'Washington's silence about India's Article 370 move tells us all we need to know: It doesn't want to rock the boat of a relationship that has navigated some choppy waters but remains a highly important one.'
On his meeting with General Bajwa, the Congress leader said, "On his meeting with General Bajwa, Sidhu said, "I again want to make it clear that this meeting took place in Islamabad at a time when Gen Bajwa reached the venue of swearing-in ceremony." "He met me with enthusiasm after seeing me sitting in the first row. Immediately, he told me that they were making efforts to open the corridor from India's Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib, which is about 3 to 3.5 km in Pakistan, to facilitate the pilgrims to pay obeisance on the occasion of 550th 'Prakash Diwas' of Guru Nanak Dev ji."
Basit punctuated his pitch for dialogue with his advocacy for "self-determination" of the Kashmiri populace.
It is important the SCO focus strongly on economic development and regional integration that leads to greater benefits for the least developed regions of member-countries, writes Sana Hashmi.
Would Ukraine be such a pushover if it had that nuclear stockpile?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
The ceremony will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Although the Malabar is a routine exercise which has been carried out for several years now, security experts attach a lot of traction to it in view of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, observes Rup Narayan Das.
Apart from key bilateral issues, the two leaders also discussed situation in the region, particularly in wake of the increasing threat of terrorism and extremism from various sources including the Islamic State militant group.
Through the past 18-month period, peace has prevailed in the disputed border regions, which was immensely helpful in the difficult situation that the country was passing through, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India on Thursday sought strengthening of SAARC monitoring desks on terrorism and drugs, underlining that illicit funds generated from narcotics and fake currency networks are being fed into supporting terror activities
'The Delhi-Washington stalemate can end only if India's concern over trans-border terrorism is addressed.' 'The Indian security establishment expects a spike in terrorist attacks in the months ahead.' 'And there is every likelihood that India may retaliate against Pakistan at some point,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
After two years of muted festivities due to COVID-19, crowds thronged churches across the country this Christmas on Sunday for special prayers as people celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.
Pakistan has expressed serious concern over India's recent development of an anti-ballistic missile system
'Whether it was a habitual expression of post truth or an open offer to India and Pakistan, even Imran Khan could not have believed it,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Pakistan has alleged that India was pursuing conventional, nuclear and missile development programmes which can lead to nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean and can disturb the "balance of power" in the region.
No such decision has been taken either in the Indian Ocean or South China Sea.
Many world leaders on Monday condoled the death of former president Pranab Mukherjee, saying they have lost a true friend who made immense contributions to the strengthening of India's relations with their countries.
The relation between India and China has broad influence on Asia's security and the United States will continue to engage with them to encourage regional stability, the nominee for the Pentagon's top policy post for the Asia-Pacific region said.
'Now that an extremist organisation like the PFI has been banned, it is time for the leaders to reach out to the minority community.' 'You need to have co-ordination between the State and the social fabric to send out the message that it is not directed at the community, and they should not feel vulnerable.'
The experts said the terror strike shows the United States has failed to persuade Pakistan to act against Jaish-e-Mohammad and other terrorist groups.
Anyone within range of China's expanding navy will have to build capabilities faster and/or work more closely with the US, as Australia has just announced, asserts T N Ninan.
Retired senior US diplomats Teresita and Howard Schaffer believe the 'US cannot afford to continue restricting its contacts with Narendra Modi.' Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
At the same time China said that it does not mean China should "appease" India to prevent it from playing "little tricks".
'The Pakistani military has encouraged and supported terrorist organisations, especially in Kashmir, as a means of waging proxy war against the Indian military and the country's superior economic resources.' 'The evidence is irrefutable with the recent killing of 46 paramilitary troops being just the latest example.'
This is the sixth time in over two weeks that the Indian Deputy high commissioner has been summoned to the FO in Islamabad.
India and China on Friday agreed to hold the next round of military talks at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh amid fresh sparring between the two sides on the prolonged Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff.
'The worst case scenario for Pakistan is a full-scale Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.' 'Pakistani militants would be inspired and emboldened and seek to replicate the Taliban's successes in Pakistan.'
China was the first country to export such sensitive equipment to Pakistan
Walter Lohman, director of Asian Studies Centre at the Washington, DC and former policy aide to Senator John McCain, said India's role in America's effort to maintain its commitment to ensuring the peace, security, prosperity, and freedom in East Asia was relatively minor.
'We're paying them nothing because that's what they've done to help us. Nothing'
The Indian armed forces, especially the Navy, are building partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region for peace and security, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, he said.
Singh visited Tawang on Thursday for the 'Maitree Diwas' celebrations to boost civil-military friendship in the region bordering China.
'But an overthrow of the Afghan government would really embolden regional militant groups in a big way.' 'LeT and JeM could be emboldened, and prompted to replicate in Kashmir what the Taliban did in Afghanistan.'
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India leads global remittances in the year 2013 with a whopping $70 billion in its kitty, of which USD 65 billion were earned from the country's flagship software services exports, the World Bank reported.
India's failure to resolve the Kashmir issue and improve relationship with Pakistan has been an "impediment" to India's rise and become the greatest hurdle in it becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's envoys have claimed.
This is for the first time in several years a news report has surfaced about the hiding location of the Al-Qaeda chief, who is Osama bin Laden's mentor and successor.
'The world's patience on terrorist safe havens is running thin and that is not good for Pakistan'
'They know that India is no pushover.' 'We have to be extremely vigilant, remain ready and keep strengthening our positions.' 'We have to be militarily strong, whatever be the cost.'
United States President Barack Obama secretly offered Pakistan in 2009 that he would nudge India towards negotiations on Kashmir in lieu of it ending support to terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Taliban, but much to his disappointment Islamabad rejected the offer.
