Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt talks to Lieutenant General P C Katoch and journalist Saikat Dutta on how India has failed to strategically employ its considerable number of special forces especially in creating deterrence against the asymmetric war unleashed upon us by both Pakistan and China since past several years, and that we need to right this urgently.
On Tuesday, October 29, morning, the security forces gunned down two more terrorists holed up in the forest near a village in Akhnoor, taking the number of terrorists killed in the 27-hour gunfight near the Line of Control to three.
Dharma Guardian 2025 will primarily focus on urban warfare tactics and counter-terrorism operations and underscores the growing strategic partnership between India and Japan.
The government on Monday said it has denied a recent assertion made by US Pacific Command Chief Admiral Robert Willard regarding the presence of United States special forces in India.
Sri Lanka on Saturday rejected a top United States military commander's statement that American special forces were deployed in the island nation. There was no American or any other foreign forces stationed in the country, Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig Nihal Hapuarachchi said.
One terrorist was killed on Monday as special forces were mobilised to neutralise a group of recently infiltrated ultras who attacked an army convoy in a village in the Akhnoor sector near Jammu, officials said.
Britain's special forces have reportedly been given "carte blanche" to launch raids inside IS-held territory and direct airstrikes to kill or capture terrorist leaders who pose a threat to the UK.
It sustained fatal bullet injuries on Monday while attempting to protect the troops from the terrorist assault.
More than 70 United States' military advisers, mostly special forces personnel, are secretly working in Pakistan to help its armed forces battle the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the country's lawless tribal areas.
The crash late Friday represents the biggest death toll in a single incident for international forces in Afghanistan since the start of the war in 2001
On Saturday, Yoon apologised to the nation in his first public statement since his attempt to declare martial law, acknowledging that he "caused anxiety and inconvenience" to people of South Korea.
'Our politicians solely depend on bureaucrats who are unaccountable and follow their own agenda.' 'Our politicians would dare not dream of establishing a DOGE,' argues Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
In the first such incident in the past two decades, terrorists exchanged fire with security forces in the dense forests of the Zabarwan range in Kashmir on Sunday, November 10, 2024, forcing residents to flee in panic as additional forces were mobilised to strengthen the cordon.
A Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army's special forces laid down his life on Sunday, while three more soldiers were injured in a gunfight with terrorists in a remote forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, officials said.
Yoon's decision caused political upheavel in South Korea, including an Opposition-led attempt to impeach South Korea President and protests.
According to intelligence reports, the terrorists entered the Akhnoor region through the Battal area, and a wireless set seized from them confirmed their association with the JeM.
The Indian Air Force on Thursday said it has deployed Garud Special Forces commandos and four choppers for anti-Naxal operations but withdrawn the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles operating in Maoist bastions in Chhattisgarh.
Lt Gen Ghai said as for the process of documenting these weapons and informing those who need to know about them, "that is definitely continuing, and I can definitely authenticate that".
Special Forces are a vital element of national power, possessing enormous freedom of action and should be fruitfully employed to successfully meet future challenges, say Lieutenant General P C Katoch and journalist Saikat Dutta.
China does not have to give up what it took in 2020, it will never give up its claim to Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and other areas, and it has all the time now to plan its next surprise, points out Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kash Patel, a close confidante, as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This appointment would make Patel the highest-ranking Indian American in Trump's incoming administration. Patel has previously served in various roles in the Trump administration, including Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Trump praised Patel's work in uncovering the "Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax" and his commitment to "bringing back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI." Patel, who has extensive experience in law enforcement and national security, is known for his work on the Russia investigation and his criticism of the "deep state."
A Boston Globe report said said the undervover teams are searching for Iraqi Scud missile launchers, monitoring oil fields and marking mine-fields.
With the aim of giving special forces a technological edge over terrorists, Northern command headquarters had recently floated tenders for the purchase of high-tech multi-utility GPS wrist watches, defence sources said.
The intelligence agencies have also bolstered their apparatus in the area and are working to take out the terrorist support infrastructure there including overground workers who support terrorists, they said.
Three personnel, including two of major-rank and one naib subedar, have been conferred the Kirti Chakra, the ministry said.
Putin's remarks came within two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to Ukraine where he held talks with President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a relief to 30 Army personnel, the Supreme Court on Tuesday closed the criminal proceedings initiated against them by the Nagaland government for allegedly killing 13 civilians in a 2021 botched operation to ambush militants in Mon district for want of prosecution sanction.
'Communist China continues to aggressively expand its domain in the Indo-Pacific region.' 'It's crucial for the USA to continue its support in countering these malicious tactics.' 'India, along with other nations in the region, is not alone.'
President Droupadi Murmu on July 5, 2024 conferred 10 Kirti Chakras, including seven posthumously, to personnel of the Army and paramilitary forces for displaying indomitable courage and extraordinary valour in the line of duty.
Security forces on Tuesday morning gunned down two terrorists holed up in a forest area near a village in the Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir, taking the number of militants killed in the 27-hour-long gunfight near the Line of Control (LoC) to three, officials said.
After both grandfathers, father and uncle, Lieutenant Tanishka Damodaran is the first girl from the family to join the Indian Army. She will join her first posting in Kashmir soon and hopes to follows her family tradition of joining the Paras.
Sema's rise in para-athletics has been nothing short of inspiring.
After the United States intercepted Al Qaeda's most serious threat in recent years to target its embassies, country's Special Forces have been put on high alert to hit potential targets of the outfit in the Middle East, a media report has said.
Terming Naxals the biggest human rights violators, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said security forces have been carrying out 'offensive operations' instead of defensive against the insurgents and have achieved big successes in recent times.
'China did not expect India to show such strategic resolve in defending its territorial integrity.'
Pakistan may want to undertake a 'false flag' operation in J&K to divert attention from the situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but infiltrating one SSG battalion into J&K and having two SSG battalions waiting to follow suit means war, which Pakistan cannot afford in its current economic crisis, notes Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
A Pakistani intruder was also killed in the exchange of fire, they added.
Col Singh was a combat veteran and was awarded Sena Medal during his tenure as second-in-command of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles.
Security forces tightened their cordon around a forest area in the higher reaches of Doda district on Tuesday evening following an encounter with hiding terrorists, officials said.
Disengagement from the LAC will remain a chimera because China has given enough indications that the PLA will not move back any more. China has even deployed drones to monitor and deny any patrolling by Indian troops even in the buffer zones which are all in Indian Territory, explains Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
