Articles By Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd)
Zorawar Singh: A Military Appraisal and Millennium Tribute
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Book Excerpt: Footprints in the Snow: On the trail of Zorawar Singh | Date: 13 Apr , 2022
Earlier Tributes In his book on Gulab Singh: The Founder of Kashmir, KM Pannikar, the eminent Indian historian had this to say of the generalship of Zorawar Singh:– “To have marched an army,...
Zorawar Singh as Military Governor of Kishtwar
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Book Excerpt: Footprints in the Snow: On the trail of Zorawar Singh | Date: 17 Oct , 2020
The Phenomenon of Mentorship The relationship between Gulab Singh and his ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, clearly expresses the phenomenon of military mentorship. This is not a facet peculiar to...
India needs to seek Alliance Partners who are Prepared to Contain the...
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Date: 07 Dec , 2016
Ostensibly, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is meant for trade and commerce. However, it has serious geopolitical ramifications which we seem to have overlooked. The first is the very...
J&K: Theatre of the Next War
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Courtesy: Aakrosh | Date: 30 May , 2014
Significance of the Gilgit–Gwadar Corridor The ominously rising strategic salience of the Gilgit–Baltistan region was made sharply apparent by Selig Harrison’s startling disclosure in 2010...
Israel attack on Iraq: likely scenario and impact
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 23.3 Jul-Sep 2008 | Date: 17 Jun , 2012
< !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> The United States had engaged in a high profile coercive deployment of naval forces in the Gulf from end 2006 to early 2007 to deter Iran from proceeding apace with its nuclear enrichment...
Tactical Shifts in the Terror Profile
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol. 23.4 Oct-Dec 2008 | Date: 08 Oct , 2011
From June 08, India has been victim of a new phase of terrorism and enhanced ISI activities. This spurt in ISI sponsored terrorism was presumably initiated by Lt Gen Nadeem Taj to divert...
J&K: The complete surrender?
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 24 Feb , 2011
The recent spate of scams has so exhausted the fund of public outrage, that the die-hard votaries of peace with Pakistan (at any cost) have found the time opportune to shamelessly resile from...
The critical battles of Helmand and Kandhar
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Feb , 2011
The year 2010 was crucial for the final outcome in Afghanistan. There were two major changes in the military leadership. The highly regarded, Special Forces Commander, Lt Gen Stanley McChrystal...
Left Wing Extremism
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 24.3 Jul-Sep 2009 | Date: 12 Jan , 2011
The Assembly elections in J&K in 2008 was peaceful and witnessed record voter turnouts. In sharp contrast the very first day of the Lok Sabha Polls in 2009 witnessed an upsurge of Naxalite...
Demographic drivers of India's national security
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 23.3 Jul-Sep 2008 | Date: 22 Dec , 2010
The scientific process of Net Assessment is characterised by a study of trends and triggers. Evolutionary change in the geo-strategic environment can be described in the form of trends. Trends...
Resurrecting Afghanistan
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 23 Nov , 2010
The Afghan nation-state was one of the oldest states of Asia. It became the first failed state in Asia. In the interests of not only regional stability but global security as such, this contagion...
Tawang: Locals boycott Chinese goods
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 29 Oct , 2010
A youth camp of 645 young college students of some 28 colleges and technical institutions of Arunachal Pradesh was held at Itanagar. The Camp was conducted from 11-16th October 2010. It was...
Capture of India : the Maoist blueprint
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 25.3 Jul-Sep 2010 | Date: 06 Oct , 2010
In 2003-2004 the former Peoples War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre held a series of confabulations to work out their merger. Their Central Committees met five to six times to...
Military Lessons : Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-1
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Jul , 2007
A classical response option for a country faced with an externally inspired Low Intensity Conflict (that can drag on for decades) is to conventionalise the conflict. In so doing, its strategic...
Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-5 : The Rocket Threat
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Apr , 2007
The free rocket threat may not be relevant immediately in the sub continental context. However it is certain that terrorist organisations operating in J&K are likely to draw their lessons form...
Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-4 : Weapons Employment Profile
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Apr , 2007
Employment of Anti-Tank Guided Missiles From the point of view of relevance to our context, the employment of Russian third generation Anti-tank Guided Missiles merits the closest attention. The...
Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-6 : Anti-Rocket Solutions
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Apr , 2007
Alon Ben David says overall some 4228 rockets were fired on Israel at the overall rate of almost 130 rockets a day Actually the rate averaged around 150 – 180 rockets per day for the first 10...
Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-7 : Major Lessons Learnt
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Apr , 2007
Let us now summarise some of the salient lessons learnt: Selection and Maintenance of Aim This is the first principle of war and has been revalidated in this campaign. The original Israeli plan...
Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-8 : Conclusion
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Apr , 2007
The Israel – Hezbollah conflict has spawned a rich harvest of military lessons that we must analyse and ingest at the earliest. In essence it was an attempt to conventionalise and thereby end a...
Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Part-2 : Israeli Response
By: Maj Gen GD Bakshi, (Retd) | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 26 Apr , 2007
The Air Offensive The Israeli Air Force (IAF) put in a stellar performance in this war. Its prime target system was the known locations of the Hezbollah’s long range rockets like the Raad (45...