The relationship between India and Pakistan is of growing importance in the global security landscape. In recent years, the development by both nations of deliverable nuclear weapons capability has increased international interest and concern regarding India-Pakistan relations. As tensions escalate between the two countries in the wake of the US-led campaign against terrorism, we require a better understanding of the current stand-off, the historical context of the India-Pakistan conflict, and the regional and global security interests of both countries. Mr. Venu Rajamony will offer his perspectives to the Committee on these and other related topics.

Venu Rajamony joined the South Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC in September 2001. Prior to that he held the position of Political Counsellor at the Embassy of India in Beijing where his responsibilities included India-China bilateral relations, Sino-US relations, US proposals for Missile Defense and the implications for China and India, and China's relations with South Asia particularly Pakistan and the Taliban. Mr. Rajamony has served in various positions in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Commission of India in Hong Kong, and the Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs section of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Offices in Geneva. He has a law degree from the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, an MA in International Studies from Nehru University in New Delhi, and is fluent in Chinese, English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil.