Background The foreign minister of Pak, Khawaja Asif, acknowledged in the US that Hafiz Saeed, Haqqani network and the LeT are liabilities for Pak. He went on to add, ‘Give us time to get rid of them as we don’t have assets to match these liabilities.’ This is not the first time Pak has admitted that it supports terror groups. […]
The increasing trust deficit between Kabul and Islamabad (read Rawalpindi) has been evident in recent times. The address to the UN General Assembly by the Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, was clearly directed towards Pakistan, compelling Pak to take recourse to the ‘right to respond’. Similar were his comments during his recent visit to India. India and Afghanistan signed, amongst a […]
I had written an article in ‘The Wire’ on 07Jan 17, entitled, “India, Pakistan and a tale of two army chiefs”, (https://thewire.in/97846/bipin-rawat-qamar-javed-bajwa-india-pakistan/) in which I had stated that the Indian army chief controls only the Assam Rifles, while the Pak army chief controls all para military forces within the country. Thus, the Indian army chief controls forces deployed to ensure […]
The recent upsurge in violence in Haryana had the army deployed in panic by the state government, even before it had run out of central resources. It ensured an early return to normalcy. The police and other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) were a dismal failure. Anibhav Kumar, an IPS officer on deputation with CAPFs, wrote in the Indian Express […]
As early as 1967-68, Mr V Shankar, the defence secretary had stated, ‘In the absence of a single head at the top of defence forces organizations today, the ultimate burden of coordination, superior direction and working out of policies, of evolving weapon concepts suitable to defence policy and strategy and of settling inter-service rivalries or competing demands largely falls on […]
The recent diplomatic battle at the UN general assembly between India and Pakistan, followed up by their respective ‘right to respond’ and press comments clearly indicate that animosity between the two nations is only increasing. Numerous counter comments by both, display of pictures, including a wrong one by the Pak permanent representative solely to make a point, only moved the […]
Chidambaram made a statement on granting autonomy to Kashmir on the basis of Article 370, while addressing a gathering in Rajkot, where he was supposed to speak on the GST. The Congress immediately distanced itself from the statement, stating that it is the views of an individual, not of the party. The Congress claimed that the solution to J and […]
Today, India recollects the surgical strikes launched on 29th Sep last year, across the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan. The event coincided, this year, with an ambush on the NSCN (K) group which has evaded talks and has been regularly attacking Indian forces and local civilians. The period leading to the anniversary also included comments by Lt General DS […]
President Trump’s government unveiled its new National Security Strategy (NSS) last week. It has since been dominating headlines in the region. The NSS lays down his government’s views on existing and emerging threats and its strategy to counter them. The NSS is mandated by Congress based on the Goldwater Nichols act and each President is expected to issue it annually. […]
The Regiment of Artillery, also termed as the ‘Gunners’ would celebrate their 190th Raising day on 28th Sept. It was on this day in 1827, when the first Indian Artillery unit, 5 Bombay (mountain battery) was raised, though Babur was the first to employ artillery in India, in the first battle of Panipat. It has come a long way since […]