Colonel Anil A Athale (retired) examines the geopolitics of the regions and explains ways in which India and step into the power vacuum that exists there.
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.
Our strategy of retaliation with surgical strikes or the new strategy of 'cold start' remains moribund and ineffective for the enemy believes and rightly so, that we lack the will and wherewithal to implement it. Our conventional retaliation strategy lacks 'credibility' and therefore is no deterrent, says Colonel Anil A Athale.
'The return of India to its own civilisational values can never endanger freedoms as pluralism is the bedrock of our culture,' assert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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.
'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.'
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).
What the ceasefire does is to show the supporters of violence in the Kashmir valley an alternative to militancy, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
By jettisoning the vision of multilateral world in favour of a Han Empire, China has posed a major long term challenge to India. India must stand firm against Chinese expansionism but also keep a door open for future detente by making a clear distinction between Chinese people and the current Chinese leadership, observe Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (Retd) and Colonel Anil Athale (Retd).
'As events at Kargil and Pakistan's continued support to terror activities in India prove, Pakistan has always felt that the break-up/destruction of India was within its capability,' notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Stagnant defence expenditure in India and set back to modernisation would be music to the ears of Gen Kayani and Hu Jin Tao.
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).
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 A Athale (retd) says that Sino-Indian cooperation at the Copenhagen climate summit is the sign of things to come.
Armed forces and the police can only ensure that violence is kept under control but for any kind of lasting peace, politicians will have to find an answer to the perception that the Indian State is anti-Islam. Therein lies the biggest challenge to the Modi government, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retired).
Colonel Anil Athale says that a long lasting solution to the Af-Pak situation is balkanisation of the area.
India should shift to a 'flexible response' from the current no first use and minimum deterrence posture. Against China it would be a strategy of dissuasion based on survivable second strike force that could threaten Chinese high value targets. In case of Pakistan, the flexible response strategy would be based on ambiguous no first or second use and a 1,000 point targeting with the aim of annihilation of that entity.
'By causing military humiliation of India it intends to send a signal to other Asian countries to toe the Chinese line,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In an impending Talibanisation of Pakistan, we face hordes entering our country to carry out mayhem. Once the state of Pakistan is taken over by the Taliban, we face a prospect of use of nuclear weapons against us, either through direct or indirect means of delivery.
If the air pollution is not brought under control, tourism to Kashmir will be affected, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), who has been visiting the valley for 50 years.
'National unity and acceptance of cultural diversity was never more important than now when the world enters an unstable and dangerous phase.'
India must sit tight and not succumb to pressure tactics. After the relative peace that Kashmir has got used to, let there be a dose of unrest for the Kashmiri to come to his collective senses.
The valley is under the iron grip of the armed forces and Pakistan does not have the military power or political support to change the status quo, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), after a recent visit to Kashmir.
President Obama has this historical opportunity to rescue the world from an economic morass and an Islamist nightmare and put his stamp on world history.
'It is for the first time in 70 years that the US has come out totally in India's favour on the Kashmir issue,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The ultimate battle against Islamist terror has to be fought by the Muslims themselves, for they are its biggest potential victim.
'It was India's good fortune to have a Vajpayee lead the government at this crucial moment in history.' 'By taking the N-decision he saved future generations of Indians from being 'Kosovoed' or 'Iraqed',' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'...Else we will let the situation develop to a dangerous level where much greater violence will be the only outcome,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Indian apathy towards our historical heritage is indeed amazing,' says military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'India should pledge that it will only target those provinces of Pakistan where nuclear weapons are located,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'History will repeat itself after a decade or so and historians will point to the folly of May 2017 as the event that sowed the seeds of another 9/11,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'There are thousand ways to pressure Pakistan to make it behave.' 'Going to the ICJ was the worst possible option,' says Colonel Anil A Athale.
'A major internal upheaval cannot be ruled out.'
'Fearful of losing strategic advantage, the only option for Pakistan is to rattle its nuclear sabre!' 'Pakistan thereby hopes to play on the worldwide fear of an outbreak of nuclear war in South Asia,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Both the separatists in the Valley and the Indian establishment have failed to fathom that the world's alignments have changed, writes Col Dr Anil Athale (retired).
'Every time news of riots in PoW camps in India and the killing of Pakistanis reached Lyallpur, huge crowds would throng the Lyallpur jail gates, thirsting for revenge.'
The Ayodhya verdict heralds not the beginning of theocracy or Hindu rashtra (that never existed in 5,000 years), but marks the end of a divisive phase of our history.
'In India foreign policy is generally handled by the prime minister.' 'One can clearly see the Vajpayee stamp on all this.' 'Only a person with poetic imagination can weave such a complex web,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'While the meeting on December 6th was perfectly legal, was it ethical?' asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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