US think-tank website to push India-Pakistan dialogue

Working with bloggers in India and Pakistan, a US think-tank has launched a website to stimulate a cross-border dialogue on security issues and promote normal and cooperative relations between the two South Asian neighbours.

Called "South Asian Voices: Generation Why" the new "website is designed to serve a new generation of young analysts in India and Pakistan to enable them to find common ground and communicate directly with each other on security issues that now divide their nations", according to the Stimson Center President and CEO Ellen Laipson.

The address of the new site is www.southasianvoices.org

"The site will encourage analysts to seek out pragmatic solutions to disputes involving nuclear weapons, conventional forces, water disputes, migration, trade and other contentious issues," Laipson said.

Two Indian and two Pakistani security bloggers writing for the new website will be selected each year as visiting fellows at the Stimson Center in Washington.

The visiting fellows will work on research projects and meet with executive branch officials, visit Capitol Hill and interact with think tanks, said Stimson co-founder Michael Krepon, who is director of the Centre's South Asia Project.

The fellowships and the new website are being funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

"We're calling this a website for 'Generation Why' because talented young analysts in India and Pakistan are questioning why relations remain so strained between their countries," Krepon said.

"They deserve a say in their region's future and Stimson intends to help them find their voices."

The Stimson Center is a Washington-based non-profit and non-partisan think-tank conducting research on peace and security challenges around the world.