India has taken up with the United States administration the issue of actor Shah Rukh Khan's detention at a New York airport, conveying its "deep concern" over the incident.
The Indian embassy in Washington received a bomb threat call on Tuesday following which its premises, the chancery and Ambassador Nirupama Rao's residence all had to be temporarily evacuated and searched.
India and the United States will hold the second round of their strategic dialogue in New Delhi on April 6 during which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would lead the American side, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has announced in Washington.
Reacting sharply to Pakistan's critical remarks over India's endorsement by the United States for United Nations Security Council, India has expressed its 'disappointment' and said they reflected the 'trust deficit' between the two countries.
Underlining that India has worked to promote better ties with Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has said that the relations with Islamabad can only grow in an atmosphere free of terror and violence.
Making the first effort to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries, Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan discussed all issues of mutual concern with New Delhi flagging its core concern of terrorism emanating from that country on Thursday.
Reacting sharply to Pakistan's critical remarks over India's endorsement by the United States for United Nations Security Council, India has expressed its 'disappointment' and said they reflected the 'trust deficit' between the two countries.
"Like we talk about the Thimphu spirit after the two prime ministers' meeting in Bhutan last year, today we have a Mohali spirit, an extremely positive and encouraging spirit," said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao summing up the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the world cup semi-final clash between the two countries at Mohali.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who visited Sri Lanka last week and met President Mahinda Rajapakse and senior Sri Lankan officials, has said that India had been reassured over the Lankan government's efforts to return internally-displaced persons to their homes and also hopeful over a future political process to alleviate the lot of the Tamil-speaking community and other minorities.
With the rising death toll in anti-government protests in Libya, the government on Tuesday decided to evacuate nearly 18,000 Indians residing in that country. "Arrangements for air and sea evacuation of our nationals from Libya are being finalised," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said. Rao, along with other top officials from other concerned ministries, held a meeting to work out the logistics of the evacuation process.
India is "cautiously optimistic" on charting a way forward in the dialogue process with Pakistan and would like to see the process to mature keeping in view ground realities, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday.
"China is our largest neighbour and its rise is a reality that entire world faces today," Rao said in her remarks at the University of California-Berkeley on Monday.
Addressing New Delhi's concerns about peace talks with Taliban, the United States told India that it will not let the rebels enter a power sharing agreement in Afghanistan, according to leaked US cables by Wikileaks.
Amid speculation about an Indo-Pak bilateral meeting in New York this week, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Tuesday said that talks between the two neighbours were necessary but asked Pakistan to first stop supporting terrorism against India originating from its soil. Rao, however, did not respond to a question about an assertion made by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahomood on Monday that Islamabad had sent 'suggestions' to India through diplomatic channels.
India on Thursday asked Sri Lanka to move beyond the resettlement of people displaced due to the civil war in the country's north and find a political solution to the long-pending Tamil question.
India on Tuesday assured Tamils displaced by the 30-year-old civil war in Sri Lanka's north of all possible assistance in their resettlement process, as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited the war-ravaged towns and interacted with locals.
Rao asserted that India has been transparent on this issue with international partners given its enormous energy security needs.
India is looking forward to Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar's visit to the country next month for crucial talks between the two sides. This was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who is in Islamabad on a two-day visit for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, to Khar when she called on the Pakistani Minister on Friday morning.
Hoping that India and Pakistan could come to a satisfactory conclusion about what is required for the 26/11 trial to go ahead, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Friday said that 'justice has to be done' by bringing to book all those responsible for Mumbai terror strikes.
The Indians in Beijing celebrated the Independence Day on Friday with Ambassador Nirupama Rao hoisting the tri-colour at a function at the embassy. Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi and other key Indian Olympic Association members also attended the ceremony.
Answering a question with reference to a bomb attack near the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, which is about 75 km from Islamabad, and reportedly houses some of the country's nuclear assets, Rao said that New Delhi was aware of the attack and hoped authorities in Islamabad would ensure the safeguarding of those assets.
Nirupama Rao, who took over as the foreign secretary on August 1, has had a variety of issues on her platter -- the reported incursions by China along the border, the attack near the Indian embassy in Kabul, Pakistan dilly-dallying on prosecuting Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the mounting political pressure over the rehabilitation of displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her US counterpart William Burns and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including counter-terrorism and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to America in November.
"We hope and expect that Pakistan will focus in a meaningful manner on our concerns on terrorism. It is our hope and expectation that Pakistan fulfills all its commitments," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
Despite the presence of renowned economists and entrepreneurs, it was Kiran Bedi, a retired police officer-turned activist, who stole the show at the Eighth Annual Indian Business Conference at the Columbia University last week. Suman Mozumder reports
India's demand that Pakistan should do more to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to justice is not an "unrealistic" one, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
Pakistan will try to find a 'common denominator' during the upcoming talks with Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, without 'forgetting' outstanding issues like Kashmir, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has said. "We do not have a prepared agenda. We will see what can be identified as doable and then take it to the foreign ministers' level. In this meeting, we will try and find a common denominator," Bashir said, referring to talks he will hold with Rao in Islamabad.
India is keen to open a consulate in Jaffna, once a stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday, even as she pressed for political reconciliation among all communities in Sri Lanka so as to usher in peace and harmony."Of course, we have to work out the modalities. Because we feel our office there will help us to be in touch with the local people, help us do assistance programmes, help issue visas," she said.
With India offering to hold foreign secretary level talks, Pakistan's High Commissioner Shahid Malik on Friday met Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to finalise the dates for the meeting.India has proposed two set of dates in February and is awaiting a response from Pakistan over them, sources said. Reflecting a thaw in bilateral relations, Rao had telephoned her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir about a week ago to invite him to Delhi for talks.Bashir had welcomed the offer.
Lauding India's contribution to the Afghanistan reconstruction efforts, an influential American senator has said a strong India-United States partnership is an important factor for the peace and prosperity of the war-torn country.
An official of the Indian Embassy in China, on Wednesday, met the 21 Indians detained there for alleged diamond smuggling and legal help is being arranged for them, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
India-born wonder kid Ritankar Das, who this year became the youngest graduate topper of the prestigious University of California in more than a century, has been felicitated by the Indian embassy in Washington for his outstanding academic achievements.
Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan on Tuesday held consultations to finalise the agenda for the meeting between their foreign ministers on Wednesday during which they will discuss Confidence Building Measures and India's concerns on terror and Jammu and Kashmir.
On Tuesday, members of Congress from both the Democratic and Republican parties wrote to India's ambassador, Nirupama Rao, asking the Indian government to reconsider its PMA policy and its impact on the information and communications technology sector.
India has voiced fears that Islamic radicals might drive back to power in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US-led international forces and has called for greater coordination with Washington over the developments in the war-torn country.
At an elegant reception hosted at her residence on February 14, to felicitate the newly minted United States lawmakers -- Dr Ami Bera and Tulsi Gabbard Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao predicted that 'the presence of Ami Bera and Tulsi Gabbard in the US Congress, brings great meaning to our mission and our task of taking US-India relations further forward to greater and greater heights'.
If she can help it, South Carolina's Indian American Governor, Nimrata 'Nikki' Randhawa Haley, would like nothing better than have India and China competing for the investment opportunities in her non-unionised state and creating more jobs.
Just one week after United States President Barack Obama's convincing re-election, his faithful Vice President Joseph Biden led the White House celebration of Diwali, reflecting on the significance of festival of lights, and also acknowledging the presence of Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu American elected to the US Congress, and also Ambassador Nirupama Rao, who like Gabbard, seemed to have that gravitational pull in terms of the guests wanting to pose for pictures with them
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will travel to the United States next week to hold discussions with top officials of the Obama Administration on a wide range of bi-lateral and regional issues.
India is "a powerhouse" in today's world and indispensable to "the conduct of global affairs", believes Senator John F Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee and erstwhile Democratic presidential nominee in 2004.
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