Omar Abdullah urges MEA to urgently ensure safety of Kashmiri students in Iran: ‘Every step must be taken to safeguard…'
In a post on X, Abdullah said that India stands with Kashmiri students and their families in this 'difficult time'.
'Requesting @MEAIndia to urgently ensure the safety and well-being of Kashmiri students currently stuck in Iran. Their families are deeply worried, and we stand with them in this difficult time,' Abdullah said.
Tagging External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Jammu and Kashmir CM said, 'Every step must be taken to safeguard our students.'
Israel struck 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear and military sites, and killing senior figures. As per official statements, those among killed include nuclear scientists and the armed forces chief of staff.
(This is a developing story. Check back for updates)
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Indian Express
4 minutes ago
- Indian Express
With Nepal's objection, recalling significance of Lipulekh for India, and the China angle
Nepal objected earlier this week to India and China announcing the reopening of border trade through the Lipulekh Pass, citing its claims over the region. In an official statement, the Government of Nepal said it was 'clear that the official map of Nepal, as incorporated in the Constitution of Nepal, includes Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani — located east of the Mahakali River — as integral parts of Nepal.' 'It is well known that the Government of Nepal has been consistently urging the Government of India not to carry out any activities such as road construction/expansion or border trade in the said area. The Government of Nepal has also apprised our friendly neighbour, China, that this area is part of Nepali territory,' the statement said. In response, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, 'Border trade between India and China through Lipulekh pass commenced in 1954 and has been going on for decades… such claims are neither justified nor based on… evidence.' Nepal previously raised the claims in 2020, and then Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli passed a map in Parliament, showing the area as part of Nepal. The Indian Express then reported on the historical importance of this region and the territorial claims. What follows is a re-edited version of that story. The 2020 incident Former Army Chief General M M Naravane said on May 15, 2020, that Nepal's protest against a newly built Indian road in Uttarakhand, up to Lipu Lekh pass on the China border, was at 'someone else's behest'. His statement was widely taken to mean that Nepal was acting as a proxy for China, at a time when tensions spiked sharply on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Indian Army at Ladakh. The road is on the route of the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which goes through Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who inaugurated it on May 8, 2020, said the road, built by the Border Roads Organisation, was important for 'strategic, religious and trade' reasons. The 80 km road goes right up to the Lipu Lekh pass on the LAC, through which Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims exit India into China to reach the mountain and lake revered as the abode of Siva. An official statement said what used to be a difficult trek to the gateway, situated at 17,060 ft, would now be an easy road trip. Although some officials have said it should be possible to complete the entire distance from Delhi to Lipu Lekh in two days, the sharp rise in altitude from 6,000 ft at Ghatiabagarh, where the new road starts, may require a slower journey for better acclimatisation, at least for pilgrims. The government underlined that through this improved route, yatris do not need the alternative routes for the pilgrimage, one through the Nathu La border in Sikkim and the other via Nepal, which entailed '20 per cent land journeys on Indian roads and 80 per cent land journeys in China … the ratio has been reversed. Now pilgrims to Mansarovar will traverse 84 per cent land journeys on Indian roads and only 16 per cent in China.' The defence minister called it a 'historic' achievement as he opened the road via video conferencing. The new road was also expected to provide better connectivity to Indian traders for the India-China border trade at the Lipu Lekh pass between June and September every summer. Importance of the road Building roads leading to the contested LAC with China has been a fraught exercise for the government. The India China Border Roads, as they are known, were conceptualised in the late 1990s by a consultative group called the China Studies Group, cleared at the highest level of the Cabinet Committee on Security, and given the go-ahead for construction in 1999. But the deadlines were movable targets, and it was only in the wake of the 70-day Doklam stand-off with China in 2017, that India realised with shock that most of those roads had remained on the drawing board. In all those years, only 22 had been completed. The Standing Committee on Defence, in its 2017-2018 report, noted that 'the country, being surrounded by some difficult neighbours, with a view to keeping pace, construction of roads and development of adequate infrastructure along the borders is a vital necessity'. Was Nepal's objection sudden? On the day the road was inaugurated in 2020, there was an outcry in Nepal. The next day, the Nepal Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing disappointment over New Delhi's 'unilateral' act, which it said went against the spirit of the bilateral 'understanding… at the level of Prime Ministers' to sort out border issues through negotiations. It asked India to 'refrain from carrying out any activity inside the territory of Nepal.' The Indian envoy in Kathmandu was summoned by the Nepal Foreign Ministry. Some in India asked why Nepal was silent during the time that the road was being built. But Kathmandu pointed out that it has brought up its concerns on the border issue several times, including in November 2019, when Delhi put out its new political map of India to show the bifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir. Nepal's objection then was the inclusion of Kalapani in the map, in which it is shown as part of Uttarakhand. The area falls in the trijunction between India, China and Nepal. The issue has come up now and again in the bilateral relationship since the 1960s. In the 1980s, the two sides set up the Joint Technical Level Boundary Working Group to delineate the boundary, which demarcated everything except Kalapani and the other problem area in Susta. When it was discussed at the prime ministerial level in 2000, between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and B P Koirala during the latter's visit to Delhi, both sides agreed to demarcate the outstanding areas by 2002. That has not happened. The Nepal-India border was delineated by the Sugauli Treaty of 1816, under which it renounced all territory to the west of the river Kali, also known as the Mahakali or the Sarada river. The river effectively became the boundary. The terms were reiterated by a second treaty between Nepal and British India in 1923. The rival territorial claims centre on the source of the Kali. Nepal's case is that the river originates from a stream at Limpiyadhura, north-west of Lipu Lekh. Thus, Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, and Lipu Lekh fall to the east of the river and are part of Nepal's Far West province in the district of Dharchula. New Delhi's position is that the Kali originates in springs well below the pass, and that while the Treaty does not demarcate the area north of these springs, administrative and revenue records going back to the nineteenth century show that Kalapani was on the Indian side, and counted as part of Pithoragarh district, now in Uttarakhand. Both sides have their own British-era maps as proof of their positions. Since the 1962 war with China, India has deployed the Indo Tibetan Border Police at Kalapani, which is advantageously located at a height of over 20,000 ft and serves as an observation post for that area. Nepal calls it an encroachment by the Indian security forces. Nepal has also been unhappy about the China-India trading post at Lipu Lekh, the earliest to be established between the two countries. Shipkila in Himachal followed two years later, and Nathu La only in 2006. Nepali youth protested in Kalapani, and there were protests in Nepal's Parliament too when India and China agreed to increase border trade through Lipu Lekh during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Beijing in 2016. The Chinese newspaper Global Times, an accurate barometer of what the Chinese state is thinking on any international issue, then declared that Beijing should remain 'neutral' and be mindful of the 'sensitivities in the India-Nepal relationship'. A year later, during the Doklam crisis, a senior official in the Chinese Foreign Ministry raised temperatures by suggesting that India would not be able to do anything if the PLA decided to walk in 'through Kalapani or into Kashmir, through PoK', both trijunctions like Doklam. Though China has said nothing about the road construction to Lipu Lekh, it has protested similar road-building activity at other places on the Indian side close to the LAC, including Ladakh. In view of all this, Kalapani and the approach to Lipu Lekh have only grown in strategic importance for India, especially as relations between the two countries have remained uneven over the last few years, and China has upped its game for influence in India's neighbourhood. India's tacit support for a blockade of the landlocked country during protests over the new Constitution in Nepal by the Madhesi community was an inflection point in the relationship. Despite the open border with India and the people-to-people contact through the hundreds of thousands of Nepali people who live and work in this country, the levels of distrust in Nepal about India have increased. For its part, India perceived Nepal to be tilting towards China under the leadership of Prime Minister K P Oli and his Nepal Communist Party. Responding to Nepal's protests, India said it was ready to discuss the matter at the foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries. The talks were to be held earlier in 2020, but were put off due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
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First Post
37 minutes ago
- First Post
Does Sheikh Hasina's party have office in Kolkata?
India has rejected Dhaka's allegations that members of the 'banned' Awami League are carrying out 'anti-Bangladesh activities' on Indian soil. This came after Bangladesh claimed that 'Awami League-linked offices' were being operated on Indian soil, allegedly by leaders of Sheikh Hasina's party living in exile here. But what is the truth? India has dismissed Dhaka's allegations that members of the 'banned' Awami League are carrying out anti-Bangladesh activities on Indian soil. The Awami League is the party of Sheikh Hasina, who resigned as Prime Minister and fled Bangladesh in August 2024. The development came after the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry claimed that 'Awami League-linked offices' were being run on Indian soil, allegedly by leaders taking refuge across the border. India has rejected the charge and reiterated its call for 'free, fair and inclusive' elections in Bangladesh. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Let's take a closer look. India rejects Bangladesh's charge India on Wednesday (August 20) responded to Dhaka's accusations that offices linked to the Awami League in Kolkata and New Delhi were involved in 'anti-Bangladesh activities.' The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called Dhaka's allegations 'misplaced,' underlining that no such activity is permitted from Indian soil. 'Many of the senior leaders of the Party, absconding in several criminal cases in Bangladesh on account of grievous crimes committed against humanity, remain in the Indian territory. Earlier, on 21 July 2025 evening, under the garb of an indescript NGO, some of the senior leaders of this banned Party planned to hold a public outreach at the Delhi Press Club and eventually distributed booklets among the attending members of the Press. To date, several reports in Indian media affirm increasing overtures of the Party while being on the Indian soil,' the Bangladesh foreign affairs ministry said in a statement earlier on Wednesday. 'This development also risks upholding the good-neighbourly relations with India driven by mutual trust and mutual respect, and lends serious implications for the political transformation underway in Bangladesh,' the statement read, warning that the issue 'might also trigger public sentiment in Bangladesh, which may in turn impact the ongoing efforts of the two countries in further enhancing the relationship between the two closest neighbours.' 'The government of Bangladesh, therefore, would urge the government of India to take immediate steps to ensure that no anti-Bangladesh activity is undertaken by any Bangladeshi national from being in the Indian soil…,' the statement added. India has rejected Dhaka's accusations, saying it had no knowledge of such activities and would not allow them under any circumstances. 'The Government of India is not aware of any anti-Bangladesh activities by purported members of the Awami League in India or of any action that is contrary to Indian law. The Government does not allow political activities against other countries to be carried out from Indian soil,' the MEA said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Describing Bangladesh's allegation as 'misplaced,' New Delhi reiterated the need for 'free, fair and inclusive elections" at the earliest in the neighbouring country to 'ascertain the will and mandate of the people.' Our response to media queries on the Press Statement issued by the Interim Government of Bangladesh⬇️ 🔗 — Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) August 20, 2025 Does Awami League have offices in India? Bangladesh's allegations come amid some reports in the Bangladeshi press about a 'discreet 'party office' of Bangladesh Awami League' in Kolkata that Indian intelligence agencies are 'aware' of. As per a BBC Bangla report, cited by Bangladesh's The Business Standard, Hasina's party office has been 'operating for months' out of a commercial complex on the outskirts of Kolkata. After student-led protests forced Sheikh Hasina to flee Bangladesh on August 5 last year and come to India, several Awami League and affiliated leaders also reportedly moved here, many of whom settled in and around Kolkata. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Since Hasina's ouster, nearly 1,300 former ministers and the top and middle-level leaders of her party, its youth wing Jubo League, and its students' wing Bangladesh Chhatra League, have been in self-exile in India and other parts of the world, as per ThePrint. Some have shifted to the US, Canada, Australia and other countries. In May this year, Bangladesh banned all activities of the Awami League, including its online presence, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. What do Awami League leaders do in India? The Awami League leaders in India have mostly settled in New Town, a planned satellite city on the outskirts of Kolkata, reported ThePrint. They spend their time in offering namaz, going to gym or morning walks and attending online meetings with other party leaders and workers in Bangladesh and other parts of the world. A former Awami League MP living in New Town told the digital outlet that he regularly meets former Bangladesh home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who he claimed has rented a spacious apartment in the area. As per ThePrint, Khan, his wife and daughter are residing in Kolkata. He goes to Delhi every week for party meetings and to 'meet high-level functionaries of the Indian establishment'. Another former Awami League MP from Cox's Bazar said, 'I wake up at the crack of dawn and offer my Fajr prayers at the 3BHK apartment I share with another Awami League MP. Then we both head to the neighbourhood fitness studio, which is rather impressive. I do weight training while my flatmate has enrolled for Pilates classes.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD During the online evening meetings, the Awami League members share and analyse political news from their homeland and discuss their next move. However, the leaders deny that they have an office in Kolkata. 'Yes, there is space we have rented in New Town where all of us meet. There are almost 1,300 party leaders in Kolkata. We can't possibly meet at the former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal's living room! But to call it an office would be a gross exaggeration,' Mohammad A Arafat, former Bangladesh Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, told ThePrint. With inputs from agencies
Hans India
37 minutes ago
- Hans India
Veteran Journalists were felicitated for completing 50 years
Hyderabad: Dr Ausaf Sayeed, former Indian Foreign Service officer, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Seychelles, and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, lauded the journalists for their bold coverage of Muslim affairs and cultural issues, urging them to mentor aspiring journalists. 'These experienced journalists should groom others to carry forward their cause and build on our rich experience,' he was addressing the felicitation ceremony at the Media Plus Auditorium to honor veteran journalists Mir Ayoob Ali Khan and Aziz Ahmed for their remarkable 50-year careers for their contributions to society. The event was organized by Media Plus Foundation and Gawah Urdu Weekly. Dr Sayeed emphasized education, particularly for women, as vital for community upliftment, he noted, 'If a woman in a house is educated, she ensures her children are educated.' Dr. Ausaf Sayeed presented mementos and shawls to Mir Ayoob Ali Khan and Aziz Ahmed. Afreen Khundmiri, daughter of Late Talib Khundmiri, captivated the audience with her recitation of her father's poem Time Capsule. Syed Khaled Shahbaaz conducted the proceedings with elegance. Dr Sayeed also highlighted economic empowerment, citing entrepreneurs, scientists, and hospital networks as key influencers. He shared plans for his portals, and to document contributions of Muslim journalists since 1857, stressing the need to preserve such legacies. Reflecting on his career, he added, 'I rose through hard work, not charity, proving that commitment and value addition matter regardless of one's background.' Mir Ayoob Ali Khan recounted his journey from Daily News at Rs 100 per month to United News of India, Saudi Gazette—where he covered conflict zones for 17 years—Deccan Chronicle, Times of India, and now He urged greater Muslim participation in journalism and education, saying, 'People who follow English newspapers know what's possible today.' Aziz Ahmed shared his path from part-time writing at Bharat News and Blitz to Etemaad Daily, advising, 'Give your best, and the world will recognize you.' Amirullah Khan, a 1993-batch former civil servant and Editor of the Journal of Development Policy and Practice, Syed Fazil Hussain Parvez, Chief Editor of Gawah Urdu Weekly, Khaja Naseruddin, Administrator of Dr. VRK Women's Medical College, Dr Abid Moiz and others were present.
