News of the Day – 7 June 2019

No Narendra Modi-Imran Khan meeting on the sidelines of SCO, says MEA

There is no confirmation of a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan on the sidelines of the summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Ministry of External Affairs declared on Thursday. The clarification comes just a day before Mr. Modi begins his first round of foreign trips with stops in Maldives and Sri Lanka where sports diplomacy and counter-terror will be on the agenda.

“To the best of my knowledge I am not aware of any bilateral meeting being set up or organised, between PM Modi and Prime Minister Imran Khan at Bishkek,” said Official Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar here. Both the leaders are scheduled to travel to Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic for the SCO summit of 13-14 June.

Pulwama and after

There has been a series of developments that indicate ongoing efforts to continue with de-escalation of the tension that erupted after the terror attack at Pulwama and the Balakot counter-terror strike.

Despite the lack of confirmation on a meeting with Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said India will emphasise on the importance of the “Neighbourhood first” policy as PM Modi will travel to Maldives and Sri Lanka during 8-9 June.

During his Male visit, Mr. Modi will hold consultation with Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih, former President Mohammed Nasheed and others. India expects agreements on customs, white shipping and training of civil service to be sealed during the visit, said Mr. Gokhale. The diplomat highlighted the importance of sports as an element in the visit. He also said that a ferry service between Kochi and Maldives is under consideration.

“President Solih had expressed interest in training for the Maldivian cricketing team. Among his requests under active consideration are a cricket stadium which we expect to build under a Line of Credit that will be given, and training. A team from the BCCI has visited Maldives for training of the Maldivian cricket team,” said Mr. Gokhale, highlighting the importance of developmental and cultural ties.

India is expected to give cricketing assistance to Maldives like it did to Afghanistan some years ago.

The Foreign Secretary announced that Mr. Modi will fly to Colombo, where he will be the first foreign head of government to visit since the Easter Bombings.

Mr. Gokhale informed that India is aware of alleged activities of terror group ISIS in different parts of South Asia and it will help when governments request for support. “Naturally the demand and the kind of cooperation they desire has to come from them and on receipt of this request our government will be happy to cooperate,” he said.

Rajnath inducted into Cabinet panel following controversy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi — after setting up two Cabinet sub-committees for economic growth and investment, and for jobs and skills — reconstituted six other Cabinet sub-committees on Thursday.

A piquant situation arose with the formation of these committees after the Cabinet Secretariat issued an amendment on these sub-committees, adding Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s name to the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) as well as the committees on jobs and economic growth.

The late amendment was an attempt by the government to undo some of the damage after Mr. Singh, despite being number two in the government as per protocol, found himself excluded from these crucial committees, raising a question over a new pecking order in the government with Home Minister Amit Shah as the de facto number two.

Government sources were mum on why Mr. Singh was excluded in the first place, but said his exclusion from the CCPA and the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs was an oversight that was corrected. The other major presence in most of these sub-committees is Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Allies find a place

In the CCPA, apart from heavyweight Ministers from the BJP, NDA allies like Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Heavy Industries Minister Arvind Sawan find a place.

shivam