Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, an United Nations-designated terrorist who trained the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attackers for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and acted as the outfit's chief on at least two occasions, died in a prison in Pakistan's Punjab province while serving a sentence for terror financing, his aide said on Wednesday.
Interacting with reporters in Kolkata, the Trinamool national general secretary reiterated that his party stood with the government in matters of national interest, combating cross-border terrorism, and safeguarding sovereignty.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday (local time) highlighted how India responded in a measured and calibrated manner towards terror bases and headquarters in Pakistan, following the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.
"Senator McCain wants India to be a part of the expanded G-8 format. But he feels that India's claim to a permanent membership of the UN Security Council was hard to come by because of the complicated equations there," adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign Richard R Burt said.
India has sought China's support for its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council during a meeting between President Pratibha Patil and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Bejing. Patil, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday on a six-day visit to China, was welcomed warmly by Wen at the Purple Light Pavilion.
The rejuvenated effort came with Japan recently showing active interest again in the joint endeavour after remaining lukewarm for about a year on its participation in the G-4.
The reaffirmation from the US comes in the backdrop of the maiden India US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue which was held on Tuesday.
Pakistan on Tuesday said it has expressed "serious concern" to the United Nations over a draft bill in the Indian Parliament over the map of Kashmir and called upon the world body to uphold its resolutions and urge India to stop such acts which are in "violation of international law".
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said it is too premature to congratulate ourselves over the UN Security Council adopting a resolution on Afghanistan, and cautioned that the possible axis of China, Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a cause for worry.
Raising the Kashmir issue at the UN, China has told the General Assembly that the "dispute" should be peacefully and properly addressed in accordance with the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and the bilateral agreement. China, a close ally of Pakistan, also stressed that no actions should be taken that would unilaterally change the "status quo".
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council have strongly condemned the attack on a UN base in South Sudan that killed 22 people, including two Indian peacekeepers, and asked the government there to swiftly investigate the "criminal act".
India is planning to ask Pakistan to seize assets of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and most wanted terrorists Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as all three are in the United Nations Security Council's Al Qaeda sanctions list which makes it incumbent upon Islamabad to freeze their holdings.
China on Tuesday called for a 'comprehensive and lasting ceasefire' between India and Pakistan, urging both countries to properly handle their differences through dialogue.
Jaishankar said he emphasised that India supports diplomacy and dialogue as the "way out".
The government will send seven all-party delegations to key partner countries, including members of the United Nations Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
Chatterjee, whose early career was in the Indian Army, was decorated for gallantry by the President of India in 1995.
Exercising self-defence is a nation's primary right when a situation demands 'immediate and proportionate action' and applies also to attacks by non-state actors, India told a United Nations meeting, highlighting several proxy cross-border and state-supported terrorist attacks like the 26/11 Mumbai assault the country was subjected to from its neighbour.
"A permanent Security Council seat in the UN for India means a major injustice, which has no moral ground. How will such a country (India) be made a permanent member, when it has not honoured the body and rejected its resolutions on Kashmir," Chairman of the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani said.
"We have a strong view that there should be Security Council reform of the United Nations, that the Security Council should reflect the modern world, which is why we've suggested that both India and Japan should become permanent members of a reformed United Nations Security Council," the Australian foreign minister said.
China on Wednesday said it doesn't have a policy to oppose India's claim for permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached the land and building of Haryana-based Al Falah University, worth about Rs 140 crore, that came under the radar of the security agencies following the November 10 Red Fort area blast, and filed a charge sheet against Al Falah Group chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui and his charitable trust.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday called for shunning double standards in combating terrorism and urged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to hold accountable perpetrators, organisers and financers of cross-border terrorism, seen as reference to Pakistan.
India has demanded the United Nations to slap sanctions against the new Taliban leader in Afghanistan, saying it is "sheer folly" that the leader of a proscribed entity is not yet designated as a terrorist individual.
Pakistan has been using various UN fora to raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir ever since India passed the law in Parliament to strip the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status under the constitution and turn the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh last year in August.
Earlier, China had extended the "technical hold" on India's move to get Azhar designated as a terrorist by the UN.
Noting that the last reforms to the Security Council were made in the sixties, Ambassador of France to India Jerome Bonnafont said "if we want the Security Council to remain a legitimate place for handling peace and security crisis in the world, it is absolutely necessary to have India as well as couple of others as permanent members."
R Ravindra, India's Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR) to the United Nations, on Wednesday, underlined New Delhi's efforts to send humanitarian assistance to civilians in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, saying that it has sent 38 tonnes of food and critical medical equipment to the region.
The foreign minister said the conversation between the two leaders was held in a 'cordial environment'.
The leaders also noted the "negative impacts" of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, especially for developing and least-developed countries.
India has strongly rejected Trudeau's statement made in the Canadian Parliament and said "allegations of Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated."
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation voiced concern over the human rights situation in Kashmir.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that whatever action is required in Syria should be under the UN framework, amid growing pressure on US President Barack Obama from his Russian counterpart and other world leaders not to attack the Arab country.
In an address at a security conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Kazakh capital, he also underlined the need for holding accountable the sponsors, financiers and facilitators of terrorism, in remarks that came amid Pakistan's continuing support to various terror groups.
The US welcomed the election of India as a non-permanent member of the powerful UN Security Council along with South Africa and Brazil and hoped these countries would play an important and constructive role in resolving key global issues together.
The US move to align with Russia is prompted by fear of a Sino-Russian joint threat. Russia, fully aware of its military vulnerability vis a vis China may cautiously welcome the American move, assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Multilateral platforms are being misused to justify and protect perpetrators of terrorism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said
China and Pakistan are in a tight strategic alliance. India must deal with them one at a time, but be prepared in case they decide to collude, points out Shekhar Gupta.
