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.
'No prime minister of India is averse to normalise relations with Pakistan, if it is possible to do so without altering our fundamental position on Jammu and Kashmir,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Official sources told PTI that Speaker of the Peoples' Majlis Abdullah Shahid has sent a formal invitation to the prime minister to address the Majlis during his official visit to Maldives for the two-day SAARC Summit on November 10-11, which has been accepted.
From January 2015, he has served as India's Ambassador to Poland, based in Warsaw, with concurrent accreditation to Lithuania.
The meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi drew mixed reactions in Pakistan, with most of the political parties accusing Sharif of failing to highlight Kashmir but the media was generally positive.
Within the SAARC framework, says Rajeev Sharma, Nepal's strategic importance cannot be overestimated as Nepal is a key member of the sub-SAARC group India has created to bypass Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Modi was accompanied by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh among others during the talks with Sharif, who arrived in New Delhi to attend Modi's swearing-in on Monday.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday presented a cream-coloured south silk sari to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who in return gifted the famous Bangladeshi Jamdani sari to the visiting Indian leader.
Chowdhury denied a media report on anti-India insurgent camps operating in Bangladesh and said his country 'would not allow its territory to be used by any insurgents against India or any other country.'
"ISRO has been launching at least one satellite every month, so our calender is perennially packed and at this point of time it looks difficult to launch the South Asian satellite in December. It could get delayed by a month," a senior official said.
He will also review the third round of the Composite Dialogue process, Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told a media briefing.
There would be 'no adverse impact' on Air-India and Indian Airlines if private carriers are allowed to operate to foreign destinations, said the civil aviation minister.
'Now is the time for India, our biggest neighbour and oldest friend, to bring the full array of international policy instruments to bear.'
Pakistan's request for access to Kasab was contained in its response to the three Indian dossiers provided to it during the February 25 Foreign Secretary-level talks in New Delhi, official sources told PTI.
The road ahead will be long and winding and much resistance can be expected from the high-flying 'hawks' in our skies. But that should not deter the policymakers from planning a road map with the 'big picture' in mind, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan is growing restive with the below the radar screen diplomacy. This is the issue Modi and Sharif will grapple with at their Washington meeting, says Rajeev Sharma.
Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will represent Bangladesh at the swearing in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi on May 26.
On the sidelines of the SCO visit in Ufa, the two heads met and decided to revive dialogue and find ways to expedite the trial of the Mumbai attacks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Nepal visit was an eye-opener for most Indians, as it appears as though the hard feelings of 17 years of neglect by Indian PMs has been overcome by this single, sincere visit, says Rajeev Srinivasan.
New Delhi's assurance was conveyed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a meeting with his Nepalese counterpart G P Koirala, who is in Delhi to attend the two-day SAARC Summit starting on Tuesday.
Expressing concern over the situation in Afghanistan, a group of eminent persons, including former ministers K Natwar Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Mani Shankar Aiyar, on Wednesday urged the government to continue engaging with the Taliban and not allow any political party to use the developments in that country to communally polarise Indian society for electoral gains.
The Pakistani team investigating the Pathankot terror attack will complete its probe this week, a top official said on Monday, days after three suspects in the high-profile case were remanded to police custody.
India and Sri Lanka consider an open sky policy within the framework of the air traffic agreement of the SAARC nations.
'If all goes well, Modi will visit the Maldives later this year. But two Indian concerns remain unaddressed: President Yameen's intentions about Mohammad Nasheed and China,' says Rajeev Sharma.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa on Friday after more than a year.
'India had nothing to gain by the talks except for some brownie points from the US for being reasonable. Pakistan desperately needed the talks to get arms and money from the Americans,' says T P Sreenivasan.
"It is a good news and talks between two countries should start," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told Voice of America radio.
Pakistan PM called on the international community to ask India to provide access for treatment of victims.
In a sudden development, S Jaishankar, India's Ambassador to the United States, was on Wednesday night appointed Foreign Secretary, replacing Sujatha Singh whose tenure has been abruptly 'curtailed" by nearly 8 months.
'Its internal economic rot and corrupt political elite have made the resurgent supremacy of the military establishment more invincible,' says Sunil Sethi.
Breaking the logjam in their ties, India and Pakistan on Wednesday announced that they have decided to engage in a "comprehensive" dialogue that will include peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir.
In a rare gesture, China's official media in Beijing on Tuesday extended its biggest coverage to an Indian political event projecting Narendra Modi's takeover as Prime Minister as a harbinger of "big boost" to China-India relations.
The conference was attended by envoys of Pakistan posted at Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, Afghanistan, UN New York, UN Geneva, Vienna, Brussels and Moscow among others.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought Hindi into vogue in the external affairs ministry and managed a diplomatic coup by inviting SAARC leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, to New Delhi for his swearing-in. Sheela Bhatt's impressions of the Indian prime minister's first day in office.
The launch will be a major feat in country's space history as no exercise on this scale has been attempted before.
'Like Nehru, too, Modi has found dealing with Beijing more and more difficult and has adopted an increasingly assertive approach towards managing India's northern neighbour.'
Gujarati popular dish kela methi nu shaak, mouth-watering chicken chettinad from Tamil Nadu, Punjab's dal makhani and Bengali dish Potol Dorma will be served at a private dinner hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee for visiting foreign dignitaries on Monday.
Congress on Thursday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party over sending an invitation to Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif for the swearing-in ceremony of prime minister designate Narendra Modi, reminding the party of its earlier remarks that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is 'not an economic fundamentalist', senior Sangh leader Ram Madhav said on Thursday making it clear that the Narendra Modi government is free to take decisions for the good of the country including on foreign direct investment.
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