Asserting that there is no role for politics in disaster response, the Obama administration has said it expects Pakistan to accept the $ 5 million aid offer from India for its flood relief work.
Pakistan is yet to decide on India's offer of $5 million as aid for providing relief to victims of the country's worst floods, with diplomatic sources saying that the proposal is being considered by the foreign office.
'In today's economically integrated world, economic relationships constitute the bedrock on which social, cultural and political relationships are built,' the minister tells the US-India Business Council in Washington, DC.
Collector S M M Ausaja shows off his impressive collection of posters with excerpts from his book Bollywood in Posters.
Cautioning that no part of the world could claim to be immune from terrorism, India on Wednesday pressed for early adoption of a proposed convention to fight the menace pending at the United Nations, saying it could materialise if the international community showed political will.
Dismissing Pakistan's allegation that India was involved in the recent attack on the Federal Investigation Bureau building in Lahore, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday said it was "most unthinkable" and a "falsehood" that was being spread.
When External Affairs Minister S M Krishna underscored the folly of making a distinction 'between good Taliban and bad Taliban' at the Afghanistan Conference in London earlier this year, he was completely out of sync with the larger mood at the conference. As a result, Indian diplomacy faced a major setback when Indian concerns were summarily ignored.
Surprised over reports that Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had invited him for tea at the Roosevelt Hotel, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said that he never received any such invitation. "If he has invited me, then I don't know the mode of invitation through which it was conveyed to me, but let me be very honest that I have not received any invitation," Krishna told PTI.
Putting the onus of resumption of dialogue on India, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said he was ready to meet his Indian counterpart S M Krishna anywhere at anytime and was even willing to fly back to New York on Thursday if he has time.
There might have been delays and lapses in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, but External Affairs Minister S M Krishna says the troubled event will be "off to a flying start" once A R Rahman renders the welcome song on October 3.
There may be delays and lapses in preparation for the Commonwealth Games, but External Affairs Minister S M Krishna says the troubled event will be "off to a flying start" when A R Rahman starts singing the welcome song on October 3.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has met Home Secretary G K Pillai against the backdrop of apparent differences between the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of home affairs in connection with the Indo-Pak talks held recently. Rao met Pillai on Thursday and is understood to have briefed him about the recent talks between External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Disapproving the comments made by Union Home Secretary G K Pillai on the eve of Indo-Pak talks, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday said his whole visit to Islamabad was 'under-pinned' by the remarks, the timing of which was 'very unfortunate.'
India said onTuesday that all issues, including India's concerns over terrorism, will be discussed during External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's talks with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in July. "No issues are to be kept aside," Krishna told journalists accompanying him on his three-day visit to Kazakhstan.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will visit Islamabad on July 15 for talks with his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi to work out the modalities for carrying forward the dialogue process to discuss outstanding issues in an atmosphere of mutual trust.
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Friday called on External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and discussed relations between the two estranged neighbours. Bashir, who was in New Delhi for talks with his counterpart Nirupama Rao, spent approximately an hour talking to Krishna.They are understood to have taken stock of the bilateral relations and reviewed the discussions that were held between the two foreign secretaries on Thursday.
Pakistan wanted to evolve a roadmap to discuss bilateral issues with India during the recent foreign minister-level talks but the other side was not prepared to do so, its Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said on Sunday.
Pointing out that Pakistan is in "illegal occupation of some parts of Jammu and Kashmir", External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said, "It is desirable that they vacate that and then start advising India as to how to go about doing things in Kashmir."
The foreign ministers' talks failed just when progress seemed on the horizon, says Sheela Bhatt
Krishna was with Dr Singh for about 30 minutes during which he gave a detailed account of his talks with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Contending that the relations with Pakistan had undergone 'transformation," India on Thursday said it had decided to have dialogue after assurance at the level of Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani that India's 'core concern' with regard to terrorism would be addressed adequately.
India has said the arrest of Pakistan-origin national in the failed terror attack in New York vindicated its oft-repeated stand that Pakistan is the epicentre of terror activities.
The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on Thursday may have sought to project before a global audience and their respective media that their much awaited talks were positive, constructive and meaningful it was anything but that. Going by the body language of both S M Krishna and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and the pointed, at times, aggressive questions asked by the media, it was plain and simple -- disastrous and awful.
The strongest argument for the creation of Pakistan was that Hindustan, the undivided India, could not be trusted to take care of the Muslims of the subcontinent. If trust breaks out between them, the whole rationale for the existence of Pakistan will be called into question, says T P Sreenivasan.
In a first trip by an External Affairs Minister to Pakistan since 26/11 terror attacks, S M Krishna on Wednesday arrived in Islamabad on a mission to restore trust and increase confidence in the relationship, bogged down by terrorism over which he will convey India's concerns.
Rediff.com takes a look at how the ice between the two estranged neighbours melted after months of diplomatic and political antagonism.
Terrorism that continues to emanate from Pakistani soil will be high on the agenda of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna as he embarks on a mission to Pakistan on Wednesday, in an effort to bridge the trust deficit that has bedeviled the ties between the two countries.
Pakistan on Wednesday voiced concern over External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's remarks -- that next week's Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks should not be 'mistaken' for resumption of composite dialogue -- saying "the outcome of the meeting should not be prejudged nor its scope circumscribed". "We have noted with concern remarks attributed by the media to India's External Affairs Minister on the forthcoming meeting of the Foreign Secretaries," Pak said.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will be a special invitee at a dinner reception hosted by United States President Barack Obama in New York on the sidelines of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly which begins next week.The dinner will be attended only by heads of states and a select few, including Krishna, have been specially invited.Diplomatic sources said that Krishna is expected to arrive in New York of September 21.
The Cabinet Committee on Security today took stock of the situation arising out of the Pune bomb blast and is understood to have discussed issues related to the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan.
From lining up allies to having them accept him as the Opposition's prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's real challenge has just begun, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Days after Pakistan said it would raise the alleged human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir in upcoming Indo-Pak talks, India on Tuesday made it clear that law and order cannot be questioned in the name of rights and that terrorism will be the focus of the parleys.
A three-member delegation of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is at the FTII campus in Pune to hold discussions with the faculty, director and agitating students to find a solution to the crisis triggered by the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan at its chairman.
The National Commission indicted LIC for working in cahoots with doctors for baseless certificates to repudiate claims and held this to be an unfair practice.
While India has indicated that it may restart the foreign secretary level talks with Pakistan, Islamabad maintains that it would accept nothing short of resumption of comprehensive 'composite dialogue' with New Delhi.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday expressed happiness over media reports that Indian investigating agencies would get direct access to David Coleman Headley, the man charged with scouting targets for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
As attacks against Indians continued unabated in Australia, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith for the second time in two days and is understood to have conveyed displeasure over the assaults on Thursday.
China is facing a competition, not with India, but between two ideologies within its own country.
The London Conference on Afghanistan will be an occasion which India could use to showcase its massive humanitarian efforts in war-ravaged countries, which many diplomats believe is "undervalued" and little understood by the international community. India is providing US $ 1.3 billion in aid to improve infrastructure, education and medical health of the beleaguered country.
India on Wednesday inked an agreement with China to set up a hotline between Prime Ministers of the two countries as it conveyed its serious concerns to the Chinese leadership over Beijing's issuance of stapled visas to Kashmiris and plans to undertake projects in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.