Kuwaiti authorities are conducting DNA tests on the bodies of those killed in the devastating fire incident in southern Kuwait's Mangaf area and an Indian Air Force aircraft is on standby to bring back the mortal remains of Indians killed in the incident, officials said on Thursday.
The Home Minister's comments assume significance in the context of M K Narayanan moving out of his role as NSA to West Bengal as Governor after Chidambaram spoke of restructuring the Home Ministry and creation of a new security architecture.
Presence of terror safe havens in Pakistan, aggressive Chinese behaviour and the Afghanistan situation dominated last month's meeting between James Mattis and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval defended death penalty where "larger interest of the nation" is involved and deprecated those who questioned the execution of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon.
Congress on Wednesday steered clear of the issue on the continuation of the post of National Security Advisor in the wake of M K Narayanan's exit from there and the government planning a National Counter Terrorism Centre.
United States President Barack Obama has defended the controversial surveillance programme of the National Security Agency, saying such secret operations are 'transparent' as these were carefully supervised and controlled. Edward Snowden, a former NSA systems analyst contractor, has leaked documents revealing the Obama administration's spying programmes that gather phone records of Americans and track the use of United States-based internet servers by foreigners.
'With continued focus on votes, upcoming by-polls and purchasing politicians, the political hierarchy has little time for national defence.' 'They would do well to heed a veteran scholar, who says, "There will be war with China in the next few years. The next full scale war will have the involvement of Pakistan and terror elements, insurgents and intelligence assets operating inside India",' warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse Haryana farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state where farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping since last week after their 'Delhi Chalo' march was halted by security forces.
Previously, for nearly a decade, we had no body for analysis, assessment and follow-up action. Today we have three --- the JIC of the old vintage, the NSCS of the 1998-99 creation and the National Security Advisory Board, which came into existence in 1999 as a body of non-governmental analysts and advisers on national security. From a state of practically no analysis, we have gravitated to one of a plethora of analysis.
NSA is overseeing the discussion National Test Research Organisation, under the Home Ministry, along with DoT is holding with smartphone maker Blackberry to find a solution where the data traffic passing through the Canadian firm's network could be intercepted by security agencies. So far the government has been insisting to have a local server to host emails in India, but Research-In- Motion, the makers of Blackberry, has cited problems in setting up country-specific servers
Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis said Russia would be asked to join the peace plan discussions at some point in time but to bring Russia on the table would require mediation by some countries.
In the first high-level contact between India and the new United States government, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan is expected to meet Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Munich during his three-day visit that began on Friday.
Under NSA, the government can detain a person for as long as it wishes and the authorities need not disclose the grounds of detention. A person booked under the provision of Gangsters Act becomes part of a gang listed in police records. It entitles the police to keep track of those booked under the Act and issue summons to them for attendance at the local police station for questioning even if no fresh case is lodged against them.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has suggested a ban on Bajrang Dal may not be sustainable and refused to term the Sangh Parivar outfit and SIMI as two sides of the same coin, leaving Railway Minister Lalu Prasad peeved and prompting the BJP to speak of another disconnect between the NSA and the government.
Menon, who arrived in Colombo by a special flight just after midnight on Thursday night, is scheduled to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brothers Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic development; and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary, officials said.
Criticising the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government's decision for holding a National Security Advisor-level meet between India and Pakistan in Bangkok, the Congress Party on Sunday said the government's series of flip flops since it came to power depicts less productive outcome from such a meet between the two neighbouring countries.
The home minister also reviewed the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin on June 29.
Thousands of Amritpal's supporters had entered the Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 23 this year to free a member, who had been arrested in an abduction case.
Most deaths were due to smoke inhalation while residents were sleeping, and a significant number of occupants were evacuated, they added. The fire started in a kitchen in the six-storey building in the Mangaf area in Kuwait's southern Ahmadi Governorate, officials said, adding that the building reportedly had 195 people living in it, who are workers of the same company.
Briefing newsmen in New Delhi, BJP leader Rajeev Pratap Rudy asked Dr Singh also to explain if the NSA had brought this to his notice.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India was committed to respond to any act of terrorism perpetrated from across the borders, and asserted that since terrorists do not play by rules, there cannot be any rules in the country's answer to them.
Sinha said there has been an increase in terror... not only the incident in Udhampur and Gurdaspur there has been a spate of terror attacks and even today there have been terror attacks in which policemen have been killed.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday called on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul and reaffirmed India's commitment to assist Afghanistan in building a strong, democratic and prosperous country.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday called Mahatma Gandhi 'a great strategist' and said that the revered Indian leader knew the importance of utilising soft power against the brute forces during the freedom struggle.
Santhanam also sought to counter claims by Narayanan and others in the establishment that he was not privy to the test measurements and information on Pokhran-II tests.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's police chief over the incident.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan held different opinions about talks with Pakistan, a cable released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has revealed. The former NSA has described Dr Singh as a "great believer" in talks and negotiations with Islamabad, while Narayanan himself was "not a great believer in Pakistan".
With seven million new subscribers, India accounted for the highest net addition of mobile subscriptions globally in the second quarter of 2023, according to the August edition of Ericsson Mobility. Among national markets, India was followed by China with five million and the US with three million subscribers. The subscriber penetration in India, however, stood at 79 per cent, compared to 120 per cent in China, the report said.
"The stand of the government, I have told you very clearly and categorically, is that it is a talk on terror," Telecom minister said.
Terming the opposition in Parliament over the End User Monitoring Agreement between India and the United States as 'bunkum', former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra said, "We should ask these leaders to address the question: do you want defence equipment from US or not?"He said, "If you want to buy the American agreement, then you will have to agree to the EUMA also. It is up to you to decide what you want."
Menon reached Washington late Thursday night, several hours after his scheduled arrival, due to inclement weather in the region because of which his flights had to be diverted.
Pakistan is still considering the dates proposed by India for the NSA-level talks between the two nations, an official of the Foreign Office said in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Seven persons accused of being involved in smuggling activities for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels and the Maoist movement have been detained under the National Security Act (NSA). While three of them were involved in smuggling activities for the LTTE, the others were part of the Maoist movement, a release said.
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.
It is learnt that the home minister will review the area domination plan, zero terror plan, law and order situation, cases related to UAPA and other security-related issues.
With fresh inputs on the Burdwan blast indicating pan-India existence of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday ordered immediate neutralisation of the terror modules of the banned group.
Doval and Salman also deliberated on a range of bilateral, regional issues including the missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities last month and ways to further deepen anti-terror cooperation.
Speaking about the character of the jihadi activity from Pakistan, Narayanan said it tends to go up and down but added that "we don't mind the flip-flop".
Jai Prakash Yadav, languishing in the district jail in Gorakhpur since December 11, is embroiled in a case of attempted murder.
