Ishtiaq Ahmed from Stockholm University. Prof Ahmed is a Swedish political scientist of Pakistani origin and a renowned author of books like Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History; Pakistan: The Garrison State, Origins, Evolution, Consequences (1947-2011); and, The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed.

June 13, 2023 Event Report

Special Strategic Discussion- “Assassination attempt on Imran Khan and its Implications on India"

Vivekananda International Foundation organized a Special Strategic Discussion on the topic “Assassination attempt on Imran Khan and its Implications onIndia” on 9th November 2022. The event was attended by Shri S Gurumurthy, Chairman, VIF, Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF, Lt General R K Sawhney, Mr. Tilak Devasher, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma, Amb. Ajay Bisaria, Amb. Satish Chandra, Mr. Raghvendra Singh, Shalini Chawla, Brig Rahul Bhonsle, Mr. Rana Banerji and Mr. Sushant Sareen.

November 23, 2022 Event Report

Book Discussion- The Pashtuns: A Contested History authored by Shri Tilak Devasher

On 14th October 2022, Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organised a book discussion on "The Pashtuns- A contested history”, authored by Shri Tilak Devahser. This is the fourth book by Mr. Devasher earlier three being Pakistan: Courting the Abyss (2016), Pakistan: At the Helm (2018) and Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum (2019). He has also edited three books on Pakistan for the Vivekananda International Foundation. Apart from the author the panel consisted of Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director VIF (moderator), Mr. Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation and Mr.

November 21, 2022 Event Report

The India-Pakistan Sub-Conventional War: Democracy and Peace in South Asia. Sanjeev Kumar H.M. 2022. Sage, New Delhi. Pp. 202. ISBN No: 978- 93-5479-420-9. Price- 1095 INR

Dhritiman Mukherjee

The most significant claim made by the enthusiasts of democratic peace theory like Francis Fukuyama and Michael Doyle is that democratic countries avoid going to war with each other as they tend to solve disputes peacefully via mutual negotiations. Fukuyama went a step ahead by making an assertion in his book The End of History and the Last Man (1992) that the end of the Cold War marked the triumph of liberal capitalism over all other antithetical ideologies.

September 05, 2022 Books/Book Review

‘India’s Pakistan Policy: How Think Tanks Are Shaping Foreign Relations’ by Stuti Bhatnagar; UK, Routledge; 2021, INR-695, ISBN No- 978-0-367-33475-8; pp. 167

Dhritiman Mukherjee

The existing literature on Indian foreign policy making process has largely focussed on the formal bureaucratic structures that are responsible for policy making. The contribution of non-state actors to policy making in India hasn’t attracted much attention from scholars working on Indian foreign policy. As decision making in the arena of foreign policy and security has followed a top-down approach in India, a detailed examination of the role of think tanks in influencing the policymaking process hasn’t been undertaken so far.

July 07, 2022 Books/Book Review

PAKISTAN INSIGHTS 2021-22: A Granular Look At Key Issues in Pakistan

Tilak Devasher, Consultant, VIF

PAKISTAN INSIGHTS 2021-22 is the third in the ‘Pakistan Insights’ series brought out by the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) to deepen the understanding of Pakistan. Ideas for the various chapters are based on the discussions held in the Pakistan Study Group (PSG) that was set up in February 2018 in the VIF. The previous two editions- Pakistan Insights 2019 and Pakistan Insights 2020 received widespread acclaim and it is hoped that this edition too would be well received.

June 10, 2022 Books/Book Review