The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and firmed up the responses to the terror attack.
India and China held diplomatic talks in Beijing, focusing on effective border management and the resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra. The meeting explored measures and proposals to implement decisions made during the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue in December. Both sides agreed to work together for the next SR meeting in India later this year.
'If Pakistan has fired one bullet at us then we have to respond by firing 10 bullets at them. It is our right to do so.'
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday called on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussed issues of bilateral interest.
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, the US has called on both countries "not to escalate" the conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to speak with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India as early as today or tomorrow. The US State Department said Washington is reaching out to both India and Pakistan "regarding the Kashmir situation" and telling them "not to escalate the situation."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance have expressed satisfaction with the progress made in negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. The two leaders met in New Delhi and discussed a range of bilateral issues, including cooperation in energy, defense, strategic technologies, and other areas. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that India-China relations have made positive strides and achieved a series of encouraging outcomes at all levels after last year's breakthrough ending the over four-year-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh. Wang's remarks came during his annual press conference as he replied to a question on how Beijing views the course of bilateral ties after the two countries ended the prolonged stalemate in the ties.
India has supported efforts to provide necessary humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population in Gaza sending consignments of essential items.
India has lodged a "solemn protest" with China over the establishment of two new counties in the Hotan prefecture, as parts of these regions fall within India's union territory of Ladakh. The Indian government asserted that the creation of these counties will not impact its sovereignty over the area and does not lend legitimacy to China's "illegal and forcible" occupation.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will hold crucial talks with the top US leadership, including his counterpart Jake Sullivan, on the first high-level dialogue on Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).
'It was inspired by the Hamas attack and was like their attack -- well planned and well executed.'
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
Ajit Doval, former director of the Intelligence Bureau and the likely NSA, has an enviable record for courage under fire, reports Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com
'Under Doval, foreign powers traditionally suspicious of India were wooed.' 'Enemies were embraced.'
Doval is in Beijing for the 23rd round of the Special Representatives' talks being held after a gap of five years.
According to informed sources, Doval will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday to attend the crucial talks, which were expected to provide a way forward for the two countries to normalise the relations.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
Sedwill also expressed solidarity with India in the aftermath of the Pulwama terrorist attack, they said, adding the call was initiated by the British NSA.
In the talks, Putin hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia's Kazan next month to attend the annual BRICS summit.
Top Canadian officials have accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of leading a campaign targeting Sikh separatists in Canada, escalating tensions between the two nations.
India and China have held their first diplomatic talks since withdrawing troops from two face-off points in eastern Ladakh, reflecting on the lessons learned from the border row to prevent future incidents. The two sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas, prepare for the next meeting of Special Representatives on the boundary question, and highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military levels. The talks come after the completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points, following an agreement finalized in October 2022.
India and China on Monday decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as the two sides agreed to take certain people-centric steps to 'stabilise and rebuild' ties.
China has defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, assuring that the project will not affect riparian states and safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies. The dam, estimated to cost USD 137 billion, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, but Chinese authorities maintain that the project has been thoroughly studied and safeguards are in place. The dam is part of China's efforts to develop clean energy and respond to climate change.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval defended death penalty where "larger interest of the nation" is involved and deprecated those who questioned the execution of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon.
Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi Monday said there is still a 'degree' of standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and both sides need to sit down and firm up a broader understanding on how to calm down the situation.
India and China have agreed to take measures to further ease the situation at the borders while continuing to implement the October agreement to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh comprehensively. The two sides held the 32nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC) in New Delhi, agreeing to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels and safeguard sustainable peace and stability in the border areas. This meeting follows the October 21 agreement between the two countries to resolve the over four-year-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
India and France are negotiating the deal for buying 26 Rafale Marine jets which are going to be deployed on the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier and different bases.
The aircraft was allowed to move inside India as the air defence personnel knew who was inside the plane, they said.
This was the first round of talks for Wang after he succeeded State Councillor Yang Jiechi earlier this year.
China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border. The USD 137 billion project, which is expected to dwarf even China's own Three Gorges Dam, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, the downstream riparian states. Concerns in India are centered around China's potential to control water flow, potentially enabling the release of large amounts of water to flood border areas in times of hostilities. The dam is part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, and the Chinese government claims that the project is safe and prioritizes ecological protection.
This is the first time that the National Security Council has held a meeting with these Sikh activists and Sikh separatists.
'He is still compulsively an operations man. Just a whiff of a live operation, and he is back in the field, at least in his mind. That is why the immediate decision to send the NSG to Pathankot.' 'But there is a difference between classical intelligence or counter-terror operation and dealing with a larger threat to a place as sensitive and sprawling as an air force base. This is what led to confusion and mix-ups,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Highly decorated police officer and former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval, considered one of the finest operational brains, was on Friday appointed as the national security adviser.
'The Indian strategy is to rope in the powerful Pakistan army in the negotiating spectrum. This can be done at the level of General Janjua, a former army commander,' reveals Rajeev Sharma.
'Canada doesn't want to de-escalate and neither does India. There is war when one party wants it, but peace is won by both parties.'
China and India were able to "reduce differences" and build "some consensus" on disengaging troops from friction points to end the standoff in eastern Ladakh and agreed to maintain dialogue to reach a resolution acceptable to both sides at an "early date", the Chinese defence ministry said on Thursday.
The situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh is stable but sensitive and not normal, Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday on the dragging military standoff between China and India in the region.
'How do we explain that on the economic, internal security and strategic fronts, India's unstable coalitions have acted more decisively and boldly than all our full-majority governments yet?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
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