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Trumps' Visit to India: A Symbolic Event
Sayali phanse
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President of the United States, Donald Trump visited his two-day visit to India on 25th February 2020. This visit signifies the strengthening of the bilateral ties between the two largest democracies of the world. Trump was accompanied by the first lady Melania and his daughter, Ivanka. He paid a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad hosted the "Namaste Trump" event where he received a spectacular welcome. President Trump also visited the state capital, New Delhi, where he engaged in formal talks with PM Modi. He addressed the issue of Covid-19, acknowledging it as a global crisis.
During this visit, US-India has increased cooperation in the sphere of defense procurement. India approved the plans to purchase 24 military helicopters worth $ 2.6 billion from an American defense firm, Lockheed Martin, for the Indian navy. This will prove beneficial to India, which is on the cusp of transforming and modernizing its defense forces. In the final engagement of the visit, President Trump discussed in a banquet dinner hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind. Trump departed with a vote of thanks for the hospitality. The optics of the trip are important for both nations. India believes this visit has a strategic value for cementing India's presence in the global arena.
Hosni Mubarak Passes Away
Ishita singh
Egypt's former President and authoritarian ruler, Hosni Mubarak, passed away at the age of 91 on February 25, 2019. Mubarak ruled the country with an iron fist for around thirty years and was ousted by the revolution of 2011, which came to be popularly known as the Arab Spring. Mubarak passed away at a military hospital in Cairo where he had been placed under intensive care, after a surgery for stomach tumor.
Hosni Mubarak was a soviet trained, bomber pilot and was acclaimed as a national hero because of the initial success of Egyptian pilots in the Yom Kippur War against Israel in 1973. Subsequently, he was made Vice-President in 1975 by then-President Anwar Sadat . Post Sadat's assassination in October 1981, Mubarak was sworn in as the fourth President of Egypt. Upon assuming office, Mubarak made extensive use of his powers and was accused of grave human rights violations by international organizations. Mubarak's regime witnessed the rise of a cruel and oppressive police state, corrupt, crony capitalism alongside increasing unemployment and poverty.
In the course of his rule, Mubarak survived several assassination attempts while fighting prolonged health issues. The US administration praised him for crushing the rise of radical Islamic movements in the country and acquired "cold-peace" through the Camp David peace pact with Israel. After resigning from his post in 2011, Mubarak underwent several months of trial for abuse of power, corruption and conspiring to kill civilians and protestors who rose against his rule. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment which dissatisfied the prosecutors and many Egyptians as they wanted retribution for years of oppression under his authoritarian rule and wanted him to be hanged if found guilty. However, due to his deteriorating health,
A heavily guarded military funeral for Mubarak was held in Cairo at Al-Mosheer Tantawy Mosque wherein the Republican Guard carried Mubarak's coffin wrapped in the Egyptian flag. President Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi also briefly led the funeral procession. He also extended condolences to Mubarak's family and in a statement said that Mubarak is mourned as a "military leader and war hero".
India and Myanmar Ten Deals
Pratishtha Das
India and Myanmar share a large legacy of religious, ethnic, and linguistic ties. India established diplomatic relations with Myanmar after the latter got independence from Great Britain in 1948 and provided ample support to them. In the execution of its Act East policy, India joined hands with Myanmar to boost socio-economic development in Southeast Asian nations during Myanmar President Win Myint and his First Lady Daw Cho Cho' four-day state visit to India from 26th to 29th February 2020. There was a ceremonial welcome at the Presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi. Later, extensive talks were held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Win Myint at Hyderabad house wherein 10 agreements and 5 MOUs were signed.
The agreements primarily focused on development projects with India's assistance, particularly in the Rakhine state, which has witnessed a lot of violence in the past with scores of Rohingya refugees fleeing State persecution. Deals were signed on extending cooperation on energy, trade, development, defense and maritime security and combating terrorism and violent extremism. The agreements included an MOU on 'Cooperation for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons; Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation, and Re-Integration of Victims of Trafficking'. Five of the MOU's signed concern cooperation over petroleum products, cooperation on timber trafficking and conservation of tigers and other wildlife.
Indian grant assistance for implementation of Quick Impact Projects (QIP) was also endorsed between the two. Cooperation in health research between the Indian Council of Medical Research and Myanmar Department of Medical Research was signed. Both sides admit heightening development cooperation under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation agreement. They decided to cooperate on boundary delimitation and outright several of
India's funded projects in Myanmar. They agreed to work together to enable the launch of India's Rupay Card in Myanmar at the earliest. Thus the competent Bilateral talks will revamp the connectivity, market access, easing financial transactions, facilitating business-to-business connect.
Sri Lanka Withdraws from UNHRC Resolution
Bhavya Bana
The Gotabaya Rajapaksha government of Sri Lanka recently decided to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) Resolution 30/1 which was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka in 2015 for 'promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka'. The resolution directed the government to undertake a thorough investigation into the human rights violations that were conducted in the country by both government and non-government forces during the civil war. It advised the government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance without delay and encouraged them to develop a plan for recording and documenting all human rights violations and abuses.
The co-sponsorship was supposedly decided by the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Foreign Minister without the express approval of the cabinet, President of the Parliament. The current government blames a lack of political mandate and the inability of the judiciary to implement the suggestion of the resolutions as their principal ground for rejecting, and not just re-working, this resolution. The call for such co-sponsorship was primarily advocated for, by the minority Tamils despite the opposition to it by the UNF government.
Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena informed the UNHRC of the government's decision, which came soon after the US decided to ban Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his family from entering the country. The Gotabaya government made it clear that they will not allow their soldiers to be accused of war crimes, which the government views as collateral damage, in front of an investigation committee. Notwithstanding this decision, FM Gunawardena maintained the Sri Lankan government's commitment to achieving accountability and reconciliation through a domestically designed human rights process.