The Pakistan High Commissioner (HC) should not have met the Hurriyat leaders when he was asked by the Indian Foreign Secretary not to do so. Diplomatic norms obliged him to take this request communicated at such high level seriously and failure to do....
Powerful nations radiate powerful influence far across their geographical borders over countries and continents. And this influence is mostly coercive – often disregarding opinions of a majority of sovereign nations. President Bush was brazenly exp....
July 2014 is an important month for global economics and China. It is the first time in recent history that China has overtaken USA in GDP [adjusted for purchasing power parity or PPP] and has become number one country in the world according to Eurom....
The decision to call off the scheduled Foreign Secretary level talks with Pakistan appears to have taken many by surprise, and left many in India quite unhappy. They seem to be unable to understand that a meeting between the Pakistan High Commissione....
The House of the People (the Lok Sabha) has 543 elected members and two nominated seats. Article 331 of the Constitution stipulates that the nominated seats are exclusively for members of the Anglo-Indian community. This provision was made in 1950 in....
A few months before the 1999 military coup, a monthly newsmagazine in Pakistan carried a cover story titled ‘Creeping Coup’. In his second stint as Prime Minister from 1996-99, Nawaz Sharif had started involving the military in all sorts of thing....
VIF organized a seminar on ‘Recent Developments in West Asia: Challenges and Implications’ on July 25, 2014 to analyse the situation in the strife-torn area and its broader ramifications for the region and India. The seminar, inter alia, focused ....
Introduction Termed as a “goodwill visit”, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj led her first international visit to Bangladesh on 25 June accompanied by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and other senior officials. The visit marked th....
The principle of application of Uniform Civil Code contained in the Directive Principles under Article 44 of the Constitution, describes “The state shall endeavour to secure a uniform civil code for all citizens throughout the territory of India”....
A five-member delegation from Nepal Transition to Peace-Institute (NTTP I) visited the VIF on July 24, 2014 for interaction on a variety of issues of mutual interest. The delegation was led by former Speaker of the Nepalese Parliament Mr. Daman Nath ....