Given the strained relations between Dhaka and New Delhi, was India right in helping liberate Bangladesh?
During his visit to Islamabad, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had pressed the new Pakistani government "to do more" to rein in terror groups operating from the country's soil.
K Subrahamanyam felt India's right to conduct nuclear tests was not curbed under the agreement.
It would be exceedingly short-sighted of the Obama administration to ignore India in searching for a balance of power in Asia. India, however, needs to put its own house in order before crying hoarse over the changing winds in Washington. Global reassessment of India is primarily predicated on its recent economic rise, but India's rise will remain incomplete in the absence of a credible vision with a larger purpose.
Without the lifting of the technology denial and India acquiring the ability to interact freely with all major nations economically and technologically India will not be able to have a real independent foreign policy which will make it an effective balancer of power. That was the real purpose of Pokhran II.
Contending that India is a nuclear-weapon state whether the world recognises it or not, former President APJ Abdul Kalam has said the country needs not go for any more atomic tests to prove this status "again and again".
Advocating a "new global compact, a new global covenant," the Congress president said, "The foundations of this new edifice can be found in what Mahatma Gandhi preached and practised, in what he lived and died for."
Noting that proliferation of nuclear weapons with links across regions has affected its own security, India on Tuesday asked the international community to pay greater attention to such dangers in the backdrop of North Korean atomic test.
India asserted that it was a responsible nuclear weapon state and has always been in compliance with its obligations under international treaties and agreements. \n
Dhanteras, the prime minister said, has become even more special.
Washington believed that India will not join Non Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
'India finds itself in an unenviable situation today with its prospects diminished by acutely polarised domestic politics and the setbacks suffered during the pandemic,' notes Ambassador Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.
"The recent election in Pakistan, as well as the normalising of US-Pakistan relations, are necessary but not sufficient conditions for the regularising of India-Pakistan relations," noted American scholar Stephen P Cohen has said.
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India, along with the United States and Pakistan, has voted against a provision in a United nations resolution calling on to 'promptly' accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as non-nuclear-weapon nation 'without conditions' and to place all its nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
North Korea will not use nuclear weapons against other nations unless its sovereignty is threatened, its leader Kim Jong-un has said.
Signalling the continuity of policy, the new government has ratified the Additional Protocol, a commitment given under Indo-US nuclear deal by the previous dispensation to grant greater ease to International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor India's civilian atomic programme.
An adamant China on Thursday said "no country should or can put itself opposite the NPT".
Vajpayee had always felt that India must act with conviction and panache. He decided that, irrespective of the attendant risks, he would undertake what many felt was a precarious course. A fascinating excerpt from N K Singh's Portraits Of Power: Half A Century Of Being At Ringside on Atalji's 96th birthday, December 25.
Pakistan has a nuclear weapon stockpile of 110 to 130 warheads, a rise from an estimated 90 to 110 in 2011, a US think-tank said on Wednesday.
The 16-judge bench at the International Court of Justice ruled there was no evidence that Majuro had had a prior dispute with any of the three nuclear giants.
'India should pledge that it will only target those provinces of Pakistan where nuclear weapons are located,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Congressman Ted Poe, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, introduced the Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Act in the US House of Representatives on Thursday.
China will be the nuclear threat of most concern to New Delhi for at least another decade, the latest report by the Arms Control Association says.
'When economic policies were attacked by people on his own side, he went ahead despite all the criticisms in the coalition, within the party and the Sangh Parivar.'
He said Pakistan was working with the international community to ensure the security of its nuclear installations, which were always in safe hands.
Modi might use military option against Pakistan if the next terror attack is traced back to them.
'The call to isolate Pakistan on the ground of sponsoring and supporting terrorism, particularly when the UN has not even defined terrorism, is a wild goose chase.' 'The responses of the various countries to the Uri attack provides testimony to this fact.' 'No country, not even Russia, was willing to condemn Pakistan for this dastardly act,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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.
The US dismissed a report suggesting that India is covertly enriching its nuclear weapons capabilities, describing it as "speculative".
'Taranjit has the ideal temperament to deal with the Americans who understand firmness and appreciate flexibility.' 'He can hold his ground with a cheerful face and still make it clear that India and the US are partners, rivals,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India will complete the process of putting its 14 civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards by the year end as part of a commitment made under the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Sharif raises Kashmir issue at UNGA, renews plebiscite demand.
The US dismissed a report suggesting that India is covertly enriching its nuclear weapons capabilities, describing it as "speculative".
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