'Russia is the only country that can act as facilitator for any eventual Chinese-Indian rapprochement,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Xi and Modi are scheduled to hold informal summit talks on Friday evening and on Saturday.
BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the prime minister shared his vision and commitment for the development of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh region and and urged them 'to be a part of this historic journey'.
Narrowing of differences on competing territorial claims along the un-demarcated LAC might take weeks, if not months, of hard-nosed negotiations. Without some give and take on both sides, the impasse will be hard to resolve, observes Virendra Kapoor.
China and India on Wednesday held their upgraded strategic dialogue to shore up bilateral ties amid hectic parleys to resolve differences over Beijing's reluctance to support India's bid for Nuclear Suppliers Group membership as well as a United Nations ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar.
'Given the sharp increase in oil prices, a mounting problem for the 2nd and 4th largest importers like China and India -- the Qingdao meeting is likely to push for the large energy producers (Russia and the Central Asian Republics) and energy consumers (China and India) to arrive at some understanding for mutually beneficial outcomes,' notes Srikanth Kondapalli.
Justice P Sathasivam was on Friday sworn in as the 40th Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee.
'The vitriolic campaign now in progress, the underlying threat of violence, and the elevation of Pragya Thakur as a star candidate are key markers in the BJP's obstacle-strewn march back to New Delhi,' says Sunil Sethi.
Parrikar said he did not take anyone's name. "What is quoted is not what I have said. I never took the name of anyone, nor threatened anyone," the defence minister said.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"They call themselves the champions of speech and expression. But deny the same for the people of Kerala."
'What aspect of the air strikes would make it possible for a voter to change her mind?' asks Aakar Patel.
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.
The Supreme Court's refusal to stay execution of Yakub Memon on Wednesday drew sharp reactions from legal experts.
India has experienced hands and will emerge with flying colours, declares Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
The opposition parties snatched the high-profile Kairana LS seat in from BJP with a united force.
The Wuhan local administration earlier announced that people who are not quarantined and seeking special treatment or stranded in the city can leave in batches.
A leak of 11.5 million tax documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.
She said Modi has the mandate to take bold decisions on the lines of Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the resolution of the problems in and around Jammu and Kashmir.
Today, the Ladakhis and Tibetans have been joined by the Sikhs, the Madrassis, the Garhwalis, the Rajputs, who are well trained psychologically and otherwise, to defend the nation, observes Claude Arpi.
National Disaster Management Authority had in 2016 suggested assistance offered as a goodwill gesture 'may' be accepted.
From playing to the Sikh vote bank because Punjab elections are round the corner, to ensuring that a discordant 'us versus them' note was struck, whatever could be done to exploit every last drop of communal appeal, was done, observes Jyoti Punwani.
'We keep saying that we have a very close historical, cultural, linguistic and religious affinity with Nepal. Then why be so insensitive that we cannot find time to talk to them for more than 5-6 months'
'They know that India is no pushover.' 'We have to be extremely vigilant, remain ready and keep strengthening our positions.' 'We have to be militarily strong, whatever be the cost.'
India looks less equal to China than 5 years ago, the strategic alliance with the US is hobbled by trade, and Pakistan is looking anything but chastened by Balakot. What has gone wrong? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'After the NRC it is proved that whatever the BJP was saying about illegal Bangladeshi migrant was a lie and Indian Muslims have their documents to prove their citizenship.'
'If you behave like a nail, the adversary will behave like a hammer.'
"It's ironic that Modi visited Tokyo a few days ago and talked about China's expansionism. The key now will be to get beyond such unnecessary controversies and start afresh.'
'During disengagement, you don't find violence.' 'And that, too, the killing of a commanding officer.' 'This indicates that this is more serious than previous incidents.'
Alleging that there had been politicisation and criminalisation of government officers in the state, the BJP leader, who was on a two-day visit, said the TMC government had stopped sending crime statistics to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) after 2018.
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh asked Opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against PM Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan.
'Jinnah developed a belief that Gandhi had stolen the tag of the leader of the Indian people from him and that he later used religion to reduce Gandhi's idea of a united India to naught was his revenge.'
Threats were often communicated to Pandit homes through notes tied to stones chucked through a window, or a notice pasted on a wall. Those sometimes came from neighbours eyeing that Pandit family's property. Those threats often worked in the atmosphere of terror during that awful season of vacuous exercise of State authority, writes David Devadas, longtime Kashmir watcher and author of two books on the Valley.
The Congress chief gave 'F' to the Modi government for agriculture, foreign policy and job creation, and 'A+' to the prime minister for slogan creation and self promotion.
'One must remember that a dragon has a forked tongue,' warns Vivek Gumaste.
The term, 'pro-Pakistani', is helpful for the BJP to depict its opponents as anti-nationals while the sedition law is handy for locking up or harassing the government's critics, points out Amulya Ganguli.
'While many Chinese policy makers dismiss the political, economic and technological component of US-India relations, they express caution on the defence-related ties which also happens to be a major driver in US-India relations,' explains China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
Local residents started pelting security personnel with stones, leading to clashes, they said, adding that some civilians were injured.
'The one aspect which no Indian military thinker would wish to see emerge is a LoC type of posture at the LAC.' 'The LoC is manned for 750 km and terrorist infiltration has led to the creation of a virtual fortress along its entire length.' 'Something mirroring this at the LAC is going to be expensive although deployment everywhere is not warranted there.' 'However, given the complete trust deficit, there appear few alternatives,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'Islamic State has declared that the liberation of Islamic Xinjiang from China is an objective. Beijing may well find that Pakistan is unable to assist in any meaningful way,' says China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
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