The defence minister recently withdrew the controversial order of 2016, which had degraded army ranks as compared to their civilian counterparts. It was a welcome new year’s gift to the forces. However, there are many other contentious issues which still await her attention. Many are irritants from the past, while a few are recent decisions. Further is the need to […]
January 14th is armed forces veterans’ day. It is a day when veterans would be felicitated by the serving and briefed on ongoing schemes impacting them. The armed forces are possibly the only service, where veterans are cared for and respected all through life. This is because of a close bonding between the serving and them. In most infantry regiments, where […]
While the army does not hold patent rights for nationalism and national unity, it alone has done more to enhance this feeling within the nation as compared to any other institution or organization. Every soldier is a nationalist, willing to lay down his life safeguarding the nation’s citizens & interest. He walks into the line of fire knowing he may […]
Nitin Gadkari, the union minister for shipping in an address in Mumbai last week, questioned the authority of the navy in blocking a proposal for a floating jetty in Malabar Hill of Mumbai. He went on to state, ‘Where is the navy at Malabar Hill? A mindset has developed to create roadblocks in projects. Bring the project before me. We […]
Background Over the years, despite a collection of ceasefire agreements, violations along the LoC continue to rise. These increased from 152 in 2015 to 820 in 2017. Infiltrating militants killed in 2015 were 30 and in 2017 they were 59. Foiled attempts rose from 18 in 2015 to 33 in 2017 and Indian army soldiers killed in J and K […]
Trump’s tweets at 4 AM on New Years day, aimed directly at Pakistan has opened a can of worms. Pak’s political and military leaders as also diplomats at the UN and Washington have been crying foul, but to no avail. China, as usual, has come running to wipe Pak’s tears, while India and Afghanistan, who have faced the brunt of […]
In an article 07 Jan 18 and subsequent tweets, Chidambaram, the former home and finance minister, wrote that the present strategy of a ‘hard stance’ adopted by the government in Kashmir will never lead to a political solution. His views were based on data indicating that terror strikes have not reduced, while the killing of terrorists and losses of security […]
The release of volume 2 of my book by the army chief, General Bipin Rawat got this reaction from The Excelsior Gen Rawat releases 2nd volume of ‘Harsha Kakar Writes’ Post the release of my book, I was interviewed by the publisher. Excerpts are below AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR GENERAL (RETD.) HARSHA KAKAR AND TANNAAZ IRANI CHIEF EDITOR CREATIVE CROWS […]
Twenty-two months after Kulbhushan Jadhav was kidnapped from Chabahar in Iran by the Taliban, sold to Pakistan’s ISI, was his family, comprising his mother and wife, permitted to meet him. Within this period, he was tortured to make statements claiming he was an Indian spy sent to operate in Baluchistan, tried by an army court, without legal advice and sentenced […]
The new year tweet by Donald Trump, blaming Pak for taking US funds and doing nothing in terms of supporting its war in Afghanistan, has brought Pak and its fake anti-terror policies back into focus. As expected Pak jumped and sang its same old song stating that it has done more for eliminating terrorism than any other country in the […]