Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vowed to work toward "eradicating terrorism from Indian soil" in the wake of last year's deadly Islamist attacks in Mumbai as India celebrated the 62nd anniversary of independence from Britain on Saturday.
Pakistani authorities asked Interpol to issue a global alert for thirteen people suspected of taking part in the deadly terror attacks on Mumbai in November 2008 in a show of commitment to tracking down the suspects.
A court has sentenced three Indians to death for a series of blasts that killed at least 54 people in Mumbai in 2003. The defendants were found guilty of conspiring with a Pakistan-based militant group to carry out the terrorist attacks.
Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people last November, pleaded guilty in a Mumbai court hearing. In May, he had pleaded not guilty to 86 charges against him.
Meeting at a summit in Egypt, the Pakistani and Indian premiers pledged to cooperate on counter-terrorism, but New Delhi insists broader peace talks will remain stalled until those behind the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai are brought to justice.
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan met on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt on Thursday in a bid to reduce the heightened tensions between the countries that followed last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Tension between neighbouring rivals Pakistan and India mounted on Tuesday when a Pakistani court ordered the release of the head of a charity India claims is linked to the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed last year.
Voters in 85 constituencies across seven states as well as in the Indian capital of Delhi cast their ballots in the fourth phase of India’s mammoth five-stage general elections Thursday as the contest between the two main parties tightens.
Alleged Islamist militant Ajmal Kasab, on trial in India for last year's Mumbai attacks, has instructed his lawyer to retract his confession, claiming it was extracted by torture. "He's going to plead not guilty," his lawyer said.
The world’s largest democracy goes to the polls Thursday in phase one of a staggered general election that will end May 13. Indian elections are massive, complex affairs, but at heart the issues and emotions are elemental.
