'Many senior Bangladeshis feel Bangladesh will fall into anarchy if the Jamaat becomes an important part of a future government or has disproportionate influence in the government.'
'Critics say the political leadership abandoned the army chief or did not back him. I disagree. 'Military leaders are trained to take decisions when given a free hand.' 'This was a clear go-ahead from the prime minister to the army chief.'
'They thought nobody would hit Bahawalpur and Muridke because they have nuclear weapons.' 'They used to think India cannot touch our military targets because we are a nuclear weapons country.' 'After Operation Sindoor we have called their bluff.'
'The Pakistanis called the US state department and said we agree with India on peace.' 'It was then that US President Donald Trump jumped in and took credit for the ceasefire.'
'Gogoi will be remembered as someone who recovered Assam as a state, as a people and society from the fear of insurgency that had struck the state from the 1980s till 2000.'
Nana Patekar, who was accused of sexual harassment and ousted from Sajid Nadiadwala's Housefull 4 in 2018, returns after a two-year exile.
The State's ambiguity has resulted in a stalemate in the crucial fight against the creeping progress of the Naxalite movement in the country, notes Nitin A Gokhale.
Since China began this buildup, the Indian side says Chinese troops will have to start the de-escalation. Only then will Indian troops go back. The June 6 meeting agreed to this roadmap.
'All commanding officers and their superiors are sure to have taken note of the betrayal that killed Colonel Rai. Corrective measures will be taken quickly. And the Indian Army will continue to do its duty without rancour and remorse.'
'It was Parrikar's sharp insights into finance and international systems that stood out when India --at his suggestion -- decided to procure the Rafale combat jets from France.'
Although India has sought inputs from the Myanmar army since most of those involved in Thursday's ambush would have sneaked across into Myanmar, the fresh operations would smoke out insurgents based in hideouts on the Indian side along the border.
After the Naga leader's death, Chinese intelligence may ensure ULFA terrorist Paresh Barua takes over as leader of the anti-India rebel groups operating out of Myanmar, says Nitin A Gokhale.
'General Rawat's unambiguous stand has acted as a much needed confidence booster to the troops -- young officers and soldiers at the cutting edge -- who were often left wondering if they were doing the right and necessary thing in combating the terrorists, many times paying with their own lives,' says Nitin A Gokhale.
'Those of us who have seen the Indian military from close quarters for decades now are outraged at Admiral Sushil Kumar's irresponsible and in my view flippant remark,' says Nitin A Gokhale. 'What makes people like Julio Riberio and Admiral Sushil Kumar, who rose to the highest positions in their respective professions, play the victim? Especially when it is not clear if all the attacks on Christians and Christian establishments had their roots in religious intolerance.'
'The much-awaited decision could be a welcome change at a time when the Indian armed forces are crying for self-reliance and the defence industry is looking forward to more indigenisation,' notes Nitin A Gokhale.
'According to top government sources, the territorial boundaries of the existing North-Eastern states will not be disturbed although cultural integration of Nagas living in states other than Nagaland will be facilitated through special measures,' reveals Nitin A Gokhale.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have gone beyond the cautious approach usually advocated by the tightly-knit 'China group' in the ministry of external affairs in dealing with Beijing.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have gone beyond the cautious approach usually advocated by the tightly-knit 'China group' in the ministry of external affairs in dealing with Beijing.'
Nitin A Gokhale, Co-founder, BharatShakti.in and long-time Rediff.com contributor, remembers a most unusual politician.
'R N Kao was a spymaster, an institution builder and a gentleman.'
'For years, a whispering campaign against the non-Nagas -- and occasional violence -- has dominated the local discourse, but Farid Khan's lynching was unprecedented in its ferocity.'
'The Chinese have not crossed the LAC in Galwan.' 'They are on their side of the LAC and we are on our side.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh will have to treat these militias for what they are: Criminals armed with deadly weapons. Otherwise, nothing will distinguish the National Democratic Alliance government from the ten-year long perfidy of the UPA in Assam.'
'The failure to remember the martyrs on a grand scale is a national problem. As a nation-State, India time and again fails to honour its true heroes: The men in uniform.'
'In both the attacks last week, terrorists had come equipped for a prolonged fight and were eventually prepared to die. This is a new breed of fidayeen Pakistan has invested in.'
'The Chinese forces in the narrow Chumbi Valley are currently in the line of sight and fire of Indian forces poised on the ridges along the Sikkim-Tibet border.' 'Aware of this vulnerability, the Chinese have been eyeing the Doklam plateau,' explains national security expert Nitin A Gokhale.
If the talks fail to move forward -- as is most likely -- India has retained the option of unleashing a disproportionate response in the coming weeks on the border, reveals Nitin A Gokhale.
'The Indian Army's surveillance had noticed the Chinese movements.' 'There was no intelligence failure.'
'Here was a man who played a major part in helping the Bengalis of East Pakistan create a new nation, secured the merger of Sikkim into the Indian dominion and built R&AW into a formidable outfit, comparable to the best in the world.' Rameshwar Nath Kao shunned the limelight, hated to be photographed and preferred to work behind the scenes. A revealing excerpt from Nitin A Gokhale's much awaited book, R N Kao: Gentleman Spymaster.
'The Indian military has rightly advised the government not to fall for the rather spurious Pakistani demand to demilitarise Siachen,' says Nitin Gokhale in an interview about his new book Beyond NJ9842: The Siachen Saga.
'They cannot use firearms.' 'They have to be restrained.' 'It is a game of patience and chess board moves.' 'It is not like India and Pakistan where bullets get fired and people get killed.'
'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.'
'Not a single soldier should be left behind in enemy territory.' Nitin A Gokhale's fascinating account on how the Indian Army conducted the daring and successful cross-border operation last September.
'That the terrorists could still kill three security personnel, including men of the Defence Service Corps, indicates highly trained men are being sent across the border,' says national security expert Nitin A Gokhale, founder, BharatShakti.in
'Crucial intelligence was obtained by a R&AW operative from a couple of moles inside the camps four days before the Balakot operation.'
An expert committee has recommended to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that supply of equipment need not be blocked even if bribery charges emerge.
Colonel M N Rai's supreme sacrifice highlights that the Indian Army continues to be led from the front by its officers.
'It is up to New Delhi to take quick advantage of the turn of events in Sri Lanka. Otherwise, Beijing's economic clout and the deep roots it has grown in the island nation may well tempt the new President to play the India versus China game,' says Nitin A Gokhale.
Lifting the AFSPA can certainly be attempted but the provisions of the AFSPA, as an emergency law that empowers the army -- the nation's instrument of last resort -- must continue to remain on the statute books given the increasingly violent and uncertain times that the subcontinent is likely to face in coming years, says Nitin A Gokhale.
'This is what we train for: That one chance to deliver a blow so lethal that the enemy will constantly think about it when planning any misadventure.'
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