29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found collapsed after being poisoned last week. Both remain in a serious condition along with a police officer who came in contact with the same substance.
Even as the polity find ways and means to address the genuine concerns and fears of the society, the Sri Lankan State apparatus would have to unravel these mystery-questions with convincing answers, and a road-map to the future, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Claude Arpi salutes Lieutenant General Zorawar Chand Bakshi, India's most decorated general, who passed into the ages recently.
The American oceanographic survey ship which controls the underwater drone seized by China had been spying against the Communist nation posing a threat to Chinese naval ships in the South China Sea, a state-run daily has said while claiming that such activities by the US Navy were "very rampant" in the strategic region.
A group of Russia-backed Cossack militants has been held responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, near the village of Chornukhine, some 80 kilometers north-west of Donetsk.
While some say an agreement was reached over the Panama Papers, others suggest that Nawaz Sharif may have handed the CPEC to the military in exchange for his survival.
'He has terror charges against him. And for an army officer, it's just terrible.'
A dismissed air force official, who allegedly shared secret documents with intelligence operatives backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, has been arrested from Punjab by the crime branch of the Delhi police.
The bill now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump's approval.
Over the past two decades, six of the eight army chiefs have been from the infantry and the other two from the artillery division. The appointment of either General Bakshi or General Hariz would interrupt the infantry's prolonged domination of the army command, says Ajai Shukla, a retired army officer himself.
A five-member JIT from Pakistan reached Pathankot on Sunday to carry out a probe into the attack at the IAF base at Pathankot.
The increase in violence along the Line of Control in the last few weeks indicates that despite the olive branch offered by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, hard-line elements in Islamabad are in no mood to become friendly with India.
The Pakistani Supreme Court ordered for a joint investigation team to probe the allegations of money laundering against his family.
Pakistan Opposition leader Imran Khan's supporters chanting 'Go Nawaz go' on Monday cut off the city from the rest of the country by blocking all major roads during their anti-Government protests even as negotiators from the two sides met to defuse the crisis and make the dialogue process more result-oriented.
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Asserting that there are terror groups that are instruments of state's policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said terrorism uses diverse motivations cannot be justified.
Raj Mukherji, a rising young Indian-American political figure who won an election to the New Jersey state legislature, wants to see more people from the community getting involved in the United States government.
Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day on Tuesday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them.
'Even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did.' 'That is because both the leaders do not want it.'
The JIT will be taken to only those areas of the air force station that were accessed by the terrorists, who attacked the base in the early hours of January 2 this year.
India plans to provide the probe team from Pakistan access to all witnesses in the Pathankot terror attack case but not security personnel from the National Security Guard or the Border Security Force.
Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects and believes it could acquire atomic bombs "at will", the BBC reported on Thursday.
The United Progressive Alliance government has abandoned its statecraft. It does not mind if the country is hurt as long as the UPA can score points when faced with a certain electoral defeat, says Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley
'For India, the phase of pure restraint has passed.' 'Restraint has failed to reform Pakistan or rein in terrorism,' says Vivek Gumaste.
The leaked documents include details of submarine's underwater sensors, above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system and specifications, communications system and navigation systems.
'By beheading an Indian soldier, the Pakistan army has demonstrated its proclivity for barbaric medievalism.' 'The strategies adopted and the punishment inflicted by India must be made progressively more stringent with every new act of terrorism till the cost becomes prohibitive for Pakistan,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Daring the military-backed government, supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have called for a "million person march" tomorrow against his ouster, even as police today arrested two top leaders of an Islamist party in a widening crackdown on protesters.
Hein Kiessling has the kind of access in Pakistan that journalists (and spies) would die for, says Kanika Datta.
'What the government should do to create jobs is to help revive the MSME sector.' 'This sector gives employment to lakhs of people.' 'The MSME sector provides more employment than the big industries.' 'So, what should be done immediately is to revive the MSME sector.'
India should adopt a pro-active strategy on Pakistan -- catalysing, facilitating and making room for a change in its anti-India posture.
'India is a huge market for Chinese goods. I don't think a war stands to logic when you have economic compulsions, but then Chinese are known to do illogical things.'
On the title page of the Top Secret Report, Henderson-Brooks quotes the Chinese tactician Sun Tzu: 'Know yourself, know your enemy: A hundred battles, a hundred victories', says Claude Arpi, highlighting where the Indian Army and government failed to counter the Chinese attack in 1962.
There's still little indication of forward movement in Indo-US defence relations.
Both Messrs Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri claim to march independently, but most of Pakistan believes they are marching to the Army's tune
The suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists dressed in army uniforms launched the attack with an aim of destroying the air base.
While the government's new Central Monitoring System looks extremely impressive on the technological front and could be a vital tool to fight terrorism, there are several questions regarding the privacy aspect that are being raised. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Domestically, China's 'strike hard' policy is alienating Uighurs further in Xinjiang. China's quid pro quo with the Taliban is hardly any lasting solution to the Afghanistan crises or to regional security, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
Facing fire over his remarks that ministers in Jammu and Kashmir were given money by the Army, former Army chief Gen V K Singh today sought to do damage control by saying it was not a bribe but the Centre expressed its willingness to order a probe.
Praising the US for turning barriers into bridges of partnership, he said that America had stood with India when the support was needed the most, like when terrorists attacked Mumbai in November 2008 and in other economic endeavours as well
