What Modi discussed with Sharif during surprise trip to Lahore

LAHORE, Dec 26: “Ab yahan ana jana laga rahey ga (Now such trips will continue to take place),” Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly told his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif during a surprise visit to Lahore on his way home from Kabul.

Modi, who stayed for more than two hours in Lahore on Friday, asked Sharif when the Pakistani premier introduced him to family members: “Aap ka sara pariwar yahan rahta hai (Do all members of your family stay here?).”

A source privy to the chat said on Saturday that Sharif replied, “Yes, some 70 to 80 family members stay here.”

Modi took the world by surprise by announcing in a tweet from Kabul that he would “drop by” in Lahore to greet Sharif on his 66th birthday.

After Modi landed in Lahore, the two leaders flew to Sharif’s palatial residence at Raiwind on the outskirts of Lahore in a helicopter, making it the first time that any leaders of the two countries travelled together.

“Modi said ab to yahan ana jana laga rahey ga (Modi said that now such trips will continue to take place),” the source said.

To this, Sharif asked, “Why not this is your house?”

Sharif introduced his mother to Modi, who touched her feet. Modi presented sarees and other gifts to Sharif on the occasion of the wedding of his granddaughter Mehrun Nisa, the source said.

The two leaders spent about 80 minutes together during which Modi also greeted members of Sharif’s family.

The first visit by an Indian premier in 11 years marked another step forward by the two countries in their efforts to put their ties on an even keel.

Modi and Sharif “expressed their desire to carry forward the dialogue process for larger good of peoples of the two countries” and also agreed to “continue and enhance contacts and work together to establish good neighborly relations”, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson tweeted after the visit.

Modi tweeted he was “personally touched by Nawaz Sharif Sahab's gesture of welcoming me at Lahore airport and coming to the airport when I left”.

He also said he had spent a “warm evening with Sharif family at their family home” and that Sharif’s “birthday & granddaughter’s marriage made it a double celebration”.

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe wraps up 'fruitful and historic' India visit

NEW DELHI, Dec 13: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe concluded his three-day visit to India on Sunday and left earlier today for Japan.A spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup called the visit fruitful and historic.

During his visit here, Abe visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi, accompanied by his Indian counterpart. Abe, on Saturday, performed the 'Ganga Aarti' at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, which is one of the holiest places in Varanasi.

On Saturday, India and Japan signed a number of agreements, including one on civil nuclear energy cooperation, India's first bullet train, and the transfer of defence equipment and technology.

"The memorandum on civil nuclear energy cooperation is more than just an agreement for commerce and clean energy. It is (a) shining symbol of a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership," PM Modi said.

The formal signing of the agreement has been put off citing the need to finalise technical details. At the last Summit meeting held in Tokyo last year, the two prime ministers had agreed to elevate the relationship to "Special Strategic and Global Partnership".

India and Japan had signed a pact to develop Varanasi as a 'Smart City' when Prime Minister Modi had visited Japan last year. The plan is to develop Varanasi on the lines of Japanese city of Kyoto.

Modi had visited Japan from August 30 to September 3 last year during which Japan had announced doubling of its private and public investment in India to about $34 billion (approximately Rs 2.27 lakh crore) over a period of five years.

Climate change is not of our making: Modi at Paris summit

PARIS, Dec 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday India did not create the climate change menace but was suffering its consequences while he delivered a stern message to affluent nations, saying “those with luxury of choices” should sharply reduce emissions.

His comments came on the sidelines of a high-stakes United Nations conference in Paris where over 150 world leaders have gathered in a bid to nail down a pact to limit global warming amid deep divisions between rich and poor countries.

Modi reiterated his message at a clutch of forums with his packed itinerary squeezing in a much-talked-about impromptu meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a discussion with US President Barack Obama where the two nations agreed that development and environmental protection must go hand in hand.

“Climate change is a major global challenge. But it is not of our making. It is the result of global warming that came from prosperity and progress of an industrial age powered by fossil fuel,” Modi said while inaugurating the India pavilion at the summit, toughening his country’s stand in the face of recent US criticism of India.

“But we in India face consequences. We see the risk to our farmers. We are concerned about rising oceans that threaten our 7,500 km of coastline and 1,300 islands. We worry about the glaciers that feed our rivers and nurture our civilisation.”

Modi said India wants a “comprehensive equitable and durable agreement”, underscoring a demand of less-privileged nations who have said as developed countries have been the major polluters over the years, they should assume a greater role in fighting global warming.

He clearly outlined India’s strategy for the 10-day-long summit, saying the developed world should provide easy access to cleaner technologies, climate finance and right to carbon space.

“India’s progress is our destiny and right of our people. But we must also lead in combating climate change,” he said.

“We need a genuine global partnership. Democratic India must grow rapidly to meet energy needs of everyone,” Modi added.

In an article that he wrote for the Financial Times, Modi asked advanced countries to “assume more responsibilities” and provide “affordable cleaner technologies” to the developing world.

The Prime Minister also launched the International Solar Alliance of over 100 countries in the presence of French President Francois Hollande and described it as a “dream come true”.

“This day is the sunrise of new hope – not just for clean energy but for villages and homes still in darkness,” he said. “Convergence between economy, ecology and energy shall define our future.”

He sought the resolution of the intellectual rights issue in the transfer of cleaner technologies at the Innovation Mission hosted by US President Barack Obama, with other heads of state and industry leaders such as Bill Gates and Ratan Tata among those present.

Speaking on India’s position on the climate talks, Modi said equity and common but differentiated responsibility should be the bedrock of all elements of the proposed deal. He also called for the continuation of conventional energy sources such as coal and said there cannot be any place for unilateral steps that can hinder the growth of developing countries.

Modi made it clear in the presence of 150 head of states that the developed world will have to provide carbon space for the developing world to grow. He also said rich nations cannot deny opportunity for the poor in the world to develop.

“We assume advanced nations will take ambitious targets. It’s not a question of historical responsibility. They also have room for emission cuts. Climate justice demands with lethal carbon space, developing countries must have enough room to grow,” Modi said in his final engagement of the day before leaving for Delhi.

Apart from the Prime Minister’s remarks on climate change, his brief meeting with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at the start of the conference’s high-level segment drew much media attention.

Sources said Modi walked towards Sharif who was sitting on a sofa. Sharif responded and the two shook hands. Modi reportedly sat down beside him in the lounge for the heads of state.

Officials said the two leaders spoke for a few moments without any delegates around. Indian government sources, however, said that the two prime ministers exchanged pleasantries and termed it a courtesy meeting.

Following the Modi-Obama meeting, the two countries said an agreement in Paris must require all nations to pursue action to curb carbon pollution without impeding development goals of countries like India.

At a joint press conference, Obama told reporters he and Modi had agreed climate change was an urgent threat while India must also be able to grow and fight poverty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Islamic State oil going through Turkey

PARIS, Dec 1: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the reason Turkey downed a Russian warplane last week was that it wanted to protect supplies of oil from Islamic State.

Putin, speaking at the global climate conference in Paris, added that the decision to shoot down the plane was a "huge mistake" and that he had not met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, despite them both being in Paris.

"We have received additional data which confirm that Islamic State oil ... enters the territory of Turkey," Putin said. "The decision to shoot down the plane was dictated specifically by a desire to defend supplies."

Erdogan has called claims that Turkey buys oil from Islamic State "slander".

Relations between Russia and Turkey have nosedived since Turkey shot down the Russian bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on Nov. 24.

Turkish officials have said the plane violated Turkish airspace and had been warned repeatedly. Moscow says the aircraft was over Syria, where Russia is carrying out an air campaign to support the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in a four-year-old civil war.

Russian MP, husband killed in blast while ‘having sex’ inside car

MOSCOW, Dec 1: A glamorous Russian lawmaker and her husband died in an explosion after one of the partners allegedly set off a grenade inside a parked car in which they were reportedly having sex, reports said.

The remains of Oksana Bobrovskaya, who was in Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party and the regional legislative deputy of Novosibirsk city, and her husband Nikita Bobrovskaya, an ex-military special service personnel, were found semi-naked in the rear seat of their Toyota RAV-4 on Saturday.

It is suspected that Nikita, who had accused his wife of extra-marital affairs in the past, forced her to have sex with him holding an explosive device in his hand.

The 30-year-old MP’s face was reportedly ripped off in the explosion and all the windows, except the front windscreen, were blown out.

“It was horrific - something you would not wish anyone to see. No heads, glass covered in blood ... a nightmare,” a witness to the explosion told the Siberian Times.

Vitaly Latypov, head of the investigation department of Oktyabrsky district, told the Siberian Times that a ‘common grenade’ may have caused the explosion.

“There is a version that he held in his hands a kind of grenade or a piece of TNT,” a police source told the Siberian Times.

Novosibirsk mayor Anatoly Lokot told the Siberian Times that Oksana and her husband’s death was due to problems in her family.

“All versions regarding a terrorist act are withdrawn. This was not a terrorist act,” the mayor said.

The couple is survived by their four-year-old daughter, Angelina.