Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Image credits- Flickr/ Narendra Modi Official Source- The Diplomat Author- Tridivesh Singh Maini and Yasser Latif Hamdani The recent violence along the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan in Kashmir threatens confrontation yet again between the two nuclear armed neighbors. It also underscores the need to rescue the fragile Track II process from irrelevance, because ultimately it is through genuine people-to-people exchange that long-term peace between the two nations is possible. While visiting the other country and forging relationships is a gargantuan task for the average Indian and Pakistani, given the nature of the visa regimes on both sides, there are a few groups of individuals who manage to cross the borders quite frequently: select businessmen, members of civil society, academics, and other privileged individuals. Then there are Track II dialogues which bring together individuals from various professional backgrounds: politicians, retired di

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawas Sharif ( Image credits_ Wikimedia commons) New Delhi's rationale for increasing the defence budget is "consistent with the shift in the Indian government's ideology to more nationalistic elements under Prime Minister Narendra Modi", said a Pakistani daily Monday. The Nation asked in an editorial: "Will Pakistan view the Indian government's decision to spend $3.5 billion on modernising the military as a threat to the delicate balance of power between the two nations? If they do, how will they respond?" It also asked whether Pakistan can "really afford to indulge in another battle for supremacy in armaments when a host of other problems including energy and water crisis and the relocation of displaced people, are issues that will not be solved by spending large sums on advanced weaponry". The editorial sounded a word of caution when it said that "if Pakistan government is considering increasing mi