A candid dialogue between India and Pakistan's security establishments and intelligence services is the only way to move forward for both countries in securing peace, said Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's former national security advisor and ex-ambassador to United States. While giving the first memorial lecture in memory of R.K Mishra, founder of Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, Durrani sketched the plan for bridging the gap between two countries.
In the second part of a three-part series, Manoj Kumar and Lydia Powell, in an Observer Research Foundation study, discuss at length the various loopholes in the Nuclear Liability Bill, whose amended version was recently passed by the Lok Sabha.
Ten former Indian ambassadors, including four former foreign secretaries, who met at the Observer Research Foundation on Thursday have issued a statement that 'the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were clearly carried out by terrorists from Pakistan with the knowledge and support of sections of the Pakistan military and the ISI.'
Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said in New Delhi that, "Both India and Russia are keen to expand nuclear cooperation. All the preparatory work has been done." He was inaugurating an international conference on "Changing Patterns of Indo-Russian Cooperation" organised by the Observer Research Foundation. He said that India and Russia already have an "excellent relationship" and India considers relations with Russia very important.
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.
Making a presentation on Indian Real Estate Sector: Slumdog or Millionaire at an event hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, Sameer Nayar, managing director and head of real estate (Asia Pacific), Credit Suisse, said that land use laws in India are the most antiquated.
The report claims that the military experts who have analysed the evidence collected by its Investigative Unit say an airstrip under construction in Agalega will almost certainly be used for maritime patrol missions by the Indian Navy.
Shiv Sena workers on Friday assaulted and blackened the face of an RTI activist at Latur in Marathwada region, after he "exposed" an illegal construction case.
O Panneerselvam should not be surprised if the current controversy that he has kicked off is used to rid him of the party coordinator's post, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Cut off from the world and having to contend with an orthodox and repressive Taliban government, Afghans are facing the brunt of Pakistan's decades old policy of nurturing militant groups, note Harsh V Pant and Kriti M Shah four months after the Taliban took Kabul.
According to the book, Musharraf's crackdown on jihadi groups was only for the consumption of the media and the public. In reality, he had no intention to ban terrorist organisations or their activities in Pakistan.
'We would like India to play a much more vigorous role. Of course, there are constraints and inhibitions, but it is still possible for India to play a meaningful and proactive role.'
The former deputy secretary of state said the US president should make it clear to his Pakistani counterpart that support to terrorism and incursions across LoC is 'absolutely unacceptable'.
'We cannot forget what happened in the past, and there is no room for complacency,' says Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Rather than talking endlessly about lost and marginal opportunities, India's climate envoys need to start thinking bigger, says Mihir S Sharma.
Prime Minister Modi has certainly pulled back, and his political capital -- dependent as it is on an image that he knows best and never retreats -- may have taken a bit of a beating. But, equally, it is hard to say that the protesters have 'won', argues Mihir S Sharma.
With the unanticipated floods across Tamil Nadu catching the unprepared administration unawares, Stalin finds that some of the early positives that had rubbed on his initiatives have been lost, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Shiv Sena has sacked party workers who blackened the face of a Right to Information activist in Latur in Marathwada region, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray said in Mumbai on Saturday.
The seat-share progression should worry the BJP. From the previous assembly polls of 2017, through the assembly segments in its favour in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and now in 2022, the BJP's seat-share has come down from a high 312 to 275 to 255. N Sathiya Moorthy reads the political tea leaves after the UP and Punjab election verdicts.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is squandering an opportunity to find a solution for Kashmir," former Research and Analysis Wing chief A S Dulat said.
Any defeat for the BJP now would imply that anti-incumbency against Modi has set in, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pragmatism and flexibility is a virtue. An untethered and short-term approach to policymaking is a flaw, argues Mihir S Sharma.
'He is not acting solo.' 'The plot may have people within the Congress and outside.'
'The fact that this happened and the fact that we were not able to bring it down, we were not even able to trace from where it came from and where it went, certainly raises questions on our level of preparedness.'
'It is not something that is going to unfold in the next few weeks or even the next few months.' 'This process will continue for some time. And that's how it should be.' 'If the politicians are coming on board, then that is a welcome step.'
In the unlikely event of the BJP-NDA losing all five states going to the polls in February-March, the Presidential electoral college numbers could be significantly altered, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Will acting LG Soundararajan invite N Rangaswamy to form a government or recommend President's rule, so close to the assembly election, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the Tamil Nadu electorate having given him an unprecedented mandate that had eluded his father the late M Karunanidhi, Stalin has to prove his worth, ensuring at the same time that the Dravidian drag on the AIADMK's side does not open up space for the BJP to make inroads in the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Nitin Gadkari has a message as much for his party as much purportedly it is for the Opposition. Listening to him, whatever be his reasons and motives, will help, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Who took the decision for the prime minister, the nation's single most popular leader, to take the road route when they should have already known about the farmers' protests and also the grave risks involved, when and how, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The very timing of the Phalke Award on Rajini now, days ahead of Tamil Nadu voting in the assembly election, may have taken away the seriousness and credibility attaching to the Centre's decision, making it sound every bit political, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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