U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have met seven times since March 2009, and they seem to be getting comfortable. On Sunday in Mumbai, Obama tried his hand at Indian folk dancing during a Diwali celebration at a local school. The usually sober, scripted Singh, meanwhile, jauntily fielded questions at a joint news conference on Monday. "We're not afraid of the K word," he said in response to a question about Kashmir. And he bluntly defended his country's much-maligned outsourcing industry: "India is not in the business of stealing jobs from the United States of America." A few hours after Singh's Yankee plainspokenness, Obama delivered a speech to India's Parliament with a subtlety and political skill worthy of the nation's great statesmen. Obama flattered India's pride in its past, recalling Swami Vivekananda's visit to Chicago in 1893; he showed Gandhian humility, saying, "I might not be standing here before you today" had it not been for Mohandas … [Read more...] about Obama’s India Trip: What U.S. May Get in Return
Terror attack in kashmir
Clinton begins India visit with tribute to terror victims
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans Saturday to honour the victims of last year's attacks in Mumbai when she begins a visit to India aimed at deepening ties with an emerging global player. But Clinton, on her maiden visit here as chief US diplomat, sought to allay fears that President Barack Obama's administration was pressuring India into seeking peace with Pakistan, which has been linked to the attacks. A peace deal would allow Pakistan to turn its attention away from India, with which it has fought three wars, and focus entirely on beating an Islamist insurgency along the border with Afghanistan, a US priority. Clinton, who arrived here Friday night, will begin her first full day with a commemoration at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, where she is a guest and where many of the 166 fatalities occurred in a siege by Islamist militants. Media are barred from the event at 9:00 am (0430 GMT) because of what US officials called local sensitivities. Clinton said it was wrong … [Read more...] about Clinton begins India visit with tribute to terror victims
Pakistan produces Mumbai attack suspects in court: lawyer
Pakistan, July 25, 2009 (AFP) - Five suspects accused by India of involvement in last year's Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people appeared in a special court in Pakistan Saturday, their defence lawyer said. The November 26-29 siege of the Indian city also left more than 300 people injured when 10 heavily armed gunmen targeted luxury hotels, the city's main railway station, a popular restaurant and Jewish centre. Relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals worsened dramatically after the carnage that New Delhi blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). "All the five (defendants) were produced in the court chaired by Judge Baqar Ali Rana," defence lawyer Shahbaz Rajput told reporters. The judge adjourned the court until August 29, after the proceedings which lasted about one hour, Rajput said. Journalists were not allowed to witness the court proceedings, which were held behind closed doors. Court officials said the suspects included the alleged … [Read more...] about Pakistan produces Mumbai attack suspects in court: lawyer
India, Pakistan to hold first talks since Mumbai attacks
NEW DELHI, Feb 25, 2010 (AFP) - India and Pakistan hold their first official talks for 14 months Thursday, seeking to put their volatile relationship back on a stable track after it was derailed by the 2008 Mumbai attacks. There were few expectations of a breakthrough in the day-long meeting between Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, which was soured in advance by arguments over the agenda. Just hours before Bashir arrived in the Indian capital on Wednesday, Indian frontier guards said they had been fired on by Pakistani troops across the border. "I'm not very optimistic," said Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, while another senior government official highlighted the "trust deficit" that lingered from the Mumbai siege that left 166 people dead. But the mere fact that the nuclear-armed rivals were sitting down together at all marks a step forward, with the probable best-case scenario an agreement to keep on talking. Experts say … [Read more...] about India, Pakistan to hold first talks since Mumbai attacks
Beyond Times Square: Pakistani Terrorism Targets U.S.
Not long ago, a bomb attack on New York City's Times Square would have had intelligence officials and terrorism experts checking off the usual suspects among the sources of terrorist plots against the U.S. - Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq. But these days, says a top counterterrorism official, "when I hear of a terrorist plot, I can count back from 10, and before I get to zero, someone will bring up the P word." That's P for Pakistan. Over the past couple of years, more plots against U.S. targets have emanated from or had a strong connection to Pakistan than any other country. Says the counterterrorism official, who was briefed on the hunt for the Times Square bomber but is not authorized to speak with the media: "It was totally predictable that the smoking Pathfinder would lead to someone with Pakistan in his past." Nor would it come as a surprise if it were revealed that Faisal Shahzad, who has claimed to investigators that he was working alone, was in fact linked to an ever … [Read more...] about Beyond Times Square: Pakistani Terrorism Targets U.S.