Diplomacy

‘Hate killing’ of Indian in Kansas: Sifting rhetoric from facts

- by India Writes Network

Was it a hate crime? Was US President Donald Trump, with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, complicit in the racially motivated killing of a young Indian IT professional by an enraged drunk white man in Kansas? These are all-too-real questions to ask, but are not of much solace to the wife of Sunayana Dumala, whose husband Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was killed at Austins Bar and Grill in Kansas on February 23.
For the 32-year-old Kuchibhotla, it was a tragic and violent end to his American dream, which was all the more saddening as it happened in “a country he loved so much,” as his wife said. “Get out of my country,” – these were the last words yelled out by his killer he heard before he was shot dead by Adam Purinton, an American charged for drunk driving more than once.
This is a huge presumption of innocence as hate killings like these, though perpetrated by maniacs, feed on an atmosphere of jingoism and racism.
The insane killing like this one is clearly a morale dampener for the over 3-million strong Indian community that has made America their home. The incident questions the foundational myth of America as a country welcoming of immigrants. In the days to come, as New Delhi builds ties with the new US administration, it should carefully monitor rhetoric emanating from white supremacists in Washington as it could unintentionally endanger the lives of Indians who have enriched their adopted country in countless ways, but are now vulnerable to xenophobes of all stripes.

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India’s Act East on fast-track: Focus on business and security

- by India Writes Network

India’s Act East on fast-track: Focus on business and security
India’s Act East policy is set to get a big boost with a spate of high-profile visits from the ASEAN countries lined up in coming weeks and New Delhi looking at making a vital breakthrough in the huge telecom market of Southeast Asia with a population of 600 million.
Vietnam’s Foreign Minister and Vice President are expected to visit India and so is Malaysia’s Prime Minister NajibRazak followed by Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister of Australia which is a member of the 18-nation East Asia Summit.

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Pakistan hunts terrorists after sufi shrine blast

- by India Writes Network

Pakistan ’s security forces killed at least 39 militants in a coordinated crackdown across the country a day after an Islamic State suicide attacked a popular and crowded Sufi shrine in southern Sindh province that left 80 people dead and about 250 injured. The bomb blast at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on February 16 was one of the major terror attacks in Pakistan in recent years and followed a string of several extremist strikes this week.

Paramilitary unit Sindh Rangers said they killed 18 terrorists in overnight operations in Sindh province. Of them, 11 were killed in Karachi.The crackdown was launched in a coordinated manner by Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments after at least eight terror attacks rocked Pakistan over the week, killing dozens. A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif this week participants agreed that militants posed a threat to national security and should be “liquidated”.

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Royal gloss to India-UK culture celebrations

- by India Writes Network

It is probably the best of time for India-UK relations and it can’t get more royal than this.Come February 27, the celebration of Indian culture in the United Kingdom will begin at Buckingham Palace, the abiding symbol of British royalty, with a reception to be hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.
The reception by the 90-year-old Queen, the world’s longest reigning monarch, is expected to attract guests from across various fields in India, including Finance Minister ArunJaitley, and the UK’s senior-most minister of Indian origin Priti Patel among other key Cabinet ministers.
The Palace came out with the date of the reception as February 27 in the calendar of engagements of the Queen. “Her Majesty The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh will give a reception to mark the launch of the UK India Year of Culture 2017.” The decision to celebrate India-UK cultural bonding in 2017 was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to London in November 2015.

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Trump-Abe bonding and bonhomie: US-Japan alliance to grow stronger

- by India Writes Network

Talks at the White House, dinner at a private club and a round of golf — US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe showed how serious diplomacy and weekend fun could blend to strike a personal chemistry between them and herald a new chapter in ties between the world’s sole super power and its major ally in Asia.
Appearing at a joint media conference with Mr Abe after the talks, Mr Trump underlined the US’ commitment to defend Japan in the face of China’s massive maritime build-up and North Korea nuclear missile programme. This categorical assistance appears to have put behind Mr Trump’s strident election campaign rhetoric last year that suggested Tokyo pay more for enjoying the American security umbrella.
“We are committed to the security of Japan and all areas under its administrative control and to further strengthening our very crucial alliance,” the US president said. “The bond between our two nations and the friendship between our two peoples runs very, very deep. This administration is committed to bringing those ties even closer,” he added.
Mr Abe’s Washington mission proved to be successful as he got Mr Trump’s assurance in clear terms that the US would continue to back Japan in its dispute with China over territorial claims in some islands in the East China Sea that China also claims. The joint statement said the two leaders affirmed that Article 5 of the US-Japan security treaty covered the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, as is evident from Mr Trump’s reference to the areas under Japan’s administrative control.
The Trump-Abe meeting was closely scanned in Beijing, which sees the US-Japan alliance as posing a formidable obstacle to its regional ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Mattis-Parrikar talk: US assures India of sustaining momentum in defence ties

- by India Writes Network

Amid anxiety in India over the Trump administration’s H1B visa policy, there is a reassuring note from Washington about sustaining the momentum in burgeoning defence relations between India and the US. Days after US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Secretary James Mattis spoke to his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar and underscored the new administration’s commitment to build upon the transformation in India-US defence relations accomplished in the last few years.
In the first conversation between the two defence ministers since the change of guard in Washington, Secretary Mattis committed to build upon the tremendous progress in bilateral defense cooperation made in recent years, underscoring the strategic importance of the US—India relationship and India’s role in advancing global peace and security,” Pentagon Press Secretary Capt Jeff Davis said in Washington DC on February 8.
On the strategic and security side, the signalling from the Trump administration has been largely positive. In his telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump had assured that the US “considers India a true friend and partner in addressing challenges around the world.” The two leaders also decided to bolster the partnership between the United States and India in broad areas such as the economy and defense.

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Goa Brics India 2016

Goa summit and beyond: Charting the future of BRICS

- by India Writes Network

India’s presidency of the BRICS grouping of emerging powers has come to an end after a packed year of more than a hundred events, meetings, and conventions. The highlight was the meeting of the Heads of States organised in Goa on 15-16 October where all the leaders of BRICS countries were in attendance.
International developments in the past couple of years have squarely put the spotlight on the constituent countries of the BRICS forum. Russia’s expanding role in Syria, China’s One belt One Road initiative, which will have massive economic and political implications for Eurasia, South and South East Asia and Africa, and the centrality of India’s and China’s emission pathways to the success of the international climate agreement have accorded these countries a central role in some of the major global challenges of our times.
But the BRICS forum itself has faced questions of continuity for some time now, and the considerable slowing down of their economies, increasing antagonism and strategic clashes between China and India, as well as the pre-eminence of the growing Russia-China partnership have further reinforced these doubts.
Seen in this context, the BRICS governments’ push to further institutionalise and consolidate their progress is an indication of the importance they still attach to the forum, and a decade since coming together, they seem poised to expand beyond being an economic grouping demanding a seat at the high table to substantial cooperation in other sectors.Within last year, BRICS countries greatly diversified their cooperation through working groups on counter terrorism, employment, environment, agriculture, health, economy and trade, education and vocational training, anti-corruption, infrastructure, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and energy.

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Dr Kalam proved President can be agent of change: S.M. Khan

- by India Writes Network

Think of Dr A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, and many laudatory adjectives come readily to mind. Scientist extraordinaire, the father of India’s space and missile programme, nation-builder, dreamer, an inspirational speaker who loved igniting young minds, with his own life serving as a model of self-fashioning and achieving despite formidable odds.
A new book by S.M. Khan, who served as press secretary to President Kalam, makes his portrait more vivid and compelling. nterspersed with anecdotes and personal conversations the author had with the president, “The People’s President” unpacks Dr Kalam’s pioneering role in raising the bar for the presidency under India’s parliament system of government and providing it the much-needed people’s touch.
In this wide-ranging conversation with Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network, Khan, currently Director-General of the Registrar of Newspapers for India and a former spokesperson for Central Bureau of Investigation, speaks insightfully about the making of the people’s president and how Dr Kalam remapped the contours of the presidency by positioning people at the centre of his outreach and dispensing with most of ceremonial aspects associated with this exalted institution. Most important, as the author says, Dr Kalam tried to prove in those five years that the President, while remaining within the framework of the Constitution of India, can be an agent of change and transformation and contribute to the nation’s development in a tangible way.
Excerpts from the interview….

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