National Security Adviser M K Narayanan is being appointed Governor of West Bengal and former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will take over as the Governor of Punjab as the Centre has finalised a list of five new Governors in various states.
The Union minister, however, did not elaborate on his statement that comes amid mounting tension in the India-Pakistan ties.
When Nirupama Rao became India's foreign secretary in August, only the second woman to get the top job, the grapevine around the Ministry of External Affairs had it that she would struggle to put her stamp on South Block, writes Jyoti Malhotra.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee refused to speak further on National Security Adviser M K Narayanan's claim that Pakistan had reverted on India's dossier on Mumbai attacks, saying he had already "clarified" his position on the issue.
India and the US are expected to finalise a crucial agreement on reprocessing under the landmark civil nuclear deal in 10-12 days, with all but one issue being resolved and negotiations centering on finalising a mutually acceptable legal text.
Union Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday asked the three services to remain alert and step up vigilance around the first anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
US President Barack Obama has invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Washington later this year to enable them to discuss the global economic situation and regional security issues. US National Security Adviser James L Jones conveyed the invitation to Singh during a meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
In the first significant comment by anyone from the government about the imminent impeachment process in Pakistan, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said it is the political vacuum that exists there that 'greatly worries us'.Maintaining that the situation was evolving in such a manner that nobody could quite reach a conclusion, Narayanan said they thought President Musharraf's impeachment might not take place.
An Indian intelligence officer told rediff.com, "It's very well possible that when Zardari was out of the country Gilani took a hawkish stand to please the army chief General Ashfaq Kiyani. Right now, a hard stand against anyone perceived to be softer on India or America makes good politics in Islamabad."
National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair have been asked to 'continue' in office till further orders, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said on Tuesday. The decision has been taken apparently to ensure continuity and speedy implementation of the United Progressive Alliance government's flagship programmes. The sources said that last week, Manmohan Singh asked Narayanan and Nair to continue in their posts.
President Obama was seen patting Saran's back after the Copenhagen negotiations, but he characteristically laughed it away when I mentioned it in my TV conversation with him. Saran will be missed in the government, but he will be a welcome addition to the strategic community, which will benefit from his immense experience and innate wisdom
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.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said India should not accuse his country for terror attacks till their investigations were complete, and favoured further strengthening of the joint anti-terror mechanism. "I proposed to let the intelligence chiefs meet... There should be a hotline between the intelligence chiefs and national security advisers of India and Pakistan so that we can share information timely and collectively in dealing with the menace," Qureshi said.
Talking to Najam Sethi on his Dunya News programme on Sunday, Durrani said that the then Foreign Affairs Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto also had no idea that India would cross the international border.
Veteran diplomat and former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon took over as National Security Adviser on Saturday. 60-year-old Menon, who will serve in the rank of Minister of State till further orders, took charge from M K Narayanan, who has been appointed as West Bengal governor.
Former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra said on Thursday that senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union Home Minister L K Advani was aware of all the key decisions taken with regard to the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama's much respected National Security Adviser, Retd James L Jones made clear that while the President's new comprehensive strategy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan includes encouraging a rapprochement between India and Pakistan, it will absolutely not include any efforts to bring about a resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio.
Doval, who has been sent home 24 hours early is regularly taking stock of the developments in the valley with officials.
The Taliban forces operating out of Pakistan's Swat region pose a common threat to India and the United States, besides the host country, America's special envoy Richard Holbrooke suggested in New Delhi on Monday. The envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, said he had sought the Indian leadership's assessment of the situation.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on Thursday.Sources indicate that while Dr Singh will seek a firmer commitment on tackling terror from his Pakistani counterpart, Gilani might rake up the contentious issue of Kashmir during the talks. The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan had come to a standstill after the terror attack on Mumbai in November
India is expected to get information about the plans and network of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana next week when a high-level team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation visits New Delhi with "all details" of their probe.
Indian Consul General in Chicago Ashok Atri, embroiled in a controversy over visa issued to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana, has met Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and said that no rules had been violated in giving him the travel document, as he had submitted all proper papers for the same.
The US today said it was "doing everything" to make sure that Pakistan smashes terror groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and denies them safe havens, as India remembered the 183 people who fell to terrorists' bullets in attacks on Mumbai exactly a year ago.
"It is further clarified that the underlying theme of the reply to the question on Indo-US relations was the high expectation India had from the Obama Administration with a hope being expressed that it would be possible for India to make the new Administration appreciate India's positions and views on the region, including Kashmir," the Media Adviser's statement said.
Pakistan has not responded officially on India's dossier on the terror attacks in Mumbai, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi on Tuesday.National Security Adviser M K Narayanan had told a TV channel on Sunday that Pakistan had sent two sets of questions about the dossier and Indian officials have already replied to one set of questions.
US President-elect Barack Obama has named Leon Panetta, a former White House Chief of Staff, to head the Central Intelligence Agency and retired admiral Dennis Blair as the director of the National Intelligence.John Brenna, a former leader of the National Counter-terrorism Center, will be his Homeland Security Adviser and Deputy National Security Adviser for Counter-terrorism Serving, Obama announced.
NSA is overseeing the discussion National Test Research Organisation, under the Home Ministry, along with DoT is holding with smartphone maker Blackberry to find a solution where the data traffic passing through the Canadian firm's network could be intercepted by security agencies. So far the government has been insisting to have a local server to host emails in India, but Research-In- Motion, the makers of Blackberry, has cited problems in setting up country-specific servers
A high-level assessment of the security scenario in the light of Indo-Pak tensions was undertaken at a marathon meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Defence Ministry in New Delhi on Saturday night.
With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam out of its way, Sri Lanka on Thursday assured India that it will implement a law for devolving powers to Tamil-dominated areas, as both the countries agreed on the need for a lasting political solution to the ethnic conflict. The assurance was contained in a joint statement issued after National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo.
Narayanan, who will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, is expected to take up issues like devolution of powers to Tamils in the island and their immediate rehabilitation in view of their sufferings undergone during the current war.
Santhanam recently stirred a controversy claiming that the nuclear tests done in 1998 were not successful as projected at that time.
Despite the historic victory of Barack Obama in the Presidential elections and 'the change' he has promised, Unites State's foreign policy would continue to be guided by its national interest as it has been since World War II, feels former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.Chairing a discussion on 'Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Impact on Asian Security Framework' at Observer Research Foundation, Mishra said the Bush administration had been working on two key US strategies.
India on Friday urged the Sri Lankan government to cease its offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and declare a truce in the conflict zone. The Centre also rushed National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon to Colombo to step up its diplomatic pressure.The decision was taken at a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Previously, for nearly a decade, we had no body for analysis, assessment and follow-up action. Today we have three --- the JIC of the old vintage, the NSCS of the 1998-99 creation and the National Security Advisory Board, which came into existence in 1999 as a body of non-governmental analysts and advisers on national security. From a state of practically no analysis, we have gravitated to one of a plethora of analysis.
Rahul 'Richard'Verma, a partner with the top-notch international law firm in Washington, DC -- Steptoe & Johnson LLP -- who, until recently was the highest-ranking Indian American Congressional aide on Capitol Hill, has been appointed to the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.
New Delhi should constantly bear in mind that despite Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani's soft-spoken approach, crucial decisions on relations with India, particularly on terrorism-related issues, will remain in the hands of the Punjabi-dominated Pakistani military
The message, which was conveyed through the Chinese media in the days on the border talks was thus very clear: China continued to attach importance to a further improvement of its bilateral relations with India, but it will remain firm on its claims to Indian territory in the Arunachal Pradesh sector.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack, a media report said on Friday.
Police officers, criticising the recommendations of the sixth Pay Commission have told the government that the commission has overlooked the fact that the threats to internal security are perhaps more recurrent and damaging today than actual threats of aggression from external enemies. IPS officers have also criticised the commission for not only maintaining, but increase the edge that is given to IAS officers over them.
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