Manasi Pritam teaches International Politics at the University of Delhi. She has specialised in Diplomacy and Disarmament (MPhil) at the Jawaharlal Nehru University where she is pursuing a PhD on India’s foreign policy focussing on humanitarian interventions, nuclear proliferation and non- alignment. She has previously worked with the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Apart from her academic pursuits, her research interests include- Conflicts in South Asia, National Security and Popular Culture in International Politics.

General Muhammad Abdul Mubeen is a retired four-star General and the 12th Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army. He graduated from Bangladesh Military Academy in 1976 and later undertook professional courses and training both at home and abroad. He is a graduate of Defence Services Command and Staff College and National Defence College, Bangladesh.

His command stints include commanding two infantry battalions, an infantry brigade, and two Infantry Divisions. He served as the Commandant of Defence Services Command and Staff College and also the Director General, Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies. He was the Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division, Prime Minister’s Office.

General Mubeen has chaired and been on the panel in a number of national and international seminars and workshops. He has delivered lectures on “Command and Leadership” and “Bangladesh Army’s Challenges and the Future” in Defence Services Command and Staff College and National Defence College, Bangladesh. For his commendable and distinguished service to the Army and the nation the Government of Bangladesh has awarded him the highest military award “Sena Bahini Padak” (SBP).

Dr. Pushpita Das is Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Internal Security Centre at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, India. Her research areas include border security & management, coastal security, drug trafficking, migration, and India’s Northeast. At IDSA, she has been studying India’s approach towards the management of its international borders. She has been co-opted as an expert by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on projects on Coastal Security. Dr. Das has written extensively on her areas of research including: monographs titled Illegal Migration from Bangladesh: Deportation, Fences, Work Permit (2016) and Coastal Security: the Indian Approach (2013); three occasional papers titled Status of India’s Border Trade (2014), Drug Trafficking in India (2012), Coastal Security along Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts (2009); and a number of articles and commentaries in journals and books. Dr. Das has delivered lectures at a number of training institutes including the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration, Mussoorie; Naval War College, Mumbai; Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad; Sardar Patel Institute for Public Administration, Ahmedabad; and Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies, Bhutan, apart from participating in national and international seminars. Dr. Pushpita Das holds a Doctorate from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Dr. Rashed Uz Zaman has been teaching at the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, since 1998. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka and obtained a Master’s in Security Studies from the University of Hull, and a PhD in Strategic Studies from the University of Reading. In 2009-11, Dr. Zaman was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Erfurt, Germany. He was a Fulbright Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University in 2012.

Dr. Zaman works on strategic and international security issues. Recent publications include a chapter on Bangladesh and UN peacekeeping missions in Paul Williams and Alex J. Bellamy (eds.), Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges and, Future of United Nations Peacekeeping Contributions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). A chapter titled ‘South Asian Regionalism and UN Peacekeeping Missions: A Case of ‘and Never the Twain Shall Meet’?’ has been published in Brendan Howe and Boris Kondoch (eds.) Peacekeeping and the Asia- Pacific (Leiden/Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2016). His piece “Strategic Culture in South Asia: Kautilyan Sempiternity” in Arvind Gupta, P. K. Gautam and Saurabh Mishra (eds), Indigenous Historical Knowledge: Kautilya and his Vocabulary, Part 3, (New Delhi: IDSA) came out in August 2016.

Lt. General Hasnain is an eloquent speaker and writes for major Indian newspapers which include The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Tribune, Deccan Chronicle and The Asian Age. He is also a regular participant in television debates. With a strong academic background from Sherwood College, Nainital, St Stephen’s College, Delhi, the Royal College of Defense Studies and Kings College London, and the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Hawaii, US, he has been at the forefront of encouraging the adoption of the Scholar Warrior concept in the Indian Army. He has served in turbulent environment through most of his 40 year illustrious career and has served in seven tours in Jammu & Kashmir, in every rank, has been decorated in almost of them and is well-acquainted with J&K Conflict. He commanded the Srinagar based 15 Corps and is today one of the most prolific writers and analysts on J&K, Pakistan and transnational extremist violence. From Sri Lanka to Siachen Glacier, from the North East to J&K and in UN operations from Mozambique to Rwanda, he has served in numerous crucial appointments. He lectures at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), Singapore and is associated with the Vivekanand International Foundation and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi, India.