top of page

By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

India's multi-align diplomacy triumphs

New Delhi: West Asia has transformed into a battlefield rained by fireballs. Seas or land, everywhere echoes the roar of cataclysmic explosions, flickering flames, and swirling smoke clouds. et amid such adversity, Indian ships boldly waving the Tricolour navigate the strait undeterred, entering the Arabian Sea. More remarkably, Iran has sealed its airspace to global flights but opened it for the safe evacuation of Indians.   This scene evokes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's memorable 2014...

India's multi-align diplomacy triumphs

New Delhi: West Asia has transformed into a battlefield rained by fireballs. Seas or land, everywhere echoes the roar of cataclysmic explosions, flickering flames, and swirling smoke clouds. et amid such adversity, Indian ships boldly waving the Tricolour navigate the strait undeterred, entering the Arabian Sea. More remarkably, Iran has sealed its airspace to global flights but opened it for the safe evacuation of Indians.   This scene evokes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's memorable 2014 interview. He stated that "there was a time when we counted waves from the shore; now the time has come to take the helm and plunge into the ocean ourselves."   In a world racing toward conflict, Modi has proven India's foreign policy ranks among the world's finest. Guided by 'Nation First' and prioritising Indian safety and interests, it steadfastly embodies  'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' , the world as one family.   Policy Shines Modi's foreign policy shines with such clarity and patience that even as war flames engulf West Asian nations, Indians studying and working there return home safe. In just 13 days, nearly 100,000 were evacuated from Gulf war zones, mostly by air, some via Armenia by road. PM Modi talked with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian to secure Iran's airspace for the safe evacuation of Indians, a privilege denied to any other nation. Additionally, clearance was granted for Indian ships carrying crude oil and LPG to pass safely through the Hormuz Strait. No other country's vessels are navigating these waters, except for those of Iran's ally, China. The same strategy worked in the Ukraine-Russia war: talks with both presidents ensured safe corridors, repatriating over 23,000 students and businessmen. Iran, Israel, or America, all know India deems terrorism or war unjustifiable at any cost. PM Modi amplified anti-terror campaigns from UN to global platforms, earning open support from many nations.   Global Powerhouse Bolstered by robust foreign policy and economic foresight, India emerges as a global powerhouse, undeterred by tariff hurdles. Modi's adept diplomacy yields notable successes. Contrast this with Nehru's era: wedded to Non-Aligned Movement, he watched NAM member China seize vast Ladakh territory in war. Today, Modi's government signals clearly, India honors friends, spares no foes. Abandoning non-alignment, it embraces multi-alignment: respecting sovereignties while prioritizing human welfare and progress. The world shifts from unipolar or bipolar to multipolar dynamics.   Modi's policy hallmark is that India seal defense deals like the S-400 and others with Russia yet sustains US friendship. America bestows Legion of Merit; Russia, its highest civilian honor, Order of St. Andrew the Apostle. India nurtures ties with Israel, Palestine, Iran via bilateral talks. Saudi Arabia stands shoulder-to-shoulder across fronts; UAE trade exceeds $80 billion. UN's top environment award, UNEP Champions of the Earth, graces India, unlike past when foreign nations campaigned against us on ecological pretexts.   This policy's triumph roots in economic empowerment. India now ranks the world's fourth-largest economy, poised for third in 1-2 years. The 2000s dubbed it 'fragile'; then-PM economist Dr. Manmohan Singh led. Yet  'Modinomics'  prevailed. As COVID crippled supply chains, recession loomed, inflation soared and growth plunged in developed countries,  Modinomics  made India the 'bright star.' Inflation stayed controlled, growth above 6.2 per cent. IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas praised it, advising the world to learn from India.

Messed up investigation puzzles ex top cops

Mumbai: A pall of gloom pervades the state’s police and security circles after yesterday’s Bombay High Court judgement that entirely overturned the trial court’s verdict by acquitting all the 12 convicts in the macabre 7/11, 2006 multiple bomb blasts in Mumbai suburban trains, killing 187 commuters.


Shaking their heads in disbelief, retired IPS officers and other senior police personnel termed the outcome as ‘shocking’, ‘unexpected’, ‘shameful’, etc., and they wonder who would be fall guys for the botched 7/11 probe that tumbled out in the piercing 667-page order delivered by Justice Anil S. Kilor and Justice Shyam C. Chandak. 


Ex-IPS and intelligence officers like Dr. P. S. Pasricha, S. M. Mushrif, Vikram Bokey, Shirish Inamdar and others who spoke with ‘The Perfect Voice’ without mincing words described how the verdict is a veritable slap on the investigation teams and the legal advisors involved in the probe. 


The judgement seemed to have inadvertently opened up the schisms within the state IPS lobbies as some made no bones of the discomfiture faced by their former colleagues, and the political establishment of the time. 


Simultaneously, the legal fraternity is abuzz with many lawyers and experts poring deeply into the verdict, the judicial nuances and its ramifications for the future, as many even grudgingly praised the judges for their ‘unorthodox findings’.


Experts speak exclusively with ‘The Perfect Voice’

Ex-DGP - Dr. P. S. Pasricha: Heading the Maharashtra Police at that time (2006), Dr. Pasricha gently said that he was not directly connected with the 7/11 probe which was handled by the then Mumbai Commissioner of Police A. N. Roy. Declining to comment on the verdict, Dr. Pasricha said that just as the (city) police team had grabbed all the credit for it then, now they should reply to the court outcome, too.

 

Ex-Additional Deputy Commissioner, State Intelligence Department Shirish Inamdar: This is unprecedented that an entire verdict of the Trial (lower) Court in a sensitive terror case has been quashed and set aside. 

“The questions that arise are the quality of evidence and the police’s skills to present it before the courts, the Trial Court’s ability in weighing that evidence. The HC ruling says that MCOCA was applied mechanically and not with an application of the mind. Why and how was it done as there are separate laws like POTA, TADA, UAPA, etc. for terrorism and such terror cases can’t be tried under MCOCA,” said Inamdar.


Ex-IGP Nagpur Range - S. M. Mushrif: All this cannot be erroneous. I feel that the arrests of those (accused) Muslim youths were intentionally done, the Trial Court verdict falls in the same category. 

“There was not an iota of evidence in the (7/11) case with the police, barring the confessions of the accused-convicts, who now stand cleared off all charges. Who was the legal advisor to the police who guided or helped in the 7/11 case investigations?” demanded Mushrif. 


Saying this is not the only case, but there are other cases in which the investigators deliberately or mistakenly botched, Mushrif asked how the government will deal with this to prevent recurrences.

 

Ex-DCP (IX) Vikram Bokey: He cautioned that the governments, at the Centre, Maharashtra and other states, ‘must not take the verdict lightly as it will have ramifications all over the country’, besides eroding public faith. 


“If this is the fate of the biggest railway terrorism in the world which claimed over 187 innocents, questions will be raised on the investigations, not only in this case, but in cases probed by other security/specialized agencies like the ATS, NIA, CBI, ED, NCB, or more,” warned Bokey, with a dozen encounters of notorious criminals to his credit.


Citing examples, Bokey added that doubts will naturally rise in public minds over the credibility of long-winded investigations into some high-profile cases in the recent past, which finally proved to be duds in the courts.


Inamdar urged that the government should appoint a commission of inquiry to probe the entire 7/11 case investigation team, affix the full responsibility and take action for the monumental lapses. 


Bokey and Mushrif aver that though the state has announced it will move the Supreme Court, “who knows how long it will take and what would be its outcome”. 


Hence, the government must initiate simultaneous efforts to find out the ‘real truth’ behind the 7/11 terror strikes without resorting to a witch-hunt targeting a particular group/community, and ensure justice is done to the victims.

Comments

bottom of page