Bilateral Relations

India on Tuesday asserted that the construction work on the Kartarpur corridor, which will allow its pilgrims to access the famed Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, will be completed expeditiously. Giving a detailed description of the work under way, sources said a passenger terminal building, a four-lane highway and other …

Relief for expatriates, students and medical patients after 2018 freeze India and Maldives on Tuesday exchanged an agreement to facilitate visas for travel between the two countries in a number of categories, easing a bilateral stand off which had resulted in thousands of Indian job seekers being denied work permits …

Her surprise entry ahead of the March 24 elections deals a heavy blow to the ruling junta’s head A Thai princess will run for Prime Minister in March elections in an unprecedented entry by a royal into front-line politics, pitting her against the chief of the ruling junta and redrawing …

The election season in Israel and India may derail Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after an initial date for his visit on February 11 fell through, officials involved in planning the visit confirmed. According to a senior diplomatic source, Mr. Netanyahu, who had proposed …

India gains little by engaging the Taliban directly at this stage, says Amar Sinha , former Ambassador to Afghanistan and member of the National Security Advisory Board, countering Army chief General B.P. Rawat’s call for India to ‘join the bandwagon’ in talks. On Wednesday, a two-day ‘intra-Afghan’ dialogue of Afghan …

India has shared with Pakistan coordinates of the ‘zero point’ along the border in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district where the 100-yard corridor, leading to the Kartarpur Sahib shrine, will be built. “The notification to acquire land for an Integrated Checkpost (ICP) will be issued on Wednesday. The Punjab government has assured …

The Border Security Force (BSF) has said they were taking care of the daily necessities of 31 Rohingya who have been stranded along the Bangladesh-Tripura border for the past three days. The Rohingya are holed up behind the barbed wire fencing at Rayermura in west Tripura. It is not clear …

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has joined his Assam counterpart Sarbananda Sonowal in defending the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and said “people with vested interests” have been misinterpreting it to create confusion. Mr. Khandu heads a Bharatiya Janata Party government in Arunachal Pradesh, while Mr. Sonowal leads a coalition …

Indian and Pakistani officials are expected to meet next month to discuss a “draft agreement” on the Kartarpur corridor in Punjab, sources confirmed. The meeting follows the Pakistan government’s announcement that it had shared the draft of the agreement, to be signed by the two governments, for “facilitation of (Indian) …

Only 230 Hindus from Pakistan and four Sikhs from Afghanistan had been given long-term visas (LTVs) till September 2018, the Union Home Ministry has said in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by The Hindu . However, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told the …

They were under detention for violation of the Passport Act The border police in Karimganj district of Assam on Saturday deported 21 Bangladeshis who had been detained for illegally entering India. Officials said the 21 persons, two of them women, were sent back from the Sutarkandi border checkpoint after approval …

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday that the mode of access for Indian devotees headed for Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan was yet to be decided by the two countries. “Whether access will be given to them by passport or Visa will be applied, are issues that are to …

The Meghalaya government on Friday issued a modified order for allowing transportation of coal that “originated outside the State”. This followed an alleged misinterpretation of the Supreme Court’s January 15 order by Customs officials in Meghalaya, owing to which 28 coal trucks from Bhutan were prevented from delivering the consignment …

India on Friday summoned a Pakistani diplomat and protested against a recent order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan that brought the region of Gilgit-Baltistan within its ambit. A press note from the External Affairs Ministry said the diplomat was told that the region was, and would remain, an integral …

Quad countries evolving a common maritime awareness picture and improving interoperability Acknowledging the rapid expansion of the Chinese Navy in recent years, especially in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the four countries of the Quad on Wednesday stressed improving interoperability and evolving a “common maritime awareness picture” while not attributing …

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Monday suggested that third parties could help solve the Kashmir issue if India and Pakistan started a movement for greater talks. At an event to inaugurate the new building of the Norwegian Embassy here, Ms. Solberg indicated at international mediating support for solving the …

Mr. Trump had referred to his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that Indian contribution to Kabul be increased and diversified as humanitarian contribution was not enough. “I could give you an example where I get along very well with India and Prime Minister Modi. But he is constantly …

Exchange lists of convicts who have completed terms In a peace overture, India has asked Islamabad to take back dozens of Pakistani nationals who have completed jail terms here. The Indian request came in the context of the exchange of the lists of prisoners in both countries that took place …

India will host the newly elected Prime Minister of Bhutan from December 27-29, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday. A press release issued by the Ministry said that the visit by Dr. Lotay Tshering, 50, will take place to mark the golden jubilee of the diplomatic relations between …

Pakistani national Mohammed Imran Warsi, who is set to be repatriated to his home country after spending 10 years in a Bhopal jail, left for the Attari-Wagah border on Monday. Before boarding Shatabdi Express for Delhi, the 40-year-old said he would first meet his mother after reaching his home country. …