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India not averse to playing a role in Lanka again: Sinha

          Chennai: India is not averse to playing an active role in restoring peace to strife-torn Sri Lanka if that country so desires, said External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha here today. Talking to reporters at the BJP headquarters here this morning, Sinha said his recent meeting with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar had revealed that all political parties and all sections in the island wanted India to play a more direct and greater role in the peace process again. Sinha, however, stated that he had asked Kadirgamar to spell out Colombo's perception of what New Delhi's direct role would be. "As of now, India is awaiting word from Sri Lanka on the kind of role to be played by us," Sinha said, adding that New Delhi believed that there should be "homegrown" peace in Sri Lanka and peace should not be imposed on it by any international community, including India. Admitting that India had committed many "mistakes"' in the past in its policy towards the island nation, he said: "India holds the view that any solution to the ethnic crisis must be within the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the island nation."

Religious fervour marks Eid-i-Milad celebrations (Go To Top)

          Mumbai/Lucknow: Eid-i-Milad, the birthday of Prophet Mohammed, was celebrated on Monday in India with traditional festivity and religious fervour. In Mumbai, hundreds of people thronged the colourfully-decorated markets and payed obeisance at the mosque as children and young men took out a procession. "Today is the birthday of holy Prophet Mohammed. We are celebrating his birthday today," a Muslim cleric said. In Muslim dominated Lucknow, the main feature was Milad procession taken out by thousands of Sunni Muslim faithfuls. Youths and children singing devotional songs formed part of the cavalcade which included exhibits depicting mosques of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This sacred day is also called Barah Wafat, which is both the birth and death anniversary of Prophet Mohammed. It is more popularly observed as the birth anniversary of the Prophet and falls on the 12th day of Rabi-ul-Awwal, which is the third month of the Islamic year.

India 'backs out' of bus talks (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: India has backed out of a dialogue with Pakistan to start the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, government sources here claimed on Sunday. Quoting these sources, the News reported that India had twice called off meetings with Pakistan in the last five weeks without assigning any reason. New Delhi had not proposed any new date for parleys, they added. They reportedly said that Islamabad had agreed for talks in the last week of March, "but the Indians at the eleventh hour refused to come to Islamabad". They said that in the second week of last month the Indians replayed the same episode. According to them, New Delhi asked for calling off the scheduled talks and also did not give any fresh date. Pakistan will be ready to take part in dialogue to start the bus service as it considers it a matter of human interest, the sources concluded.