ABSTRACT
State and non-state actors contribute to the insecurity of the highly-charged South Asian security environment. There is evidence that some South Asian states provide weapons to dissident groups in inimical states. Since its creation five decades ago, much of the United Nations’ resources and time have been occupied with matters that threatened international security. Although the superpower conflict between Moscow and Washington had assumed a nuclear dimension, the ideological war between communism and capitalism was fought by conventional proxy wars in Asia, Africa and Latin America. At the end of the 20th century, South Asia—which comprises India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Tibet and the Maldives—ranks among the most insecure geographic regions of the world. The dominant geopolitical and strategic imperatives shaping South Asian security perceptions range from the Kashmir conflict to the role of India as a regional power and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
