Act East: India, Myanmar bolster counter-terror cooperation, connectivity
India’s Act East policy is set to be in full flow over the next few days, with substantive talks between the leaders of India and Myanmar setting the tone for …
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Logistics pact to tighten India-US strategic embrace
In the emerging alphabet of India-US relations, another acronym LEMOA has been added as the two countries signed a landmark logistics exchange agreement that will enable their militaries to access each other’s military supplies and refuelling capabilities through ports and military bases.
The agreement was signed in Washington DC on August 29, a day before India and the US hold their second strategic and commercial dialogue in New Delhi. The pact is a leap of faith for India as the long-negotiated pact was bogged down in apprehensions in India regarding infringement of the country’s sovereignty in the military sphere. The inking of the pact underscores the Modi government’s design to risk political pressure to deepen military and strategic ties with the world’s most powerful country.
India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter lauded the signing of the bilateral ‘Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement’ (52940157), saying the pact will facilitate opportunities for “practical engagement and exchange”.
A new symphony: NSG tops agenda at India-US dialogue
Ahead of the last meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama in China, India and the US will hold their second strategic and commercial dialogue in New Delhi, which will hopefully bring to closure some key issues on the bilateral agenda and map the way ahead.
The Strategic Dialogue will be co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Commercial Dialogue will be co-chaired by India’s Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. The August 30 talks, which will be followed by the Modi-Obama meeting in on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, will cap more than a decade of blossoming of the India-US relations, which were transformed by the pathbreaking India-US nuclear deal in the summer of 2005.
With the bilateral relationship on a firm footing, the focus will be logically on the unfinished agenda during the last few months of the Obama presidency. For India, getting full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group tops the agenda as only a strong push from the US can swing around fence-sitters and sceptics.
In the end, with so much going on between the world’s largest democracies, PM Modi and President Obama will surely have a lot to commend each other for bringing the India-US relationship this far. Hesitations of history are passe, and “a new symphony is in place” as PM Modi said memorably in his speech to the US Congress. It’s time to play on, raise the bar and aim big…
Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for Baloch policy and economic corridor with China
During his lengthy speech on August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke briefly about what was happening in Pakistan, in Peshawar and the terror. He spoke about the messages he …
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Late summer in US presidential elections is usually a slow time. After the post-convention bus tours, coverage slows, campaign staff and pundits start gearing up for the fall. The general …
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Behind PM Modi’s Balochistan gamble: Shift in India’s foreign policy?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, has drawn wide attention for his comments on Pakistan although he made no direct reference to the country. He drew a contrast between India’s belief in human values, as illustrated in the widespread grief in India at the massacre of innocent schoolchildren in Peshawar, with the “other side which glorifies terrorists”. He invited India’s neighbours to jointly fight poverty and not “destroy ourselves” by fighting our own people.
As Pakistan is accusing India of fomenting trouble in Baluchistan and POK, it is quite conceivable that it would apply its full template for raising military tension on the border and intensify cross-border terrorism in J&K; we hardly need reminding ourselves that this template, backed by nuclear weapons capability, constitutes Pakistan’s grand strategy towards India. One can envisage greater Pakistan-inspired terrorism in other parts of the country. Pakistan may even aim to escalate the border tension, involving the two armed forces, with the objective of drawing in great power intercession as it had tried during the Kargil conflict. The new Indian strategy assumes a certain risk but aims to apply calibrated pressure on Pakistani policy-makers and making them realise the adverse strategic situation they are in.
India-Pakistan ties hit new low, Jaitley likely to skip SAARC meet
Signalling a deepening frostiness in bilateral ties with Pakistan, India’s Finance Minister is expected to skip the meeting of SAARC finance ministers in Islamabad August 25-26. Instead, India may send economic affairs secretary for the SAARC meet, informed sources said.
There is no official word on Jaitley’s participation in the SAARC finance ministers’ meeting in Islamabad. The final decision will be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The relations between India and Pakistan have plummeted to a new low, with both sides trading accusations and playing a game of one-upmanship. In a tit-for-tat response to Pakistan’s support for violence in Jammu and Kashmir, PM Modi, in his Independence Day speech, subtly alluded to human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan, saying people from these regions currently administered by Pakistan have thanked him. This is the first time an Indian prime minister has raised Balochistan and PoK in their Independence Day message, signalling a hardening of the Modi government’s posture towards Pakistan and the drawing of a new line on Kashmir.
Pakistan’s response to Mr Modi’s remarks suggest intransigence, which suggest that bilateral ties are headed for a deep freezer in days to come with minimal high-level contacts.
Reform, Perform, Transform: Modi flags off journey from Swarajya to Surajya (Highlights of PM’s speech)
As India celebrated its 70th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled his vision for transforming India through Reform and Perform mantra and outlined his vision of the ongoing journey from swarajya (self-rule) to su-rajya (good governance). In his third Independence Day speech, PM Modi, with his trademark oratory, eloquently expounded on the steps taken by his government to rejuvenate the country’s economy and rebuild India anew on the principles of social equity and communal harmony.
Highlights
Here are highlights of PM Modi’s address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi on the occasion of 70th Independence Day (August 15, 2016)
Today on this special day, I convey my greetings to 125 crore Indians & the Indian community living overseas. May this energy guide the nation to scale newer heights of progress in the years to come.
Our mantra is reform, perform, transform.
Today our resolve is to turn the Swaraj (Self-Rule) into Su-Rajya (Good governance. Surajya means a qualitative and positive change in the lives of the citizens of India.
It is our responsibility to convert our Swaraj into Suraaj, which can’t be done without sacrifice, discipline and staunch resolution.
India@70: PM Modi plays hardball on Pakistan, plays Balochistan card
Upping the stakes in the ongoing war of words between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out “at the other side which glorifies terrorists” and underlined India’s solidarity with the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir, who have been at the receiving end of atrocities in Pakistan.
In a hard-hitting message aimed at Pakistan, Mr Modi, in his third Independence Day speech, exhorted the neighbouring country not to glorify terrorist, but to fight poverty together. Seeking to expose Pakistan’s duplicity on terror, the prime minister contrasted the reaction of India and Pakistan towards the killing of innocents by terrorists.
Alluding to atrocities perpetrated by Pakistani forces on people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the prime minister said: “In the last few days the way the people of Balochistan, Gilgit, from Pak-occupied Kashmir have thanked me, it is the honour of 1.25 billion people of India. I thank those people from Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir.”
This is the first time Mr Modi, or for that matter any Indian prime minister, has raised the issue of human rights abuses in Balochistan in their Independence Day speech. This Kashmir-Balochistan rhetorical warfare clearly indicates that the strained India-Pakistan relations are headed for a prolonged downslide.
Shah Rukh detained at LA airport: It’s KHAN again in US, followed by SORRY
KHAN – the four letter word spells trouble in the US, as Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan realised yet again when he was detained at the Los Angeles airport for interrogation. It surely is a lesson in humility for The KHAN of Bollywood who has been detained for the third time in seven years by US immigration officials, apparently on ground of his surname. “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kicked the star out of stardom,” Khan had said in 2012 when he was given a similar treatment. Khan arrived in the US on August 12 on an invitation from Yale University.
The detention of the actor has created a storm and is making headlines yet again. In a damage-control exercise, the US envoy has apologised “for the trouble”. “Sorry for the trouble at LAX @iamsrk,” US ambassador to India Richard Verma tweeted. He added that the US authorities are “working to ensure it doesn’t happen again”. “Your work inspires millions, including in the US,” Verma wrote on the microblogging site.