Ahead of its engagement in the process of bridging "trust deficit" with Pakistan, India has asked it to "shed its insecurity" on asymmetries in sizes and capabilities between them, including the strategic leverage gained after Indo-US nuclear deal, as they were not targeted against it.
India wants an early resolution of the contentious stapled visa issue with China as allowing it to "fester" for long could lead to a negative impact on the overall relations between the two countries.
Ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's upcoming visit, India on Friday hoped that China realises the need to show more sensitivity on core issues that impinge on the country's 'sovereignty and territorial integrity', as raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the two countries were also putting in place more confidence building measures to tackle the vexed boundary issue, for which India is making a serious attempt.
Addressing New Delhi's concerns about peace talks with Taliban, the United States told India that it will not let the rebels enter a power sharing agreement in Afghanistan, according to leaked US cables by Wikileaks.
Take a look at the pictures of Barack Obama's visit to India. You can see Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon. Can you spot Foreign Minister S M Krishna anywhere?
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani held 'very good talks' in a 'free and frank' manner, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters, after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, for 50 minutes on Thursday.Dr Singh told Gilani that cooperation between the two nations was vital for the progress of SAARC's goals and peace in south Asia.
United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday left for Indonesia after concluding his three-day India visit.
No bilateral meeting has been fixed so far between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Thursday."As of now, no such meeting has been set up between the prime minister and Gilani," she said, adding that Dr Singh will have separate meetings with leaders from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan.
Besides reflecting an "essential continuity" to the ties, the visit will also provide another opportunity to consolidate all that have been built by two countries in the past decade, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said while addressing a gathering in New Delhi.
Thnew deal will likely usher in a new era of cooperation and broad-basing of economic relationship between the two Asian powers.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who visited Sri Lanka last week and met President Mahinda Rajapakse and senior Sri Lankan officials, has said that India had been reassured over the Lankan government's efforts to return internally-displaced persons to their homes and also hopeful over a future political process to alleviate the lot of the Tamil-speaking community and other minorities.
Amid speculation about an Indo-Pak bilateral meeting in New York this week, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Tuesday said that talks between the two neighbours were necessary but asked Pakistan to first stop supporting terrorism against India originating from its soil. Rao, however, did not respond to a question about an assertion made by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahomood on Monday that Islamabad had sent 'suggestions' to India through diplomatic channels.
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Friday called on External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and discussed relations between the two estranged neighbours. Bashir, who was in New Delhi for talks with his counterpart Nirupama Rao, spent approximately an hour talking to Krishna.They are understood to have taken stock of the bilateral relations and reviewed the discussions that were held between the two foreign secretaries on Thursday.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday to kick off a dialogue between the two countries after a hiatus of 14 months. India had suspended the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the terror attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, which was planned and carried out by Pakistani terrorists.
India is likely to put before Pakistan a set of specific demands related to tackling terrorism when their foreign secretaries meet next week, and Delhi's political circles believe that its response will determine the future course of such talks. Expectations from the talks between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, to be held in New Delhi on February 25, are 'realistic', informed sources said.
The Cabinet Committee on Security today took stock of the situation arising out of the Pune bomb blast and is understood to have discussed issues related to the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan.
India on Thursday asked Sri Lanka to move beyond the resettlement of people displaced due to the civil war in the country's north and find a political solution to the long-pending Tamil question.
India on Tuesday assured Tamils displaced by the 30-year-old civil war in Sri Lanka's north of all possible assistance in their resettlement process, as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited the war-ravaged towns and interacted with locals.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will undertake a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from Monday. She is expected to visit the north eastern provinces of Sri Lanka -- including Vayunia, Yazhpanam and Trincomalee -- to check the rehabilitation of the Tamil population, who were displaced by the military's offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rao is also expected to prepare the ground work for the official visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Colombo.
India has told Pakistan that the proposed talks with it will focus on terrorism and other issues "hurting" bilateral relations and has given no indication about the full-fledged resumption of the stalled composite dialogue process, official sources said on Friday.
With the situation in Libya remaining volatile, government on Tuesday said it was putting in place plans for possible evacuation of Indians whose number is around 18,000.
Libyan Ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi has reportedly resigned in protest against his government's violent crackdown on demonstrators.
India and the United States will hold the second round of their strategic dialogue in New Delhi on April 6 during which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would lead the American side, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has announced in Washington.
The United States has assured India of providing 'fair solution' to Indian students affected by the shut down of California-based Tri Valley University, which has been accused of a massive visa fraud.
Hoping that India and Pakistan could come to a satisfactory conclusion about what is required for the 26/11 trial to go ahead, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Friday said that 'justice has to be done' by bringing to book all those responsible for Mumbai terror strikes.
'The Indian side -- S M Krishna, Nirupama Rao and Sharat Sabharwal -- was the picture of tranquillity, poise and perseverance. Krishna spoke in measured tones, but firmly and convincingly. Except for failing to defend the home secretary, Krishna's performance was faultless.'
Was the visit connected to China's recent actions vis-a-vis Pakistan?
The papers on the basis of which terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were issued visas by the Indian Consulate in Chicago may have gone mysteriously missing and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said she has asked for a factual report from the diplomatic mission.
The External Affairs ministry was at odds with the Jammu and Kashmir government over reports on Chinese intrusion in Ladakh, saying no such incident had taken place and the media reports carrying the same were "baseless".
Dr Singh briefed Obama about the peace initiatives with Pakistan, but made it clear that Islamabad should abide by its commitment of not to allow terrorism emanating from its soil directed against India.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad on June 24 to finalise the agenda for an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries.
India's demand that Pakistan should do more to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to justice is not an "unrealistic" one, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today got a seven-month extension with the government deciding to have a tenure of upto two years in the key post.
Pakistan on Saturday dismissed India's call to effectively secure its nuclear assets as 'self serving' and said New Delhi should instead work with it on establishing a 'regional strategic restraint regime'. Following a suicide attack on Friday outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra, considered a base for some of the country's strategic weapons, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had said that India hoped Pakistan would "continue to take steps to secure nuke assets."
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Monday said that New Delhi would continue to give more financial aid to Sri Lanka for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged Tamil-dominated northern areas.
India and China held their fourth round of strategic dialogue to discuss a host of issues such as New Delhi's concerns relating to issuance of stapled visas by Beijing for Kashmiris and its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Were External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, right, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, centre, and Hardip Singh Puri, India's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, left, perturbed by Libyan dictator Muammmar Gadhafi's demand that Kashmir be made an independent country, an observation embedded in his 96-minute diatribe.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met with her US counterpart William Burns and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including counter-terrorism and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to America in November.
Officials in the government, whether in the Civil Services or the Armed Forces, follow the laid down guidelines, and release information as quickly as possible. The media will not then 'overplay' the events.
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