Articles By Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal
Pakistanis seek truth on Kargil
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Book Excerpt: Pakistan's Proxy War | Date: 08 Dec , 2022
A year after Pakistan’s stunning military defeat at the hands of the Indian Army in Kargil, the skeletons are now tumbling out of the cupboard. Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made...
An Open letter to Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 02 Apr , 2018
Dear General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Greetings from New Delhi from a former Indian soldier, who has served on the Line of Control (LoC), conducted counter-insurgency operations against...
Fighting to the Muzzle: A Tradition of Valour and Professionalism
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 07 Sep , 2017
There can be no doubt that the lion’s share of the credit for the military victory during the Kargil conflict in the summer of 1999, goes to the infantry battalions of the army for their...
Acupuncture Warfare: China’s Cyberwar Doctrine and Implications for India
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Book Excerpt: China: Threat or Challenge? | Date: 30 Jul , 2017
Cyber-attack: Stuxnet and other Worms Space has been called the new high ground in war, but cyber-space is truly the new frontier that has made boundaries irrelevant. War can now be waged against...
India’s Strategic Culture: Need for Change
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 14 Jul , 2017
Alexander of Greece, the Scythians, Genghis Khan, Mahmud Ghazni (17 times), Mohammed Ghori, Timur the Lame and the Mughals, among others, all invaded India through the Khyber Pass. Less than 400...
Meeting the Chinese Challenge through Cooperative Security
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Book Excerpt: China: Threat or Challenge? | Date: 03 Apr , 2017
China as a Factor in Regional Instability China’s unbridled military growth, its assertiveness in dealing with territorial disputes on land and at sea and its quest to acquire naval bases in the...
Inadequate Budgetary Allotment and India's Defence Preparedness
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 25 Feb , 2017
In the budget for the Financial Year (FY) 2017-18, presented in the Indian parliament on 1 February 2017, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been allotted INR 2,74,114 crore, excluding the...
Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Warheads and India’s Nuclear Doctrine
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 24 Sep , 2016
In an endeavour to preserve strategic stability, India, a reluctant nuclear power, has demonstrated immense restraint despite grave incitement from Pakistan. In stark contrast, ever since it...
Time to hit and hurt the Pakistan Army!
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Courtesy: Rediff.com | Date: 19 Sep , 2016
The Pakistan-sponsored fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri on September 18, that resulted in the martyrdom of 17 soldiers, is the worst since 2002. Though all four fidayeenwere killed, that...
India & China Territorial Dispute: The Growing Challenge
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Vol. 31.2 Apr-Jun 2016 | Date: 04 Sep , 2016
China’s negotiating strategy on the territorial dispute is to stall resolution of the dispute till it is in a much stronger position in terms of comprehensive national strength so that it can...
Two Years of NDA Government: Defence Preparedness and Modernisation need...
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 26 May , 2016
The defence budget has dipped to 1.72 per cent of the country’s GDP – the lowest level since the disastrous 1962 War with China. Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence and the armed...
Defence Procurement: A Major Overhaul of Policy and Procedures is Necessary
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 30 Mar , 2016
No country that is not substantially self-reliant in defence production can aspire to become a dominant military power in its region and, in due course, on the world stage. Prime Minister...
Air Power: Ground Strike Capabilities must be enhanced to Support Army...
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 29 Mar , 2016
A specialised aircraft is needed to destroy targets on land on the future battlefield As the biennial DefExpo gets underway at Goa on March 28th, the state of India’s air power will be a major...
Modest hike in the defence budget for FY 2016-17
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 01 Mar , 2016
For the first time in recent memory, the words “defence budget” did not figure in the Finance Minister’s budget speech in the Lok Sabha on February 29, 2016. The norm has been for Finance...
Lt Gen JFR Jacob: A Personal Remembrance
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 21 Jan , 2016
1971 War hero, principal planner of the Indian army’s race to Dhaka, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, Governor of Goa and Punjab, Lt Gen JFR Jacob passed away in early January 2016. Many richly...
The Indian Soldier is a Role Model for the Nation: An Army Day Tribute
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 Jan , 2016
The Idea of India The Indian soldier is a role model for the people of India. Scrupulously honest, positively secular, completely apolitical, with an ethos of working hard, simple needs and frugal...
General O P Malhotra – A Personal Remembrance
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 12 Jan , 2016
After he took over as the Army Chief in June 1978, as a proud Gunner, General O P Malhotra’s first visit was quite naturally to Devlali – the home of the Gunners. On the evening of his...
Restructuring Defence Reforms for National Security
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Vol. 30.3 Jul-Sep 2015 | Date: 31 Dec , 2015
Systemic weaknesses and structural shortcomings in India’s national security decision making system have led to sub-optimal synergisation of the available combat resources, meagre as these are....
Exercise Hand-in-Hand: Counter-terrorism Cooperation between India and China...
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Date: 20 Oct , 2015
The Indian army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China participated in a joint counter-terrorism exercise at Kunming in the Yunnan province of China in the second week of October 2015....
UN Sanctions Must Be Imposed On Pakistan
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Courtesy: CLAWS | Date: 04 Jul , 2015
On June 22, 2015, the Afghan Parliament was attacked by Jihadi extremists while it was in session. According to Haseeb Sediqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency the National...