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July 01, 2009
Why the Pakistan Army is struggling against the Taliban
The coherent strategy of the TTP has not been matched by an equally coherent one from Pakistan Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. He has been struggling to counter the co-ordinated strategy of the TTP with a bits and pieces strategy depending on where the pressure from the TTP comes from.

June 29, 2009
The BBC's unlikely story on 26/11
Had there been LeT spotters around the areas targeted, who were in independent communication with the controllers in Pakistan their conversations -- whether through the Internet or otherwise -- must have also been intercepted contemporaneously or recorded and noticed subsequently. No intelligence agency -- neither Indian nor the US nor of any other country -- has spoken of any such conversation with Pakistan by elements not participating in the attacks.

June 24, 2009
Why the US and Pak Army want Baitullah Mehsud
The operations undertaken by the Pakistan Army in the Swat Valley of the Malakand Division in the North West Frontier Province since April have started coming in for some criticism because while the Pakistan Army has claimed to have killed over 1,500 foot soldiers of the Pakistani Taliban hardly any important leader has been killed or captured.

June 24, 2009
B Raman: How to counter the Maoists
It is time for the government to have a re-think on the way we have been dealing with this problem in order to have a tailor-made strategy based on improvement of political management, strengthening rural policing and rural intelligence and developing capacities for rural operations with emphasis on mobile as well as on static security.

June 15, 2009
Foreign policy priorities for the new government
Our relations with Pakistan should have the topmost priority because of their impact on our internal security situation. How to convince Pakistan that it will never be able to change the status quo in Jammu and Kashmir by using terrorism against us?

June 02, 2009
Saeed's release: Fresh oxygen for the LeT
International pressure made Pakistan act against Saeed and Nazir Ahmed as well as the five involved in the Mumbai attack. Now, Pakistan calculates that international pressure will be less because of its strong action against the Taliban. It hopes to take advantage of this for once again ensuring that the LeT and its capabalities to attack India remain.

May 29, 2009
Why the Taliban is attacking the ISI
Of these various Taliban factions, only the Neo-Taliban, which was created by the ISI in 1994 when Benazir Bhutto was the prime minister, still owes its loyalty to the ISI and the Pakistan government. The others don't.

May 27, 2009
What's common to terror attacks in India and Pak
It would be useful for the investigating agencies of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to exchange notes on their respective investigations and to pick each other's brains. One should not fight shy of agreeing to a common brain-storming on the investigations.

May 18, 2009
LTTE may be defeated, but India must be careful
There are elements in Tamil Nadu who could get emotional over the death of Prabakaran and self-motivate themselves to give vent to their anger through terrorism. There is a need for a heightened alert for at least some months.

May 17, 2009
Shock & awe on Hindutva Web sites
'There is more introspection already going on on these web sites than in New Delhi and state capitals, and there is more loud thinking than in the endless debates on our television channels.'

May 16, 2009
The Lessons of Election 2009
'What is required is not more of the Hindutva ideology, but less of it.'

May 05, 2009
Can India get back funds in tax havens?
There is a lack of required political will to deal with this problem in an effective manner by strengthening the capabilities of the intelligence and investigating agencies and letting them function without any political interference.

May 01, 2009
Can terrorirsts get hold of Pakistan's nukes?
At present, India's focus has been on making the US co-operate against the activities of the anti-India terrorist groups and their infrastructure in Pakistani territory. This should continue, but this should not be the only subject of co-operation between the two countries. It is necessary to expand it to cover likely threats to Pakistan's nuclear establishments.

April 21, 2009
On fighting terror, Cong and BJP have poor records
One would have expected a serious and professional debate on insurgency, terrorism, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism during the election campaign -- particularly from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The expectations have been belied.

March 30, 2009
US Af-Pak policy: Bush wine in Obama bottle
Its objective is limited to preventing another 9/11 in US territory mounted from this region. It does not pay equal attention to the concerns of India and other countries. The strategy is, therefore, unlikely to excite professionals in India.

March 25, 2009
The ploy behind the Kupwara encounter
Security expert B Raman on the encounter in Kupwara.

March 23, 2009
What the CIA chief's visit to India, Pak means
One could assess without fear of contradiction that the New Delhi visit of Panetta, who is still to find his feet as an intelligence chief, would have had a much larger political objective for Obama. Firstly, to reassure Indian leaders that Clinton's first visit to China does not mean the downgrading of the US relations with India.

March 09, 2009
IPL is not about national pride
It is important that the government goes purely by the professional assessment and advice of the security bureaucracy in deciding whether the IPL should go ahead as scheduled. Unwarranted arguments such as "national pride" etc should not be allowed to indluence the decision, says B Raman.

March 06, 2009
Are Pakistan's nukes safe from the jihadis?
The security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal from a commando-style attack by jihadi terrorists operating inside Pakistan is a question which should be worrying security experts all over the world.

March 04, 2009
Key questions on Lahore attack answered
Jihadi terrorism emanating from the sanctuaries in Pakistani territory has assumed a pan-subcontinental dimension equally threatening all the countries of the subcontinent -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is time these countries constitute a common counter-terrorism brains trust to deal with this threat jointly, says B Raman.

February 26, 2009
Trouble brews for India in East
A question of major concern both to the Bnagladeshi political and military leadership as well as for India should be---- was the mutiny purely due to bread and butter issues or is there something more to it?

February 13, 2009
How India should respond to Pakistan's volte-face
One has to wait and see what further action the Pakistani authorities take in the weeks to come. This is the time for keeping up the pressure on Pakistan.

February 11, 2009
Al Qaeda threat: Questions without answers
These questions will need careful examination before one can come to a definitive conclusion on the implications of this message. But so many unanswered questions should not make us underestimate the importance of strengthened security in response to it.

February 04, 2009
Why the LTTE hates Sonia Gandhi
It is not advisable for India to be seen by large sections of the Sri Lankan Tamils as not only anti-LTTE -- rightly so -- but also as anti-Tamil.

January 21, 2009
Why Miliband tried to rationalise Mumbai attack
The shocking attempt by Miliband to play down the murders of 138 Indians and 25 foreign nationals committed by the Pakistani terrorists should not have come as a surprise to those aware of the historic links of the British intelligence with the Mirpuri migrants from Pakistani-occupied Kashmir in the UK and their important role during elections in certain constituencies

January 14, 2009
Terrorists' latest choice: hand-held weaons
'The Mumbai attack of November 2008 was the first act of mass casualty terrorism by jihadi terrorists against innocent civilians using hand-held weapons. The previous two acts of mass casualty terrorism with fatalities of more than 150 were carried out with timed IEDs -- in March 1993 and in July 2006, both in Mumbai'

January 12, 2009
Few takers for India's anti-ISI campaign
'US Congressional committees and professional counter-terrorism organisations in the West are already examining the Mumbai carnage in order to draw lessons for themselves and to prevent a Mumbai-style attack in their country. Surprisingly, such an exercise is hardly to be seen in India. All the debate till now has been on what the options are against Pakistan'

January 02, 2009
The end of Prabhakaran?
If there is to be real peace in Sri Lanka, the end of Prabhakaran has to be brought about by the Tamils themselves and not by the Sinhalese army.

Let us emulate Israel this year
While keeping our fingers crossed in J&K, we have reasons to be proud of what our intelligence agencies and the security forces have achieved in J&K after 19 years of sustained and well-calibrated counter-terrorism. They are capable of achieving similar results in the Indian hinterland in 2009 if the systemic and individual deficiencies are identified and removed instead of being covered up, says B Raman

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