A bleeding economy pushes Pakistan’s generals to see the virtues of trading with arch rival India. Kunal Majumder reports
Tag: India
Three days before the Persian New Year of Nowruz, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed delegates of the pro-Palestine pressure group Global March to Jerusalem at his presidential palace in Tehran. Ahmadinejad was livid. Just two days earlier news reports had surfaced about Obama administration’s alleged threat with sanctions to India and other Asian countries if they don’t stop trading with Iran. “The Zionists are trying to damage our relationship with neighbouring countries,” he said. “They have tried to destroy Iran’s relationship with Indonesia, Malaysia and Egypt.” On India, however, he remains quite optimistic. “Don’t worry. We are on the right track,” he told Tehelka.
Pakistan Kashmir Affairs minister Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo tells Kunal Majumder that only talks can resolve the vexed issue: “In the Shimla agreement, both countries had decided that the Kashmir issue will be resolved through dialogue, not through any form of aggression. Pakistan has always maintained that the issue can be resolved when the Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri leadership sit together and talk. Gilani’s statement should be welcomed. During their meetings, both the prime ministers have agreed on the need to continue talking. The ongoing composite dialogues are the result. Manmohan Singh has himself accepted that Kashmir will be a part of these composite dialogues. This is a victory for both sides and shows their seriousness in resolving the Kashmir issue as well as others.”
IN DELHI to participate in the Sustainable Development Summit, Carl Pope, a veteran environmentalist and chairman of Sierra Club, one of the world’s oldest environmental conservation organisations, tells Kunal Majumder why coal is no longer a viable option to meet India’s growing energy needs.
On 2 February 2012, hours before lawyers and judges met on the Supreme Court (SC) of India lawn to bid Justice AK Ganguly farewell, the retiring judge and his colleague Justice GS Singhvi dropped a bombshell on the government. Ganguly and Singhvi, who were part of the bench hearing the $15.4 billion telecom scam case, cancelled all the 123 telecom licenses allotted by the government.