Despite the freeze on diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan and protests against the fair, traders at the recently concluded four-day Aalishan Pakistan exhibition did brisk business, reports Upasna Pandey.
Nawaz Sharif may have permitted the trial of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists for the Pathankot attack. But this fell apart because of General Raheel Shareef's keenness to make Kulbhushan Jadhav the centerpiece of global attention. Ambassador G Parthasarthy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, reveals the Pakistan army chief's gambit against India.
'The Pakistani game plan in making its envoy in India to perform the last rites of a fledgling peace process is madness with a method.'
This is the ninth consecutive day that Pakistan violated the ceasefire. There have been 41 violations of the ceasefire accord this year so far. There has been over 230 ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pakistan border this year.
Jadhav was 'arrested' on March 3 last year by Pakistan security officials in Balochistan.
In a surprise snub to Pakistan, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani decided to "boycott" the Eid Milan being hosted by Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit in Delhi on July 21, making it the first time that he has turned down such an invite.
Maintaining that India wants good relations with Pakistan, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said resumption of stalled talks with Islamabad was possible if there was an improvement in the situation.
A woman was killed and five persons were injured on Sunday as Pakistani troops intensified shelling on border posts and civilian area in Poonch and Rajouri in continued ceasefire violations that have claimed six lives in two days, drawing strong protest from India.
Considering the huge stakes, the Modi government is not averse to make more diplomatic efforts to see whatever it can salvage.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said people of India have not treated Hinduism as their fiefdom but as their heritage meant for the world and there is a greater need for people in the country to have knowledge of its roots than those abroad.
An invitation by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to all the Kashmiri separatist leaders "for consultations" in Delhi ahead of Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks has touched off a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party calling it "most unfortunate" and "old tactics".
'If one puts the context of what Xi Jinping said at the UN about not wanting a 'hot or cold war with any country', one realises that his speech was quite bizarre.' 'The world does not expect such statements from China, a nation aspiring to be a superpower.
Although it saw a veritable who's who of the Oppostion leadership, the Samajwadi Party stayed away from the Iftar dinner hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
Basit was called in by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to convey India's strong views on the incident, the external affairs ministry said.
'Main koi rootha nahin hoon for denying me a visa. I am baffled, and a bit hurt.'
The Pakistan high commission has invited Kashmiri separatist leaders for consultations with Sartaj Aziz ahead of the National Security Advisor-level talks with India in New Delhi next week.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermindwill stay in jail, Pakistan's supreme court has ordered.
Weakened by two fierce political opponents and the army in Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's United Nations speech was to address his domestic audience.
On reports about statement given by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on the incident, Rijiju said, "He has a habit of giving such statements and the whole world is watching. I don't want to make political statements...I think the Ministry of External Affairs and the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) may react to it."
Both sides will discuss the ongoing incidents of ceasefire violations at the border, the resolution of which will be given topmost priority
All those peaceniks and bleeding-heart liberals spewing nonsense about 'uninterrupted and uninterruptible' dialogue with Pakistan should pause to ponder the futility of talking to someone who is unwilling and unready to resile an inch from its unacceptable and unreasonable stand, says Virendra Kapoor.
A technical problem with an Air India Dreamliner from Kolkata led to an overnight ordeal for around 130 passengers who reached New Delhi after a 13 hour delay.
'The Pakistani side was so cocksure of itself that it had come to the table with a pre-set agenda -- an agenda of unilateralism, knowing full well that nothing was going to come out of these talks,' says Rajeev Sharma.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday said Pakistan "spoiled the talks" by talking to Hurriyat leaders just ahead of foreign secretaries of the two nations were scheduled to meet in Islamabad last month.
Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad launched to fight terrorism across country.
'Fashion shows, qawwalis and comedy fests can only be included in a much more meaningful menu of dialogue which occurs when the guns are silent, infiltration is a thing of the past and the people's mood permits such extravaganzas, feels Tarun Vijay, MP.
After an RSS affiliate withdrew the invitation to Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi for an iftar, senior Sangh leader Indresh Kumar on Saturday told Pakistan to worry about calls for freedom emerging within that country and stop interfering in Kashmir.
Pakistan on Saturday detained Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind, for 30 more days under a public security order before he could be released from jail following a court directive to set him free which evoked a strong protest from India.
India's blunt message followed a series of ceasefire violations along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan which resorted to mortar shelling of Indian areas.
Cops revealed that the staffer Mehmood Akhtar was sharing sensitive defence documents and deployment details of the BSF along the Indo-Pak border to the ISI.
'The Modi government knows that much cannot be expected of Pakistan till the Kulbhushan Jadhav issue is resolved,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz brings to New Delhi a newfound Pakistani confidence, stemming from its leverage in Afghanistan, says Ajai Shukla
'Ashok the Great did not slaughter foreigners or Muslims when he conquered Kalinga. It was Oriya- speaking Hindus whom he butchered by the tens of thousands. But Ashok is called Great, and his lion emblem is the official symbol of the Republic of India.' 'Why do we honour Ashoka and not Tipu, when both men are accused of the same crime?' asks Aakar Patel.
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
It is imperative that we deconstruct the current narrative and rewrite the storyline. To this end we need to alter the basic premise of the controversy, eliminate the obstructionists, home in on the true stakeholders and redefine the rules of engagement, says Vivek Gumaste.
'They bluff and lie repeatedly and we swallow their lies.' 'Because we are soft and polite, we get into a mess of our own making.'
Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali's concert in the city on Friday was on Wednesday cancelled after Shiv Sena threatened to disrupt it.
'The Modi government has turned the basic fundamentals of its Pakistan policy on its head.' 'It means an admission that its hands-off-Hurriyat policy was flawed and it is ready to engage with Pakistan without minding if the Kashmiri separatists talked to the Pakistani government,' says Rajeev Sharma.
While Prime Minister Modi may pursue the laudable aim of building a cooperative relationship with Pakistan, he and his advisers should never think that concessions (and dialogue is a concession in itself) will change the Pakistan army's approach to India, says Vivek Katju.
Modi has been wrong in thinking that he can influence people and win friends in Pakistan through his high-octane brand of diplomacy. That is why his Pakistan policy that started off on the high note of saree-and-shawl diplomacy now threatens to end with a whimper with cloak-and-dagger games, says Rajeev Sharma.
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