(Foreign ministers of Russia, India and China on the sidelines of the RIC meet at Zhejiang, China, on Feb. 27, 2019) Saudi Arabia is pushing forward as mediator between India and Pakistan with a messianic zeal that patently enjoys US backing. The Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir is arriving in Delhi …
Continue reading “Russia and China offer the SCO platform for India-Pak de-escalation”
There has been an avalanche of reports in the international media quoting western diplomats and security officials to the effect that India’s “intelligence-led… non-military preemptive strike” on a big terrorist camp in Pakistan on February 26 was all baloney. Apparently, these reports say, there was so such terrorist camp in existence in Balakot. Incredibly enough, …
Continue reading “Do not barter away national security interests”
On the face of it, Iran is down 0-2. That is, if a metaphor from soccer were to be used to describe India’s affection toward Iran’s archetypal West Asian rivals — Israel and Saudi Arabia. After all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives their leaders at the tarmac of Delhi airport with a hug, but there …
It is possible at once to both exaggerate and minimise the significance of the invitation extended to India to be the guest of honour at the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi on March 1-2. Continue reading…
The crisis situation following the Indian bombing of Pakistani territory on February 26 — described as “intelligence-led… non-military preemptive action” against terror targets — and the swift Pakistani retaliation the next day in the form of an aerial attack on military installations in Jammu and Kashmir, leading in turn to a ‘dog-fight’ in the sky, …
Continue reading “US checks India-Pakistan tensions from spiking”
India was in a triumphal mood after the air attack on Pakistani territory on Monday. For almost all sections of Indian opinion, Monday’s event has been a matter of celebration. For military analysts, the attack signified a leap of faith they’d long clamored for – challenging Pakistan’s ‘bluff’ that under a nuclear overhang, Islamabad could …
Continue reading “What next as tensions rise in India, Pakistan”
(Prime Minister Modi & dignitaries at Ardh Kumbh Mela, Prayagraj, Feb 24, 2019) By deputing the Sindhi-speaking Hindu MP belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Ramesh Kumar Vankwani to India, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan signalled a desire for de-escalation of tension with India. It followed two other signals — takeover of the Hqs of Jaish-e-Mohammed in …
Continue reading “Pulwama diplomacy loses way in labyrinthine plots”
(Prime Minister Modi receiving Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Delhi airport, February 20, 2019) Looking back at the one-day — actually, a little over half a day — first state visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Delhi on February 20 at the invitation of Prime Minister …
Continue reading “India gets veggie burger from Saudi Arabia”
(President Trump told reporters that it would be ‘wonderful’ if India & Pakistan ‘get along’) The US president Donald Trump told the media at the White House on February 19 while replying to a question on the terrorist strike in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, and the ensuing India-Pakistan tensions: “I have watched. I have got …
(Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s Address to the Nation on Pulwama Incident) If Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s televised address today afternoon, breaking his silence on the fedayeen attack in Pulwama, is to be succinctly captured in a single pithy sentence, it is that he has thrown the gauntlet down at PM Narendra Modi. (Transcript) The real …
