The first meeting of the Defence Planning Committee (DPC) headed by the NSA, Ajit Doval, was held early this month. It being the first meeting, a statement mentioned, ‘No major decision was taken. The meeting, which lasted for around two hours, discussed the key challenges ahead and how to address them’. Another statement mentioned, ‘The members deliberated on the geo-strategic […]
There has been an intense debate on whether declaring of a unilateral ceasefire in the valley was a correct decision. Those against have felt that the decision would impact security forces operations, permit the militants to regroup and rearm, as also make security forces lose the upper hand they had so painstakingly established. Those in favour feel this action may […]
The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) was established as a military tribunal under the Armed Forces Tribunal act in 2007. This was based on the Law Commission’s 169th report of 1999, which stated that disciplinary and service matters of military personnel required quick resolution and proposed a special tribunal for the same for para military and armed forces. The act was […]
Post Mehbooba Mufti’s appeal to the Prime Minister and Home Minister, Rajnath Singh announced a unilateral ceasefire by security forces. While he stated ceasefire, the logical term would be ‘Non-Initiation of Combat Operations’ (NICO) as was used when it was last announced by Vajpayee in Nov 2000. The term ceasefire is between two nations or armed forces, not between a […]
A senior Pak lawyer has approached their supreme court to stop sale of land on propriety rights to Chinese nationals on grounds of the CPEC. He has claimed in his petition that Chinese citizens have been granted relaxations and have been acquiring land on the pretext of CPEC and its co-related projects. This action violates the sovereignty of Pak as […]
In the latest incident of responsible politicians breaking norms and rules while constructing residential accommodation in areas designated as security risks is the present speaker of the state assembly and earlier deputy CM of J and K, Nirmal Singh. His house, presently under construction is on a plot 530M from the security wall of the Nagrota ammunition dump. The land […]
Mehbooba Mufti, The J and K chief minister recently appealed to the centre to declare a unilateral ceasefire in the valley commencing from Ramzan to the conclusion of the Amarnath Yatra in end Aug. Her intentions were noble and aimed at stopping the unending cycle of violence which has gripped the valley, involving elimination of local militants, wanton killing of […]
A few recent events in the valley need to be assessed in totality to draw relevant deductions. Firstly, since the nineties, when terrorists including locals who had joined terror groups, began implementing their own brand of justice by killing Kashmiri’s against whom they had a grudge, such incidents have been rare. It was this wanton killing which drove a wedge […]
There are many nations which are falling into the Chinese debt trap. In some cases, it is involvement with faulty projects with Chinese funding, while in others it is a case of being unable to clear loans linked to the Belt Road Initiative (BRI). Some of these nations are being compelled to part with strategic assets as they are unable […]
The Indian government’s refusal to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Pak in 2016 had pushed the organization almost into a state of oblivion. With India leading the charge, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan had turned down a desire to attend the summit in Pak. As per rules of SAARC, even if one nation turns down […]