India’s immediate neighbourhood is undergoing a silent but consequential transformation. Transnational Islamist networks operating across Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar are no longer isolated or purely localised phenomena. They function through ideological convergence, financial conduits, and dispersed operational cells that transcend borders.
This edition of Sharp Scope (Vol. 2 | No. 5) examines how these networks have evolved from fragmented insurgencies into interconnected regional architectures. International funding streams, Gulf-based charity networks, and intelligence-backed facilitation mechanisms have combined with domestic radicalisation dynamics to create a layered security challenge.
Key Themes Covered:
- The evolution of networked Islamist structures in South and Southeast Asia
- Financial pipelines and remittance-based vulnerabilities
- The Rohingya crisis as a destabilising catalyst
- Nepal’s under-recognised exposure due to open-border dynamics
- Bangladesh’s complex balance between counter-terror enforcement and dormant ideological networks
- The need for institutionalised intelligence cooperation and multilateral engagement
The brief argues that India’s security calculus must move beyond state-centric threat assessments and account for non-state actors operating across porous borders. Effective response demands coordinated intelligence mechanisms, calibrated diplomacy, and region-wide counter-radicalisation frameworks.
This is not a call for alarmism. It is a call for strategic clarity.
📥 Read the full brief in the PDF below ↓↓↓
Daljeet Singh holds a BTech in Computer Science and is currently pursuing an MA in Political Science. His interests range across geopolitics, international relations, and technology. An avid reader and writer, he is passionate about exploring the intersections of these fields. Views expressed are the author’s own.
Dr Nanda Kishor 
Dr. Muktha L S