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We listen about India, wars, culture, the Holi festival; but, we really know what's India

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U.S. tries to safeguard Afghan peace push from India-Pakistan crisis

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U.S. tries to safeguard Afghan peace push from India-Pakistan crisis

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The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensions between India and Pakistan from impacting a third country: Afghanistan, where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years of war with Taliban insurgents.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been publicly focused on lowering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals since a Feb. 14 suicide car bomb in an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir triggered the first Indian air strikes inside of Pakistan since a 1971 war.
“I don’t believe that Pakistan has the capability to straight out make peace happen in Afghanistan, but they definitely have the capability to make peace not (happen),” said Laurel Miller, a former senior State Department official.

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Imran Khan, a onetime cricket star, led the life of a glamorous playboy before he turned to Pakistani politics. This summer, after years in the opposition and then as a member of the coalition government in Islamabad, he finally captured the premiership.

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The talks between U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and top Taliban official Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar center on the United States withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban pledging to block international terrorist groups from operating on Afghan soil.

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HOW CAN US- INDIA RELATIONS SURVIVE THE S-400 DEAL?

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HOW CAN US- INDIA RELATIONS SURVIVE THE S-400 DEAL?

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Despite the comments, the differences and the political past that has been shown between India and the United States, the relations have survived successfully, however, the demands of Donald Trump have been a great inconvenience between these two countries, and the frequent threat of USA purchasing power in military armament

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Troops on the Move as India and Pakistan Face Off Over Kashmir

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Troops on the Move as India and Pakistan Face Off Over Kashmir

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The Kashmir Valley, a disputed territory that has led to war between India and Pakistan in the past, is once again bringing the two archrivals to the brink.

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News Analysis

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Locals fleeing their villages near the Line of Control, the de facto border between Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir, in Chakothi, Pakistan, on Saturday. Credit Credit Amiruddin Mughal/EPA, via Shutterstock

NEW DELHI - The Kashmir Valley, a disputed territory that has led to war between India and Pakistan in the past, is once again bringing the two archrivals to the brink.

In the past few days, hundreds of Kashmiris have been arrested, accused of fueling the insurgency against Indian rule. India has moved thousands of new troops into the valley, where they have taken up positions in towns, along the highways and in snow-dusted apple orchards.

Families are fleeing border areas. Fuel and food supplies are running out. Pakistan and India are firing artillery shells. An Indian government directive ordered doctors to "gear up their Rapid Response Teams" for "any untoward eventuality." In Pakistan, the military has shifted to high alert.

What are the chances of war?

Still thankfully low, most analysts say, because neither country really wants it. But both India and Pakistan are nuclear armed, and any escalation between them sends jitters around the world.

India believes it "can afford brinkmanship given its growing global influence,'' said Zahid Hussain, a senior fellow at the Jinnah Institute, a Pakistani research organization. But, he warned, "reckless action could easily spiral out of control."

Only a few months ago it seemed as if India and Pakistan, who would otherwise be natural trade partners, were searching for détente, with Pakistani military officers quietly reaching out to their Indian counterparts.

But that changed in an instant on Feb. 14, when a Kashmiri suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a convoy of Indian troops crossing the Kashmir Valley near the town of Pulwama, ripping apart a bus and killing at least 40 paramilitary police officers.

India, which has 1.3 billion people to Pakistan's 200 million, has blamed Pakistan for the attack, one of the deadliest in Kashmir in decades. Tensions between the two countries are now reaching a level that analysts say is the most dangerous in years.

Western nations, including the United States, have urged the two sides to back away from conflict.

But the rivalry between India and Pakistan is so bitter and deep that such incidents quickly take on a volatile energy of their own that may be difficult to contain. The risk is compounded by election-year maneuvering in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is appealing to Hindu nationalism and urgently trying to avoid appearing weak.

"We should break Pakistan into three pieces," said Baba Ramdev, a powerful Indian yoga guru who is known to be close to the government.

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The site near Pulwama where a Kashmiri suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a convoy of Indian troops earlier this month, killing at least 40 paramilitary police officers. Credit Younis Khaliq/Reuters

Mr. Modi has promised a "befitting reply," and while his generals have been calculating possible military reprisals, his government has searched for other ways to respond. Last week, Mr. Modi's transport minister threatened to reduce the flow of water through some of its rivers to Pakistan, an arid, agriculture-dependent country.

Pakistan seems to be getting the message. Diplomatically, the momentum is behind India. The United Nations passed a resolution sympathetic to India, and Imran Khan, Pakistan's relatively new prime minister, has begun to soften his stance.

Right after the suicide bombing, though he condemned terrorism, he warned India that if it attacked Pakistan, "we will not just think about retaliation, we will retaliate. There will be no other way."

On Sunday, Mr. Khan modulated his tone, vowing to "immediately act" if India provided evidence of a Pakistani hand in the bombing. He asked Mr. Modi to "give peace a chance."

Jaish-e-Mohammed, the militant group that claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, has operated in Pakistan for years, and Western security officials say that Pakistani organizations continue to supply money and expertise to militants inside the Indian-controlled areas of Kashmir.

A funeral in Prayagraj, India, on Feb. 16 for one of the soldiers killed in the suicide bombing. Credit Rajesh Kumar Singh/Associated Press

The suicide bomber was a young Kashmiri man who had spent his life inside those areas, bitter about India's often heavy-handed displays of force. But he probably received some help.

Two Western security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence analyses, said that an experienced bomb maker from Pakistan most likely traveled across the border and built an unusually powerful bomb for the young Kashmiri to detonate.

Pakistan has denied involvement. But the country's powerful military and intelligence services, often referred to simply as "the establishment," have a long history of supporting Kashmiri militant groups - and others, like the Afghan Taliban - as proxies.

Many Indians point to the Mumbai attacks in 2008, in which militants who were widely linked to Pakistan killed more than 150 people. Few Indians are pushing for a full-scale war, but they are also tired of the violence.

"Indians have never really been so angry, and social media is fanning it even more," said Syed Ata Hasnain, a retired Indian Army general.

Protests the day after the militant attack. Credit Jaipal Singh/EPA, via Shutterstock

Adding to the unpredictability is Pakistan's shakiness as a state, and the fact that its secretive security services appear to have lost control of some of the same militant groups they once nurtured. Pakistan also fields a large army, with thousands of troops at the border, backed by medium-range ballistic missiles that carry nuclear warheads, just like India's.

"It's a very, very bad situation and a very dangerous situation," President Trump said Friday. He indicated that the United States was talking to both sides.

Caught in the middle are 12 million people living in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which includes the Kashmir Valley, a gorgeous, fertile landscape nestled in the Himalayas.

The first war between India and Pakistan, right after their independence from Britain and partition, was fought over Kashmir. After the cease-fire in 1948, India was left in control of roughly two-thirds of the region, including much of the Kashmir Valley, while Pakistan administered the rest.

That agreement came with many caveats, and the Indian government at the time promised Kashmir special status and substantial autonomy.

Pakistani soldiers watching over potential Indian troop movements on Saturday at the Chakothi post, near the Pakistan-India border. Credit Sajjad Qayyum/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Over the years, much of that autonomy has been stripped away. Pakistan, meanwhile, has never recognized India's claims on Kashmir, and many Pakistanis believe that Kashmir should be part of their country because it is majority Muslim, like Pakistan. Pakistani officials have long called on the United Nations to support a referendum that would allow Kashmiri residents to choose for themselves.

This week, India's Supreme Court is scheduled to hold a hearing on part of the law that gives Kashmir special status. Some of Mr. Modi's political allies have been eager to take away the last of the special measures, such as rules that prohibit outsiders from owning land in Jammu and Kashmir, and a case has been brewing in court.

Many analysts said that if the Supreme Court diluted these special measures, Kashmir would explode in protests and the Indian government would respond with a deadly crackdown. The Indian troop movements in the past few days may be in preparation for such an uprising.

Many Kashmiris are now hunkered down in their homes, afraid to step outside. People also fear for their safety along the so-called Line of Control between India and Pakistan, where there are frequent exchanges of artillery and gunfire.

On Sunday, Karim-ud-Din Khan, an older herder, abandoned his home near the border after Indian and Pakistani troops began pounding each other's posts. An artillery shell exploded in his courtyard and Mr. Khan ordered his family of six to pack up.

The reason he left was simple: "It looked like a war might break out soon," he said.

Reporting was contributed by Hari Kumar and Suhasini Raj from New Delhi; Sameer Yasir from Srinagar, Kashmir; and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Hotspot With a History Starts to Heat Up Again. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Troops on the Move as India and Pakistan Face Off Over Kashmir

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News Analysis NEW DELHI - The Kashmir Valley, a disputed territory that has led to war between India and Pakistan in the past, is once again bringing the two archrivals to the brink. In the past few days, hundreds of Kashmiris have been arrested, accused of fueling the insurgency against Indian rule.

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A war started Monday night between two countries with arsenals full of nuclear weapons, and you probably haven’t even realized it. India and Pakistan are absolutely slugging it out again, and this is what’s going on.

On February 14, a convoy of Indian paramilitary forces in Indian Kashmir was attacked by a car bomb, killing 46 troops. The terror group held responsible for the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammed (“Army of Mohammed) is considered a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. government and has openly declared war against the United States. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting Jaish-e-Mohammed and other groups as proxies to undermine Indian control of Kashmir.

On February 25, India struck back. Twelve French-made Mirage 2000 fighter bombers from the 1st “Tigers” and 7th “Battle Axes” fighter squadrons took off from bases in India. Armed with 2,000 pound laser-guided bombs and escorted by Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter bombers, the Mirages flew at low level forty miles into Pakistani territory and bombed what India claims was a JeM training camp outside the town of Balakot. Like all modern, preplanned air strikes, the strike took place late at night (3 a.m. local time) and was conducted with tanker and unmanned surveillance aircraft support.

India claims that around 300 JeM militants were killed in the bombing raid, while Pakistan claims the air strike dropped munitions on a patch of empty land. Meanwhile on the ground, the two sides are shelling one another with artillery.

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by Mihir Sharma

Every aspect of the current confrontation between India and Pakistan -- which, I fear, may not be over yet -- was avoidable. The initial attack on Indian paramilitary soldiers, in which 40 of them died, was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group which has been allowed to thrive by that country's military establishment. The attack itself required sophisticated organization and hundreds of kilograms of explosives. Not preventing it was an Indian intelligence failure for which nobody has yet been held accountable.

After the attack, some form of retaliation was always on the cards, but the Indian government made the particularly risky choice of ordering airstrikes on a target within Pakistan proper. Although it claimed the strikes were a failure, Pakistan nevertheless chose to retaliate in turn. When it did, its front-line fighters had to be engaged by Indian warplanes that included the MiG-21, which many Indian aviation experts worry is too outdated for such duties. In the process, an Indian pilot was shot down and taken prisoner. While the pilot is being sent home, we in South Asia now live in a region in which two nuclear-armed adversaries send planes to bomb each other's territory. This is a profoundly disturbing turn of events.

Pakistan is busy congratulating itself on how things have turned out so far. This is unwise and premature. Premature because there is no reason to suppose that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- who on Thursday called the airstrikes a "pilot project," implying they would be scaled up in the future -- will be satisfied with anything other than the total rhetorical victory his camp followers in the Indian media have already promised voters. And it is unwise because the world's reaction to the Indian airstrikes, unprecedented though they were, was notably unfriendly to Pakistan. Pakistani leaders -- or, more precisely, the generals in Rawalpindi that really run the country -- have few friends left. Even the People's Republic of China urged only that "sovereignty should be respected" -- criticism, in its way, of both sides and not just India.

Pakistan remains dependent on the world's goodwill. Its economy survives from bailout to bailout. It needs to avoid alienating Beijing, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the International Monetary Fund all at once. And yet Pakistan constantly gets itself into these uncomfortable situations, where it finds itself provoking a confrontation with India, in over its head, and needing to call on a reluctant international community to rein in its incensed neighbor. The last few times, the generals' dangerous indulgence of jihadist militants has been the proximate cause. But, the pattern has repeated itself over and over again since Partition in 1947; something deeper is at work.

Meanwhile, for India, the lessons are equally stark. Its finance minister crowed in a poorly-timed press conference on Wednesday, the same day an Indian pilot was shot down, that India could now strike into the heart of Pakistan the same way the U.S. had taken out Osama bin Laden. This is an almost laughable over-estimation of India's capabilities at this point in its development. You have to be able not just to get in but to get out, and be powerful enough to be untouchable thereafter. India has diplomatic support at the moment. But that goodwill has been bought by decades of strategic restraint and could easily be blown up by badly-planned adventurism.

India is a huge country. It is young and impatient. But, its leaders do the country a serious disservice by trying to pretend that it can behave like a superpower before it builds up the necessary economic and diplomatic muscle. Deng Xiaoping famously told his country to "secure our position" and "bide our time." In this, as in much else, India's leaders have something to learn from Deng. India is large enough and grows fast enough that, just over the past five years, its economy has added three Pakistans. In a decade or so, if it focuses on growth and development, it will be better equipped to deal with problems such as Jaish-e-Mohammed. The best revenge is living well, as they say.

As for Pakistan, if it wishes to retain the autonomy of decision-making that is true sovereignty, it had better work on strengthening its economy. Too often it looks to saviors -- once the Americans, now MBS and Xi -- as if pumping money in from outside is a sustainable solution. Per capita income growth in Pakistan is less than half that in India; it has already been overtaken by Bangladesh, once its poor and despised eastern half. If only Pakistan focused on its economy, it would no doubt find it less and less necessary to seek self-respect though its military.

As I said, every aspect of this current confrontation was avoidable. But, even more needless is South Asia's desire to fritter away national energy in confrontation and saber-rattling when it is growth and productivity that need attention.

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View: India and Pakistan are both losing the forever war

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by Mihir Sharma Every aspect of the current confrontation between India and Pakistan -- which, I fear, may not be over yet -- was avoidable. The initial attack on Indian paramilitary soldiers, in which 40 of them died, was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group which has been allowed to thrive by that country's military establishment.

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Get the latest Asian news from BBC News in Asia: breaking news, features, analysis and special reports plus audio and video from across the Asian continent.

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India is a land of diversities. This diversity is also visible in the spheres of religion. The major religions of India are Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith.

If you want to know more, visit -->

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India is a land of diversities. This diversity is also visible in the spheres of religion. The major religions of India are Hinduism (majority religion), Islam (largest minority religion), Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith. India is a land where people of different religions and cultures live in harmony. This harmony is seen in the celebration of festivals. The message of love and brotherhood is expressed by all the religions and cultures of India.

Whether it's the gathering of the faithful, bowing in prayer in the courtyard of a mosque, or the gathering of lamps that light up houses at Diwali, the good cheer of Christmas or the brotherhood of Baisakhi, the religions of India are celebrations of shared emotion that bring people together. People from the different religions and cultures of India, unite in a common chord of brotherhood and amity in this fascinating and diverse land.

At present Buddhism is one of the major world religions. The philosophy of Buddhism is based on the teachings of Lord Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (563 and 483 BC), a royal prince of Kapilvastu, India. After originating in India, Buddhism spread throughout the Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Christianity is one of the prominent religions in India. At present there are about 25 million Christians in India. It is interesting to note that the Christian population in India is more than the entire population of Australia and New Zealand or total population of a number of countries in Europe.

Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world. Hinduism is world's third largest religion after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism is the dominant religion in India, where Hindus form about 84 per cent of the total population. Hinduism is also known as "Sanatan Dharma" or the everlasting religion.

One of the prominent religions of India, Islam forms about 12 per cent of India's population. Though India's contact with Islam had begun much earlier, the real push came in the 8th century when the province of Sindh was conquered. Though the Muslims form only 12 per cent of the total population of India but the influence of Islam on Indian society is much stronger.

Jains form less than one percent of the Indian population. For centuries, Jains are famous as community of traders and merchants. The states of Gujarat and Rajasthan have the highest concentration of Jain population in India. The Jain religion is traced to Vardhamana Mahavira (The Great Hero 599-527 B.C.).

Sikhs form about 2 per cent of Indian population. In comparison to other religions, Sikhism is a younger religion. The word 'Sikh' means a disciple and thus Sikhism is essentially the path of discipleship. The true Sikh remains unattached to worldly things.

Though the total number of Zoroastrians in Indian population is very less yet they continue to be one of the important religious communities of India. According to the 2001 census, there were around 70,000 members of the Zoroastrian faith in India. Most of the Parsis (Zoroastrians) live in Maharashtra (mainly in Mumbai) and the rest in Gujarat.

Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji is credited with starting the Sikh religion. He was the first Guru of the Sikhs and is worshipped next to God. His sole aim in life was to unify the Hindus and Muslims and form a universal religion of brotherhood and compassion. He believed that true salvation could be achieved only by devotion of thought and excellence of conduct.

Lord Mahavira is often credited with the advent of Jainism in India. However, Jainism existed even before Lord Mahavira was born. He is supposed to be the twenty-fourth (last) Tirthankara according to the Jain philosophy. A Tirthankara is an enlightened soul who is born as a human being and attains perfection through intense meditation.

One of the greatest philosophers of India, Adi Shankaracharya founded the Advaita Vedanta, which is one of the sub-schools of Vedanta. Adi Shankaracharya whole-heartedly believed in the concept of the Vedas but at the same time advocated against the rituals and religious practices that were over exaggerated.

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indian religions - religions in india - religions of india - indian religion -major religions of india

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India is a land of diversities. This diversity is also visible in the spheres of religion. The major religions of India are Hinduism (majority religion), Islam (largest minority religion), Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith. India is a land where people of different religions and cultures live in harmony.

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What is? The Holi, is a festival of religious origin that is celebrated mainly in India and other countries where large Hindu communities live as in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, etc. The event is also known as the Spring Festival, as it celebrates the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the month, which normally coincides with the end of February or the beginning of March

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Get an Up-Close Look at the Colorful Holi Festival  National Geographic

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January 26 is celebrated as the Republic Day of India. It was the day the Constitution of India, prepared by drafting committee headed by BR Ambedkar, came into force and replaced the existing Government of India Act, 1935. The Constitution was formed taking into consideration the ethnic communities, multiple religions, and regional tribes. Thus, completing the journey of becoming a sovereign democratic republic.

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Unless Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls them earlier, India’s next general elections will begin on Monday, 8 April 2019. Working backwards, the Code of Conduct under the Election Commission of India – under which the government cannot announce new projects, programmes, concessions or financial grants to prevent it from influencing voters – should be in force from Friday, 8 March 2019. As he begins the final lap of his tenure as Prime Minister, Modi has just about nine months to deliver new economic reforms and policies. The next 287 days, therefore, are going to be crucial on two counts. First, Modi needs to continue to push economic reforms and deliver GDP growth and jobs. And second, he needs to keep Elections 2019 in mind and manage welfare politics. In this essay I argue that only those reforms would move ahead that are already in the system, as he focusses on and seeds welfare schemes till Elections 2019.

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Boys Kurta Pyjama, Dhoti and lungi are men’s staple

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Woman is supposed to attain the traditional values with Indian wear like Salwar Kameez, Sarees and lehenga.