WORLD

On September 16, Indian Navy officials read the text of AUKUS, a US-UK-Australian military alliance, with a sense of dismay. The high point of AUKUS is that both the US and the UK will equip Australia to design and build up to eight nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) to counter the rising threat of China in the Indo-Pacific. China's belligerence is a common concern for several countries in the region, especially the 'Quad' countries of US, Australia, Japan and India, who revived their grouping last year.

Indian Navy chiefs and naval veterans have raised the prospect of Indo-US collaboration on nuclear reactor propulsion technology only to have been politely rebuffed by their US counterparts. During a Track 2 dialogue held in Australia two years ago, the US side was emphatic in its refusal, recalls an Indian representative who was part of the event. The US Congress would never contemplate discussing anything to do with the transfer of nuclear propulsion, they were told.

With Afghanistan coming under the control of the Taliban, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said a final decision on continuing infrastructure investments in the war-torn country will be taken by the prime minister along with the external affairs minister after considering the prevailing situation.

Gadkari, who is helming the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, also said that while many infrastructure projects in that country have been completed by India, some are yet to be completed.

The Dushanbe Declaration on the 20th anniversary of SCO saw the member-states calling for an inclusive government in Afghanistan, with representatives from all ethnic, religious and political groups of Afghan society.

The Declaration by the SCO, which includes as member-states India and Pakistan, also called for greater defence cooperation and underscored the importance of holding regular joint military counter-terrorism command and staff exercises to enhance cooperation in combating "armed formations of international terrorist organisations and to improve counter-terrorism methods."

Like on previous occasions, India was the only member-state to not endorse China's BRI in the joint Declaration.

Following a report by US thinktank Hudson Institute on Pakistan's support to Khalistani and Kashmiri groups based in the US, India expressed hope on Thursday that the US government will take note of such activities on American soil and the risk they pose to countries that have a "shared vision" against terrorism.

The foreign ministry said the report reflected how Pakistan continued to undertake activities against India from the US.

Ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to the US next week, India also expressed concern over reports of growing anti-India activities of Khalistani separatist groups.

During a visit to Trichy in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lankan Tamil MP VS Radhakrishnan urged the Tamil Nadu and Indian governments to take steps to give citizenship to Sri Lankan refugees in the state.

Radhakrishnan said, "We request the Tamil Nadu CM and Indian government that steps be taken to make the Sri Lankan refugees, who have been living here for long, be given Indian citizenship. These people have established a life here and if they return to their homeland, they will not have much opportunity and will have to go back to their old plantation work and those chances are also bleak now."

Stating that the civil war had come to an end ten years back, the Sri Lankan MP, however, said that if the refugees wanted to return to their homeland, necessary assistance would be given.