India also went on an overdrive in expanding its military engagement with like-minded countries in its neighbourhood and beyond in the face of China's relentless attempts to become a regional hegemon and establish its primacy in South Asia.
The moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference has urged the Narendra Modi government to adopt the path of Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee with regard to Kashmir.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday invited India to engage in a "comprehensive, sustained and result-oriented" dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.
He said the people are looking for an alternative and the Congress' victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka elections are clear proof of this.
Chairman of the moderate Hurriyat faction, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has proposed a new concept for resolving the Kashmir issue, United States of Kashmir, in which people would be able to move freely.
She also voiced hope that the Centre will initiate an inclusive engagement through an institutionalised mechanism to address the Kashmir issue and the separatists will respond positively to it.
At a press conference ahead of the Army Day, Gen Pande also said that the troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have been able to maintain a robust posture to defeat any evil design of the adversary with a firm and resolute manner.
A stable, conflict-free cooperative relationship between Pakistan and India held the key to durable peace and prosperity in South Asia, Aziz said.
"Kashmir was main cause of unrest in the region and India must show seriousness for resolution of the issue and honour its commitment under United Nations Security Council Resolutions," Sharif was quoted as saying by Associated Press of Pakistan.
United States Congressman Joseph Pitts, a seven-term Republican representing Pennsylvania, has declared that there can be no military solution to the Kashmir imbroglio, and called on President Barack Obama to keep his campaign pledge to help resolve this dispute between India and Pakistan.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has stated that there is a need for evolving a general consensus among various political parties at the national level to resolve the Kashmir issue. Mufti said, "Strengthening of democratic institutions and emergence of a strong civil society is a good sign and the country has to respond to the prevailing positive atmosphere in the region'.
The Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) of the department of telecommunications (DoT) has traced 285,000 lost or stolen mobile phones and blocked 680,000 devices since being launched. However, recoveries remain relatively low at 20,771 devices. According to government estimates, around 50,000 mobile phones are stolen every month in the country. Launched nationwide on May 16, the CEIR is a part of the DoT's Sanchar Saathi portal. It is the primary government platform aimed at protecting mobile phone users from various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, theft of mobile devices and banking frauds.
Three government officials have been suspended in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for quoting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as having said that Kashmir was a flashpoint that could trigger a fourth war with India, a media report said on Saturday.
Geelani was handed the invitation letter from Sharif by Pakistan high commissioner in India Abdul Basit over a dinner at the latter's residence at Tilak Marg in Delhi.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
Ahead of the meeting with his Indian counterpart, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday said New Delhi should engage itself in talks to resolve the Kashmir issue."We hope New Delhi will realise the ground reality and world trends which essentially include negotiations and talks on resolving outstanding issues," he said. Qureshi was addressing a press conference after his meeting with All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Pakistan has said it is facing "certain problems" in Balochistan and tribal areas because of the "Indian presence" in Afghanistan.
"It finally takes two hands to clap and China too must have the belief in a workable relationship," he said when asked whether the two Asian giants can have a working relationship.
Russia on Thursday ruled out playing a role in resolving the Kashmir problem, saying India and Pakistan are capable of settling their outstanding issues themselves.
'When a third party intervenes, the parties to the dispute do not conduct the dialogue with sincerity and hence the grouses remain,' Syed Nazir Ahmad Kashani said.
Kasuri expressed unhappiness over Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta's charge that Pakistan was trying to play down the threat of international terrorism by labelling the Taliban uprising as an ethnic issue.
Pakistan has been insisting on third party mediation on the Kashmir issue, a demand outrightly rejected by India which wants it to be dealt bilaterally. But chairman of the Pakistan People's Party that leads the ruling coalition had said recently that the ties between the two countries should not be held hostage to the Kashmir issue, which should be left for future generations to resolve.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked banks and other financial institutions to ensure that their customers must update nominees to help resolve the problem of unclaimed money in future. "I want the banking system, the financial ecosystem including the mutual funds, stock markets to keep in mind that when someone deals with his (customer's) money, the organisations will have to think about the future and ensure that customers nominate their heirs, give the name and address," Sitharaman said speaking at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) in Mumbai. According to a report, the banking system alone has more than Rs 35,000 crore of unclaimed deposits, while the overall quantum of the unclaimed money is said to be more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
Raking up the Kashmir issue at the United Nations, Pakistan repeated its call for Security Council resolutions to be implemented in the state and said fulfilling promise of self-determination to the Kashmiri people is "indispensable" to establishing lasting peace and stability in South Asia.
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Pakistan's powerful Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif has described Kashmir as the "jugular vein" of his country, saying the issue should be resolved in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiris and in line with UNSC resolutions for lasting peace in the region.
There is only one perpetrator, Hamas. It is a terrorist organisation. It is obscene to argue that until the Palestinian question is solved, anybody has the right to use terrorism as an instrument of policy, argues Shekhar Gupta.
'They keep issuing statements to win a few rounds of applause.'
"Read my lips," said Richard Holbrooke, special US representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, "I am not working on that problem," when asked by a Pakistani journalist if the Obama administration was 'serious to appoint any adviser to resolve this issue,' since as the latter contended, "We all know that deep down, there is no solution of Afghanistan and the South Asia problem, without resolving the Kashmir issue that is controlled by Indian government."
Desolate streets with security personnel and a communications lockdown has left the Valley cut off from the world.
Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora, a body representing the community across the world, said the decision cements territorial, political and cultural unity of the Indian Union.
Pakistan on Thursday expressed hope that United States President Barack Obama would make efforts to resolve the Kashmir problem during his visit to India in November, saying it has always encouraged its 'friends' to use their influence with New Delhi on the issue.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has expressed readiness to engage with India and Pakistan in resolving the Kashmir issue if requested by both and asked them to resume talks to reach an agreement that would serve their security interests as well as that of the region.
Pakistan will move forward to resolve the Kashmir issue with India through a peaceful dialogue and the nation's new government will continue confidence-building measures initiated by the previous regime, Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday.
The party delegation is on a two-day visit to Kashmir to attend a series of meetings on the current situation in the valley.
The United States has rejected Pakistan's request to mediate between it and India to help both resolve outstanding issues, including Kashmir and the river water sharing dispute. During a joint media interaction with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington would continue with its "hands off" policy concerning the Indo-Pak impasse.
Former Pakistani Generals, including ex-army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, have criticised President Pervez Musharraf's handling of the Kashmir problem and said there could be no long-term friendship with India unless the issue is resolved.
The Pakistani president also said Islamic countries should grapple with terrorism, which causes 'more loss of life within the Muslim world'.
Diplomatically, politically and internationally India is suffering. Their international image is suffering because in their house a freedom struggle is going on.It is hurting India's ambitions.'
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