I - Foreign Affair Commentators in Indian print media have written on options available to India in the realm of national security in the context of New Delhi’s much cherished concept of ‘Strategic Autonomy’ on the one hand, and US President Trump’s rhetoric on ‘US first’ policy on the other. India has historically been weary of international alliance entanglements. However, in the post-cold war international scenario, strategists in New Delhi approach the concept of strategic autonomy more liberally due to an assertive China, and one major indication of that has been India’s willingness to join hands with the US. This has resulted in Washington and New Delhi having signed a number of agreements for defence cooperation, focusing mainly on the security of the Indo-pacific region, in line with their strategic partnership. However, according to analysts, things are changing under President Trump, and that India needs to focus on forging defence cooperation with other like-minded power centres, such as the EU, which itself is weary of Mr. Trump’s repeated assertions that the US is no longer willing to pay for the defence of its rich partners, such as the EU, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Therefore, media commentators are of the opinion that New Delhi should focus on forging closer defence cooperation with the EU.

Relations between India and Pakistan, in the context of latest developments before the two countries could come face to face in the General Assembly, is another topic of note in the Indian print media. Prime Ministers of the two countries had exchanged letters recently in which they had expressed their desire for an engagement which could lead to betterment of the bilateral relationship. The two Prime Ministers had agreed that their Foreign Ministers will meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Later on, the Indian government was reported to have retracted from the promised meeting citing incidents which had taken place before New Delhi agreed to the proposed meeting. This led a bitter war of words between the two countries, which further added to the precariousness of situation between the two countries. Some commentators in Indian press have blamed New Delhi for the episode stating that walking away from a planned meeting on the pretext of incidents which had taken place before the meeting was agreed to was an immature response which destroyed a precious opportunity of bilateral engagement ..