Dreaded Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is trying to expand its influence in Pakistan, with pamphlets being distributed in Peshawar and border provinces of Afghanistan, seeking support for jihad.
He said the force, which guards over 6,300 km of India's land border with Pakistan in the west and Bangladesh on the east, is faced by four main challenges on the security front.
We celebrate Dassera and regard it as an auspicious day as a day of victory of good over evil! So was 16 December! It is time we regard this day as auspicious as Dassera in future, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'The surgical strikes were not meant to deter or stop infiltration.' 'It was meant to create a kind of uncertainty in the minds of Pakistani military commanders.' 'By using hard power we've created an option which was not there earlier.'
Walee Bukhatir and Mazhar Khan, the men who drive cricket in the UAE, tell Harish Kotian/Rediff.com what the game is missing by India and Pakistan not playing at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
'Both India and Pakistan are now, for the first time in history, very closely allied and connected with the US -- economically and politically.'
One priority for Delhi (for the new foreign secretary in particular) is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible, suggests Claude Arpi.
It is time the current leaders who swear by 'cultural nationalism', that is religion neutral, assert that Bharatiyata is at the core of our nationalism and India was never a 'Hindu Rashtra', argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Addressing a massive public rally to celebrate the signing of the accord on January 27 that is expected to bring lasting peace to the troubled state, Modi said now the time was to work together for peace and development of the North-East.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Islamabad on Monday on his first visit to Pakistan where he is expected to sign a deal for an economic corridor worth $46 billion and other agreement.
A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded.
Asked if the relationship has achieved its full potential, the President replied, "Absolutely not."
The annual threat assessment of the US Intelligence Community released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) also said that the 'expanded military posture by both India and China along the disputed border elevates the risk of armed confrontation between two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for US intervention'.
'India has to understand that the permanent state of war that exists between India and Pakistan has to be expected,,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). 'The only way to ensure peace or absence of war is to maintain a militarily-dominant position over Pakistan.'
General Rawat also sent a tough message to Pakistan, saying if Islamabad continues to support cross-border terrorism, then the Indian Army can resort to "other actions" too.
Brushing aside India's concerns, China on Monday cemented its "all-weather ties" with Pakistan by agreeing to build a strategic $46 billion (Rs 2.9 lakh crore) economic corridor through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as part of 51 deals signed, expanding the communist giant's influence in the region.
Can Islamic Republic of Pakistan be a secular state?
'General J S Aurora, the commander of the Indian forces in the East, asked General Sagat Singh to withdraw his troops who were on the move to Dacca -- but he refused.' 'He said, "Jaggi, over my dead body".' 'Therefore, I say the creator of Bangladesh was General Sagat Singh.'
'We can't be outliers. We can't be bystanders. We have to be players.' 'The Taliban also need India to balance the winners in this game.'
'With the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Hindus from Pakistan can come to India. They have got a way,' says Gurumukh Jagwani who came to India on his honeymoon, loved the country so much that he stayed back and got Indian citizenship.
Bilawal Bhutto's political inheritance is his biggest asset as well as the biggest liability as he tries to make his mark in Pakistan politics. Challenging the Taliban militants is part of that strategy, though it matches with his political ideology. Shahzad Raza profiles the son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead a 'businessman' in Karachi who Indian intelligence officials said was Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, involved in the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and fatal stabbing of passenger Rupin Katyal.
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead a 'businessman' in Karachi who Indian intelligence officials said was Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, involved in the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and fatal stabbing of passenger Rupin Katyal.
If the Indian son-in-law can become prime minister in another country, could the daughter-in-law have not become one here, especially considering that the Indian culture and tradition is for the bahu to live, think and act like her in-laws, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
In unusually candid remarks, the Air Force chief termed Pakistani-occupied Kashmir as a "thorn in our flesh".
Gen Naravane said a "befitting response" was given to the "conspiracy" to make unilateral changes on the border and that the sacrifice of the Galwan heroes in eastern Ladakh will not go waste.
Political power has now been outsourced fully to the Modi government. Even if the RSS is still, in principle, his guru, nobody would dare to whisper a word of advice to Modi, forget some whiff of criticism. When the shishya grows into such a popular and domineering leader, the guru has to applaud from the sidelines, points out Shekhar Gupta.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack but the Taliban usually target shrines as they consider it un-Islamic.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has in fact gone to the extent of claiming that Pakistan's external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, was helping Maoists in the state. "The Maoists are spreading in Assam. The ISI has also joined hands with them," Gogoi told journalists after a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram earlier this week.
Trinamool leaders have claimed the NRC process and subsequent verification is vote bank politics. Other critics call it as modified ethnic cleansing. But putting poll rhetoric aside, the issue dates back to a time when many of these leaders had no political relevance.
'Even, amidst the ongoing pandemic, terrorism continues to pose a critical threat to international peace and security'
'Xi is keen that the remaining three territories still outside the Chinese ambit -- Taiwan, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Senkaku Islands in the East Sea -- be absorbed by the Communist regime by the time the centenary of the revolution rolls around in 2049.'
Heading G20 will give India a foreign affairs year like it has never had in history. You can trust Narendra Modi to exploit this to India's benefit. And, of course, to his own in his election year, explains Shekhar Gupta.
The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
'It will make good sense for military men on that side of the table to be confronted by our own.'
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.
A change in the name of the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) magazine 'suggests a refocusing' of the terror group from Afghanistan to Kashmir, a United Nations report has said.
There are times in each nation's life when the gods shower their blessings on it. The right leaders are in place and they make the right decisions. Everything seems to click and good luck favours its people. Such times came to this country 50 years ago, recalls Admiral J G Nadkarni (retd).
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
North-eastern insurgent groups are operating from Bangladesh and they have established links with the Inter Services Intelligence, the government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha saying the matter has been taken up with Pakistan.