Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said here today that the first-of-its-kind Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) developed by the state on a scientific manner after the severe earthquake in Kutch and other districts in 2001 had become a unique model for rest of India and developing country. He recalled how the killer earthquake had razed to the ground lakhs of building in Kutch and other districts (January 26, 2001) when the Gujarat Government headed by the then Chi...Read More

New Delhi: India today slammed Pakistan's "hugely damaging" approach of "blocking" every possible regional initiative in SAARC, saying it will force countries of the region to look for other options like BIMSTEC. Severely critical of Islamabad's approach towards SAARC, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, without taking Pakistan's name, said some basic standards of regional cooperation have to apply and that bulk of the member countries want to go ahead with regional initiatives. Referring to C...Read More

Thiruvananthapuram:India's ambitious South Asian satellite, proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the benefit of SAARC members, will be launched in March next year, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said today. The satellite was originally scheduled for launch in December this year. "SAARC satellite will be launched in March," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. Modi, during the SAARC summit in Nepal in November 2014, had announced launching of a SAARC ...Read More

Hyderabad:Afghanistan today expressed hopes that decision by five countries to pull out of the SAARC summit in Islamabad will bring positive results and force non-cooperating member nations to walk on the path of peace and partnership. India and four other SAARC members - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - pulled out of the November summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment not conducive for successful holding of the meet. The development took place in ...Read More

From Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu: Nepal today "strongly urged" that a conducive environment be created to ensure participation of all members in the next SAARC Summit in Pakistan, after four countries of the regional grouping pulled out of the summit indirectly blaming Islamabad. Nepal said it "has received communications" from four member-states - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India - in which they conveyed their inability to participate in the 19th SAARC summit on November 9-10 sta...Read More

From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad:Unfazed by India and three other SAARC nations deciding to pull out from the summit here, Pakistan today said it will still hold the meet in November as scheduled which flies in the face of the SAARC charter under which even if one head of government skips the event, it gets automatically postponed or cancelled. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan will host the 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in November, Radio P...Read More

Kathmandu: The next SAARC Summit, which was scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in November, has been postponed after India pulled out of the event "in the prevailing circumstances", Nepalese media reported today. "The 19th SAARC Summit has been postponed after India yesterday announced its inability to take part in it "in the prevailing circumstances"," the Kathmandu Post reported. Reports emanating from Nepalese media are significant as Nepal is the Chair of the eight-member grouping. ...Read More

New Delhi: Apart from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan have also pulled out of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad in November, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet, resulting in its collapse. Amidst heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 jawans were killed, India had announced its decision of pulling out of the Summit late last night citing increased "cross-border" attacks. While B...Read More

Karachi:In comments that may not go down well with the establishment back home, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale was today quoted by a leading newspaper as saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC Summit. The remarks coming in the midst of a new chill in bilateral ties were sought to be downplayed by sources in the Indian government which said no decision has been taken on the Prime Minister's participation in the s...Read More