ndia is determined to strengthen friendly and cross border trade relations with its all neighbouring countries especially with Pakistan. Various steps are on the anvil to enhance immigration of passengers and cross border trade between both parts of Jammu an Kashmir through Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point. This was stated by Union Home Minister, Mr. Susheel Kumar Shinde during his visit to Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point in Poonch today while addressing traders. Responding to demands of traders , Home Minister assured full help from the Centre and promised to remove all hurdles in the path of strengthening of cross-LoC trade with Pakistan. Shinde also reviewed the security situation in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri at Poonch. The Home Minister also visited Suchetgarh and interacted with several delegations before flying to Srinagar. During his visit to Suchetgarh the Union Home Minister took stock of overall security scenario in the Octroi Post on International Border. He also inspected various units of the post and interacted with the BSF commanders and jawans. Shinde expressed satisfaction over a notable decline in infiltration graph of the state and lauded the security forces for foiling the attempts of infiltration with a firm determination and added vigour. Later, the Union Minister interacted with top brass of Border Security Force (BSF) and got a detailed description about the security set-up in the region.

he International Monetary Fund has said that Pakistan's economic situation was worsening and faces a return to double-digit inflation as the government prints money to finance its deficit.

In a mission report, the IMF said yesterday, Islamabad urgently needed to address deep problems in its energy sector, including costly subsidies and poor distribution, while boosting growth to meet a rapidly growing population. The IMF said, Pakistan faces a challenging economic outlook.

The country's GDP growth in 2012-13 is projected to be in the 3-3.5 percent range, which needs to accelerate in order to absorb the growing labour force. The IMF warned that allowing inflation to rise, is hurting the population at large.

The authorities in the Pakistani city of Lahore have renamed a roundabout after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh to acknowledge his revolutionary spirit and his role in the movement against the erstwhile British rulers of the subcontinent. The Shadman Chowk of Lahore will now be known as Bhagat Singh Chowk, officials said. Bhagat Singh was hanged in March 1931 in the erstwhile Lahore Jail, which stood at the spot where the roundabout was built later.a road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island

Announcement

 The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reminded Islamabad that all sovereign nations carry certain obligations like preventing threats to neighbors and the international community. She said, the US supports Pakistan's sovereignty, but it is clear that Islamabad has the obligations to protect the human rights of their citizens, control their
territory, prevent threats to their neighbors and the international community. Ms.Clinton was speaking to reporters at a joint press conference with her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar in Washington.

Clinton's statement came as Khar during her current Washington trip called for an end to the drone strikes alleging that they violate Pakistan's sovereignty.The US has ruled out stopping its highly successful drone programme which targets terrorists operating inside the Pakistan tribal areas.

 India and China are in the final stage of setting up hotlines between their Armies on eastern and northern side of the divide to avoid any misunderstandings during the military patrols on the border. Eastern Command headquarters in Fort William, Kolkata, will have a dedicated telephone hotline with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army headquarters in the Chengdu Military region, and the Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur with its counterpart in the Lanzhou Military Region. Presently, sector commanders of the Indian and Chinese armies do talk over the telephone and meet periodically at designated places along the border.

Chengdu and Lanzhou are two of seven Chinese PLA military regions and cover the entire border with India. On the Indian side, the Northern Command, Eastern Command and the Central Command share the responsibility for the frontier with China. The proposal for telephone hotlines was conveyed by Beijing during the visit of the Chinese defence minister Liang Guanglie to New Delhi in the first week of this month.

AIR correspondent reports, both sides acknowledge that despite the peace and tranquillity on the frontier, there is the likelihood of border patrols’ movements being misinterpreted and snowballing because the border is unsettled. The Indian and Chinese militaries are beefing up border defences, raising more troops and redeploying new units.

As recently as July, Indian and Chinese army patrols came face to face at Chumar in Ladakh. The patrols held up banners and flags to signal to each other that they were transgressing the Line of Actual Control. There was no face-off as the patrols moved on. There were more than 200 such transgressions  अतिक्रमण ( in 2011. This year, the Indian army has listed 90 so far.

The Indian Army currently has a hotline only with Pakistan. The Directors Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan talk over a dedicated line every Tuesday and usually after incidents of firing on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir where a ceasefire has been holding since 2002.

 The Pakistani doctor who helped the United States locate Osama bin Laden's hideout has told the US television network that the country's powerful spy agency, the ISI regards America as its worst enemy. In an interview from his prison in Peshawar, Doctor Afridi told Fox news that the ISI officers who interrogated him said he has helped Pakistan's worse enemy, worst even than the Indians. Afridi helped the CIA by running a fake vaccination programme that allowed him to collect the DNA of bin Laden's children from the family compound in Abbottabad.

 head of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's crucial talks with his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, eight technical sub-groups of the India-Pakistan Joint Commission met in Islamabad today to discuss prospects for cooperation in less contentious areas like agriculture and health. The experts are expected to provide inputs for a meeting of the Plenary of the Joint Commission that will be co-chaired by the two Foreign Ministers on September 8.

Prospects for cooperation in areas like agriculture, health, education, science and technology, IT and telecommunications, environment, tourism and information remained high on the agenda of the meeting .The external affairs minister S M Krishna is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow for talks with Khar to review the last round of the bilateral dialogue process and to frame the roadmap for the next round of discussions.

The Foreign Secretaries of the two countries will meet tomorrow to prepare for the September 8 talks between the two ministers. Officials said in Islamabad that Pakistan is keen on signing an agreement for a new liberalised visa regime during Krishna's visit.

The draft agreement was finalised earlier this year but could not be signed during talks between the Home and Interior Secretaries in May due to opposition from Interior Minister Rehman Malik. Krishna is expected to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and leaders of key political parties, including main opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

India's top leadership, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Krishna, have said that terrorism directed against the country from Pakistani soil continues to be a concern despite progress made in areas like trade and commerce.