With the rising death toll in anti-government protests in Libya, the government on Tuesday decided to evacuate nearly 18,000 Indians residing in that country. "Arrangements for air and sea evacuation of our nationals from Libya are being finalised," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said. Rao, along with other top officials from other concerned ministries, held a meeting to work out the logistics of the evacuation process.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani held 'very good talks' in a 'free and frank' manner, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters, after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, for 50 minutes on Thursday.Dr Singh told Gilani that cooperation between the two nations was vital for the progress of SAARC's goals and peace in south Asia.
India has assured Pakistan that it would not hesitate from sharing the findings of Samjhauta Express blast case but expressed inability to do so till the probe is not completed as Indian laws do not permit it. This message was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao during her meeting with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.
India is "cautiously optimistic" on charting a way forward in the dialogue process with Pakistan and would like to see the process to mature keeping in view ground realities, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday.
India and Pakistan on Sunday night agreed on the need for constructive talks to resolve all outstanding issues after a fresh round of parleys in an attempt to infuse new life to their stalled dialogue process.
Setting a positive tone ahead of their meeting in Thimpu, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on Sunday said they would endeavour to find a way forward for continued engagement between the two countries.
No bilateral meeting has been fixed so far between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Thursday."As of now, no such meeting has been set up between the prime minister and Gilani," she said, adding that Dr Singh will have separate meetings with leaders from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Sunday arrived in Colombo on a key visit to boost bilateral ties and discuss the row over the alleged killing of two Indian fishermen in sea waters between the two countries. The foreign secretary was expected to discuss the killings of two Indian fishermen mid-sea earlier in January. The incident had sparked a row between the two neighbours.She is expected to meet President Mahinda Rajapksha on Monday to convey New Delhi's concern.
India on Sunday said that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is likely to meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Standing Committee meeting in Bhutan early in February. This comes ahead of a possible visit by Pakistan Foreign Minister S M Qureshi to India. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are likely to meet in Thimpu on the sidelines of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting on February 6-7.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who visited Sri Lanka last week and met President Mahinda Rajapakse and senior Sri Lankan officials, has said that India had been reassured over the Lankan government's efforts to return internally-displaced persons to their homes and also hopeful over a future political process to alleviate the lot of the Tamil-speaking community and other minorities.
India wants an early resolution of the contentious stapled visa issue with China as allowing it to "fester" for long could lead to a negative impact on the overall relations between the two countries.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday to kick off a dialogue between the two countries after a hiatus of 14 months. India had suspended the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the terror attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, which was planned and carried out by Pakistani terrorists.
India is likely to put before Pakistan a set of specific demands related to tackling terrorism when their foreign secretaries meet next week, and Delhi's political circles believe that its response will determine the future course of such talks. Expectations from the talks between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, to be held in New Delhi on February 25, are 'realistic', informed sources said.
The Cabinet Committee on Security today took stock of the situation arising out of the Pune bomb blast and is understood to have discussed issues related to the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan.
Ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's upcoming visit, India on Friday hoped that China realises the need to show more sensitivity on core issues that impinge on the country's 'sovereignty and territorial integrity', as raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the two countries were also putting in place more confidence building measures to tackle the vexed boundary issue, for which India is making a serious attempt.
Addressing New Delhi's concerns about peace talks with Taliban, the United States told India that it will not let the rebels enter a power sharing agreement in Afghanistan, according to leaked US cables by Wikileaks.
India has told Pakistan that the proposed talks with it will focus on terrorism and other issues "hurting" bilateral relations and has given no indication about the full-fledged resumption of the stalled composite dialogue process, official sources said on Friday.
Take a look at the pictures of Barack Obama's visit to India. You can see Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon. Can you spot Foreign Minister S M Krishna anywhere?
United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday left for Indonesia after concluding his three-day India visit.
Besides reflecting an "essential continuity" to the ties, the visit will also provide another opportunity to consolidate all that have been built by two countries in the past decade, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said while addressing a gathering in New Delhi.
Thnew deal will likely usher in a new era of cooperation and broad-basing of economic relationship between the two Asian powers.
The papers on the basis of which terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were issued visas by the Indian Consulate in Chicago may have gone mysteriously missing and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said she has asked for a factual report from the diplomatic mission.
India is looking forward to Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar's visit to the country next month for crucial talks between the two sides. This was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who is in Islamabad on a two-day visit for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, to Khar when she called on the Pakistani Minister on Friday morning.
Amid speculation about an Indo-Pak bilateral meeting in New York this week, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Tuesday said that talks between the two neighbours were necessary but asked Pakistan to first stop supporting terrorism against India originating from its soil. Rao, however, did not respond to a question about an assertion made by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahomood on Monday that Islamabad had sent 'suggestions' to India through diplomatic channels.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will arrive in Islamabad at 10 am on Thursday and she will have her first meeting with her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir later that evening. The two full delegations will then have two sessions on Friday.
"The issue of Jammu and Kashmir comes up in our relationship with Pakistan and we've said very clearly, very confidently and very transparently that we are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan," the foreign secretary said on Monday
India on Thursday asked Sri Lanka to move beyond the resettlement of people displaced due to the civil war in the country's north and find a political solution to the long-pending Tamil question.
India on Tuesday assured Tamils displaced by the 30-year-old civil war in Sri Lanka's north of all possible assistance in their resettlement process, as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited the war-ravaged towns and interacted with locals.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will undertake a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from Monday. She is expected to visit the north eastern provinces of Sri Lanka -- including Vayunia, Yazhpanam and Trincomalee -- to check the rehabilitation of the Tamil population, who were displaced by the military's offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rao is also expected to prepare the ground work for the official visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Colombo.
Pakistan on Saturday dismissed India's call to effectively secure its nuclear assets as 'self serving' and said New Delhi should instead work with it on establishing a 'regional strategic restraint regime'. Following a suicide attack on Friday outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra, considered a base for some of the country's strategic weapons, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had said that India hoped Pakistan would "continue to take steps to secure nuke assets."
Were External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, right, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, centre, and Hardip Singh Puri, India's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, left, perturbed by Libyan dictator Muammmar Gadhafi's demand that Kashmir be made an independent country, an observation embedded in his 96-minute diatribe.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met with her US counterpart William Burns and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including counter-terrorism and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to America in November.
Officials in the government, whether in the Civil Services or the Armed Forces, follow the laid down guidelines, and release information as quickly as possible. The media will not then 'overplay' the events.
Nepal on Monday said it would not allow its territory to be used against the interests of India and not permit "vested interest groups" to create "misunderstandings" between the two neighbouring nations.
Dr Singh briefed Obama about the peace initiatives with Pakistan, but made it clear that Islamabad should abide by its commitment of not to allow terrorism emanating from its soil directed against India.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad on June 24 to finalise the agenda for an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries.
National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, both former ambassadors to Beijing, prevailed over the dominant view of the Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorjee, being a "pro-China asset in India", reports RS Chauhan
With the situation in Libya remaining volatile, government on Tuesday said it was putting in place plans for possible evacuation of Indians whose number is around 18,000.
Libyan Ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi has reportedly resigned in protest against his government's violent crackdown on demonstrators.
India and the United States will hold the second round of their strategic dialogue in New Delhi on April 6 during which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would lead the American side, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has announced in Washington.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances