US envoy welcomes Pak-India premiers’ meeting

The US ambassador in India, Timothy Roemer, said that the meeting between India and Pakistan’s prime ministers is a good omen and was only possible through sports diplomacy.

Roemer said that the United States has also welcomed the Premieres meeting and said that the cricket diplomacy could dilute the hostility between the two countries. He expressed hope that Pak-India talks will continue talks and look to resolve sensitive issues.

US scathing about Indian security forces: WikiLeaks

United States News: The United States may have emerged as a key partner with India in counter-terror efforts post-26/11, but it has a very dim view of the capabilities of Indian security forces.It also felt till just a couple of years ago that India was reluctant to have an effective anti-terror partnership because of suspicions about American policies towards Pakistan, its independent foreign policy stance and sensitivities over Muslim sentiments.India’s police and security forces are overworked and hampered by bad police practices, including the widespread use of torture in interrogations, rampant corruption, poor training, and a general inability to conduct solid forensic investigations, the US embassy observed in a cable it sent on February 23, 2007, after a not-so-satisfactory meeting of an Indo-US counter-terrorism joint working group.The memo further said, India’s security forces also regularly cut corners to avoid working through India’s lagging justice system, which has approximately 13 judges per million people. Thus Indian police officials often do not respond to our requests for information about attacks or our offers of support because they are covering up poor practices, rather than rejecting our help outright.The communication disclosed in the cable refers to the US unease over the arrest of a computer expert, Mukesh Saini, who was working with India’s National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), and was arrested on charges of spying for Americans. US’s acting coordinator for counter-terrorism, Frank Urbancic, took up the matter with his Indian interlocutor, K C Singh, then an additional secretary in the MEA.Urbancic called Saini a key working-level interlocutor at the NCTC, dismissed the charge of espionage and said his arrest had cast a negative shadow on the functioning of the counter-terror working group.The criticism of the Indian police only echo the widely-held perception that it is ill-equipped to meet the growing terror threat and other internal security challenges. The limitations were exposed fully by the Lashkar-e-Taiba gunmen involved in during 26/11 strike, but the brutally candid opinion, coming from a foreign power, that too one seen with a chip on its shoulder, will lead to considerable heartburn.In a communication leaked earlier by the whistle-blower website, the US had raised serious doubts on India’s ability to implement its cold war doctrine a rapid, short and limited push within Pakistan’s territory as a reprisal against terror attacks and other hostilities.The cable sent by the serving US ambassador on February 16, 2010, Timothy Roemer, called the doctrine, a mixture of myth and reality. The value of the doctrine to the government of India may lie more in the plan’s existence than in any real world application.Saying that India was diffident in teaming up with the US in the war on terror, the 2007 cable said, India’s lingering zero-sum suspicion of US policies towards Pakistan, its fiercely independent foreign policy stance, its traditional go-it-alone strategy towards its security and its domestic political sensitivities over the sentiments of its large Muslim population, have all contributed to India’s caution in working with us on a joint counter-terrorism strategy.

The French Laundry,Thomas Keller

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com The French Laundry,Thomas Keller:Well, another Wednesday night has rolled around, and I can’t wait to get started on tonight’s live blog. In fact, the anticipation is making me quiver like the thigh of a 17th century courtesan. How about you

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com The French Laundry,Thomas Keller:Well, another Wednesday night has rolled around, and I can’t wait to get started on tonight’s live blog. In fact, the anticipation is making me quiver like the thigh of a 17th century courtesan. How about you?
Of course, we must all be careful not to become to thigh-quivery [...]

Obama Irritates India,Envoy Applies The Balm

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com Obama Irritates India,Envoy Applies The Balm:US president Barack Obama ruffled Indian feathers on Tuesday. The next day, the American ambassador to India spent considerable time in soothing the offended sentiments.

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com Obama Irritates India,Envoy Applies The Balm:US president Barack Obama ruffled Indian feathers on Tuesday. The next day, the American ambassador to India spent considerable time in soothing the offended sentiments. Timothy Roemer almost ran out of adjectives to describe the state of India-US ties, even as the ministry of external affairs [...]