India News
No formal meet between Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto at SCO summit: Reports
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is highly unlikely to hold a formal meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari during the latter’s next month visit to India for participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Goa.
According to reports quoting sources, a formal meeting between the two foreign ministers of their respective countries is unlikely to take place in the wake of a recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district that left five Indian soldiers dead.
Asked if Pakistan had requested a formal meeting between the two foreign ministers, Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi avoided a direct answer and instead said that India looks forward to a successful meeting… “It will not be appropriate to focus on participation by any one particular country.”
Addressing a joint presser with Panama’s Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney Mencomo in Panama City on Tuesday, Jaishankar, without naming Pakistan, said it was difficult to engage with a neigbhour who promotes cross-border terrorism against India, adding that they (Islamabad) must deliver on their commitment on curbing cross-border terrorism if diplomatic ties between the two rivals are to move forward.
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Recently, Islamabad announced that its Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the SCO’s foreign ministers meeting in Goa on May 4-5. Zardari will become the first Pakistani leader to visit India after former Premier Nawaz Sharif in 2014.
Earlier, in January this year, India had invited the Pakistani foreign minister and Chief Justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, to attend SCO’s the foreign ministers’ and chief justices’ meeting.
India, who was appointed to chair the regional grouping in September 2022, had sent the invitations to Bhutto and Bandial through the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
On Thursday, April 20, five Indian Army jawans were killed after their vehicle caught fire on the Poonch-Jammu highway in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to reports, an army truck caught fire in Bhatta Durian Forest in BG Sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir resulting in the deaths of five Army personnel and injuries to another.
As per preliminary investigations, the Army truck was carrying fruits and other items to a forward village for Iftar that was supposed to be hosted by the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit on Thursday evening.
Reports quoting sources said the attack is suspected to have been carried out by a group of three to four terrorists who may have used a sticky bomb or a grenade due to which the Army truck caught fire.
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India News
Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hits out at Congress, accuses party of dividing Hindus
PM Modi quoted his predecessor PM Manmohan Singh and said the minorities had the first right to the country’s resources. PM Modi added Congress is now saying the population of the community will decide who will have the first right to the country’s resources.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Congress after the Bihar government’s caste census results were declared. He said the Congress party is dividing the Hindus as the poor people formed the largest part of the population. PM Modi was addressing a rally in Poll bound Chhattisgarh Jagdalpur
PM Modi quoted his predecessor PM Manmohan Singh and said the minorities had the first right to the country’s resources. PM Modi added Congress is now saying the population of the community will decide who will have the first right to the country’s resources. PM Modi asked if the Congress party wanted to decrease the rights of the minority. He further inquired whether the Congress party wanted to remove the minorities.
PM Modi continued to his attack on the Congress and asked whether the Hindus who formed the largest section of India’s population come forward and take their rights. PM Modi further added the Congress party is not run by its people and has been outsourced. He said senior Congress leaders did not have their say in the decisions made by the Congress party.
PM Modi said the Congress party is trying to divide the Hindus. He added the Congress party is dividing the poor. They are trying to destroy the country. PM Modi slammed the Congress party for playing with the emotions of the poor. He added the Congress party has divided India on the basis of caste lines for sixty years.
The Bihar government released the findings of its caste census. According to the survey extremely Backward classes (EBC’s) and other backward classes (OBC’s) constitute 63 percent of total population of Bihar. The Congress party has promised a caste based census in the country if it came to power at the Centre.
India News
India-Canada ties: India asks Canada to withdraw 40 diplomats by October 10
Canada has currently a total of 62 diplomats in India. New Delhi has instructed Canada to decrease the number to 41 at their high commission.
India has asked Canada to withdraw around 40 diplomats by October 10 as the diplomatic row between the two nations over Ottawa’s allegations of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. According to reports India has threatened to remove the diplomatic immunity of any candian diplomat if they remained in India after October 10.
Canada has currently a total of 62 diplomats in India. New Delhi has instructed Canada to decrease the number to 41 at their high commission. Boehm said PM Justin Trudeau does not expect to back down. He added India sees Canada as an easy mark. He said India is aware of Ottawa’s limited capacity to retaliate because of the presence of a minority government in Canada.
Trudeau is the leader of the Liberal Party. He shares power with Canadian Sikh leader and Indian origin Jagmeet Singh who is the head of the New Democratic Party in Canada. India had previously said it wanted an equal number of diplomats posted in the country and Canada. At the High commission in Delhi Canada has many diplomats compared to what India has in Ottawa.
Diplomatic crisis between Canada and India emerged after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said the Canadian agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegation of a potential link the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the Indian government. India had stated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. India rejected Canada’s allegations and called them motivated and absurd.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). He was shot dead outside a Gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada in the month of June. Ottawa expelled an Indian official over the case. India in response expelled a Canadian diplomat. Visa services were also expelled by the Indian government for Canadian citizens.
India News
Earthquake of 6.2 magnitude on Richter scale shakes up Delhi-NCR, North India
Reports said the tremors were felt acutely by people residing in high rises and many fled by staircase to the groundfloor and were awaiting more aftershocks.
Strong tremors lasting almost a minute rocked parts of Delhi-National Capital Region, and several northern states after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake at its epicentre hit Nepal.
Reports said the tremors were felt acutely by people residing in high-rises and many fled by staircase to the groundfloor and were awaiting more aftershocks. Similar sights were visible in the region’s office districts. The tremors were also felt in parts of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand just after 2.45 pm. According to the Delhi Disaster Management Authority website, “Delhi is located in zone IV which has fairly high seismicity where the general occurrence of earthquakes is of 5-6 magnitude, a few of magnitude 6-7 and occasionally of 7-8 magnitude. Delhi thus lies among the high-risk areas.” The site adds that Delhi and the union territory region has already seen five earthquakes of the 5.5 to 6.7 scale since 1720.
There has been no report of damage to life and property as of now and reports are awaited on the situation in Nepal. Seismologists said the epicentre was 5 km underground in Bhatekhola in Nepal. The Himalayan country has already faced a massive quake on April 25, 2015 of 7.8 magnitude. Some 9,000 people died and injured more than 20,000.
According to the National German Research Centre for Geo sciences has said that magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Nepal region. According to National Siesmological Centre an earthquake measuring 5.3 magnitude hit western parts of Nepal. No loss of property or life has been reported.
The earthquake was recorded with epicenter at Talkot area of Bajhang district, 700 km west of Kathmandu. Two earthquakes of magnitude 4.6 and 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted Nepal. The two tremors were felt within half an hour time. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya came out of Nirman Bhawan with others, as strong tremors hit different parts of North India.
