The action against the Lucknow passport officer was a hasty reckless decision taken by an establishment playing to the gallery to appease the pseudo-secular elite of the country, the Lutyens Delhi lobby intent on discrediting the Hindu identity, and an action that blatantly violated the basic tenets of justice, argues Vivek Gumaste.
The External Affairs Ministry said Islamabad has been showing 'little sincerity' in punishing those involved in the terror attack and its planners are still roaming the streets of Pakistan with 'impunity'.
Prominent international celebrities and activists on Wednesday joined American pop star Rihanna to extend support to the farmers' protests here and garner international attention on the protracted stir but their remarks were slammed by India as 'neither accurate nor responsible'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron held extensive discussions on a range of bilateral and pressing global issues, including the raging conflict in Ukraine, the situation in the Indo-Pacific and terrorism, as the two top leaders agreed on a blueprint to work together in making the India-France strategic partnership a force for global good.
The South Korean foreign minister on Tuesday 'regretted the offence' caused to the people and government of India by the social media post on the so-called Kashmir solidarity day by the Hyundai Pakistan, a day after New Delhi summoned the RoK envoy to express 'strong displeasure' over the 'unacceptable' post.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
India strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.
The ministry of external affairs said India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens and that the country's democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.
MEA sources said that they have not received any communication from the Malaysian government regarding the deportation of Naik to India.
The Congress hit out at the BJP, demanding the immediate arrest of those who have defamed India at the international level instead of enacting a "drama of action".
The comments by External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava came at a media briefing when asked about the fresh comments by the Chinese foreign ministry blaming India again for the border situation in eastern Ladakh.
Following the Chinese president's comments on Kashmir, India in a quick response asserted that it is not for other countries to comment on "internal affairs of India".
'Which will not happen.' 'Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has expressly refuted Beijing's statement that normalcy was returning to Sino-Indian relations.'
At an online media briefing, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava gave a run down of the events along the LAC in the eastern Ladakh region and held China responsible for the Galwan Valley clashes off June 15.
"No one has ever accused India of supporting what is going on in Ukraine. What India seems to be doing is trying to operate within the policy outlined by Nehru 65 years back," said a source.
"Against such background, the words and deeds of relevant important military and government officials and military deployments should be conducive to deescalating and cooling down the situation, and to enhancing mutual trust, rather than the opposite", the spokesman said.
Pak foreign office said that it was a scuffle between 2 Muslim groups and attempts to paint this incident as a communal issue are 'patently motivated'. It also said that claims of acts of 'desecration and destruction' are not only false but mischievous.
Amid the 'Toolkit' controversy surrounding the ongoing farmers' protest, the central government has directed the microblogging platform Twitter to remove 1,178 Pakistani-Khalistani accounts spreading misinformation and provocative content on farmers agitation, sources said.
MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India rejected the repeated attempts by Turkey to justify the cross-border terrorism "practised so blatantly" by Pakistan.
A wall is being constructed in front of a slum along the road connecting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to Indira Bridge.
During the interrogation, they were repeatedly threatened that this is how the other members of the High Commission would be treated as well in future.
'India is a pharma dada. We can manufacture enough for our people and for the world.'
The leadership of the powerful Congressional India Caucus has urged the Indian government to ensure that the norms of democracy are maintained.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India will continue to extend all support to the Afghanistan as a contiguous neighbour, in a clear reference that the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir belongs to India.
"It is unfortunate. I cannot react to the media reports," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said when asked about CBI's affidavit in the Supreme Court on the issue.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, has renewed a deal to buy up to 2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2022 from Russia's Rosneft, the Russian oil producer said. IOC had in February 2020 signed a deal with Rosneft Oil Company to import up to 2 million tonnes of oil via the port of Novorossiysk. In 2021, the deal envisaged supply of up to 1.7 million tonnes of crude oil but IOC bought just on parcel or shipload as the cost of transporting the oil made it uneconomical, when compared to alternatives. For 2022, the deal is for the supply of up to 2 million tonnes of oil from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
The ministry of external affairs said India has conveyed its "consistent position" on the issue to China on several occasions.
Earlier in the day, former India spinner Pragyan Ojha said the country knows how important farmers are and an outsider's opinion is not needed on an internal matter.
Just two soldiers are known to have survived unscathed after the attack on the base.
According to reports from Myanmar, the country's powerful military grabbed power in a coup against the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy in the early hours on Monday.
Rihanna, who has frequently spoken out on issues such as LGBTQIA+ rights and racism, is the fourth most followed person, with 101.3 million followers, on Twitter after former US president Barack Obama and singers Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. Her tweet on India's farmers received hundreds of thousands of retweets and likes.
India on Wednesday delivered a strong message to China that the 'unprecedented' incident in the Galwan Valley will have a 'serious impact' on the bilateral relationship and held the 'pre-meditated' action by Chinese army directly responsible for the violence that left 20 Indian Army personnel dead.
The sources said there was clear sign of withdrawal of structures and troops from the patrolling point 14 in Galwan Valley and that they are likely to move back more than a kilometre in the area.
The draft law also allows courts to send summonses and warrants to the accused through a specially designated website to be hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs.
"Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist will stage a protest against Donald Trump's visit to the country. The agitation is likely to take place on February 24," said CPI General Secretary D Raja.
The 30-member committee, chaired by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister Jual Oram and of which Rahul Gandhi is also a member,wishes to visit the eastern Ladakh region in the last week of May or in June.
Ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to India next week, preparations are underway in Agra where the administration is beautifying the entire route from Kheria Airport to Taj Mahal. "It has been decided that the US president will be visiting Agra on February 24. So, we are clearing and beautifying the entire route from Kheria Airport to Taj Mahal," said Arun Kumar, city magistrate.
"Ambassador Mittal raised India's concern that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner," it added.
The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict in Ukraine, saying 'today's era is not of war' even as he called for finding ways to address the global food and energy security crisis.
