'No amount of economic measures or prosperity in Kashmir will make any dent in the situation there. The average Kashmiri understands the Pakistani game and is unlikely to prefer Pakistan over India. But the Pakistanis have made clever use of religious symbols and slogans to force religious-minded Kashmiris to support them. India has failed to counter this posturing by the separatists,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous one and the most connected.'
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the United States Congress.
The Supreme Court-mandated ban on all mining operations in Goa -- the second in less than a decade -- will disrupt the livelihoods of tens of thousands in the state, points out P K Mukherjee.
'The nominations were not meant to last permanently, but depended on the government of the day.' 'There was no question of revoking it during Congress, Janata Dal or even Vajpayee's NDA rule.' 'But Modi is different.'
The following is the full text of US President Donald Trump's first address to a joint session of the Congress on February 28, as prepared for delivery and released by the White House press office.
'Imran Khan hopes to fulfill the dreams of the founders of of Pakistan in establishing an Islamic Welfare State.' 'The grave situation of the economy makes realisation of this dream very difficult,' points out Colonel R N Ghosh Dastidar (retd).
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
Among others, China is developing the strategically located Gwadar port in Balochistan, which is aimed towards having a military presence, says a Pentagon report
NFL players, owners defy Trump on anthem protests as feud ramps up
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Union ministers, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and various other top leaders have condoled Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's demise and paid glowing tributes to her.
The suspension of mobile communication for the past 12 days in Kashmir amid strict curfew has put citizens in a desperate situation, says Athar Parvaiz.
Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, chief imam of the All India Imam Organisation, who led a delegation of 30 Muslims to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 3, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com how the meeting came about and what was discussed during the 75-minute convivial meet.
'Extravagant new promises can buy him time, but far from solving the problem, they compound the risk.' 'His main alternative is to stress not aspirations, but resentments.' 'He has already de-emphasised aspirational appeals: Nothing has been heard for over two years of the coming of achhe din,' points out James Manor.
'Three security challenges could emerge shortly. The possibility (almost bordering on certainty) is as certain as the fact that night follows day: A terrorist attack by a Pakistan-based group. Chinese intrusion on the border.Communal tension/riots.' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) explains what the Modi Sarkar needs to be prepared for.
'They have no other agenda, but to perpetuate hate.' 'They have destroyed the economy and polity and they survive only on hate.' 'They think through hatred, they can mobilise the large chunk of Hindu votes.'
'Checkmating India by its nukes, Pakistan can pursue terrorism against India in the Kashmir Valley and also resume launching Mumbai 2008 style attacks.' 'The military oligarchy in Pakistan has a totally different view of what is desirable and possible in the subcontinent.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have gone beyond the cautious approach usually advocated by the tightly-knit 'China group' in the ministry of external affairs in dealing with Beijing.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have gone beyond the cautious approach usually advocated by the tightly-knit 'China group' in the ministry of external affairs in dealing with Beijing.'
The BJP cobbles up the numbers to stake a claim to form a government in Imphal. But ruling the restive state won't be easy, says Chitra Ahanthem.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the government has no other option but to extend President's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir as the Election Commission wants to hold assembly elections in the state by the end of 2019.
Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday found himself in a controversy over sharing on Twitter a screenshot of Pakistan's daily Dawn website carrying Nitish Kumar's ad of vote appeal, prompting the Janata Dal-United to launch a sharp attack on him and seek his immediate sacking.
People elected me to fight corruption, I'm doing what they told me to do, Modi said.
'A conventional war is not in fashion today and not seen as being able to deliver the objective.' 'Perhaps surgical strikes that are deeper, this time not on Pakistan's terrorist facilities, but on Pakistan army facilities.' 'The nation has to be prepared for losses.' 'War is not something that can be pussyfooted around.' 'If we go for limited number of posts in Kashmir, these are very difficult posts to capture and very difficult operations.' 'Be prepared for 200 to 300 killed.'
The Republican aggressively blamed the nation's problems on Clinton yet found himself mostly on the defensive in their first debate as she accused him of racist behaviour and hiding his income.
'In each hartal, enormous amount of public money is wasted. The entire state comes to a standstill. How long can this go on?' 'Every year 3 crore people sit at home not because they support hartals, but because they are forced to do so.' 'This is part of a larger measure to curb democratic rights.'
'The Opposition has no option but to make it an 'All versus One' fight to even think about winning.'
Trump aides, who participated in the two-day talks held at the US President's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, described the meetings as productive and said the two leaders exhibited "positive" chemistry.
'I do not believe that they have become terrorists and have gone to Syria to fight.' 'I feel they have only become very orthodox Muslims.'
'The default by the State or its agents in terms of deprivation, exclusion and discrimination (including failure to provide security) is to be corrected by the State; this needs to be done at the earliest and appropriate instruments developed for it.'
'The entire Ufa fiasco was predictable and predicted. The Ufa venue had created international interest in the initiative and its failure may have implications for both Pakistan and India. What remains for Modi to do is to produce a prettier rabbit out of his hat next time to deal with the Pakistan imbroglio,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'In his eulogy at Sandy's memorial service, President Clinton recounted the unusually hot US Independence Day, July 4, 1999, when most of official Washington was more interested in watching fireworks than international diplomacy. Sandy insisted that Clinton confront Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in no uncertain terms.' Former US Assistant Secretary Raymond E Vickery, Jr salutes Sandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Adviser, as a true friend of India.
ISIS suicide bombers and gunmen struck at the heart of the capital of Muslim-majority Indonesia, executing a Westerner and killing a local while blowing up a Starbucks cafe, leaving five attackers dead in the ensuing firing.
This is the joint statement issued by the ministry of external affairs on the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
It is time the new government, unencumbered with the burden of past, initiates a wide ranging review and open debate on the security issues to rectify our short term and long term shortcomings. It has taken some wise steps but has to go beyond this to identify the structural weakness and create systems, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
'Your constant reiteration on the lack of religious freedom in India has sown doubts about the kind of information that you are being fed and based on which you seem to be making adverse references to India and its tradition of religious tolerance.'
'The BJP had ruled earlier too, but nothing of this sort happened then... I don't say the government is behind the attacks, but they don't do anything to stop the attacks.' 'The prime minister has to tell the perpetrators that it is not in the interest of the government that such incidents happen.' 'When somebody says all Indians are Hindus, responsible people should ask him to stop and assure the country that this is not the opinion of the government. But it is not happening and it is quite unfortunate,' Cardinal Baselios Cleemis tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
'Crafting a coherent, transparent and consistent policy vis-a-vis our neighbours, leave alone the rest of the world, is unlikely to be high on the priority list of the new Indian government, which will be sworn in before June,' says Ramananda Sengupta.
Eight years ago Subhashini's husband Colonel Vasanth was martyred fighting militants in Kashmir. Today, she offers hope to widows of army jawans who lost their lives in the line of duty.
