China to block India's NSG bid if Pakistan not included

China to block India's NSG bid if Pakistan not included

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday assured Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of his country’s support to India’s bid for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), even as China led five other countries at a meeting of the export control group in Vienna to stall the proposal.

According to sources, China will approve of India’s membership only ifPakistan is also included in the elite group.

Modi, meanwhile, is likely to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on June 23-24, where India and Pakistan are likely to be admitted to the six-member group. China had objected to India’s entry to the SCO as well. However, it had relented once Pakistan’s request to join the group was accepted.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his country’s support to India’s bid for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), even as China led five other countries at a meeting of the export control group in Vienna to stall the proposal.

According to sources, China will approve of India’s membership only if Pakistan is also included in the elite group.

Read more.

Terror being 'incubated' in India's neighbourhood

Terror being 'incubated' in India's neighbourhood

With Pakistan obviously in mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said terrorism was being “incubated in India’s neighbourhood” and pressed for action without making any distinction against groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Taliban and ISIS who share the “same philosophy of hate, murder and killings”.

In his address to the joint sitting of US Congress here, he said terrorism has to be fought with “one voice” as he commended the American Parliament for sending out a clear message by refusing to “reward” those who preach and practice terrorism for political gains, an apparent reference to the blocking of sale of 8 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

In the course of his 45-minute speech, he covered all major aspects of the growing relationship between India and the US, particularly strategic ties and civil nuclear cooperation, and emphasised that the two countries should leave “constraints of the past” behind as the “foundations of the future are firmly in place”.

“India lives as one; India grows as one and India celebrates as one,” Modi said. “For my government, the Constitution is its real holy book. And, in that holy book, freedom of faith, speech and franchise, and equality of all citizens, regardless of background, are enshrined as fundamental rights.”

Read more.