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.
A deft hand on India-China relations, Bambawale earlier handled the China desk at the MEA.
A Mumbai lawyer and a Beed engineer joined arrested climate activist Disha Ravi in creating a protest toolkit backing the farmers' agitation with the aim of 'tarnishing the image of India' and collaborated with pro-Khalistani elements, Delhi Police officials said on Monday.
It is the first time that India has voted on a resolution at the UN that is being perceived as pro-Israel.
'The hardliners in Delhi are in for a big disappointment,' predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Those who follow the workings of the establishment believe that Indian diplomacy has managed more by the individual flair and brilliance of a few individuals than its systemic strength or organisational excellence.'
Prominent international celebrities and activists on Wednesday joined American pop star Rihanna to extend support to the farmers' protests here and garner international attention on the protracted stir but their remarks were slammed by India as 'neither accurate nor responsible'.
The Pakistani delegation, in its meetings with World Bank officials, insisted on early appointment of the judges and setting up the court.
Pakistani officials confirmed the development while the US embassy spokesperson refused to comment, saying the information 'appears to be only hearsay', The News daily reported. Some diplomats in Islamabad were aware of the Taliban operation but were not ready to speak on record. One of the hijacked helicopters had already been sold to an unidentified customer in Afghanistan, the report said.
Al Qaeda 'had been preparing to spread its ideology to India', says Bruce Hoffman, Director Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.
She also met American Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell, who was in New Delhi on a stopover to her vacation.
'It is not possible that Kashmir will go totally to one country.' 'I don't see borders being changed anytime even in the distant future.'
The government has sent a special unit of trained commandos to Pakistan to protect top diplomats of the Indian Embassy there. The batch of 16 personnel, trained in commando skills and unarmed combat from the Central Industrial Security Force, was sent to the neighbouring country in February. "They will perform VIP security duties after assessing the situation there," CISF Director General N R Das told reporters on the sidelines of the force's 40th raising day.
Rana was arrested in 2009 on the charges of plotting the 26/11 terror attack. Some 166 people, including US nationals, were killed in the attack carried out by 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and hanged after handed down death sentence by an Indian court.
'The attack killed 166 innocents, including six Americans. We will never let terrorists win, or even come close to winning!' he said.
American intelligence agencies have for the first time directly linked the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence and indicated that it might have been authorised by the top officials as those involved in assisting militants were not renegades, a media report said in New York on Friday.
Displaying anger at the Kabul embassy blast in which "elements" based in Pakistan were involved, New Delhi on Monday said the incident had vitiated the atmosphere putting the dialogue process "under stress" and asked Islamabad to address its concerns.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday assured Denmark that the perpetrators of the 'wanton act of terrorism' near the Danish Embassy in Islamabad would be brought to justice. Qureshi made the assurance during a phone call to his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moller, said a statement issued by the Foreign Office. The Pakistani minister strongly condemned the attack and termed terrorism a 'scourge that is threatening the whole human society'.
India on Monday conveyed its concern to Pakistan over the recent spurt in border ceasefire violations and the attack on its embassy in Kabul for which ISI has been blamed.
'Their redemption is here. Definitely not in Pakistan.' 'They know if they step 20 steps on the other side of the Line of Control they will never return.' 'They will be ill treated.'
Commenting on news reports that the United States had proposed to accredit an official deployed at the American embassy in Islamabad to the NCA, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said, "Delegations and individuals do meet the members of the NCA, but it is not possible to accredit an official to the NCA." The NCA comprises the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and top civil and military officials.
Doval's visit was 'part of regular high-level engagements between India and China', an Indian Embassy press release in Beijing said.
The meeting took place at Bill Clinton's request, according to a report.
Vowing to redouble its efforts to help Afghanistan as a response to the bombing of its embassy in Kabul, India has attacked Pakistan for trying to strike a deal with the local Taliban, saying such bargains "were undermining efforts to defeat terrorists in the war-ravaged country."
29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
This is for the first time in several years a news report has surfaced about the hiding location of the Al-Qaeda chief, who is Osama bin Laden's mentor and successor.
Senior US officials helped Pakistan steal atomic weapons secrets through Turkish agents in exchange for money and other benefits, with ISI passing on the sensitive information to the now disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan, a media report claimed in London said.
Her days in the isolation ward no longer haunts India's first COVID-19 patient in Kerala and the 20-year old medico who has fully recovered is now busy attending online classes from her university in Wuhan in China as she completed three months since being diagnosed with the disease.
29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
Matchboxes featuring Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's photograph and offering a reward of US$ five million for information about him are being circulated in Pakistan's tribal North West Frontier Province. Postal and email addresses for sending information on the Al Qaeda chief are printed on the matchboxes. A leaflet within the matchboxes, containing 30 match sticks, says bin Laden is wanted by the US government on charges of killing 220 innocent citizens.
Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga says watching Mahela Jayawardene and his boys return home to their families after the terror attack in Lahore was overpowering.
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.' 'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.' 'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.' 'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'
Observers say China's repeated invitations to India to join the BRI highlights its own anxieties over the adverse impact of New Delhi's lack of support to the multi-billion dollar investments in South Asia as it would deny access to India's market consisting over 1.2 billion people.
The Taliban and Al Qaeda have joined hands with Gulbuddin Hekmatyars Hezb-i-Islami and reactivated cells, Naseer Ahmad Rohi, who served at the Afghan embassy in UAE, said.
The increasing bonhomie in the Indo-Afghan relationship had posed a challenge to the ISI, which is interested in regaining its lost 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan.
The meeting of the working group on cross-Line of Control CBMs, earlier scheduled to be held on July 10, was postponed as Joint Secretary T C A Raghavan, who was to lead the Indian delegation, rushed to the Afghan capital after the suicide attack on the Indian embassy there on Monday last that killed 58 people.
Meanwhile, India has cancelled all visas issued to foreign nationals coming from China as it stepped up efforts to combat the spread of novel coronavirus after 150 passengers were identified with symptoms of the deadly virus and sent to isolation units.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar arrived in Kabul on Wednesday to hold talks with the Afghan leadership
95 aircraft, 16 ships and 2 submarines from 3 countries are taking part in Malabar exercise.
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