Ø Amid the anti-Pakistan rants by Bharatiya
Janata Party chief Amit Shah in Bihar, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is
all set to welcome a 10-member delegation from Pakistan to attend a simulation
exercise on disaster management in India. India will also be bearing the
expenditure of all delegates, including their airfare and accommodation.
Brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MHA and the Ministry of
External Affairs are leaving no stone unturned to make the event a success.
After the cancellation of National Security Adviser-level talks in August this
year, this is the second big event involving Pakistan, the first being the
Director-General-level talks between the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers in
September. Post-Nepal earthquake, India took the lead to begin the process of
Simulation Exercises on Disaster Management in the region, coined as ‘South
Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise’ (SAADMEx). India requested the
participation of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
countries for augmenting current levels of individual and joint preparedness
for rescue, relief and response efforts during disaster situations. The
exercise will be held from November 23-26. Besides Pakistan, other SAARC
members Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan have
confirmed their attendance. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is the
nodal agency for the exercise.
Ø Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed into a
mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday shortly after losing
radar contact near cruising altitude, killing all aboard. A militant group
affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt, Sinai Province, said in a statement it
had brought down the plane “in response to Russian air strikes that killed
hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land,” but Russia's Transport Minister told
Interfax news agency the claim “can’t be considered accurate.” Russia, an ally
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air raids against opposition
groups in Syria, including the Islamic State on September 30. Security sources
said they had no indication the Airbus had been shot down or blown up. But in
an illustration of sensitivity of the crash, Egypt invited Russian authorities
to take part in the investigation.
No comments:
Post a Comment