With Modi's international image seriously damaged -- perhaps, irrecoverably -- and Indian foreign policy finding itself in drift, we move on to the New Year in a depressing scenario, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
As many as 47 people, including 20 security personnel, have been killed and over 130 injured in the R S Pura sector in Pakistan shelling and firing this year.
More than 2,000 activists of various religious and jihadi outfits in Pakistan on Wednesday protested against the visit of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, accusing him for the unrest in Kashmir.
The recent decision of the Union government asking United Nations Military Observer Group on Kashmir to vacate a government-provided bungalow in New Delhi, is garnering mixed reactions in Kashmir. While many feel there would be no real impact if the UNMOGIP was to close its main offices in Srinagar, there are others who believe that the UN would continue to have a critical role till the Kashmir issue is resolved.
Terror activities of some right-wing groups and Maoist violence will be high on agenda at the Chief Ministers' conference on internal security to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 1.
Pakistan failed to fulfil six of the 27 mandates so far as a result of which the country continues to be in the grey list of the FATF.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Police in Jammu and Kashmir and Telangana are investigating claims by three arrested youths from Hyderabad that they were planning to meet separatist leader Asiya Andrabi to join jihadi terror groups even as she dismissed as "fabricated" allegations that she had any links with Islamic State.
The road ahead will be long and winding and much resistance can be expected from the high-flying 'hawks' in our skies. But that should not deter the policymakers from planning a road map with the 'big picture' in mind, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Nehru's hegemonic politics has been responsible for many ills, which undoubtedly includes Kashmir'
Issuing a travel advisory, the health ministry also called for passengers with travel history to China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, Iran, Malaysia, France, Spain and Germany to undergo self-imposed quarantine for a period of 14 days from the date of their arrival, and their employers to facilitate work-from-home for such employees during this period.
Pakistan's prime minister is trying to use the unrest in Kashmir to save his government, says Ambassador G Parthasarathy, a former high commissioner to Islamabad.
Interestingly, India had objected to the establishment of a UNHCHR when it was proposed by the US at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights in July 1993 and the whole proposal was remitted to the General Assembly in New York because India and others said that the whole issue should be examined in detail, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who had led the Indian delegation for negotiating the terms of the HCHR.
Togadia said he would go on an indefinite fast from Tuesday to push the Hindutva cause.
As the virus continued to spread its tentacles across India, several parts, including Kashmir valley headed towards a virtual lockdown with the administration restricting movement of people in several parts and banning all public transport in Srinagar city.
'Modi, with his sharply honed political savvy and undoubted grasp of international affairs, is a past master at taking the measure of world leaders.' 'He would be the last person to think of the unpredictable and not too well-regarded Trump as the mediator,' says B S Raghavan.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said such efforts have lost credibility as there has hardly been any follow-up after similar visits in the past.
'The more emphatic denial of any proposal for an OIC foreign ministers meet in Islamabad appears aimed at keeping Pakistan on a leash,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'We are not interested in forfeiting the tie. We look forward to working with the ITF to find a solution that guarantees the safety of all the players'
The Border Security Force on Wednesday said Pakistan's border guarding force was deliberately targeting civilian areas and its Army directly supporting the troops in the shelling on these areas and Indian posts along the International Border.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani has said that the founder of Pakistan, Mohamed Ali Jinnah had hoped that India-Pakistan relations would be like the cordial US-Canada relations, and also had hankered nostalgically to return one day to his beloved Mumbai.
A total of 146 militancy-related incidents took place between January 15, 2015 to January 15, 2016, leaving 169 people -- 108 militants, 39 security personnel and 22 civilians -- dead. A total of 181 incidents of border firing were reported during the same period in the state which left 22 persons including eight security personnel dead and 75 others, including 13 security men injured
The two leaders shook hands and exchanged pleasantries at the end of the media briefing which was addressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. China is the host and chair of the SCO.
'Under the more strident Modi version of Hindutva, Nehru has almost become a contemporary political figure.' 'The ruling party knows that without total erasure and distortion of Nehru, their fantasies will always be wobbly.'
The heavy shelling took place in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
References to Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi signals a change in India's Pakistan policy, top American experts on South Asia have said as they sought more clarity on New Delhi's new approach towards disturbed areas in Pakistan.
Amid rising coronavirus cases in India, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present.
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
'Our policy seems to be to give away part of J&K, even though we are entitled to the entire state.' 'The Congress has done so, and the BJP is following the same policy.' 'No one is applying their mind to the legal position.' 'Kashmir is not a part of Pakistan under its own constitution.'
'The Saudis are in the driving seat in navigating the relations with India; they set its compass and calibrate its pace,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"There is a need for stage-wise progress in the process and the first step would be to withdraw all army and paramilitary troops from the state," he said.
If he doesn't, two things are guaranteed: Failure for him, and continued slide for his nation despite its talented people, strong nationalism, the gift of geography and a formidable army, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Rifleman Aurangzeb, who belonged to the 44 Rashtriya Rifles, was on way back home on June 14 to celebrate Eid when terrorists abducted him.
Pakistan's political leaders on Friday adopted a resolution against India, condemning the killing of 2 Pakistani soldiers in BSF firing.
Aziz said that when it comes to cases involving the death penalty, the international court has always given a stay order.
Top Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, were on Thursday put under house arrest only to be released within hours in actions that were linked to their proposed meeting with Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz in Delhi on Sunday.
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