COUNTRY REVIEW

Iraq

• Iraq dismisses 1,300 security force personnel for poor performance during Basra operations; Gates: Sadr not an enemy if he plays a ‘peaceful’ role in Iraqi politics; Gen. Petraeus: Iraq situation ‘fragile and reversible’

China

• Beijing criticizes US Senate resolution on Tibet; Taiwanese Vice-President meets Hu at the Baoa Forum; FICCI: India and China should cooperate in agricultural research to fight rising food prices; UAE Prime Minister meets Wen

Japan

• Japan and ASEAN sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement; Australia, US, Japan to hold talks in Hawaii; Tokyo and Washington deny reviewing SOFA Agreement; PM Fukuda: Nuclear energy a ‘trump card’ in tackling global warming

Myanmar

• Vice Senior General Maunyg Ye visits New Delhi; May 10 set as the referendum date, NLD calls for a boycott

South Asia

Afghanistan

• NATO unveils a ‘strategic vision’ for Afghanistan; Australian PM: Greater effort from Pakistan needed to control the Taliban; Karzai expresses an interest in a second term; 2 Indian engineers killed in Nimroz province in a suicide attack

Pakistan

• Law Minister: Deposed judges to be reinstated within 30 days; PM: Democracy threatened by dictatorship; Jirga system to be revived in Swat to tackle the Taliban resurgence; Bush expresses apprehensions about attacks on US by Pakistan-based terrorists

Nepal

• Maoists win majority in polls; New Delhi expresses its willingness to work with the Maoists; MJF demands resignation of Koirala, CPN(UML) withdraws from interim government

Bangladesh

• Foreign Adviser Chowdhury visits Brussels, calls for greater access to European market; Food and developmental aid earmarked to Dhaka by USAID, World Bank, IMF, German development bank; BSF, BDR to jointly tackle cross-border crimes

Sri Lanka

• Rajapakse visits Beijing; Colombo seeks emergency arms from Islamabad; SLMC joins UNP, JVP splits; IIGEP to terminate Sri Lanka operations

PAKISTAN-OCUPIED KASHMIR REVIEW

• POK cabinet expanded; Constitutional package for Gilgit and Baltistan soon; PDP: Division of Kashmir along religious lines not acceptable; Increase in frequency of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service likely

INTERNAL SECURITY REVIEW

Jammu and Kashmir Development

• Farooq Abdullah: Autonomy alone can restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir; Mehbooba Mufti proposes Regional Council; Salahuddin: HM to review its armed struggle if New Delhi agrees for tri-partite talks

NorthEast Insurgency

• Centre rejects UPDS demand for a Karbi state; 234 Islamic militants lodged in various Assam jails

Maoist Insurgency

• Maoists kill 15 persons in Jharkhand and Bihar; SF kill eight Maoists

Other Development

• SIMI possesses a full-fledged syllabus on terrorism

NUCLEAR REVIEW

India

• Left continues its opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal

North Korea

• US and North Korean nuclear envoys meet in Singapore, differences narrowed down; State Department officials to visit North Korea soon

pakistan

• Afghan Minister says Pakistan dumped nuclear waste during Taliban regime; A.Q. Khan says he took the entire blame of the proliferation network to “save his country”

Iran

• CIA Director says he believes Iran continues to pursue a nuclear bomb;Iran begins installing improved centrifuges at Natanz

ENERGY SECURITY REVIEW

Iran Pakistan India Gas Pipeline

• Deora: Trilateral meeting on IPI pipeline on April 23

Exploration and Production

• Algeria’s Sonatrach announces discovery of 4 new wells; USGS: 3-4.3 billion barrels of oil could be extracted from Bakken formation in Montana

Agreement and Joint Ventures

• An undersea pipeline from Oman to Gujarat being explored; India-Kazakhstan and India-Venezuela to deepen cooperation in the oil and gas sector