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President Donald Trump welcomed India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House Monday for their first meeting, where personal chemistry as much as policy could set the tone for future relations. The leaders of the world's two largest democracies are looking to expand ties on defense and fighting terrorism, but strains are likely on trade.LIVE UPDATES Hours before Modi's arrival, the State Department imposed sanctions on the Pakistan-based leader of the main rebel group that fights against Indian control in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir. India hailed the move....

The United States has started engaging the Taliban in negotiations through Saudi and Pakistani intelligence agencies, highly-placed sources told Dawn on Monday. He said that four “major neutral players” were engaged with the Afghan Taliban on behalf of the Saudi leadership and the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) of Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani leadership and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).The GID and ISI have been doing the job on behalf of the US government and CIA. The source said that one of the main objectives of the recent visit to Pakistan by CIA chief Leon Panetta was to assess progress in...

Two terrorists were mauled to death and another seriously wounded after a bear attacked their hideout in a forest area in south Kashmir [ Images ], a senior police officer said. He said the bear as per the intercepts of militants attacked a hideout of the Hizbul Mujaheedin outfit in the forest area near Damhal Hanjipora in south Kashmir Shopian district.

Pakistani authorities have given an ultimatum to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Hizb-ul Mujahideen terror camps in Meerpur and Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, to restart anti-India activities and push trained operatives into India, intelligence sources told this newspaper. They have been given one month to carry out terror acts or face closure. Intelligence sources claimed that Pakistan’s ISI area commander, one Col. Musa, called a meeting of zonal heads of the LeT and Hizb in Rawalkot, PoK, on February 13 and instructed them to send trained operatives of defunct camps into India. "The ISI has told all defunct terror camps in Meerpur and...

Chairman Sayed Salahuddin (R) with bodyguard ISLAMABAD, April 23 (Reuters) - The commander of Kashmir's largest militant group said on Sunday Pakistan had caused "irreparable damage" to the Kashmiri fighters' cause by pursuing peace without winning more concessions from India. Sayed Salahuddin, the leader of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and chairman of the United Jihad Council grouping a dozen Kashmiri militant organisations, staged a protest last month over Pakistan's strategy in the peace process begun in early 2004. "One-sided pragmatism and confidence building measures, which are not reciprocated by the Indian side, have caused irreparable damage to the ongoing freedom struggle in...

Look what the Delhi Police have as specific leads on terror attacks on Republic Day: Female suicide bombers planning an attack and one ‘pregnant’ woman plotting to hijack a plane. The threats are listed in a special cell booklet. According to one input, two female suicide bombers are staying in a rented place in Bhogal near Nizammuddin Aulia. In the city on the pretext of selling shawls, the women are staying with a militant with the alias Pintoji. The police have stepped up tenant verification in the area. According to another input, seven “highly motivated” militants of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba have...

ISLAMABAD: As part of its ‘back channel’ diplomacy, Pakistan told militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen ahead of the just-concluded Indo-Pak talks that 'jihad' was no longer a feasible option to press for the resolution of the Kashmir issue and advised it to declare a ceasefire, Hizb sources said. Pakistani officials met Hizbul leader Syed Salahuddin on the eve of the three-day official-level talks that concluded on Wednesday with the agreement on timetable and roadmap for resumption of the composite dialogue, and told him that "jihad (holy war) is no more a good strategy to seek the settlement of the Kashmir dispute,"...

Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has warned of "large-scale" suicide attacks if the international community, particularly the US, does not step in to resolve the long-running row over Kashmir. "If the international community, particularly the US, does not take steps to rescue us from India's state terrorism and there is no let-up in the killing of children, molestation of women, looting and arson of properties, the Hizbul Mujahideen will be compelled to shortly launch fidayeen (suicide) attacks," Salahuddin said. The Hizbul Mujahideen leader also supported the use of suicide attacks, terming them "legitimate under the mujahideen's code of conduct." Militants...

WASHINGTON: Ahead of a visit to South Asia by US Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage next week, the Bush administration has addressed some fundamental Indian concerns on terrorism, primarily by identifying the mainline Kashmiri insurgent group Hizbul Mujahideen as a terrorist organisation. Unlike other Pakistan-backed terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Hizb is considered an indigenous Kashmiri outfit and its inclusion in a list detailed in the 2002 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report released on Wednesday signals a sharp up-tick in Washington’s intolerance to violence, even by popular local groups claiming greater legitimacy. Three other groups promoting terrorism against...