Narendra Modi should have asked Nawaz Sharif to bring Dawood along: Agarwal

Jun 19: Ten Indian Army soldiers including four officers were released by the China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Friday capping three days of hard negotiations that followed the bloody battle at the eastern Ladakh’s Galwan valley on Monday.

The 10 jawans returned around 5.30 PM on Friday to Patrol Point 14 (PP-14) after Indian team leader Major Gen. Abhijit Bapat, the commanding officer of the Third Div made it clear to the Chinese that there couldn’t be any progress in the disengagement talks unless the soldiers were returned safely.

Asked to comment on the release of Indian soldiers, the Indian Army maintained silence. The force released a brief statement on Thursday stating that all its men were accounted for.

However, the extent of the brutal clash can be gauged from the fact that 76 Indian Army soldiers are still in the hospital out of which 58 soldiers have “minor injuries” and “should be back on duty within a week”, according to Army sources.

Return of the Indian soldiers has been the main point of negotiations for the last two days. The situation is now calmer at areas near PP-14 in the Galwan valley after the return of Indian soldiers even though large numbers of troops from both sides are still present in the area.

Meanwhile analysis of satellite images has revealed a large presence of Chinese troops in the northern banks of Pangong Tso, a disputed territory for years.

“In the past month, Chinese forces have become an overwhelming majority in the disputed areas (on the north bank of the 135 km long lake). Significant positions have been constructed between Fingers 4 and 5, including around 500 structures, fortified trenches and a new boat shed over 20 km further forward than previously. More structures appear to be under construction,” says a report published in the Strategist, the journal of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“The scale and provocative nature of these new Chinese outposts is hard to overstate: 53 different forward positions have been built, including 19 that sit exactly on the ridge line separating Indian and Chinese patrols,” says the report, accompanied by satellite images showing overwhelming PLA presence.

The June 6 Corps Commander level meeting between the Indian and PLA armies did not result in a solution to the contentious muscle flexing by the Chinese on the shores of the Pangong lake. The meeting ended with the conclusion that more Lt Gen level talks between the two armies were needed to resolve such issues.

Kashmir, Jan 9: US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in August last year.

The Delhi-based envoys arrived in Srinagar by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them, officials said.

Later in the day, they would be going to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay. They will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members, they said.

Besides the US, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.

Brazil's envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation here, the officials said on Wednesday.

Envoys from the European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the union territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting the three former chief ministers -- Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti -- who are under detention.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.

The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".

New Delhi, Mar 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned emotional on Saturday when a woman beneficiary of his government's generic medicine programme told him that she had seen God in him.

Dehradun-resident Deepa Shah, who suffered paralysis in 2011, was interacting with the prime minister through video-conference on the occasion of Jan Aushadhi Diwas.

"I have not seen god, but I have seen God in you," she said, tears rolling down her eyes.

Modi was visibly emotional as the woman repeated her remark.

She also thanked the Uttarakhand chief minister and others who had helped her all along and said doctors had once told her that she cannot be cured.

"But on hearing your voice I have become better," she told Modi while profusely thanking the prime minister for his efforts to reduce the cost of medicines.

An emotional prime minister paused for a moment before telling her that it was her courage that had won over her disease and that she must carry on with the spirit.

Shah was expressing her plight and how she had suffered due to high cost of medicines after she suffered from paralysis in 2011 and has now started saving Rs 3,500 every month after benefitting from the government's low-cost generic medicines programme.

Soon after Shah rose to express her views, Modi asked her to sit and speak as he said she was uncomfortable while standing.

"You have defeated disease with your own will power. Your courage is your god and that same courage has given you the strength to emerge from such a big crisis. You should carry on this confidence in you," Modi told her.

He said some people still keep spreading rumours about generic medicines, going by their past experience, wondering how can medicines be available so cheap and that there must be something wrong with the medicine.

"But, by seeing you countrymen would gain confidence that there is nothing wrong in generic medicines. These medicines are not at all of inferior quality than any other medicine. These medicines have been certified by the best laboratories. These medicines are made in India and is 'Make in India' and are cheap," the prime minister said.

He said there is demand for generic medicines from India across the world and the government has made it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic medicines to patients, unless necessary.