Diplomacy

Oslo Calling: Why Norway matters to India

- by India Writes Network

The three-day state visit by President Pranab Mukherjee to Norway beginning October 12 is indicative of the growing importance New Delhi is now attaching to its ties with Oslo, described by a senior Indian diplomat as “problem-free” in all these many years. There are several reasons why India is seeking to push for even closer ties across a range of areas with Norway, not the least of which would be greater co-operation in the energy sector.
India is also eyeing a larger slice of the pie from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, which is the largest sovereign wealth fund in Europe with $ 850 billion in its kitty. Keen to give the infrastructure and other sectors the necessary boost, India wants a substantial increase in the current investment that stands at a piffling $4 billion at present.

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No politics please, India has responded to Pakistan’s aggression with courage: PM

- by Manish Chand

Don’t play politics with issues of national security. Talking straight, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned on his critics who has charged him of soft-pedalling Pakistan’s ceasefire violations as he asserted that India has responded to the aggression with courage.
“Today, when bullets are being fired on the border, it is the enemy that is screaming. Our jawans have responded to the aggression with courage,” Modi said at an election rally at Baramati in Maharashtra, India’s poll-bound western state.
The recent wave of violence along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir has been the worst of its kind in more than a decade. The timing of the relentless firing seeing in the last few days by the Pakistan Rangers on the Indian posts, killing and wounding several civilians, shows the hand of Pakistan’s powerful military, which is desperately trying to keep the Kashmir issue alive internationally amid a renewed global confidence in the India Story.

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India calls Pakistan aggressor, warns adventurism will be costly

- by India Writes Network

Calling Pakistan an aggressor, India has toughened its stance on what it sees as unprovoked ceasefire violations, with the country’s defence minister warning grimly that Indian forces will “make this adventurism costly and unaffordable.”
“Pakistan in these attacks has clearly been the aggressor but it must realise that our deterrence will be credible. If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,’’ Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said in a statement on border situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The worst ceasefire violations in more than a decade, which has killed nine people and displaced several hundreds, has stressed India-Pakistan ties, with the two countries indulging in an endless game of mutual recrimination. It’s not clear what’s driving this frenzy of unprovoked aggression from the Pakistani side, but many analysts see this as a desperate assertion by Pakistan’s all-powerful military to re-assert control over Islamabad’s New Delhi policy.

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Why China is wary of India-US statement on South China Sea

- by Manish Chand

The first-ever reference to South China Sea in an India-US joint statement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Washington has riled Beijing, and revived the latter’s fears about the world’s two largest democracies acting in concert on a larger China containment strategy.
Predictably, China, which, according to the IMF, has taken over the US to become the world’s largest economy on purchasing power parity terms, has asserted that the South China Sea sovereignty issue should be resolved directly by parties concerned and without meddling from any third party.
Much to the discomfort of Beijing, India’s Act East policy and the US rebalance to Asia are converging in some respects to promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific theatre.

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