Indian and Pakistan authorities are scheduled to hold a flag meeting on Wednesday afternoon in the wake of repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the international border.
'Any 'de-escalation' that brings down tensions will deprive the BJP of a plank with seamless possibilities to project PM Modi as the 'Iron prime minister' and hype up jingoism in the upcoming election campaign,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
This was the first time that sweets were exchanged between the two forces after the abrogation of Article 370 as the Pakistani side refused to continue with the custom, they said, adding after the developments of August 2019, the offer of exchanging sweets was made by the BSF but the Pakistani side did not reciprocate.
'The most unfortunate part is that after precipitating the crisis situation on Tuesday, the government ducked and took help from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to 'de-escalate' the situation.' 'Make no mistake, this fateful move has grave implications.' 'You don't take help from the wolf to guard the sheep, right?' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The experts said the terror strike shows the United States has failed to persuade Pakistan to act against Jaish-e-Mohammad and other terrorist groups.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said the state should stand firmly behind people in the Marathi-speaking areas of neighbouring Karnataka and appealed to political parties not to behave in a way that would hurt them.
Amid continued ceasefire violations by Pakistan, India on Monday expressed "disappointment" that a meeting of DGMOs of the two countries could not be scheduled so far as decided by their prime ministers.
Pakistan's offer to normalise relations with India is an attempt to buy temporary peace due to its economic and politico-strategic compulsions, notes Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is very much aligned with the foreign policy priorities of the Modi 2.0 government, says Sana Hashmi.
President Kovind, who arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day on his maiden State visit at the invitation of his counterpart M Abdul Hamid to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, held delegation-level talks with him which was followed by a banquet.
Pakistan's "deceitful stand" on dialogue, while supporting terror and violence, "stands exposed" to the whole world, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters while replying to queries on Khan's remarks.
The change of government in Pakistan after the exit of hawkish Imran Khan and his likely replacement by hard-core realist Shehbaz Sharif may provide a little window of opportunity for the leaders of India and Pakistan to reset their nearly frozen bilateral ties, according to experts.
It is important to protect fissile material from extremists in Pakistan more than nuclear bombs because the latter has multi-layer security unlike the former, a senior Pakistani nuclear expert said on Saturday.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh can beat each other on their day
An agreement between India and Pakistan, however tenuous, has its own meaning and impact. We have not heard the last word about the ceasefire agreement, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
They warned that Islamabad wants to send a 'strong message' to India against isolating it on the world stage.
The United States, through its embassies in New Delhi and Islamabad, is engaging with the Indian and Pakistani governments on bilateral talks, which the Narendra Modi government called off while objecting to Pakistan consulting Kashmiri separatists ahead of the meeting.
Condemning the terrorists who seek to infiltrate across the Line of Control, the United States on Thursday called on all parties to reduce tensions along the LoC by returning to the 2003 ceasefire commitments.
It was a letter of April 2014 sent by the then Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Narayanaswami Srinivasan to Pakistan Cricket Board which bound India to a commitment to play Pakistan this month, leading to the present dilemma in the establishment.
The Indian government should resist the temptation to make a grand gesture of friendship towards Nawaz Sharif, says Shyam Saran
Patriotic fervour prevailed at the border with border residents singing songs, beating drums and carrying the tricolour in their hands.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's ouster through illegal means could trigger another round of democracy-related US sanctions against Pakistan, according to a report.
India boycotted Pak National Day event over invitation to Hurriyat leaders.
Elaborate arrangements at the check points before one enters the actual venue have been put in place to check the baggage and identity of the general public and media entering the venue.
India has maintained that there can be no talks with Pakistan unless it stops supporting terrorists.
The residents of Delhi stand to lose 10 years of life expectancy if the current air pollution level persists.
Pakistan's 'approach is one of getting even, an eye for an eye, or death by a thousand cuts.' 'The entire effort is to be the equal of India. Unfortunately, the reality is that this can never be the case.' 'India will always be the bigger, economically stronger, technologically more self-reliant country.' 'Therein, lies the dilemma Pakistan faces which leads it to perennial enmity with India,' notes Ambassador Gautam Bambawale in the Air Marshal Y V Malse Memorial Lecture 2019.
The chief of the army staff said that with one-third of the world in the Gulf region and elsewhere involved in some sort of conflict and war, "it is important that we keep the flames of fire away from our region."
Khan said Kashmir is the 'core' issue between the two countries and it should be resolved through talks.
The BSF is also conducting joint patrolling with the army, the Central Reserve Police Force and police to thwart nefarious attempts of terrorists, Boora said.
The nine nuclear-armed states -- the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) -- together possessed an estimated 13,080 nuclear weapons at the start of 2021.
Pakistan on Wednesday described as "incorrect" a media report that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had contended the Kashmir issue is a flashpoint which "can trigger a fourth war" with India.
'The Indian side has realised that not talking to Pakistan has not served any useful purpose.'
The event was given a miss as the relations between the two countries are strained at present.
'The two NSAs, who have been mandated to address mutual concerns on terrorism, will need to devise credible and irreversible measures to see that the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar do not ever get a free hand to run riot again,' says Ambassador G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner in Pakistan.
At a media briefing, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi asked Pakistan to focus on setting its own house in order in containing terror networks and said that the international community is well aware of that country's credentials when it comes to terrorism.
'Washington's silence about India's Article 370 move tells us all we need to know: It doesn't want to rock the boat of a relationship that has navigated some choppy waters but remains a highly important one.'
According to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report of August 2019, a longstanding goal of US policy in South Asia has been to prevent the India-Pakistan conflict from escalating to interstate war.
In his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made references to India's internal affairs, including Jammu and Kashmir. The First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Mijito Vinito, walked out of the general assembly hall when Khan started his usual diatribe about India.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sees his victory in Pakistan's election as a mandate for peace with India, saying an arms race between the two countries must end and they should settle their dispute over Kashmir.
