Contending that dialogue was the only way forward with Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the decision to hold foreign-secretary level talks was a “calculated” one but there can be no meaningful discussion till terror from Pakistan is ended.
Denying that he had sought mediation by Saudi Arabia, he asserted in the Lok Sabha that all problems with Pakistan can be resolved bilaterally if it adopted a “reasonable” attitude in dealing with terror elements which target India.
“Our policy towards Pakistan is consistent, cautious and realistic,” Singh said replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address to Parliament during which he lambasted the opposition BJP for spreading disinformation.
He specifically rebutted charges levelled by senior BJP leader L K Advani that the government was talking to Pakistan under US pressure.
Underlining the need for keeping communication channels with Pakistan from breaking down, he said the scope of any “miscalculation can only worsen in an environment of no contact.”
To buttress his point, he said the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union, even at the height of the Cold War had kept communication channels open.
Referring to the recent Foreign Secretary-level talks, Singh said it was not a “sudden” decision but a “calculated” one. He pointed out that he had earlier offered to resume talks on humanitarian issues.

The CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, have a long and often tormented relationship. And even now, they are moving warily toward conflicting goals, with each maneuvering to protect its influence after the shooting stops in Afghanistan, reported New York Times.
Yet interviews in recent days show how they are working together on tactical operations, and how far the CIA has extended its extraordinary secret war beyond the mountainous tribal belt and deep into Pakistan’s sprawling cities.
Beyond the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, CIA operatives working with the ISI have carried out dozens of raids throughout Pakistan over the past year, working from bases in the cities of Quetta, Peshawar and elsewhere, according to Pakistani security officials.
The raids often come after electronic intercepts by American spy satellites, or tips from Pakistani informants — and the spies from the two countries then sometimes drive in the same car to pick up their quarry. Sometimes the teams go on lengthy reconnaissance missions, with the ISI operatives packing sunscreen and neon glow sticks that allow them to identify their positions at night.
The drone attack on Mehsud is part of a joint war against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas, where CIA drones pound militants from the air as Pakistani troops fight them on the ground. Even as the ISI breaks up a number of Taliban cells, officials in Islamabad, Washington and Kabul hint that the ISI’s goal seems to be to weaken the Taliban just enough to bring them to the negotiating table, but leaving them strong enough to represent Pakistani interests in a future Afghan government. Besides Mullah Baradar, several Taliban shadow governors and other senior leaders have been arrested inside Pakistan in recent weeks.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that it had encouraged the two countries to resume direct talks at the highest political level.
“With respect to India and Pakistan, we’ve encouraged the resumption of the direct talks which were suspended when (Pakistan) President (Pervez) Musharraf left office,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate panel.
Those talks between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “had actually been quite productive particularly in producing results on the ground in Kashmir”, she said at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on her department’s budget for Fiscal Year 2011.

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that his government was ready to discuss all issues, including the decision to initiate talks with Pakistan, in parliament.

“We are ready to discuss all issues in parliament,” he told reporters when asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) demand for explanation from the government in parliament on why it had decided on foreign secretary-level talks with Islamabad when alleged terrorism from across the border had not stopped.

Manmohan attended a meeting of leaders of political parties, convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, to discuss issues relating to the forthcoming budget session of parliament commencing from Monday.

President Pratibha Patil will address the joint sitting of both houses of parliament. Indian general budget for 2010-11 will be presented on February 26.

SRINAGAR: High-level advisers appointed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are recommending autonomy for Kashmir, where militants have fought for 20 years against rule from New Delhi.

The advisory group, headed by former supreme court judge Saghir Ahmad, recommended that the prime minister look at various formulations “to restore the autonomy to the extent possible”.

The group’s report was delivered to the Kashmir chief minister late Wednesday and made public Thursday.

The Kashmir legislative assembly in 2000 passed a resolution favouring full restoration of the state’s autonomy. But India’s then Hindu-nationalist government rejected the resolution passed unanimously by the assembly.

Autonomy is the main demand of the ruling National Conference, the state’s biggest pro-India political party, which had moved the resolution in 2000.

“We will react only after going through the report. It is a long report,” said Ali Mohammed Sagar, held Kashmir’s law and parliamentary minister.

Singh had appointed the working group in May 2006 to try to find a permanent solution to the unrest in the scenic Himalayan region, which is split between India and Pakistan.

NEW DELHI, India News : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flew to Russia on Sunday on a visit to cement ties between the two allies and finalise a deal to expand cooperation on nuclear energy.

Singh’s two-day trip, his sixth to Russia as prime minister since 2004, was also designed to firm up defence deals that have been hit by delays in delivery, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Singh will hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as part of an annual leadership meeting between the two countries which forged a strategic partnership deal in 2000, officials said.

“This is a partnership based on the solid foundation of long-standing friendship, deep mutual trust and strong convergence of interests,” Singh said in a statement before leaving.

The prime minister, who visited Washington last month, said he hoped the Russia trip would focus on defence, civil nuclear energy and science issues.

PORT OF SPAIN: Ending months of complex negotiations, India and Canada on Saturday announced the conclusion of a civil nuclear deal that will enable New Delhi to access Canadian nuclear technology and uranium after a gap of 34 years.

The breakthrough was announced after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port of Spain.

“We have now got an agreement which means this is a tremendous opportunity for both countries,” Harper said here while underlining that it was “a tremendous step forward” in bilateral relations.

“Canada is a supplier, obviously an integrated supplier in the nuclear energy field and India is an expanding economy that has great energy needs,” Harper said.

The nuclear agreement promises to transform bilateral relations that turned frosty when Ottawa cut off atomic trade after New Delhi’s 1974 nuclear test and accused the latter of misappropriating Canadian reactor designs in the test.

Harper, however, added that it will take “a little time to complete the normal legal text and the ratification process.”

Lauding Harper for giving a political push to the negotiations, Manmohan Singh said, “This is a tribute to the prime minister’s great leadership and the way the civil service functions in Canada.”

“It augurs extremely well for the development of our relations,” he added.

The deal is likely to be signed when Manmohan Singh goes to Canada to attend the G20 summit in June next year where he will also hold bilateral talks with the Canadian leader on the sidelines.

Michaele Salahi Wikipedia, Tareq and Michaele Salahi were the couple who gate-crashed the November 24, 2009 White House state dinner in honor of visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Do the couple deserve Wikipedia entries? There is an ongoing debate right now whether the two articles be merged as both were notable for the same incident. They are mentioned in notable media together, and the content of their entries are more or less the same.

Here is one comment: Don’t Merge. If the context of their lives were solely the gate-crashing incident then yes, they should be merged, but in the context of his notorious family legal disputes, his polo career, and the fact that he won’t be a “housewife” on the Bravo show they should be kept separate.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says the United States is not responsible for resolving the long-standing conflict between Pakistan and India, but that America wants to encourage security and civil progress in both nations.

Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. will encourage India and Pakistan to feel secure and to “focus on the development of their own countries.” He defended U.S. aid to Pakistan that is meant to help the nation combat extremists.

Obama made his remarks in a brief news conference with visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“The relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century,” Obama declared — twice — during a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The two appeared before reporters in the East Room after an elaborate morning welcome ceremony that was moved indoors by rain and about two hours of private talks in the Oval Office.

He also touted India as a key partner on a range of crucial global issues. He used some of the same complimentary language he displayed while in China, only there he was looking to prod Beijing to do more with its new clout, while with Singh he was lauding what is already happening.

Obama said he and Singh agreed to “work even closer” on sharing information between law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Obama called the two nations “natural allies” on the topic.

“We both recognize that our core goal is to achieve peace and security for all peoples in the region, not just one country or the other,” the president said.

Noting that the United States was India’s largest trading partner, Obama said broadening trade ties would help create much needed jobs in the two countries, both wracked by economic recessions.

Israeli Attack on Gaza 2 killed, 4 injured, At least two Palestinians have been killed and four others wounded in an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.
Gaza hospital sources announced the reception of two bodies late on Monday, along with four other victims who had received medium to critical injuries, after an Israeli tank shelled the eastern Gaza city neighborhood of Shejaeya.
The shelling caused serious damage in the densely populated area, reports say, but there are no more details on the incident. The latest attack comes two days after the Israeli military launched a series of air raids on Gaza, wounding seven people, including children.