Author: India Writes Network

Real Battle in Nigeria: Buhari versus Boko Haram

- by India Writes Network

After a clear victory in elections, Nigeria’s President-elect Muahmmadu Buhari has identified his top most priority and mission: ending the deadly mix of insurgency and terrorism as epitomised in the rise of Boko Haram and its barbaric activities.

With his party, the All Progressive Congress, elected by huge margins in the states most affected by the Boko Haram group, Gen. Buhari has the requisite popular support to take on the country’s insidious enemy.

Moreover, judging by past trends, Boko Haram cadre usually either move further North East towards Chad, while maintaining pressure on security forces within the North Eastern states or disperse towards the North West, which includes Katsina-the state Buhari belongs to and has won from.

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India condemns Kenya attack, calls for global fight against terror

- by India Writes Network

India, a key partner of New Delhi in East Africa and home to a large Indian diaspora, has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a university campus at Garissa in north-eastern Kenya and underlined the need for intensified international cooperation to combat the scourge of terrorism that cuts across terrorism.
“We stand in solidarity and sympathy with the bereaved families and the injured, and convey our heart-felt condolences to the Government and people of Kenya,” India’s external affairs ministry said in New Delhi a day after the barbaric terror attack on April 2.
“This outrageous terrorist act is yet another reminder that the menace of terrorism continues to threaten us all and the international community needs to further strengthen its fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” said the ministry.
In the deadliest attack in the country since US embassy bombings in 1998, at least 147 students were slaughtered when Somalia’s Shebab Islamist group attacked a Kenyan university.
The attack lasted some 16 hours from before dawn until well after dark and has ended with all four terrorists killed.
The university attack came barely a couple of years after the spectacular mall terror attack in the heart of Nairobi, and put the spotlight on the proliferation of terror networks in the African continent.

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India banks on yoga export: Blending soft power and commerce

- by India Writes Network

India is banking on the global popularity of yoga to cash in on the success of its most famous cultural export. In the recently unveiled new Foreign Trade Policy, yoga has been included under the services export section, a move that shows the government’s enterprise in leveraging its soft power.

The trade policy focus on the ancient Indian discipline of wellness has come in the run-up to a host of events India will be hosting for celebrations relating to the International Day of Yoga on June 21, a pioneering step that was possible only with India’s proactive diplomacy.

The new trade policy aspires to make India a star player in world trade by 2020 – currently Asia’s third largest economy accounts just about 2% of global trade.

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