India and China held their fourth round of strategic dialogue to discuss a host of issues such as New Delhi's concerns relating to issuance of stapled visas by Beijing for Kashmiris and its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Hinting at Pakistani link to the Kabul embassy attack, India on Saturday said Afghanistan faces threat from terrorists and their "patrons residing across the border" and that the blast was handiwork of those who want to undermine Indo-Afghan friendship.
For the last eight years, since the Taliban fled from Kabul in November 2001, India has staunchly opposed a dialogue with any section of it. India's position has remained: there is no purpose in talking to the Taliban; there is no such thing as a moderate Taliban.
On the eve of crucial talks between Indo-Pak Foreign Ministers, top diplomats of the two countries met in New York on Saturday to prepare ground for the parleys, where India is expected to demand speedy probe into the Mumbai attacks and decisive action against their mastermind, Jamaat-ud-Dawaah chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he would adopt a "positive approach" for his meeting with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly in New York.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Wednesday, kick-starting his four-day visit to China, during which the boundary row and irritants surrounding it are expected to dominate his talks with the leadership in Beijing.
The Prime Minister, who advanced his departure to avoid Delhi fog, will utilise the time for making a visit to the Olympic games stadium and a meeting with Indian businessmen for a briefing on issues that would come up during his discussions with the Chinese leadership on the economic side.
Ahead of a series of bilateral meetings, India demanded "credible" action by Pakistan in the 26/11 terror attack case on Tuesday, saying the core issue of addressing the country's concerns on the issue will be part of these parleys.
Addressing the SAARC Standing Committee meeting in Thimphu, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said that SAARC has evolved into a service provider for the economic and development needs of the people of the region.
'The Washington summit is as much about nonproliferation and arms control as about nuclear security,' says T P Sreenivasan.
Separately, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said during a meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store in Islamabad that Pakistan wanted its ties with India to normalise "by resolving bilateral disputes through a sustained and meaningful dialogue process."However, "engaging in talks for the sake of talks would serve no purpose," he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir who spoke to the media at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday after meeting his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao said his country desired better ties with India but said Pakistan did not wants talks in which it is lectured to by India.
Taking a serious note of the killing of two Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, India on Tuesday told Colombo that the use of force against them should not be repeated and asked it to take a decision that will not upset bilateral ties. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna also directed Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to convene a meeting of the Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on the issue around February 15 to discuss the issue.
Indian Consul General in Chicago Ashok Atri, embroiled in a controversy over visa issued to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana, has met Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and said that no rules had been violated in giving him the travel document, as he had submitted all proper papers for the same.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Friday assured India that a thorough investigation would be conducted into the suicide bomb attack near the Indian embassy in Kabul to ascertain who was behind it.
An India Chair has been established in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Shenzen University in southern China.A Memorandum of Understanding on the Chair was signed between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and SZU by India's Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao and University President Professor Zhang Bigong in Shenzen.Under the MoU, Shenzen University would host a visiting Indian professor in the capacity of a Chair in Humanities and Social Sciences.
External affairs Minister SM Krishna has taken on Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder and Jama'at-Ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed saying India believes Saeed is the "brain" behind the Mumbai attacks of November 2008, telling Pakistan's government that if it wants to prove its seriousness on tackling terror, it must tackle Saeed.
Beijing's words of appreciation were conveyed to India's Ambassador Nirupama Rao by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during her visit to the Foreign Office to write in the condolence book opened for foreign diplomats on Monday as the country began a three-day national mourning in memory of the earthquake victims.
In diplomacy, it is inadvisable to be a straggler, as you may end up crawling back on a pitiless greasy pole.
India said on Sunday that it is yet to get access to Lashkar-e Taiba operative David Headley but negotiations are underway on this issue and it is "satisfied" with the progress of discussions.
So, what is in a menu, you might ask. Oh, a world and more. Especially, if it is to do with a high-profile lunch hosted by the Indian foreign office for a Pakistani delegation.The lunch hosted on Thursday at Hyderabad House in central Delhi by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is as elaborate as the menu is carefully chosen. There is Gosht curry (lamb preparation). That itself is significant.
"The next round of talks has not been scheduled as yet. It will be done shortly. We hope to finalise the agreement at the earliest," said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao when asked about the status of the procedural agreement under the 123 civil-nuclear pact between India and the US.
Indian Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao and her Chinese counterpart in India, San Yu Si, are among the 19 delegates who will assist the special representatives in the talks.
Though no official announcement has been made regarding Suri's successor, it is reported that the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Nirupama Rao is likely to be the next ambassador in Beijing.
India and China will commemorate in 2008 the 70th anniversary of the arrival of revered Indian doctor Dwarkanath Kotnis in China in an effort to inspire future generations of the two countries to work for the needy.
Indo-Sri Lanka trade, which has reached $1.73 billion, is set to receive a boost with the two countries working on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, India's top envoy said in Colombo on Thursday.
Sujata Singh, currently envoy to Germany, will be India's next foreign secretary following an approval of her appointment by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sending months of speculation on who will head the foreign services.
They alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance was being used to "victimise especially those Indian men who are Muslim and women who dare to exercise their freedom of choice".
S Jaishankar, the new Indian Ambassador to the US, will arrive in Washington on Tuesday to take charge amid a raging diplomatic row over the arrest and strip-search of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade on visa fraud charges.
The US pharma industry has expressed concern over deteriorating intellectual property environment in India, alleging that patent rights in the country are unreasonably denied.The US pharma industry has expressed concern over deteriorating intellectual property environment in India, alleging that patent rights in the country are unreasonably denied.
There is a huge opportunity for foreign investment in India as the government focuses on rapid infrastructure development in the country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.
Former Indian diplomats on Monday termed the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan as a "setback" for India strategically, and asserted that the priority for New Delhi right now should be to evacuate its citizens from the war-torn nation.
Officially called the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Act, 2013, the Bill being pushed by the Obama administration gives the domestic IT professionals in the US a 60-day period to find a new job after they lose the existing one, among several other sweeping reforms.
An online White House petition demanding the Obama administration drop the visa fraud case against Devyani Khobragade has been launched in Washington, DC by a group of Indian-Americans who said the senior Indian diplomat's public humiliation hurts the sentiments of the community.
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In the first official visit by a United States vice-president to India in three decades, Joe Biden arrived in India on Monday on a four-day tour aimed at boosting ties in key areas of trade, energy, defence and security. The US vice-president will hold meetings with top Indian leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday before flying out to Mumbai in the night.
This visa issue had gotten so embarrassing that former Defence Secretary William Cohen, now a member of the US-India Business Council's board of directors, who was presiding along with Ambassador Nirupama Rao at the launch, had to prevail upon Secretary of State John F Kerry and get the visas okayed.
'India and China have the wise and sage leadership to steer this complex relationship in the coming decades.'
S Jaishankar, the new Indian ambassador to the United States, on Thursday met top officials of the State Department to convey India's strong protest over the arrest of its senior diplomat in New York over visa fraud charges, even though she had diplomatic immunity.
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