With Joshimath, the gateway to pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, facing a major challenge due to land subsidence, the situation would also take its toll on the pilgrimage this year.
Thousands of pilgrims opt for night halt at Joshimath before travelling onwards to the revered shrines.
Gurdwara Sri Hemkund Sahib Management Trust president Narinderjit Singh Bindra said it would be too early to say whether the situation would affect the pilgrimage or not.
Gurdwara Gobind Ghat manager Sewa Singh said, “The Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib Management has rescued affected residents and made arrangements for langar.”
Foreign Secretary in Thimphu a week after China, Bhutan resolve to fast-track border talks
Days after China and Bhutan reached a “positive consensus” to implement three-step roadmap to settle their border dispute, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kawtra reached Thimphu on Wednesday on athree-day visit to hold talks with his counterpart Pema Choden as well as call on the country’s leadership.
Kwatra will also co-chair the 4th India-Bhutan Development Cooperation Talks. India is Bhutan’s largest benefactor and had earmarked $ 282 million for its development during 2022-23.
“The visit is in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between India and Bhutan, and will provide an opportunity to the two sides to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral ties,” said a MEA statement.
“During the visit, Foreign Secretary Kwatra will call on the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and also meet his counterpart Foreign Secretary Pema Choden to discuss issues of mutual interest,” said the Bhutanese Foreign Office
Kwatra will be in Bhutan against the backdrop of the 11th Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on China-Bhutan Boundary Issues in China’s Kunming from January 10 to 13. While India’s border talks with China are stalled, Bhutan has held 24 rounds of boundary talks with China so far. Of China’s 14 land neighbours – the largest in the world – it has resolved boundary disputes with 12. India and Bhutan are the two countries with whom China is yet to finalise the border agreements.
The China-Bhutan joint statement said, “The two sides agreed to simultaneously push forward the implementation of all steps of the Three-Step Roadmap.”
India had intervened in a border dispute between China and Bhutan at Doklam in 2017. It led to a 73-day standoff between the armies of two countries. However, today, China has not only built the road that India had disputed but it has also raised a garrison uncomfortably close to the Jampari Ridge.
Kwatra had last met his Bhutanese counterpart Choden in August last year to set the stage for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck next month. The King had also called on National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and met Kwatra.
China has been piling pressure on Bhutan by making additional claims. In 2020, it had laid stake to Bhutan’s Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary by opposing funding for a project at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council. Bhutan had lodged a demarche to the Chinese Embassy in India over the issue because the two sides do not have reciprocal diplomatic missions. China is also reportedly building villages located along borders with India, Bhutan and Nepal.
India, Maldives must together ensure regional security: External Affairs Minister
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reached the Maldives on Wednesday as part of his two-leg overseas tour and with his counterpart Abdullah Shahid reviewed India’s ambitious development projects in the island that will far surpass earlier Chinese efforts at building infrastructure there.
After the ground-breaking ceremony of the Hanimaadhoo International Airport expansion, Jaishankar said it was one of the most anticipated projects. He said at a press conference that another equally ambitious project, the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP), would become an “economic corridor”.
“We are good neighbours. We are strong partners. We have mutually invested in development and progress. But we also together have a responsibility for peace and security in the region,” the minister said in a joint press appearance along with Shahid.
Recently, the Maldives signed an agreement with Indian company JMC Projects Limited to develop the Hanimaadhoo International Airport at a cost of $136.6 million to be financed by India’s Exim Bank. Male has also awarded to another Indian company, Afcons Infrastructure, the GMCP project for a 6.74-km bridge and causeway worth $500 million.
Jaishankar will also visit Colombo, where Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday said talks with India and China on debt restructuring were successful. The External Affairs Minister had earlier visited Sri Lanka in January 2021 and March 2022. “During the visit, the EAM will call on Wickremesinghe and PM Dinesh Gunawardena and also hold discussions with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry on the close India-Sri Lanka partnership and steps to strengthen it in all spheres,” said an MEA statement.
The MEA release also said both Maldives and Sri Lanka were India’s key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupies a special place in Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and ‘Neighbourhood First’. The maritime security issue has given rise to bad blood in Maldives politics. The pro-China Progressive Party of Maldives, which was the ruling party from 2013 to 2018, is opposed to India’s plans to open a consulate in Addu, a strategically located atoll about 500 km from the capital Male, which was a British air and naval base to interdict German U-boats in the Indian Ocean during World War II.
The Indian Army has awarded one of its mules for showing “exemplary keenness and supreme dedication beyond the call of duty” during a clash with Chinese troops at Yangtse in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 last year.
The mule, which has an assigned number “Hoof Number-122 Mule (Mountain Artillery)” was awarded the Chief of the Army Staff Commendation Card on the Army Day. The award was conferred at a location in the North-East where it was fed jaggery and some greens.
The mule was deployed at a forward patrolling point near Yangtse. The Army said, “Enduring extremely tiring and inhospitable conditions, the mule stood at the forefront of animal transport convoys.” Its steadfast physical presence and extremely composed temperament had a calming influence on other panicky animals and was thus instrumental in ensuring zero casualty, the Army said. The six-year-old mule has, during its tenure with the Army so far, lifted a load of around 6,500 kg and covered a distance of 750 km. — TNS
Proves its mettle during China clash
Six-year-old mule has so far lifted around 6,500 kg load
Exemplary service during clash with Chinese troops at Yangtse on Dec 9
Steadfast presence had calming effect on panicky animals
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif seeks ‘sincere’ talks with India to resolve ‘burning’ issues, including Kashmir; says UAE can play an important role
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sought “serious” and “sincere” talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for the resolution of the “burning” issues, including on Kashmir, and said the UAE could play an important role in facilitating the resumption of dialogue between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Prime Minister Sharif made these comments during an interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya news channel on Monday.
Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. India has previously rejected any third-party mediation on the Kashmir issue.
“My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir,” Sharif said.
He said Pakistan and India are neighbours and have to “live with each other.” “It is up to us to live peacefully, make progress or quarrel with each other, and waste time and resources. We have three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people,” he explained.
“We have learned our lesson and we want to live in peace provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems. We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity, and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, that is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi,” he elaborated.
India has maintained that terrorism and talks cannot go together and Islamabad should provide a conducive atmosphere for resumption of dialogue.
The ties between the two countries nosedived after India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019.
India’s decision evoked a strong reaction from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.
Trade ties between Pakistan and India have essentially been frozen since then.
“We are nuclear powers, armed to the teeth and if God forbid a war breaks out, who will live to tell what happened,” he warned.
During the interview, Sharif said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leadership could play an important role in bringing Pakistan and India together.
New Delhi has maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and no third country has a role in it.
“The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh are and always will be integral and inalienable parts of India. No other country has a locus standi to comment on the same,” the Ministry of External Affairs has said previously.
Sharif said the UAE was a second home for millions of Pakistanis, days after he visited the Gulf nation, which was aimed at securing fresh loans, ramping up bilateral cooperation and trade ties.
He also lauded Saudi Arabia for being a “friendly and brotherly country.” “Before Pakistan came into being, and was carved out of India, millions of Muslims had brotherly relations with Saudi Arabia and were visiting Makkah and Madina,” he added.
Last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it welcomed third-party mediation in the resolution of all outstanding issues with India, including Kashmir.
After Pak PM’s offer for talks, his office adds ‘Art 370’ rider
A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to talk to India on “burning issues”, Islamabad walked back on his comments by stating that Islamabad will not hold negotiations until New Delhi reversed the August 5, 2019, revocation of Article 370.
“Without India’s revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible,” said the Pakistan PMO on Tuesday.
In an interview to the Al-Arabiya television on Monday, Sharif had also requested the UAE to act as mediator as it had once done earlier to facilitate a ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC).
Want peace, have learnt our lesson
My message to PM Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir…. We have learned our lesson and we want to live in peace. — Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan PM
“I have requested my brother (UAE) President Mohd Bin Zayed… he also has good relations with India. He can play a very important role in bringing the two countries to the talking table and I give my word of honour that we will be talking to Indians with sincerity of purpose, but it takes two to tango,” he had said
Stating that Pakistan had learnt its lesson from the three wars with India which have “only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people,” Sharif said: “We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, this is the message I want to give to PM Modi.”
“My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir,” he said. But his peace offering was also conditional on Kashmir, an aspect which was reiterated by the Pakistan PMO. “In Kashmir, flagrant human rights violations are taking place day in and day out. India had usurped any semblance of the autonomy given to the Kashmiris according to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, as the autonomy was revoked in August 2019,” he said.
Sharif also said both countries were nuclear powers and if the conflict triggered a war, “then there will be no one left to tell what happened”
India has all along maintained that terrorism and talks cannot go together. New Delhi also maintains that revoking the special status of J&K or taking the issue to the UN is off the table.
Army captain’s body found hanging at training centre in Madhya Pradesh
The body of a 29-year-old captain of the Indian Army was found hanging from a ceiling fan at the Pachmarhi-based Army facility in Narmadapuram district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.
The death of captain Sartaj Singh Karla seems to be a case of suicide but no suicide note was found, an officer said.
The police were informed about the death of the Army officer at the Army Educational Corps Training College and Centre (AECTCC) at around 9 pm on Monday. The officer’s body was found hanging from a ceiling fan with a bed sheet in his room in the hostel.
Captain Karla was learning Chinese at the Pachmarhi-based institute, which trains Army personnel in an array of disciplines including music and foreign languages, said local police station in-charge Rooplal Uikey.
India-France naval exercise ‘Varuna’ gets underway in Arabian Sea
The 21st edition of India-France bilateral naval exercise ‘Varuna’ commenced in the Arabian Sea today. Initiated in 1993, it has become a hallmark of the India-France strategic relationship.
The drill will witness the participation of indigenous guided missile stealth destroyer INS Chennai, guided missile frigate INS Teg, maritime patrol aircraft P-8I and Dornier, integral helicopters and MiG29K fighter aircraft. The French navy will be represented by aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, frigates FS Forbin and Provence, support vessel FS Marne and maritime patrol aircraft Atlantique.
