Indian FM’s visit to Pakistan unlikely to thaw frosty ties, experts say

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar arrives to visit the India Coast Guard Ship Samudra Paheredar docked at a port in Manila. (File/AFP)
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar arrives to visit the India Coast Guard Ship Samudra Paheredar docked at a port in Manila. (File/AFP)
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Updated 14 October 2024
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Indian FM’s visit to Pakistan unlikely to thaw frosty ties, experts say

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar arrives to visit the India Coast Guard Ship Samudra Paheredar docked in Manila.
  • Jaishankar has said he will not discuss bilateral relations during trip
  • High-level visit may still contribute to ‘slight improvement’ in India-Pakistan ties  

NEW DELHI: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad is unlikely to thaw frosty relations between India and Pakistan as both countries struggle with domestic issues, experts said on Monday ahead of the first such trip by a high-level Indian official.

The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed last Friday that Jaishankar will be leading the Indian delegation to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a 10-member trans-regional economic and security body established by China and Russia — from Oct. 15-16 in the Pakistani capital. 

Jaishankar has said he will not discuss bilateral relations during the visit.

India has fought three wars with its nuclear-armed neighbor, including two over control of the disputed Kashmir region in the Himalayas.

India controls Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger Kashmiri territory that has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Both countries, which claim Kashmir in full and rule in part, further downgraded their diplomatic ties in tit-for-tat moves in 2019, after India unilaterally stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its limited constitutional autonomy. In protest, Pakistan also suspended all bilateral trade.

“It (the visit) would contribute in certain ways in thawing the relationship that has been frozen for the last 10 years and may provide an opportunity for India to construct (and) begin conversation with Pakistan,” Sanjay Kapoor, analyst and political editor, told Arab News.

However, Pakistan’s political instability and security challenges are also a drawback to potential bilateral engagements, said Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“Pakistan is in such a febrile (state) that who to talk to is a big question,” he told Arab News.

“The way political challenges are rising for the Pakistani government, they are quite substantive and there is no way in which a unified machinery exists … even if India wants to have a conversation with Pakistan and take that conversation forward.”

Unless “something fundamental shifts” in Islamabad concerning its approach to regional security and terrorism, Pant said that India will not be “very incentivized to engage with Pakistan.”

Cross-border terrorism was a top-of-mind issue for the Indian government, said Manish Chand, the CEO of the think tank Center for Global India Insights.

“Pakistan has not done anything tangible, concrete” to address Delhi’s concerns over the matter, he told Arab News, adding that any dialogue with Islamabad also depended on the Indian public perception and mood, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lost its absolute majority in parliament in June.

“This government, the BJP, does not want to be seen as soft on Pakistan or cross-border terror, so they don’t want to take a political chance because that would mean that it could be they will face cracking political scrutiny,” Chand told Arab News.

Despite the challenges, Jaishankar’s trip should still be seen as a “very positive gesture” that may lead “to a slight improvement” in bilateral relations, which “may eventually lead to some tangible move leading to reengagement at some level or revival of the dialogue process,” he said.

But Prof. Siddiq Wahid, a Srinagar-based political analyst, said engaging with Pakistan was not a priority for the Indian government.

“The current Indian government is hampered by its self-image of India in the world. That self-image is of a major global player. As a result it thinks that time is on its side and it does not have to deal with Islamabad,” he told Arab News.

“Meanwhile, the regional rivalry between Delhi and Islamabad continues to fester.” 


Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata
Updated 1 min 10 sec ago
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Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata
  • Around 128 witnesses will be examined during the trial, court sources told Reuters

KOLKATA: A court in the eastern state of West Bengal began the trial on Monday of a police volunteer accused of raping and murdering a doctor at a government hospital in August, a case that has sparked outrage over the lack of safety for women in India.

The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the state capital Kolkata on Aug. 9, federal police said. They also said they had arrested a police volunteer, Sanjay Roy, for the crime.

Charges were drawn up last week, while Roy said he was “completely innocent” and was being framed, local media reported.

The legal case has reignited criticism of India’s poor record on women’s safety despite the introduction of tougher laws following the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a moving bus in New Delhi.

It also shines a light on the poor infrastructure and security at government hospitals in India, many of which lack basic facilities including CCTV cameras and security personnel.

Around 128 witnesses will be examined during the trial, court sources told Reuters, with hearings taking place on a daily basis as authorities look to fast-track the high-profile case. They will not be open to the public.

One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the father of the woman doctor, the alleged victim, gave evidence on Monday.

In addition to the defendant Roy, India’s federal police said they arrested the officer in charge of the local police station and the superintendent of the hospital for allegedly tampering with evidence and financial irregularities.


Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments
Updated 27 min 51 sec ago
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Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments
  • Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump’s central campaign promises
  • Picks signal movement on number of Trump’s key campaign messages

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to staff up his incoming administration, naming loyalists to several key posts within days of his election victory and signaling his desire to have some seated without a Senate confirmation process.
The staffing picks are the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny, with Trump vowing that his second administration will oversee a radical shake-up of the federal government.
The 78-year-old Republican tycoon said Sunday he would tap hard-line immigration official Tom Homan as the country’s “border czar,” while US media reported the nod for UN ambassador as going to New York congresswoman Elize Stefanik, a vocal Trump ally.
Stephen Miller, another fierce critic of illegal immigration who served in Trump’s first administration, has been tapped for deputy chief of staff.
The picks signal movement on a number of Trump’s key campaign messages, with Homan’s hard-line immigration stance making him a loyal hand in carrying out the incoming president’s deportation promises, while Stefanik, who has voiced strong support for Israel, will represent the administration as the UN grapples with the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Stefanik’s nomination would need approval by the Senate, but Trump is hoping to bypass Congress by making appointments while the chamber is in recess.
He has turned the issue into a loyalty test, insisting that any Republican seeking to be the leader of the Senate “must agree” to recess appointments.
The three senators jockeying for the post immediately issued statements saying they supported the move, or were at least open to the idea.
Trump will not be inaugurated until January, and had previously made one cabinet-level appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
His weekend nominations for both border czar and ambassador to the UN will help him fulfill a number of his key promises to the American electorate.
Homan, a former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), holds strident views on immigration, as does Miller, who served as Trump’s senior adviser and speechwriter during his first term.
Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump’s central campaign promises as he pledged to launch the largest deportation operation of undocumented migrants in US history beginning on day one.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump said of Homan on Truth Social, adding that he will be in charge of “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
Stefanik, a key Trump ally now in her fifth term in office, has been a staunch defender of Israel and will head to the UN as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon dominate diplomacy.
Israel welcomed the appointment Monday.
“At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the UN, your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever,” its UN ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X, wishing her “success in standing firm for truth and justice.”


Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry
Updated 11 November 2024
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Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands will impose controls on its land borders from Dec. 9, a spokesperson for Migration Minister Marjolein Faber said on Monday, confirming an earlier report by Dutch news agency ANP.
The controls on borders, all of which are with fellow countries in the EU's Schengen border-free zone, are set to last six months, part of a wider crackdown on migration proposed by the right-wing coalition led by the anti-Muslim nationalist PVV party of Geert Wilders. They follow a similar move by neighbouring Germany.


Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata
Updated 11 November 2024
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Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata
  • The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on Aug. 9
  • The case has reignited criticism of lack of safety for women in India, despite introducing tougher laws

KOLKATA: A court in the eastern state of West Bengal began the trial on Monday of a police volunteer accused of raping and murdering a doctor at a government hospital in August, a case that has sparked outrage over the lack of safety for women in India.
The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the state capital Kolkata on Aug. 9, federal police said. They also said they had arrested a police volunteer, Sanjay Roy, for the crime.
Charges were drawn up last week, while Roy said he was “completely innocent” and was being framed, local media reported.
The legal case has reignited criticism of India’s poor record on women’s safety despite the introduction of tougher laws following the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a moving bus in New Delhi.
It also shines a light on the poor infrastructure and security at government hospitals in India, many of which lack basic facilities including CCTV cameras and security personnel.
Around 128 witnesses will be examined during the trial, court sources told Reuters, with hearings taking place on a daily basis as authorities look to fast-track the high-profile case. They will not be open to the public.
One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the father of the woman doctor, the alleged victim, gave evidence on Monday.
In addition to the defendant Roy, India’s federal police said they arrested the officer in charge of the local police station and the superintendent of the hospital for allegedly tampering with evidence and financial irregularities.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met protesters last month and accepted most of their demands, doctors seeking reforms said, but they added they would track progress on her assurances and maintain pressure for change.


10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government

10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government
Updated 11 November 2024
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10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government

10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government
  • Violence occurred after burnt corpse of Kuki community woman was found last week
  • Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain

NEW DELHI: Indian police in troubled northeastern Manipur state on Monday battled with Kuki minority forces and killed at least 10 people after their station was attacked, a district official said Monday.
One officer was wounded as they “repulsed an attack on a police station,” Krishna Kumar, deputy commissioner of the state’s Jiribam district told AFP, adding that “10 bodies of miscreants have been recovered so far.”
The violence is the latest in a simmering conflict that broke out in Manipur in May 2023, between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community.
Those killed come from the Hmar people, a smaller group within the Kuki.
The violence comes after the burned corpse of a Kuki woman was found in the district last week, sparking fury.
At least 200 people have since been killed in the violence, and communities have splintered into rival groups across swaths of the state, which borders war-torn Myanmar.
After months of relative calm, an uptick in violence in September killed at least 11 people, including by insurgents reportedly firing rockets and dropping bombs with drones.
Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.
Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.
Manipur is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.