India would not be seen to be anything but rude with the Pakistanis. In the big picture, who is the bigger adversary right now? Who is the bigger pain in the neck? And who is it that is keeping more than 3,000 km of our borders active, throwing our military posture and deployments into imbalance? asks Shekhar Gupta.
People familiar with the development said on Friday that the Chinese envoy held wide-ranging talks with the external affairs ministry's point person for Afghanistan J P Singh.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan this week and discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20, the Kremlin has announced.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has pitched for an 'action plan' against Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed under the framework of eight-nation grouping Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and called for expeditiously bringing the perpetrators of terror attacks to justice.
In the 57kg competition, Shubham was no match for Russia's Ramazan Bagavudinov, whose superior technical acumen was on display in the quarter-final bout.
With Simranjit (60kg), Sakshi (54kg), and Jaismine (57kg) progressing into the last-4 stage, the women's team has confirmed India a medal in each weight category.
The second batch of 146 Indian nationals who were evacuated from Afghanistan via Doha arrived in the national capital on Monday on various flights.
Describing Central Asia as India's "extended neighbourhood", Doval said New Delhi accords "highest priority" to this region, adding Afghanistan is an important issue "concerning all of us".
Exporters are readying back-up routes to send their shipments to the nations belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including Russia, as the war in Ukraine continues to intensify. Three routes are being explored. The first is the China route using Qingdao port. The second is the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) route that connects Mumbai to Moscow via Iran and Azerbaijan.
A special Indian Air Force repatriation flight ferrying 168 evacuees from Kabul landed at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad on Sunday.
Tamanna (50kg) and Nivedita Karki (48kg), silver medalists in the previous edition, were among five Indian women boxers who won gold in the youth competition of the Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Monday.
Mahi, Palak and 2 other Indians enter final at Asian Youth & Junior Boxing C'ships
The people cited above said the Indians were taken away for questioning and it is not unusual under the current circumstances.
The aircraft landed at Dushanbe in Tajikistan after evacuating the Indians, they said, adding the flight is expected to arrive at the Hindon airbase near Delhi in the evening.
The epicentre of the quake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, was Afghanistan-Tajikistan border and it occurred at 4.01 pm.
Modi's emphasises on transit for trade comes amid Pakistan's reluctance to provide such a facility for two-way trade between India and Pakistan.
In a ceremony held in Amritsar, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla along with Afghan ambassador Farid Mamundzay and World Food Program Country director Bishaw Parajuli flagged off the first convoy of 50 trucks carrying the consignment.
The talks took place in a beach resort in Benaulim on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Air India is leaving behind some 50 bags at the Delhi airport as it flies to the US, reducing what it carries after the closure of Afghanistan's airspace increased flight time by at least 30 minutes. Air India flies the Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft to New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco.
Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, including with Putin, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev among other leaders.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will hold its first in-person summit in Samarkand in Uzbekistan on Thursday after two years, shaking off Covid fears and providing a rare opportunity for all its eight heads of state to meet on the sidelines of the event to have face-to-face talks on pressing global and regional issues of common concern.
Varinder had to pull out of his 60kg category bout due to high fever but he tested negative for COVID-19.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his record-breaking form for Portugal as he grabbed two more goals in his country's 6-0 thrashing of Luxembourg in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Sunday.
'India has to ensure its borders are properly sealed and there is no infiltration from PoK.
Two Indian aircraft would be permitted to operate from the Kabul airport which is under the control of American security forces, government sources told ANI.
Nikhat Zareen (52kg), Manisha (57kg) and Parveen (63kg) continued their stellar run at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul on Monday by advancing to the semi-finals but five other Indians bowed out after suffering quarter-final losses.
India on Thursday resumed its diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a team in its embassy in the Afghan capital, over 10 months after it pulled out its officials from the mission following the Taliban's capture of power.
'We had a long chat here on the boundary talking about it and he's worried: he can't get his family out of Afghanistan and there's a lot of things happening for him.'
I am staying here for the last five years. The situation is really bad there (in Afghanistan). The people staying there are far from the normal situation. People are trying to come out and move to either Iran, Tajikistan or India just to save themselves.
According to a United Nation Women report, most of these 34 countries were developing nations including Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Laos, Mali, Senegal, Tajikistan and Botswana.
The need for an inclusive government in Kabul and a zero-tolerance stance on the use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups are among four aspects that Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed on Wednesday for countries in the region to focus on in the backdrop of the developments in the war-torn nation.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
After two decades, the SCO appears to be at a cross-roads with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, asserts Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
Pakistan's efforts for the peace process in Afghanistan would be remembered for long, he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in Moscow on a four-day visit to attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the SCO of which both India and China are members.
China will host the third meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbours in Tunxi, central China's Anhui province, on March 30-31, the spokesperson said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday against the backdrop of widespread anger in West Asia over controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed made by two former Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons.
India has sent a team to Kabul to oversee the delivery of India's humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and hold discussions with the Taliban over the aid provided by New Delhi.
'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'
In another disappointment for India, Iran's Meysam Gheslaghi defeated Sumit Sangwan in the men's light heavyweight (81kg) division in a late Monday night bout.
