Pakistan has been struggling to cope with a multitude of predicaments ranging from political instability to sectarian intolerance which often prompts the international community to tag this South Asian nation as a failing state. The homegrown neo-Talibanism in the tribal areas adjoining Afghanistan and Jihadi proxies in areas bordering India continues to pose myriad security challenges for Pakistan’s internal security as well as physical integrity.

According to Thomas Homer-Dixon, water will be the major source of conflict in the upcoming time. The contemporary scenario represents somewhat the same picture. Present era is marked with various kinds of conflicts where resource sharing between the nations is a big issue of contemplation, which further leads to disagreement. The conflict often arises due to unequal distribution of resources or from a dependency-led need for more resources often at the expense of neighboring states.

The dawn of twenty-first century coincided with an unusual phenomena in the arena of international relations and that is the emergence of China and India as global powers. The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 percent per year and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and may even surpass China’s over 10 percent growth rate. India and China understand the concept of co-existence and the growth very well. This engagement has elements of both rivalry and cooperation.

Union Home Minister, P.Chidambaram on the 15 June 2011, revealed that the Maoist/Naxalite violence has dropped by over 40 percent and he credited this change to the success of the “two-pronged strategy”, a combination of development programme and police actions are being adopted by the Maoist affected provinces. He stressed that 80 policemen have been killed so far this year by Maoists as compared to 177 during this time last year. Civilian casualties too have come down to 190 from 296 in previous year.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been involved in the armed struggle with the Sri Lankan government since 1983, has now lost many of its senior cadres and strategic hideouts to the Sri Lankan military. For the first time, questions have been raised internationally on the future of Eelam movement under the Rajapakse's military doctrine. Despite the Sri Lankan military success, the LTTE could still stunningly make its presence felt by its active sympathisers worldwide and probably resorting to more suicide strikes at the same time.

This is the second and final part of article series on Naxalite Menace.

The Naxalite/Maoist movement in Orissa is gaining momentum gradually along with State government’s proposed industrial zones. The red rebels have virtually set up ‘liberated zones’ along with industrial hubs in Orissa by adopting new line of operations by mixing up both democratic and violent means to consolidate their position in these areas. Both the means are being used considering the geographical, social and political situations on the ground. As far as tribal regions are concerned, Naxalites are using violent means to maintain their support base.

It would be too simple an explanation to categorize or brand recent Kandhamal incident as just ethnic or communal clashes. It could be anything from a pre–meditated design to a collision of socio-political-religious factors to the involvement of extremist forces. But it cannot be the result of a small religious tiff. The trap of violence in Kandhamal reflects the failure of civil society over some of the crucial issues of the mankind.

India’s forest land which is rich in natural resources, like forest derivatives and minerals is undoubtedly the cauldron of various degrees of conflicts. From civil wars in Chhattisgarh to armed conflict in North East, it has created internal security more volatile than ever before in India. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has a special wing to neutralise this ‘internal security’ with strong policing. The growing number of incidents of conflicts in the forest area have threatened the forest resources as well the livelihood of inhabitants.

Contesting claims over territorial supremacy by rival insurgent groups have not only resulted in violent conflict between the insurgents’ themselves, but, it also has potential to generate misunderstanding between communities they claim to represent. This is exactly the present state of affairs in India’s northeastern state of Manipur where several such groups have turned this beautiful land into their fiefdom.