India must not succumb to the argument that by moving ahead to normalise relations between India and Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif's hands would be strengthened in dealing with those who don't want peace. This is not to suggest, like the BJP, that our Pakistan policy must be an all or nothing approach, implying that talks with Pakistan must straight away be shelved. The need is for a calibrated approach, says K C Singh.
To consider Pervez Musharraf a real force for peace is an absurdity, declares Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
With the most recent nosedive in United States-Pakistan relations in the aftermath of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, ironically, India-Pakistan relations seem to be on a more solid footing than the so-called US-Pakistan strategic partnership, said Thomas Donnelly, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, who specialises in defence and security policy.
'Having India as a credible deterrent vis-a-vis Chinese ambitions in the Indian Ocean and South Asian region is a desirable short-term outcome.'
Despite being a neighbour, Pakistan has never accounted for more than 2 per cent of India's total exports, and its share in India's total imports is less than 1 per cent. On the other hand, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has increased five times.
What Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari really discussed at their meeting. Sheela Bhatt reports
'The US-India relationship is in a different league altogether,' Obama administration officials tell Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in Washington, DC.
Unprovoked firing by Pakistan Rangers has marred dozens of weddings in villages along the International Border in Jammu with many forced to make last-minute changes to some rituals as well.
Pakistan Cricket Board managing director Wasim Khan said that they need to move forward as they could not wait forever to play India.
It is understood that the BCCI wants a formal communication before they head to ICC Disputes Resolution Forum where they are set to counter PCB's compensation claim of US$ 70 million for not honouring the MoU signed in 2014.
'Kulbhushan Jadhav is a very sad case.' 'I think Pakistan handled this issue very clumsily.' 'They gave too much of publicity and also said that they will hang him.' 'Now obviously, they are not going to hang him.'
Seeking a 'new perspective' for establishing close China-India-Pakistan ties, the official think tanks in Beijing on Friday said that recent efforts by Beijing to have strong relationships with its two neighbours should not be viewed with 'suspicion'.
Argentina and Brazil are traditional rivals and there was a time when their antagonism was being compared to India-Pakistan relations. They have overcome to a great extent their history of hostility. That an Argentinean Pope was so warmly embraced in Brazil shows that his great office does transcend such divides, notes B S Prakash, India's former ambassador to Brazil.
Amid speculation surrounding India-Pakistan World Cup clash owing to the Pulwama terror attack, the International Cricket Council said it does not foresee any change in the schedule of the mega event, starting on May 30.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday applauded Nawaz Sharif and his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for their convincing victory in the recently concluded elections and conveyed India's desire to work with him to chart "a new course" in India-Pakistan relations.
The profound significance of the events of the past week lies in that the struggle for civilian supremacy has truly begun in Pakistan and its consequences are going to be far-reaching for India-Pakistan relations, says M K Bhadrakumar.
More than the jingoism overkill, it's the tedious tone of telling stories of this genre that hurts Pippa, observes Sukanya Verma.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries will meet in Kathmandu on Wednesday with an aim to revitalise the regional grouping and make it a major platform to fuel economic growth through liberalised trade and combat challenges of terrorism and climate change effectively.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani has said that the founder of Pakistan, Mohamed Ali Jinnah had hoped that India-Pakistan relations would be like the cordial US-Canada relations, and also had hankered nostalgically to return one day to his beloved Mumbai.
Chastened by the Kargil conflict, Pervez Musharraf will be remembered for gradually lowering the profile of terrorism and seeking a realistically negotiated settlement to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan when Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
'With Punjab and Kashmir in flames, it would not have been politically wise to alienate the West.' 'It would have inclined Western countries towards Pakistan.' 'It would have been a self-goal.'
'It is possible elements within the Pakistani establishment felt bad about eating humble pie and wanted to avenge the humiliation through a terror attack.' 'After all, lodging an FIR in Pakistan about the Pathankot attack amounted to an admission of Pakistani involvement,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Until Pakistan hands over Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed to India bitterness in ties between the two countries cannot end, Bharatiya Janata Party said on Saturday.
The slow lethargic response of the government in the Surjeet-Sarabjit drama and the hyper, superfast response of the media can make for a lethal dose in India-Pakistan relations, says Seema Mustafa
The civil-military imbalance in Islamabad is a key factor impeding India-Pakistan relations despite a large constituency for peace in both countries, former Indian Minister Shashi Tharoor said in Islamabad on Thursday.
Conceding that time is running out for the proposed India-Pakistan bilateral cricket series to take place, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said the Board is still waiting for the government's approval.
For someone like me who studied Sam so intently, if a lump could form in the throat during the emotive scenes, I think the cast did a superb job, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
There are two perspectives in the United States government vis-a-vis the imbroglio in South Asia, one of which holds that the problem really is about India-Pakistan relations, and the other is that it's all due to Pakistan's behaviour akin to that of a rogue state.
Retired veteran diplomat Howard Schaffer, author of the acclaimed The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir, has said, "If the Inter-Services Directorate or some other organ of the Pakistan government has been footing the Kashmir American Council's bills, as seems so obvious, it is hard to conclude that they have been getting their money's worth."
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make a statement in Parliament on December 14 on the recent developments in India-Pakistan relations.
Afghanistan's "accusatory" stance towards Pakistan will not help bilateral ties, Islamabad's envoy at the United Nations has said, advising President Hamid Karzai to "take a leaf out of India's book" and learn from the "enormous maturity" it has shown in dealing with issues. He noted that a "massive change around" has come today in India-Pakistan relations as compared to the post-26/11 environment.
Neeraj Chopra has displayed sizzling form in season 2023, winning almost everything on offer. However, the star athlete has no qualms admitting that defending his gold medal at the Paris Olympics will be a huge challenge since maintaining top form on a consistent basis is not easy.
Dr Singh would like to be remembered by history as the PM who achieved a breakthrough in India-Pakistan relations, believes Neerja Chowdhury
Pakistan's top diplomat Sartaj Aziz said that he did not reject the idea when asked about the chances of a meeting between the two prime ministers
Any settlement with Pakistan won't last unless it comes with big power guarantees, says Shekhar Gupta.
Dr Singh's invitation to Pakistan's head of State and head of government is an important but risky gesture which could have political consequences, believes B Raman
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are likely to meet on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in the Iranian capital later in August. The two leaders will be in the Iranian capital between August 26 and August 31 to attend the NAM summit and they are expected to meet on the sidelines of the meet, The News daily quoted its sources as saying.
United States President Barack Obama on Sunday made it clear that the US 'cannot impose' itself on India-Pakistan relations and called for a 'military response' in a 'significant ongoing way' against those who perpetrated terror attacks in Mumbai and New York.
Former Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shahryar Khan and ex-diplomat S K Lambah, the point men for India-Pakistan back-channel diplomacy, will meet in Dubai on Thursday to ease tensions and firm up a planned meeting between the premiers of the two countries, a media report said.
Dharamsala's loss is Kolkata's gain! The marquee India-Pakistan encounter of the International Cricket Council's World Twenty20, on March 19, will be played at the iconic Eden Gardens, in Kolkata.
