US President Barack Obama faces a stony reception when he travels to the West Bank on Thursday for talks with Palestinian leaders who accuse him of letting Israel ride rough-shod over their dream of statehood. ...
07:05 AM, Mar 21, 2013
The Taliban on Monday claimed it had not received a "serious response" from the Pakistan government to its offer for peace talks, which could be jeopardized by the stance adopted by the army. ...
02:21 AM, Jan 08, 2013
New Delhi: In its efforts to bring lasting peace in Assam, the Centre today held talks with ULFA and discussed the group's demands to find a permanent solution to the three-decade-old insurgency in the Northeastern state. Top government officials led by Union Home Secretary RK Singh held the dialogue with the six-member ULFA delegation, led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, and discussed the outfit's 'charter of demands'. "The meeting with...
02:08 PM, Jun 29, 2012
New Delhi: To give fresh impetus to the ongoing peace process, the Centre will hold dialogue with the ULFA on Friday. They are likely to discuss the group's demand of finding a solution to the insurgency problem in Assam. The ULFA delegation is being led by chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa. ...
10:02 AM, Jun 29, 2012
New Delhi: The government said there was tangible progress in its meeting with top leadership of ULFA on Monday as peace talks resumed here after a break of six months, discussing the outfit's 'charter of demands' to find a lasting solution to the three-decade-old insurgency in Assam. During the 90-minute meeting, the ULFA delegation, led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, discussed with Union Home Secretary RK Singh and other officials...
06:45 PM, Apr 09, 2012
Kabul: From a simple mud-walled house above a steep Kabul hillside buried deep in snow, the Taliban's former guardian of virtue and once-feared scourge of vice sees a revolution under way. Maulvi Qalamuddin, the bearded cleric who oversaw the religious police squads which roamed Afghan streets beating women, smashing televisions and herding men into mosques, says a more moderate Taliban is emerging as its leaders look to the future and...
05:29 PM, Feb 21, 2012
Washington: The initial talks between the US and Taliban in Qatar on the release of five of the militant group's prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center have failed, a media report said on Monday. The failure of the talks is being attributed mainly to the refusal of Taliban to accept the US demand of a ceasefire before these five Taliban prisoners could be released, the MSNBC news reported quoting...
12:04 PM, Jan 30, 2012
Washington: US has termed as 'untrue' sentiments inside Pakistan that it was being sidelined by the Obama Administration in peace talks with the Taliban. "Absolutely untrue", State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, when asked there was a feeling inside Pakistan that they are being sidelined in these talks with Taliban. "We have at every opportunity been clear that we think that Pakistan has a very important role to play in...
09:03 AM, Jan 27, 2012
New Delhi: The United States has decided to back an Afghanistan government-led peace initiative with the Taliban only if it meets international standards. The Taliban had agreed to begin peace talks with the Karzai government which has America's backing. Karzai has also revealed plans of establishing a Taliban office in the gulf state, Qatar. Taliban had also demanded that the US free its officials held up in Guantanamo bay. The...
07:22 AM, Jan 05, 2012
Kabul: The Taliban announced on Tuesday that they will open an office in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar to hold talks with the United States, an unprecedented step toward a peace process that might lead to a winding down of the 10-year war in Afghanistan. Although US and Taliban representatives have met secretly several times over the past year in Europe and the Persian Gulf, this is the first...
02:54 AM, Jan 04, 2012
Peshawar: The deputy chief of the Pakistani Taliban announced on Saturday that the militant group was in peace talks with the government and an agreement to end its brutal four-year insurgency was within striking distance. The statement by Malvi Faqir Mohammad, which appeared timed to exploit tensions between the Pakistan army and the US, will likely stoke further concerns in Washington over Pakistan's reliability as a long-term partner in the...
01:13 AM, Dec 11, 2011
New Delhi: Shekhar Naik is a man on a mission. His team of visually impaired cricketers are all set for their Pakistan series - the first time since 26/11 that any sports team from India will be playing in Pakistan. And they're very excited. Shekhar Naik Lachma said, "We believe India and Pak are one, we want to prove that." Not only are Naik and his boys confident that they...
08:53 AM, Nov 16, 2011
Guwahati: The anti-talk faction of the ULFA on Monday claimed the recent peace initiative launched by the Centre with arrested leaders of the group would prove to be a failure and any initiative should revolve around the demand for sovereignty. "The recent initiative will not be successful as the arrested leaders do not have the right to raise the demand of sovereignty," elusive ULFA 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah said in an...
06:43 PM, Oct 31, 2011
New Delhi: The Centre is holding peace talks with the Arabinda Rajkhowa-led ULFA faction on Tuesday in the capital to find a solution to end Assam's three-decade-old insurgency problem. The ULFA has sought a Constitutional amendment to protect the rights of tribals. The two sides are going to discuss the surrender of arms by the banned outfit and the halting of security operations against the pro-talks faction. Top ULFA leaders...
03:26 PM, Oct 25, 2011
Islamabad: Claiming that India is being given space in Afghanistan's peace process at the cost of Pakistan, former military dictator Pervez Musharraf has said the US must realise that such a situation would be unacceptable for Islamabad. "Any result of a peace process (in Afghanistan) in favour of India would not be acceptable to Pakistan and the US must understand this," said Musharraf, who currently lives in self-exile outside Pakistan....
02:10 PM, Oct 02, 2011
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's tightrope walk with the Naxals continues. Just days after announcing programmes and reforms in the Jangalmahal area to wean people away from the ultras - she has set the stage for talks with Naxals by announcing the release of two top Naxal leaders - Chandi Sarkar and Pradip Chatterjee. The government has also decided to release 50 other political prisoners. Mamata Banerje said,...
09:42 AM, Jul 21, 2011
Lahore: Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that Pakistan should 'leave Kashmir alone' could harm peace talks between the two countries. "This is not a political statement. Such statements complicate matters. The Indian Prime Minister should not have made such a statement and there was no need for it," Sharif, the chief of the main opposition PML-N, said during an interaction with reporters....
07:13 PM, Jul 02, 2011
Islamabad: India and Pakistan begin peace talks on Thursday, an important safety valve between two nuclear-armed countries which the United States hopes will help stabilise the region as it prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. But after many false starts, hopes were being kept deliberately low for the two days of talks between Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart, Salman Bashir. "We have realistic expectations," an Indian...
01:38 PM, Jun 22, 2011
Washington: The United States has said it has not diluted its stand on peace talks with the Taliban, even as it has established 'preliminary contacts' with the terror outfit. "Those are firm redlines because without renouncing violence, without accepting the Afghan constitution, and without cutting their ties with al-Qaeda, these Taliban extremists have not rot really renounced extremism. Those are the basics for reconciliation," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said....
09:06 AM, Jun 21, 2011
Guwahati: With Assam elections round the corner, political parties, especially the Congress, are trying to play up the peace talks with the ULFA. ULFA chairman and founder Arabinda Rajkhowa was granted bail and earlier this year hold talks with the Government, a development not many had anticipated. Now, as Assam goes to the polls, the Congress is playing up the ULFA peace card to win votes. But peace broker Hiren...
08:25 AM, Apr 01, 2011
