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Science

Chandrayaan-2 makes first observation of global distribution of Argon-40 in lunar exosphere | India News

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BENGALURU: Isro on Tuesday said that the mass spectrometer onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2), has made the first-of-its-kind observations of the global distribution of Argon-40 (a noble gas) in the lunar exosphere.
“These observations provide insight on dynamics of the lunar exospheric species, as well as on the radiogenic activities in the first few tens of metres below the lunar surface,” Isro said.
Pointing out that noble gases serve as important tracers to understand the processes of surface-exosphere interaction, Isro said Argon-40 (Ar-40) is such an important tracer atom to study the dynamics of the lunar exospheric species.
“Ar-40 originates from the radioactive disintegration of Potassium-40 (K-40) present below the lunar surface. Once formed, it diffuses through the inter-granular space and makes its way up to the lunar exosphere through seepages and faults,” Isro added.
The uniqueness of this result from Chandrayaan-2 lies in the fact that although Apollo-17 and LADEE missions have detected the presence of Ar-40 in the lunar exosphere, the measurements were confined to the near-equatorial region of Moon, Isro said, adding that the new findings have been published in the the journal ‘Geophysical Research Letters’.
“As there is a steep latitudinal temperature gradient of the lunar surface, it was, so far, a gap area to study the global dynamics of the lunar exospheric species, which is a temperature-driven process. In this context, the observations by CHACE-2 on Ar-40 up to the mid-latitude regions (−60º to +60º) play a significant role to bridge the gap in the knowledge,” Isro said.
The CHACE-2 observations reveal an increase in the number density of Ar-40 near the sunrise terminator, a decrease through the dayside, a secondary peak near sunset terminator and a night-side minima — a typical behaviour of a condensable gas.
“…The CHACE-2 observations provide the diurnal and spatial variation of Ar-40 covering the equatorial and mid latitude regions of Moon,” Isro added.
Also, for the mid-latitude regions, CHACE-2 observations showed for the first time that the variation in the number density of Ar-40 with respect to solar longitudes are similar to that of low latitude regions, despite the differences in temperature and topography.
“The CHACE-2 observations reveal that the Ar-40 distribution has significant spatial heterogeneity. There are localised enhancements (termed as Argon bulge) over several regions including the KREEP (potassium (K), rare-earth elements, and phosphorus (P)) and South Pole Aitken terrain,” Isro said.
The observations of Argon bulge are indicative of unknown or additional loss processes, Moonquakes or regions with lower activation energies, which call for a better understanding of the surface-exosphere interactions and source distributions of Ar-40, Isro added.
The CHACE-2 was a sequel to the CHACE experiment on the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of Chandrayaan-1 mission and also draws heritage from the Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) experiment aboard the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).



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Health

takahashi: The doctor who tamed chickenpox: Google doodle celebrates Dr Takahashi’s 94th birth anniversary | India News

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NEW DELHI: Every year, millions of children across the world are saved from the contagious chickenpox — which was once considered deadly —thanks to Japanese virologist Dr Michiaki Takahashi who developed the first vaccine against the viral disease. Today, Google is celebrating his 94th birth anniversary with its doodle, illustrated by Tokyo-based guest artist Tatsuro Kiuchi.
Takahashi’s vaccine has proven to be an effective measure to prevent severe cases of the viral disease and its transmission, even as the world is today battling another viral pandemic today.
Dr Takahashi was born on February 17, 1928, in Osaka, Japan. After earning his medical degree from Osaka University in 1954, he joined Research Institute for Microbial Disease under the varsity and completed Graduate Course of Medical Science in 1959, majoring in poxvirus virology.
In 1963, Dr Takahashi accepted a research fellowship at Baylor College in the United States, having studied measles and polio viruses. But he turned his expertise toward combating the highly transmissible chickenpox after his eldest son, Teruyuki, developed a serious bout of the disease.
Dr Takahashi returned to Japan in 1965 and began developing a vaccine against the disease by culturing live but weakened chickenpox viruses in animals and humans. A vaccine was ready for clinical trials after just five years. Finally, the first vaccine, targeting the varicella virus that causes chickenpox, was developed in 1974. It was proven to be extremely effective following subsequent rigorous research with immunosuppressed patients.
The only varicella vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization in 1984, was then rolled out by the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases in Japan in 1986. The Japanese ministry of health and welfare also approved it for usage across the world. Soon, the lifesaving vaccine was adopted by over 80 countries.
Dr Takahashi went on to become the director of Osaka University’s Microbial Disease Study Group in 1994 and held the position until his retirement. After retirement, he was given the title of professor emeritus.
He died on December 16, 2013, of heart failure at the age of 85.



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Science

Scientists discover ‘inflated hot-Jupiter’ around a sub-giant star | India News

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BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) says that the exoplanet search and study group at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, has discovered a new exoplanet orbiting too close to an evolved or ageing star with a mass of 1.5 times that of the Sun and located 725 light-years away.
The discovery was led by Prof Abhijit Chakraborty and included his students, team members, and international collaborators from Europe and the US. This discovery work has been published in the refereed journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, titled “Discovery of an inflated hot Jupiter around a slightly evolved star TOI-1789”.
“This discovery was made using PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search (PARAS) optical fibre-fed spectrograph, the first of its kind in India, on the 1.2-metre Telescope of PRL at its Mt. Abu Observatory. Using PARAS, which has the capability to measure the mass of an exoplanet, the exoplanet’s mass is found to be 70% and size about 1.4 times that of Jupiter,” Isro said.

While these measurements were carried out between December 2020 and March 2021, further follow-up measurements were obtained from TCES spectrograph from Germany in April 2021, and also independent photometric observations from the PRL’s 43-cm telescope at Mt. Abu.
“The star is known as HD 82139 as per the Henry Draper catalogue and TOI 1789 as per the TESS catalogue. Hence, the planet is known as TOI 1789b or HD 82139b as per the IAU (International Astronomical Union) nomenclature,” the researchers said.
This newly discovered star-planet system is very unique — the planet orbits the host star in just 3.2 days, thus placing it very-very close to the star at a distance of 0.05 AU (roughly one-tenth the distance between Sun and Mercury).
“There are less than 10 such close-in systems known among the zoo of exoplanets known so far. Because of the close proximity of the planet to its host star, it is extremely heated with a surface temperature reaching up to 2000 K, and hence an inflated radius, making it one of the lowest density planets known (density of 0.31 gram per cc),” an Isro statement read.
Such close-in exoplanets around stars (with distance less than 0.1 AU) with masses between 0.25 to a few Jupiter masses are called “Hot-Jupiters”, the researchers said.
“The detection of such a system enhances our understanding of various mechanisms responsible for inflation in hot Jupiters and the formation and evolution of planetary systems around evolving and ageing stars,” they added.
The research findings have been authored by Akanksha Khandelwal, Abhijit Chakraborty, Rishikesh Sharma, Ashirbad Nayak, Dishendra and Neelam JSSV Prasad from PRL; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Eike W Guenther, Artie P Hatzes, Massimiliano Esposito and Sireesha Chamarthi, from TLS Tautenburg, Germany; Carina M Persson and Malcolm Fridlund from the Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden and Steve B Howell from NASA Ames Research Centre.
This is the second exoplanet discovered by PRL scientists using PARAS at 1.2 m Mt. Abu telescope; the first exoplanet K2-236b, a sub-Saturn size at 600 light-years away, was discovered in 2018.



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Science

Chandrayaan 2: Isro prevents Chandrayaan-2 collision with Nasa’s LRO | India News

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Nearly a month after the actual manoeuvre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has disclosed that Chandrayaan-2 orbiter had to perform a collision avoidance manoeuvre (CAM) to avoid colliding with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), in October.
“A very close conjunction between the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and the LRO was expected to occur on October 20 near the Lunar North pole. Over a span of one week prior to the conjunction, analyses by both Isro and JPL/NASA consistently showed that the radial separation between the spacecraft would be less than 100 m and the closest approach distance would be only about 3 km at the aforementioned time of closest approach,” an Isro statement reads.

It added that both the agencies deemed that the situation warranted a CAM to mitigate the close approach risk, and it was mutually agreed that Isro’s orbiter would undergo the same.
“The manoeuvre was scheduled on October 18, 2021. It was designed to ensure a sufficiently large radial separation at the next closest conjunction between the spacecraft. The CAM was executed nominally at 8.22pm (IST). After orbit determination with post-manoeuvre tracking data, it was reconfirmed that there would be no further close conjunctions with LRO in the near future with the achieved orbit,” Isro said.
Chandrayaan-2 and LRO orbit Moon in a nearly polar orbit and hence, both the spacecraft come close to each other over the Lunar poles.
“…It is common for satellites in Earth Orbit to undergo CAMs to mitigate collision risk due to space objects including space debris and operational spacecraft. Isro monitors such critical close approaches and execute CAMs for its operational satellites whenever risk is assessed to be critical. However, this is the first time such a critically close conjunction was experienced for a space exploration mission of Isro,” the space agency said.
It added that the event highlights the importance of continual assessment of close approach situations for lunar and martian missions, and the fact that effective mitigation of close approach risk involves close coordination and synergy among different space agencies.



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Members object to tweaks, JPC data bill report stalled | India News

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NEW DELHI: The joint parliamentary committee on Personal Data Protection Bill was unable to adopt its draft report on Friday as panel chair P P Chaudhary sought to insert last-minute amendments that did away with the clauses on social media platforms on grounds that they were covered under the new IT rules.
The move ran into vehement protests by opposition members, including BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab and Amar Patnaik, Congress’ Manish Tewari, Jairam Ramesh and Gaurav Gogoi, and even BJP’s Satya Pal Singh, who said there is an urgent need for a law on the subject.
Key objections raised by MPs pertained to a bid to “dilute” the penalty clause that fixes 2% and 4% of global incomes of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, if they are found in violation of privacy laws. The last-minute amendments, sources said, sought to bring this down to a standard sum of Rs 10-15 crore, which led to heated exchanges between some members who alleged that the government was attempting to dilute the penalty clause following pressure from the Big Tech. They said the social media firms pressured the government to tone down the applicable penalties.
The JPC has seen discussion on whether social media can be merely termed as a platform or aggregator or is in fact a “publisher” with the same responsibilities as a publication. Chaudhary did argue that the IT guidelines were not formulated when the panel had taken up the matter but MPs felt there is a need for a specific law and the data bill presents an excellent opportunity given that there was unanimity in the panel over the need for Big Tech to be more accountable.
After considerable discussion during which Chaudhary said the penalty clause was not very practical, it was decided that a fresh draft of the committee’s report will be circulated by November 18 and the committee will meet again on November 22 to consider the bill afresh.
Sources said MPs also demanded that the issue of the IT rules covering accountability of social media platforms should be specifically written into the JPC’s report if this was the argument Chaudhary wanted the committee to consider.
Deliberations also saw members oppose the contentious clause 35 of the draft data protection bill, which grants blanket exemption to the government and its agencies from complying with any and all provisions of the PDP bill. Members argued that government should only be exempted under a “just, fair, reasonable and proportionate procedure”, and that exemption should only be exercised in “exceptional” cases.



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World

taliban: Secret portions of US-Taliban deal in Doha worries India | India News

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NEW DELHI: India is coming to terms with the fact that notwithstanding Pakistan’s role in supporting the Taliban and ensuring a strategic failure for the US in Afghanistan, the US could be re-engaging Pakistan — perhaps shorn of illusions — once again, after a gap.
Foreign minister S. Jaishankar pointed to the “tactical compromises” the US might be making in Af-Pak — both vis a vis the Taliban and Pakistan. Acknowledging for the first time, mildly reproachfully, that India had been kept in the dark about the details of the US-Taliban deal, Jaishankar told an event in Washington, “I think to some degree, we’ll all be justified in having levels of concern. And to some degree, the jury is still out.”
Jaishankar’s reference was to the classified portions of the US-Taliban peace agreement in Doha, two annexures of which were not shared — not only with India but will the US’ partners as well. According to sources, these secret portions included military actions that the US committed to in Afghanistan. There is deep disquiet in India about the details of the secret portions of the agreement that could have an impact on India.
“When I say levels of concern, there were commitments which were made by the Taliban at Doha…The US knows that best, we were not taken into confidence on various aspects of that.” The upshot of this was that US actions threw Afghan civil society and the Ashraf Ghani government under the bus, as the Taliban swept into Kabul in mid-August. “We have been victims of cross-border terrorism from that region and…that has shaped in many ways our view of some of the neighbours of Afghanistan. How much the US shares that view and where is it that the US makes its tactical compromises, that is for the Americans to figure out.”
India faces a challenging diplomatic-security situation post the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. This relates not only to the legitimacy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, it also relates to Pakistan’s relative positioning vis a vis Afghanistan, China and now, the US, that could have a bearing on India’s security space.
This week, US deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will visit India followed by Pakistan, a script that hasn’t been followed in the recent past. She follows a similar path struck by CIA chief Bill Burns who was here a few days ago. For the present, US officials have indicated this would involve evacuations, but sections in the Indian establishment feel that given US’ intelligence vulnerabilities in Af-Pak, the US-Pak engagement may grow. However, there is a growing clamour in Washington to call Pakistan out for its role, with a new Bill introduced in the US Congress that directly mentions Pakistan and calls for an “assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020.”
Top security sources in the Indian government are convinced the Afghanistan situation will get considerably worse — certainly for Afghan civil society. These are already signs of abuse of women, removing them from employment and education, suffering of minorities etc. This is directly related to how the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
This is already playing out badly in the internal politics of the Democrats in Washington. First, a realisation that the main reason the Afghan government folded as it did was that there was virtually no space for it in the Doha deal. Officials said one escape clause for the US could have been reneging on the deal if the Taliban-Afghan talks failed. They did, largely because the Taliban was not interested. But the Biden administration stayed in the deal, which, an increasing number of security experts now describe as a “weak” deal.
A second point of concern in India is the number of weapons left behind by the departing US troops for the Taliban to use. Given their parlous control and an economic crisis, India is worried that these weapons could find their way to armed criminals and terror groups, potentially causing havoc.
However, unlike the last time, the India-US relationship has evolved to a place that now sees both countries at least exchanging notes on Afghanistan, though there are many areas where India does not agree with the US. Those concerns, sources said, have been made clear to the Biden administration as well.
The UN’s credentials committee is expected to meet in November to take a call on giving the UN seat to the Taliban. The Taliban have already named their spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen to the job. The other check to wholesale acceptance of the Taliban has been the UNSC resolution 2593, which sets down conditions for Taliban’s acceptability and committed the international community to it. Even if the UN decides to grant the UN seat to the Taliban, there will be other hurdles, particularly their international travel. India chairs the Taliban sanctions committee in the UNSC — since many members of the Taliban government are under UN sanctions, these would have to be lifted before they can travel.



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Vijay Rupani quitting as CM of Gujarat part of BJP’s image ‘makeover’ | India News

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NEW DELHI: BJP continues with its strategy of image “makeover” with surprise decisions as Vijay Rupani, who resigned as Gujarat chief minister on Saturday, being the fourth CM to quit office after BS Yeddyurappa (Karnataka) and Trivendra Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) resigned in the past few months.
Sarbanand Sonowal, under whom the party had contested the Assam assembly elections, resigned even after an impressive victory to pave the way for the succession of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the incumbent CM of the state.

There have been varied reasons for the replacement of the four CMs but the exit of Rupani had been doing the rounds in the past few months mainly after the second Covid wave hit the state hard and questions were raised about the government’s handling of the crisis. Sources said it was speculated that an understanding had been reached late last year that Rupani will be replaced as party will go into state polls in December 2022, under the new chief minister.
The exact timeline was not known and it seems likely that the replacement would most likely be from the Patidar community, a decisive vote bank, that has had a few grouses with the state BJP leadership. Senior party leaders including general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, union minister and state in charge Bhupendra Yadav, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and minister of fisheries Vijay Rupala are in the state capital where a smooth transition is likely amid possibility of a Patidar leader replacing Rupani.

Party sources maintained that the change of leadership is being considered under supervision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat had to resign after the central leadership was getting feedback about “lacklustre” performance of his government and also some controversial decisions like proposed take-over of temple managements by the state government. A section of RSS and groups of seers were said to be unhappy and had threatened to launch agitation against the government.
The central leadership had failed to contain dissensions in its Karnataka unit over Yeddyurappa, who had to quit finally after which Basavaraj Bommai took over as the CM.



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Why Vijay Rupani may have resigned as Gujarat CM and who could be his successor | India News

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NEW DELHI: In a sudden and unexpected move, Vijay Rupani resigned as the chief minister of Gujarat on Saturday ahead of assembly elections in the state due late next year.
Rupani is the fourth BJP chief minister to be axed this year after BS Yediyurappa (Karnataka), Tirth Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) and Trivendra Rawat (Uttarakhand).
Speaking to reporters after submitting his resignation at the Raj Bhavan, Rupani acknowledged that in BJP, there is a tradition of responsibilities shifting from time to time.

“I was allowed to serve the state for five years. I have contributed to the development of the state. I will further do whatever is asked by my party.
“In BJP, there has been a tradition that responsibilities of party workers change from time to time. I will be ready to take whatever responsibility that the party will give me in the future,” he said.
Covid crisis and ‘soft’ image
While the exact reason behind Rupani’s departure can only be speculated, observers point to factors like the Covid crisis and his image as the CM.
The second wave of Covid pandemic in Gujarat and the resultant economic as well as social distress may have had a role to play in Rupani’s exit, PTI reported quoting observers.
Some observers said that Rupani’s soft-spoken nature led to the image of a “weak” CM who allowed bureaucrats to overrule the political leadership.
Rupani first became the Gujarat chief minister on August 7, 2016, following the resignation of incumbent Anandiben Patel, and continued in the office after the BJP’s victory in the 2017 assembly elections.
He had completed five years as the CM in August this year.

Shift in BJP’s brand of politics?
Rupani’s resignation comes during the year which has witnessed similar high-profile exits in other states. This is a departure from how the BJP operated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term in office.
The saffron party remained largely unyielding in backing its chief ministerial picks before 2019 despite voices against some of them.
Political watchers believe the changes highlight the BJP leadership’s analysis of the ground feedback and its readiness to address them, even though a final word on the shake-up can only be delivered at the elections.
Notably, Anandiben Patel was the only chief minister who was asked by the party to quit during the 2014-19 period. This was also in Gujarat.
The party had then cited its convention of retiring those over 75 years of age from government positions. She was subsequently replaced by Rupani.

The recent spate of changes effected by the party at the central government or in states ruled by it has marked a return of more conventional politics with the standard political fault-lines of caste identity pushing the urge to experiment to the background.
The enhanced share of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at 27 and dalits at 12 in the Union Council of Ministers following its expansion in July was showcased as a major highlight.
The saffron party also replaced Lingayat stalwart B S Yediyurappa as Karnataka CM with another Lingayat leader Basavaraj S Bommai.
In Uttarakhand, it replaced two Thakur chief ministers with another Thakur leader, and speculation was rife that Rupani, who comes from a numerically insignificant Jain community, may make way for a Patidar, the largest community in the western state.
Who will be Rupani’s successor?
While the BJP has not announced Rupani’s replacement yet, names of Gujarat deputy CM Nitin Patel, state agriculture minister R C Faldu and Union ministers Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandaviya are doing the rounds.

“Names of Patel, Faldu, Rupala and Mandaviya are being discussed. But it is impossible to say who will be the chief minister as the decision will be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” a party leader said.

Mandaviya and Patel visited the BJP office in Gandhinagar earlier today, shortly after Rupani announced his resignation.
Mandaviya, who like Patel belongs to the influential Patidar community, is also considered a front-runner. Leaders of the community had demanded recently that the next chief minister should be a Patidar.
State BJP president C R Paatil, who originally hails from Maharashtra, is unlikely to be considered for the CM’s post, sources said.
(With inputs from PTI)



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Afghanistan Taliban News: India holds first dialogue with Taliban in Doha, return of Indians from Afghanistan discussed | India News

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NEW DELHI: India’s ambassador to Qatar today met with Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, head of Taliban’s Political Office in Doha.
The meeting took place at the request of the Taliban, the MEA said in a statement. This is the first direct official engagement between India and the Taliban. The meeting took place at the Indian embassy in Doha.

Discussions focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan. The travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, who wish to visit to India also came up.
Indian ambassador Deepak Mittal raised concerns about Afghan soil being used for anti-India activities and terrorism. Stanekzai assured that the concerns would be positively addressed.
Afghanistan crisis live updates
The meeting is significant, as India was kept out of the ‘troika plus’ dialogues on Afghanistan involving US, Russia, China and Pakistan.
However India had participated in a regional conference on the Afghan situation in Doha earlier this month.
In September last year, an Indian delegation attended the inaugural ceremony of the intra-Afghan negotiations featuring various stakeholders including the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha. Foreign minister Jaishankar had joined it through a video conference.
The meeting between Mittal and Stanekzai took place hours after the US completed the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, ending its 20-year-long military campaign in the country.
On Saturday, Stanekzai, in a clear overture, described India as an important country in the region and said the Taliban wants to maintain Afghanistan’s trade, economic and political relations with it.
“We attach great importance to our trade, economic and political relations with India and want to maintain that relation,” he had said.
(With agency inputs)



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On recognising Taliban, MEA against ‘jumping the gun’ | India News

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NEW DELHI: While the government has said it is open to working with an Afghanistan dispensation that is ready to protect the interests of the Afghan people, it’s unlikely to take any decision in haste on recognising the Taliban, which is seeking international recognition and legitimacy.
In a guarded response to questions on recognition for Taliban, India on Friday said the situation was still evolving and that there was no clarity on “any entity” forming the government in Kabul. India, the US and other likeminded democracies agree there’s a need for as inclusive and as representative government as possible under the circumstances in Kabul.
Afghanistan crisis: Live updates
The responses come in the wake of bombers killing 170 people at Kabul airport on Thursday, giving rise to concerns in New Delhi and other world capitals over Afghanistan becoming a full-fledged terror hub, and raising doubts over Taliban’s control over events despite their condemning the blasts.
The incidents could be a setback to Pakistan’s efforts to convince governments to recognise or accept the Taliban, all the more so as alleged perpetrators ISIS-Khorasan have roots in Pakistani Taliban. Interestingly enough, ISIS-K is seen to share a deadly rivalry with the Taliban.

The MEA warned against “jumping the gun” on the issue of recognition for Taliban. “The situation on the ground is uncertain. The prime concern is the security and safety of the people. Currently, there is a lack of clarity or no clarity about any entity forming a government in Kabul,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
“There have been a lot of stories going around about who will be represented in the government and whether the government will be inclusive, which is another question, and whether other elements of the Afghan polity will be represented in that,” added the official. India’s focus has been on evacuating its citizens who are stranded in Afghanistan, he said. “We continue to monitor the situation very carefully. It is an evolving situation,” he said at a media briefing.

We want good ties with India: Taliban leader
The Taliban wants good ties with all countries, including India, a top official of the militant group has said as he vowed not to allow Afghan soil to be used against any other country.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid also said that the group, which now rules Afghanistan, considers India an important part of the region. “We desire good ties with all countries, including India, which is an important part of the region. Our desire is that India devise its policy as per the interests of Afghan people,” Mujahid was quoted as saying by a Pakistani channel.

“We have said it before that we won’t allow our soil to be used against any other country. Our policy is clear,” Mujahid said. He was of the view that Pakistan and India should sit together to resolve all their outstanding issues because both are neighbours and their interests are linked to each other.
(With inputs from agencies)



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