Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik have pledged to take more steps to improve bilateral relations. The two leaders, who are in Maldives to attend the South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation home/interior ministers' meeting, met on Tuesday evening and discussed a wide range of issues.
BNP chairman Tarique Rahman called for maintaining law and order and sought cooperation in building a safe and humane Bangladesh after his party's victory in parliamentary elections.
Home Ministers from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations discussed ways to strengthen police cooperation and other means to combat terrorism that has afflicted the region. The SAARC Interior Ministers' conference, attended by Home Minister P Chidambaram, also discussed proposals like maritime security and anti-piracy operations under the SAARC charter.
Strengthening of police cooperation will be high on agenda of the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Home Ministers' conference during which India is expected to press for visible collaboration by member countries in the fight against terrorism.
Home Minister P Chidambaram exhibited a refreshing firmness during his talks with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad this week.
In the midst of current chill in Indo-Pak relations, a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation home ministers' conference is scheduled next month in Islamabad to which Union Home Minister P Chidambaram plans to go subject to Foreign Office's approval.
The home minister's visit to Pakistan can either open the path to a serious re-engagement or regress us to the rhetoric of the last 12 years, writes K C Singh.
Sources say a couple of senior home ministry officials and seven media-persons, including from leading dailies and TV channels, are yet to receive their visas from Islamabad.
As he prepares to host Home Minister P Chidambaram, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday that he would like to discuss all issues that have been "creating irritation" in the bilateral ties in a "transparent" and "very responsible" manner.
Several Pakistani nationals visiting India started returning home through the Attari-Wagah land route in Amritsar on Thursday, a day after the Centre set a 48-hour deadline for them to leave the country. The decision came after India announced a raft of measures, including the expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, and the immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post in view of the cross-border links to the horrific terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians on Tuesday.
Postponed several times due to a variety of reasons, the much-delayed but the biggest South Asian Games ever begin, in Guwahati, on Friday, with hosts India expected to stamp their superiority in the regional spectacle.
He said the SAARC leadership can discuss via video conferencing ways to keep their citizens healthy.
SAARC countries are facing common challenges and they should cooperate with each other to address them, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, underlining that India is committed to reviving the grouping as a major forum to promote active regional collaboration.
During the visit, apart from attending the SAARC meet, Singh is likely to have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other SAARC member-countries, including Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Bangladesh will ask the Indian government to extradite Bangladeshi criminals hiding in India at the second annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting of home ministers to be held in New Delhi.
On the first day of the three-day SAARC Home Ministers' meet, the police chiefs of these countries agreed on sharing information among police organisations to check various trans-border crimes, Home Ministry sources said. They said the delegates spoke of the need for having a better institutional mechanism so that coordinated action could be taken to meet the common challenges.
In the first ministerial visit from India to Pakistan since the terror strike on Mumbai, Home Minister P Chidambaram will travel to Islamabad on Friday on a two-day trip, during which he is expected to press for a probe against Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed and seek voice samples of the handlers of the 26/11 terrorists.Chidambaram is visiting Pakistan to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Interior Minister's Conference on Saturday.
The satellite will enable a full range of services to neighbours including the areas of telecommunication, television, direct-to-home, VSATs, tele-education and tele-medicine.
India would take up with SAARC nations the refugees issue so that neighbouring countries could take them with the assurance that they will be treated in proper manner.
Saeed said Pakistan government has added insult to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Singh.
"It was a formal courtesy call, nothing else," an official said.
Modi said the coming together of SAARC leaders will lead to effective outcomes and benefit citizens in the fight against coronavirus. The PM on Friday had proposed formulation of a joint strategy by the SAARC nations to fight coronavirus, a suggestion that was backed by all the member states.
The meeting comes as India continues its attempts to isolate Pakistan in the South Asian region after the attack on its army camp in Uri.
Singh is expected to bluntly ask Pakistan to stop sponsoring acts of terror in India and also raise the issue of slow pace of probe into the Pathankot airbase terror attack
Sing is expected to bluntly ask Pakistan to stop sponsoring acts of terror in India.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi's invite to the heads of governments of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation-member countries has the stamp of approval of not only President Pranab Mukherjee but also the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will only travel to Kathmandu when he will leave on Tuesday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Nepal, despite his wish to visit other parts of the country including Janakpur, the revered Hindu religious site.
Stringent action should also be taken against persons involved in terrorism and their extradition should be ensured, he said.
'We have communicated that SAPM (Special Assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister) on Health (Zafar Mirza) will be available to participate in the video conference of SAARC member countries on the issue,' Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said in a tweet on Friday.
Saeed accused Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris".
While Modi has spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor (270 days versus Dr Singh's 306), he has travelled more extensively and actively than any other Indian PM.
The Indian armed forces, especially the Navy, are building partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region for peace and security, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, he said.
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
India will provide immediate medical visa for patient and an attendant coming for treatment as well as business visa for 3-5 years for SAARC nations.
Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi's first official visit as head of government will likely be to Dhaka, where he is expected to sign the much-awaited Teesta water-sharing agreement with Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina.
India on Wednesday commemorated the sixth anniversary of the Mumbai attack with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders paying homage to the victims, recalling the "horror" over which the country still felt "endless pain" for the loss of 166 lives.
Shringla last served as India's envoy to the US. He will be serving a two-year term. In the course of a diplomatic career spanning 35 years, Shringla has held a variety of positions in New Delhi and abroad, and is considered an expert on India's neighbourhood.
According to Bambawale, even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level.
The people in charge of the PM's security need to shift the emphasis from the numerical (the number of policemen deployed) to technology-based solutions to sanitise the area where he resides, works and during his road journeys, says Anil Chowdhry, former secretary (internal security), ministry of home affairs.
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