Ahead of Indo-Pak foreign ministers meet in New Delhi on Wednesday, Pakistan Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday met both the Hurriyat Conference factions during which the separatists sought Islamabad's intervention for release of Ghulam Nabi Fai arrested in US for being a front of Inter Services Intelligence.
'Why wouldn't so strategically-minded an adversary, such as China, not militarily exploit to the maximum Indian timidity, stupidity, and cupidity all along the LAC and legitimate, as it has done so often in the past, the fait accompli of incremental territorial grabs which, by the way, is its strategy and policy as implemented on the ground?'
Any form of entanglement with India or the US on the strategic plane will be anathema to Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa rulers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will travel to Islamabad later this month to hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart during which India will raise the issue of nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and the perpetrators of 26/11 attacks, as brought out by the trial of Pakistani-Canadian terrorist Tahawwur Rana in the United States.
Insisting that the Pakistani Army is supportive of a dialogue with India, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should visit his country to kickstart the peace process.
Pakistan on Thursday dismissed reports that Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Muhammad Omar was being treated in a Karachi hospital, with the help of officials of the Inter Services Intelligence, after he suffered a heart attack."This is hackneyed speculation with no substance whatsoever," said Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit.He said such reports were aimed at maligning Pakistan and creating misgivings.
Disgraced diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of passing sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence officials, on Friday alleged before a Delhi court that the jail authorities in the national capital were harassing her. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja sought a response from Tihar jail authorities on an application filed by the Indian Foreign Service Grade-B officer. "Tihar jail authorities are harassing me and threatening to implicate me," she said.
'These are highly regrettable, irresponsible and provocative stories being carried in the Indian media. They are utterly baseless and unfounded. Pakistan strongly rejects such allegations,' he said in the statement.
The government is expected to route all its official communication through the official website National Informatics Centre's email service.
A confrontation with the Taliban in Kabul in this fading light of a twilight zone would have been sheer madness, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Claiming 'palpable differences' between the ministries of External Affairs and Home, Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused Foreign Minister S M Krishna of 'publicly insulting and humiliating' Home Secretary G K Pillai, who, it maintained had made the right statements about Inter Services Intelligence and the Pakistan army.
The Delhi police chargesheeted disgraced diplomat Madhuri Gupta on Tuesday accusing her of passing secret information to Pakistan's Inter State Intelligence during her posting in Islamabad.
Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha has embarked on a foreign trip to an undisclosed location against the backdrop of reports that he may step down over the debacle of the Pakistani military's failure to detect Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden's presence in the country.
The confidential document shows that the then British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had called Zardari, asking him to send the ISI chief to India, to which the President readily agreed. He, however, was overruled by the Pakistani Army led by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
The team's movement would be restricted only to the area of the engagement between security forces and the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday dismissed a report that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency is funding, training and guiding the Taliban in Afghanistan as "rubbish", saying Talibanisation is not good for both countries.
'While we may speculate about personality politics, the reality is that there are more important issues that drive the India-US relationship.'
India has banned as many as 106 Chinese apps, including TikTok, a move welcomed by both the Trump administration and the US lawmakers.
While India's High Commissioner Bisaria is in Islamabad, his Pakistani counterpart Moin-ul-Haq is yet to take charge in New Delhi.
Pakistan expressed hope on Tuesday night that the issue of an Indian woman diplomat being arrested on charges of spying for the Inter-Services-Intelligence would not overshadow the expected meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Thimphu.
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Indian society and the families of the 26/11 terror attack victims should start a campaign against the plea," former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, B Raman said at an anti-terrorism seminar in Mumbai.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would co-chair the first US-Pak Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington on March 24.
'When Sushma Swaraj was campaigning like a one-man army against Pakistan for the treatment meted out to Chetna Jadhav and her mother-in-law, India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was secretly huddled with his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok.' 'It is becoming impossible to make rational judgments about our government's Pakistan policies,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday regretted that Home Secretary G K Pillai was not 'defended' by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna when he was 'openly castigated' by Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for his remarks that the Inter Services Intelligence had coordinated the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
General Bajwa remains in command as army chief and Prime Minister Imran Khan did not play any role in the reshuffle, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Over the last few weeks, bipartisan support for India against China has been increasing.
Pakistan on Friday dismissed reports claiming Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar had fled from Quetta to Karachi, with the help of the Inter Services Intelligence, to avoid the possibility of being targeted by United States drones."This is ridiculous to say the least," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters. He said there had been speculations about Omar's presence in Pakistan 'for years'.
New Delhi should resist any temptation to act as spoiler and instead should cooperate with its SCO partners in reaching a regional consensus behind the formation of an interim government in Kabul, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Suicide bombers on Friday struck Pakistan's powerful Inter Services Intelligence, hitting its operational headquarters in the north-western city of Peshawar, and a nearby police station in Bannu, killing 20 people, including seven personnel of the spy agency. The strike on the spy agency and the police station left 85 people injured and came as 30,000 troops intensified their operation against the Taliban and foreign militants in lawless Waziristan.
Speaking to ANI, Qatar-based spokesperson of Taliban Suhail Shaheen said, "What do you mean by military role? If they come to Afghanistan militarily and have their presence, I think that will not be good for them, they have seen the fate of military presence in Afghanistan of other countries. So it is an open book for them. And about their help to the Afghan people or national projects, I think that is something which is appreciated."
Influential United States Senator John Kerry who heads the congressional committee responsible for the American foreign policy has said that Pakistan's president, army chief and the Inter-Services Intelligence are showing encouraging signs of transformation and taking the terrorists head on.
US Congressional committees and professional counter-terrorism organisations in the West are already examining the Mumbai carnage in order to draw lessons for themselves and to prevent a Mumbai-style attack in their country. Surprisingly, such an exercise is hardly to be seen in India. All the debate till now has been on what the options are against Pakistan, says B Raman
Security officials on Wednesday revealed that suspected operative of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence Mohammed Zaheed Hussain, who was arrested days before the twin blasts in Chennai, was part of a larger mission to target critical national assets and some foreign establishments.
Russia's main gain will be that in geopolitical terms, Ukraine regains its sovereignty and ceases to be a de facto American colony, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one Bangladeshi American and two Bangladeshis were among the 20 killed in the terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on Friday night.
In a sudden development, S Jaishankar, India's Ambassador to the United States, was on Wednesday night appointed Foreign Secretary, replacing Sujatha Singh whose tenure has been abruptly 'curtailed" by nearly 8 months.
The former Central Intelligence Agency director, was confirmed by the Senate by 57-42 votes. He replaced Rex Tillerson, who was fired by US President Donald Trump last month.
Afghanistan will remain a frontline state for Washington for a foreseeable future in terms of the potential threats to US national security from terrorist groups, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
