'I had my own mistakes but now I want to move towards the future. I don't want to go into those things now, I had my own sins and mistakes'
Only on Wednesday, in his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Modi said he wants to resolve the Kashmir issue through Vajpayee's doctrine of "Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat" - a testimony to the former PM's lasting legacy.
Bereaved families of Sukma bravehearts have demanded justice and questioned the intelligence failure and government inaction.
"Mera Bharat mahaan, meri madam mahaan, sab madam ne hi kiya hai," Ansari's mother Fauzia Ansari told EAM.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
Amarinder Singh told mediapersons that both Kovind and Modi had accepted the Punjab government's invitation to be part of the historic celebrations and that the modalities of their visits would be chalked out after the Kartarpur Corridor opening programme was finalised with Pakistan.
Pakistani authorities on Thursday assured their Border Security Force counterparts that a jawan, who was captured in their territory after being swept away by a strong current of the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir, will be handed back on Friday.
'By beheading an Indian soldier, the Pakistan army has demonstrated its proclivity for barbaric medievalism.' 'The strategies adopted and the punishment inflicted by India must be made progressively more stringent with every new act of terrorism till the cost becomes prohibitive for Pakistan,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'... and they don't even make a big deal about it.' 'Whether it is the conditions they live in or the duties they do or the facilities they have or don't have.'
Bereaved families on how they are coping with their tragedies after terrorists gunned down seven tourists from Gujarat and Maharashtra on July 10 in Kashmir
'Trade cannot take place when there is no trust.'
ATS officials seized a cellphone and Rs 71.57 lakh in cash from the house of Qureshi,
Stunning moments from across India as it celebrates its 69th Independence Day
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Salopek is on an intercontinental journey of 24,000 miles, tracing humankind's movement out of Africa right down to South America.
Over a year after the deadline to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trading status to India, the Pakistani government on Thursday declined to specify any time limit to meet the long-pending demand from here.
'They are aware that they have been unable to bring about any change in the security situation in Kashmir and have failed to internationalise the Kashmir issue.'
Khalistani separatist Chawla, a close aide of terrorist Hafiz Saeed, is part of the committee, which was not acceptable to India.
'The fabric of democracy is fraying,' says T V R Shenoy. 'It is being attacked not just by terrorists in Kashmir or by zealots in the North-East, but is being ripped apart even in Allahabad, in the Hindi heartland.'
'It seems likely that the February 2019 crisis is over.'
President Ram Nath Kovind said he was 'a determined champion of democracy during the Emergency' and would be missed by his readers.
'I don't want a government to tell me that I can't be there for my sister's wedding.'
'it looks like India wants to follow Pakistan on the slippery slope of stupidity masquerading as religion.'
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday said Pakistan "spoiled the talks" by talking to Hurriyat leaders just ahead of foreign secretaries of the two nations were scheduled to meet in Islamabad last month.
Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad launched to fight terrorism across country.
'The Pakistan government, we were told, has a plan to renovate several Hindu temples and Buddhist sites, which over the years have fallen into disrepair. The aim is to create a pilgrimage circuit to attract visitors from all over the subcontinent.'
WWhat Pakistan faces in the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is virulent insurgency and terrorism, fuelled by its association with Al Qaeda
It is time the new government, unencumbered with the burden of past, initiates a wide ranging review and open debate on the security issues to rectify our short term and long term shortcomings. It has taken some wise steps but has to go beyond this to identify the structural weakness and create systems, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
akistani-American David Coleman Headley outline how the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Inter-Services Intelligence wanted to spread terror in India.
'He was not even 15 when he showed skills at captaincy.' 'Now that he is the captain, I keep telling him not to expect from others what easily comes to him.'
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
'Pakistan's capacity to carry a normal relationship with India doesn't exist.' 'The relationship with Pakistan is less important than several others.'
Three Indian Air Force officers held as Prisoners of War in a jail in Rawalipindi made a heroic escape. They reached as far as the Pak-Afghan border in Pakistan's Wild West -- within sniffing distance of freedom -- only to realise that they had finally met their match. Or so it seemed. The three escapees were never feted for their audacious attempt 41 years and truly deserve official recognition. Why not honour them at least now, says MP Anil Kumar.
The number of people killed in acts of terror reached a record high last year, with almost four in five of these deaths occurring in just five countries, new research shows.
'The assumption is that the lines have been drawn and the two sides (India and Pakistan) have gone to battle. All of us, whether analysts or politicians or citizens or cricketers or housewives, must see the other side as an enemy and must reject everything it says or does even if we gain nothing from it. I am no longer able to subscribe to this stupidity,' says Aakar Patel.
'Over the last year, Bajwa has created the environment to support bold moves on India. The ball is in India's court,' a senior Pakistan military officer tells Ajai Shukla.
Hein Kiessling has the kind of access in Pakistan that journalists (and spies) would die for, says Kanika Datta.
