Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday and discussed the internal security in the country and the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit meeting in Sri Lanka.
The SAARC nations have been more pragmatic than their peers in the ASEAN and EU, indicated an official source on the eve of the 17th SAARC Summit to be held in Male on November 10-11, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for Maldives for the SAARC Summit on Wednesday.
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.
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.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached Indian assets of a Sri Lankan man and his son as part of a drugs-linked money laundering investigation against them.
The arrest of Madhuri Gupta, a diplomat working in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, on charges of spying will have an impact on the mood of the ongoing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Thimphu because the matter is related to India's national security. Gupta, 53, a promotee officer of the ministry of external affairs, was arrested in New Delhi four days ago. Prasad refused to elaborate further on the issue. Gupta used to work as a translator.
India and Bangladesh have recently agreed to provide consular access to arrested insurgents and criminals on reciprocal basis, besides sharing information about their actvities.
PM will raise transit and transhipment issue for NE during SAARC summit
Under the shadow of the serial blasts in India, foreign ministers of the eight-member South Asian association for Regional Cooperation met on Thursday in Colombo to set the agenda for the weekend summit aimed at boosting trade ties and combating the food and energy crisis.
The external affairs ministry was authorised on Thursday by the Union Cabinet to negotiate and finalise the text of the Convention for cooperation on criminal matters, so that it can be signed during the SAARC Summit in August, to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Afghanistan's bonds with India were deeper and closer than those with any of the countries with which it shared a border, and there were no exceptions.
Musharraf attended the SAARC summit in 2002 at Kathmandu where he grabbed headlines with his famous handshake with the then Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in a bid to reduce the mounting military tensions.
Addressing a public meeting in Mahore town of Reasi district on Sunday, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party patron said: "Jammu and Kashmir should become a model among the SAARC countries by allowing both Indian and Pakistani currency to operate in the state." Mufti defended his proposal by quoting the example of European Union, where he said "free travel was possible among 40 countries without any visa restrictions."
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed on Tuesday met Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan to discuss bilateral and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation matters.
The summit will be held in the picturesque city of Kandy, with Colombo planning 'foolproof' security arrangements to ward off any attack from the LTTE as it battles the rebel forces in the north.
The two day meeting from May 31 will review the status of India's relations with these countries.
India's envoy to Austria, Sheel Kant Sharma, will be next secretary general of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced on Friday.
The leaders also adopted the Islamabad Declaration for the SAARC summit.
The prime minister will arrive in Islamabad on Saturday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.
The government is working for the success of the Indo-US nuclear deal mechanism to address the concerns raised by the Left parties, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday.
Dhaka is not in favour of full membership to Afghanistan and instead supports observer status to it, informed sources said.
The national capital, which will host the summit on April 3 and 4, will be dotted by crack commandos of Delhi Police and the paramilitary forces.
The India-Pakistan thaw has resulted in major trade gains for both the countries.
Volcker said while some countries responded well to his findings, many others, particularly smaller nations, have not taken steps to deal with corruption.
Senior IPS official Ashwani Kumar took charge as the new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday. "My top priority would be to reduce the trail time of our cases," the new CBI director said. He added, "the CBI is under tremendous pressure to nab Dawood Ibrahim."
Afghanistan became a SAARC member in 2006.
The South Asian nations could script a new history of cooperation and prosperity that could serve as an example for other nations, notes Dr Rahul Mishra.
Vajpayee had, on Sunday, asserted that he would consider attending the SAARC summit if Pakistan completely stopped cross-border terrorism before the event. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
This is apparently keeping in view the developments in Nepal where King Gyanendra has assumed all executive powers after dismissing the Sher Bahadur Dueba-led coalition government.
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.
Smartphones are full-featured mobile phones with personal computer like functionality with camera and email capabilities with a complete personal organiser. "We are working with our OEMs to bring to market smartphones with full in-built HSDPA (advance version of 3G mobile functions) next year," Qualcomm India and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation President Kanwalinder Singh told PTI.
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