Khan in his maiden speech at the 74th UNGA session suggested that nuclear-armed Pakistan may not have much of a choice if a conventional war were to break out between Pakistan and India which he described as a country seven-times its size.
'China was a relationship from which Mr Modi had expected the most it seems.' 'It showed in a string of summits, and somewhat breathless celebration of Xi Jinping.' 'It was hasty and simplistic,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
'A sense of purpose is lacking in India's diplomacy.' 'This is what happens when foreign policy becomes the stuff for grandstanding before the domestic audience,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's phone call to Trump will help restore a degree of sanity to Indian statecraft and diplomacy, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India and Pakistan made "considerable progress" on resolving the Kashmir issue between 2004 and 2007 and considered several options, including demilitarisation and granting autonomy to the area, Pakistan's former army chief said on Wednesday.
'Like General Patton, possibly the greatest exponent of the art of war, Vajpayee had the ability to be always on the offensive,' assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Vajpayee, who died on Thursday at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness, had made a significant diplomatic breakthrough and travelled on a bus from Amritsar to Lahore with a delegation that included the likes of Bollywood legend Dev Anand, writer Javed Akhtar and cricket icon Kapil Dev.
'India's preference today seems to be to exploit the deepening chill in relations with China to breathe new life into its meandering partnership with the US,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Shah also said that the return of pilot Abhinandan was a diplomatic victory.
The reduction of tension on the Chinese border may have reduced the urgency of a Biden-Modi meeting, but the sooner Modi starts a bromance with Biden the better as he had done with Obama and Trump, suggests Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Secretiveness and the element of surprise in announcing decisions marks the Modi style of diplomacy. From being a voluble politician, he became a reticent statesman... But the diplomatic dance is performed on thin ice and his adroitness is still to be proved,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'By crudely dragging the topic into the bazaar to flog it for momentary pleasure, we turned it into a dead carcass by the time Modi even got back from Xiamen,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India cannot allow Beijing's policy of stabilising and destabilising the border at will to perpetuate its own ends.' A riveting excerpt from Manish Tiwari's 10 Flashpoints; 20 Years National Security Situations That Impacted India.
An opinion is steadily gaining ground in Muslim countries in India's 'extended neighbourhood' that the Modi government is adopting State policies that are decidedly 'anti-Muslim', warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Both leaders also exchanged views on the situations in South Asia, an official Chinese statement said about the meeting between Xi and Khan.
Pakistan is growing restive with the below the radar screen diplomacy. This is the issue Modi and Sharif will grapple with at their Washington meeting, says Rajeev Sharma.
Senior diplomatic observers and administration sources have told rediff.com that in the weeks following the formation of the new Indian government, the Obama administration will press for India to resurrect the composite dialogue with Pakistan that lie comatose after the Mumbai terror attacks.
With the desire to fight asymmetric warfare against India eliminated, Pakistan would also be discouraged from making alliances with the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Tayiba, and Al Qaeda.
While India's High Commissioner Bisaria is in Islamabad, his Pakistani counterpart Moin-ul-Haq is yet to take charge in New Delhi.
'The Modi government's grandstanding has hardened the reflexes in Beijing, Islamabad and Kathmandu and complicated India's relations with these three countries, which were even otherwise highly problematic.' 'Whatever prospects existed for a fair and balanced resolution of the territorial disputes may also have receded,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"Pakistan Foreign Minister is a political pygmy in a powerless government kowtowing to the terror organisations. These pusillanimous comments reflect Pakistan's frustration with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's successful diplomacy in exposing the terror face of Pakistan to the world," said BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao.
Striking a conciliatory note amid rising tension in ties, Pakistan today said it does not want to live in "perpetual hostility" with India, noting time has come for the two neighbours to decide whether status quo should continue or a new beginning be made.
India boycotted Pak National Day event over invitation to Hurriyat leaders.
American help in defending our independence will send a strong signal to the Chinese, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In a wide-ranging interview, the US President said his administration is formulating 'rules and regulations' for the White House reporters.
'Despite the subsequent events at Kargil and the October 12, 1999 military coup in Pakistan, the Lahore initiative firmly established Vajpayee's credentials as a crusader of peace,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Following the recent declassification of 70,000 files, the ministry of external affairs is in the process of finalising a major project to declassify another set of 220,000 files-records covering Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Iran and Sri Lanka, East Asia, Eurasia and the Americas
The Pakistanis play quid pro quo diplomacy better than India does. They know how to promote their national interests while taking advantage of the needs of the US in the Afghaistan-Pakistan region, notes B Raman.
India urgently needs to bring substantial strategic depth to its dealings with Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, argues E D Mathew, political commentator
There's a necessity for talks between India and Pakistan, insulated from the political climate, to reduce the danger of growing nuclear arsenals and introduce transparency to prevent an arms race, said a statement adopted at the third Ottawa Dialogue held in Copenhagen on June 18 and 19.
"They cry victim when they actually are the perpetrators," she said, rejected Pakistan's charges against India on the issue at the 42nd session of the UNHRC.
Pakistan has negated claims that the Kashmir issue was close to settlement through backchannel diplomacy between Islamabad and New Delhi, with the country's foreign minister saying there was no mention of such developments in the records of the Foreign Office.
'Tehran senses that the Modi government is inexorably gravitating toward the US-Israeli-Saudi axis, jettisoning India's traditional independent Gulf policies,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The people in both places have lived in a state of denial, refusing to accept the bald fact that resorting to violence against an infinitely superior force is suicidal, observes T N Ninan.
He said there would be progress on some issues soon while it will take time for progress on others.
'Traditionally, the US tried to tamp down tensions whenever a crisis situation arose and deputed officials from Washington to travel to Delhi to counsel restraint.' 'This time around, no US envoy flew down to Delhi -- not even when tensions spiked and a flashpoint was reached last week,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Trump's new discovery is that Pakistan and its army are virtually god's gift to mankind.' 'They are required to facilitate a relatively orderly American exit from Afghanistan,' points out Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan.
Washington is signalling to Delhi that it can rely on American support in any great game vis-a-vis China. Delhi shouldn't fall into the trap, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Majority of the 15 members said there should not be any statement or outcome issued after the consultations and their will prevailed, leaving China to come out and make a statement in its national capacity followed by Pakistan.
As India and Pakistan return to the dialogue table after a 14-month-long hiatus, analysts believe resuming deliberations with Islamabad after the Mumbai terror attacks has become a personal priority and a political risk for the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
