Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale remembers the contributions of military historian S N Prasad, who turned 90 recently.
A chief lodging a 'statutory complaint' sends a very wrong signal to the rank and file of the service. Does India need a spectacle like this? Even more dangerously, this also signals the breakdown of communication at the highest levels of the defence ministry, says Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd)
It is time to free this great son India from the shackles of narrow regionalism, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
It is time Gen V K Singh forgets about his academic pursuits and joins politics to provide much needed leadership to the country starving for it. The political scene, both on the ruling and opposition side has never been so dismal in last 60 years. There is a terrible dearth of leaders of stature and capability, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
In an open letter to Team Anna, Colonel Anil Athale questions their obsession with the Lokpal Bill. Athale suggests the merger of existing anti-corruption wings of all departments and public enterprises with Lokpal instead of creating another huge army of clerks.
Three years after the event the country is still waiting for the answer to these questions. But instead what it is served is harebrained theories, half truths and downright lies to rope in 'politically correct' suspects to throw dust into the eyes of the public, says Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd).
Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd) on why AFSPA should not be repealed in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Citizens must remember that the job of the armed forces is to 'protect' democracy, NOT practice it. Neither is it the primary job of the Army chief or the defence minister to eradicate corruption. Their primary or the only job is to ensure that the armed forces of the republic are adequately armed and equipped to face the likely enemy and emerge victorious. Everything else is secondary and only in the nature of aim plus, says Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale
An open letter to Defence Minister A K Antony on the threat from China and the need for upgradation of our defence research and production by Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
The Abbottabad raid has raised many disturbing questions and the Indian armed forces must find answers to them, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
'One is not talking of an all-out war,' says Colonel Anil A A Athale (retd). 'What we must accept is a short, sharp, attack by the Chinese, more in the nature of a slap!'
While the United States deals with India as an Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean power, it deals with Pakistan and countries to the West as part of Middle East, says Col Anil Athale.
While these major changes are taking place in the US policies, India seems stuck in the old paradigm of wishing that somehow Pakistan will turn Gandhian someday, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
Colonel Anil Athale (retd) on the state of the judiciary in the country.
The whole approach of the civil society activists is legalistic, with an unbounded faith in laws as cure for all. In India we have a plethora of laws but very little law and order. It is essential that any solution for corruption must involve political scientists, management experts, administrators in order to work out laws and institutions that work, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
To the chorus of the usual suspect television news brigade in New Delhi, Pakistan seems to have launched a 'Peace Offensive' of sorts vis a vis India. After a delay of 15 years it now wants to reciprocate by granting the Most Favoured Nation status to India for trade. For the uninitiated, MFN is an obligation under the World Trade Organisation regime.
India has neither the intent nor the capability to pose a major threat to Pakistan. But the bogey of an India threat is kept alive in Pakistan mainly to help the military to ensure it relevance and dominance of the country, says Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd)
A powerful campaign has been launched against Hazare and the movement he led. 'Anti democratic', 'Fascist' are some of the adjectives hurled at him. There is a less than subtle attempt to paint him a Hindu fundamentalist, writes Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
A powerful campaign has been launched against Hazare and the movement he led. 'Anti democratic', 'Fascist' are some of the adjectives hurled at him. There is a less than subtle attempt to paint him a Hindu fundamentalist, writes Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd) on how the global war on terror has changed the geo-politics of the world and India's role in it.
The tremendous response, especially from the youth of the country to a 74-year-old Gandhian, has put paid to many political dreams. It is the leadership vacuum that Anna Hazare has filled, write Col Anil Athale
Community policing and strict control over the sale and distribution of explosives and detonators will go a long way in curbing the menace, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd) recalls how the Battle of Panipat, 250 years ago, changed the history of the Indian subcontinent for the next century and half.
The LeT terror campaign is backed by the power and resources of a state. To compare this with the acts of a crowd of motley Hindu extremists is like equating chalk with cheese, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
The main issue is the high risk that government took in a midnight swoop where things could have gone horribly wrong! Apart from illegality of use of force against sleeping citizens, the utter insanity of the decision making and panic syndrome is an issue of concern, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
New Delhi's inaction on the grim situation in Manipur, whose people are facing untold hardship due to the economic blockade by Naga rebels, is shocking and can have disastrous consequences for India, warns Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd)
If we wish to deter a future attack like 26/11, we must publicly state our possible response in advance and implement it resolutely in case of attack, says (retd) Colonel Dr Anil Athale
Colonel Anil Athale (retd) lists a few military tactics that may help team India win the World Cup.
'If ever there was a case for the government to use its power to issue an ordnance and take pre-emptive action, this is it.'
'Sadly, we don't have a single political leader in any party who carries any kind of conviction in Kashmir.'
The apparent Indian smugness and inability to see the gathering clouds on the security horizon is at the heart of our problems, warns Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
Colonel Anil Athale (retd) recommends that Extrnal Affairs Minister S M Krishna should tell Pakistan that the current exercise in peace building is possibly the last chance for the country to avoid a second Bangladesh like situation.
'A demonstration of the force by the State will wean away a large portion of sympathisers. The hardcore ideologically motivated cadres are not likely to be affected by this, but it will ease the path of the impending operations by lowering the morale of the Naxal rank and file and raising that of the police forces as well as common people.'
Stagnant defence expenditure in India and set back to modernisation would be music to the ears of Gen Kayani and Hu Jin Tao.
Colonel Dr Anil Athale (retd) writes an open letter to former President A P J Abdul Kalam to intervene in Kashmir and start a dialogue with the people.
Peace with Pakistan is not possible in the foreseeable future. Those charged with the responsibility to safeguard our country and its citizens will do well to get a reality check and devise our defence posture accordingly, writes Colonel Dr Anil Athale (retd).
For a long-term solution to the Kashmir problem, there is no substitute to opening a mass debate with representatives of all regions of the state and not just the valley, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
The air element has a great psychological effect on the adversary as it can raise the morale of our forces while lowering that of the adversary, says Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd).
Colonel Anil Athale says that a long lasting solution to the Af-Pak situation is balkanisation of the area.
The ultimate battle against Islamist terror has to be fought by the Muslims themselves, for they are its biggest potential victim.
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