By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 14 May: Sushant Sareen, a renowned author and Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, with his vast experience in geo-political and strategic affairs, fruitfully engaged the Gentlemen Cadets of the Indian Military Academy in an interesting lecture on the ‘Situation in Kashmir’ as part of the ‘Leadership Development Series’ conducted on 13 May.
Sareen did his Masters in economics from the Delhi School of Economics and, later, qualified for the Indian Civil Services and joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1993. A year later, he resigned from Government and joined Public Opinion Trends, a news agency that monitored news and developments in South Asia. Since then, he has been a close observer of the political situation in South Asia, specialising on Pakistan, and by extension, terrorism, Kashmir and Afghanistan.
Before joining ORF, he worked as Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation, a Consultant with the Pakistan Project of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Executive Editor, Public Opinion Trends, a news agency that monitored developments in South Asia, Associate Editor, southasianmedia.net, a South Asian news portal being run by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) and Honorary Director, Pakistan Centre at the Observer Research Foundation.
He is the author of the book: “The Jihad Factory – Pakistan’s Islamic Revolution in the Making”. He has also authored a number of monographs including on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the insurgency in Balochistan and Operation Zarb-e-Azb. In addition, he has contributed chapters for edited volumes and written papers on the situation in Pakistan and on the India-Pakistan peace process for academic journals and newspapers.
He has lectured at premier institutions like the National Defence College, Defence Services Staff College, Army War College, Naval War College, College of Defence Management, Foreign Service Academy and the National Police Academy.
In his lecture, Sareen apprised the gathering about the background of Kashmir and various significant events from the first India-Pakistan War of 1947-48 to 2019 when Article 370 was amended and 35A was scrapped, leading to bifurcation of the state and its conversion into UT. Insight was provided about the geo-strategic significance of the Kashmir situation.
Sushant Sareen received a standing ovation from the enraptured audience.
