SOS from Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Balochistan & Gilgit-Baltistan

The secular Awami National Party (ANP) led Government of Khyber Pakhtunkwa and the nationalist organizations of Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan have issued separate appeals to the international community for assisting them to meet the tremendous loss of lives and economic damages suffered by them due to the current floods in Pakistan. Read More »

Weekly Intelligence Brief

• The Talibanization of Kashmir
• Wikileaks and India

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New Delhi’s political incompetence creates a valley of discontent

It was winter- of 1963 when the holy relic at the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar went missing. News spread like wild fire and a crowd of more than quarter of a million assembled in Srinagar town. A police station, tehsil headquarters and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed’s hotel, then under construction, were set on fire. So also the fire fighting vehicles that were called to the scene. We sent military’s firefighting vehicles accompanied by a fully armed platoon. Civil administration simply panicked and handed over the city of Srinagar to the army. Read More »

‘Ek medal mila, Maa’

“Going through hell… Keep going,” said a desk graffiti in one of the classrooms at the National Defence Academy. I am sure it’s still there, the etchings deepened by those that came later. Tired fingers trying to find solace in tradition, in the words of a nameless cadet, and the knowledge that those that came before sweated, bled, cried and triumphed the same way. Read More »

The Subalterns’ Night Out

In the early-1970s, as the saying went, subalterns were meant to be seen and not heard and, when seen, they were expected to be seen training hard with their troops. Read More »

Media Partner

Time to Unshackle Our Shipyards

When Rear Admiral Ganeshan spoke to me about a seminar on Warship Building a few weeks ago, I conveyed the Navy’s wholehearted approval and support because I am convinced that we must open the windows of our mind to new ideas, and undertake serious introspection, if we are to improve our performance. I was, therefore, privileged and delighted to be there to share some thoughts with a very distinguished audience, where all the luminaries of the ship building industry were present. Read More »

Changing Face of Terror

Phenomenon of terrorism as a global menace is of recent origin. History of terrorism is as old as the human civilisation. However, recent decades have witnessed exacerbation in occurrence of terrorist incidents in almost all parts of the globe in general and Asia and Europe in particular. Having remained confined to the Middle East and some parts of Europe until the decade of 1980s; terrorism also ensnared some parts of Asia, particularly South Asia into its fold during the 1980s. Read More »

Associate the Dalai Lama with Revived Nalanda University

China is reported to have conveyed to the Government of India through diplomatic channels its unhappiness over a courtesy call made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at New Delhi on August 11, 2010. Read More »

Media: the Force Multiplier

Media can mar or make the war efforts. Enhance or rubbish the image within minutes if the communication skills remain poor. There was a time when whatever little the military public relations doled out was considered sacred. Not any more. With the arrival of the private channels and the Internet, news travels in picture form accompanied by text in real time, internationally. In a free society transparency is vital to keep it emancipated. Yet there is an equal compulsion to maintain the essential element of military secrecy. Read More »

China becoming a superpower or just a regional player?

The end of the Cold War in 1989, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, opened up strategic opportunities for China. As per Chinese perceptions, the era of bipolarity had given way to a multi-polar world in which it was destined to play a crucial role. The world order, however, has not been shaping according to Chinese strategic calculations. Read More »

Pak Floods: Impact on Fight against Terrorism

It has been difficult to estimate the damage suffered by Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the various Punjabi terrorist organizations as a result of the floods in Pakistan. They must have suffered damages because many of their training camps were located in areas which are under water. Read More »

Shortage of Officers in the Services

Currently, the Indian Army is facing a shortage of 11,238 officers, a huge 24.1 percent of its authorization of 46,615 officers. The other two services face similar problems. The situation seems to be worsening as is evident from the fact that only 172 of the available 300 seats have been taken up for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA) recently. Read More »

Strategic Engagement of the EAST

India’s ‘Look-East Policy’, initiated during the early 1990s as a part of India’s attempts to cope with the post-Cold War shifts in world and Asian politics, has picked up the threads, lost during the 1950s and 1960s, of seeking intensive engagement with the ASEAN region. Read More »

Relief for the War Disabled

Compensation for disability incurred in war or war-like-situations is at present paltry and highly inadequate. Although slightly higher in some respects than what is given to those disabled due to other causes, it continues to be at ridiculously low levels. This does not send the correct message to the environment and does not inspire confidence in the Governments policies to look after the interests of those who sacrifice their limbs and vital organs on the battlefield. Read More »

Threat to Pakistan’s External Security: No Change in ISI’s Assessment

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan is a joint agency of the armed forces, normally headed by an officer of the Army, which is responsible for the collection, analysis and assessment of tactical and strategic intelligence having a bearing on Pakistan’s internal and external security. Read More »

Nuclear capability of India and China

A comparison of nuclear capability of India and China cannot be made in isolation. It has to be derived in the backdrop of their strategic vision, global ambitions and political and social ethos that condition their perceptions. Their strategic vision dictates the development of their nuclear capability (including nuclear policy, concepts, weapons capability and delivery systems) appropriate to the geo-strategic environment. Read More »

Warship Building: Cost and Time Overruns

The world over, warship building projects are threatened by soaring costs and time overruns. A very recent major crisis with the U.S Navy has been the Littoral Combat Ship Programme with the cost of the first warship LCS nearly double the projected cost of US $ 220 m. Same is true of the DDG 1000, formerly DDX programme. Read More »

Weekly Intelligence Brief

• Maoists: Enemies of India
• Nepal: The Maoist Road Map

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A Bitter Harvest

I remember August 15, 1947.

We were on an Anchor Line Liner, which had sailed from Southampton and was about to dock at Bombay. There were many Indian Army officers on board. Some were to opt for India, the others for the newly formed Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Read More »