India's tactical and operational response demonstrated its ability to prosecute tri-service operations, even without a formal tri-service doctrine or the higher command structure needed to coordinate it, points out Ajai Shukla.
China on Tuesday announced that its Defence Minister General Li Shangfu will visit India this week to attend the meeting of SCO defence ministers from April 27 during which he is expected to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on ending the prolonged eastern Ladakh standoff which has severely strained bilateral ties.
'When we want to, we will be able to breach it, go across and strike when we need. This was the message we wanted to convey and we did'
A village built by China along the Line of Actual Control in the Arunachal Pradesh sector and mentioned in a recent Pentagon report, is in territory controlled by that country, sources in the security establishment in New Delhi said on Tuesday.
Days after a Pentagon report said Beijing built a large village in a disputed territory in the Arunachal Pradesh sector, India on Thursday said it has neither accepted any illegal occupation of its territory by China nor has it accepted unjustified Chinese claims.
In an address at a seminar, the army chief said senior military commanders of India and China are holding talks to iron out modalities for de-escalation of tension in eastern Ladakh.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told the media in Beijing on Monday that the two sides held an in-depth exchange of views on expediting the resolution of relevant issues.
In another feat, Lt Jamyang Tsewang, the first commissioned naval officer from Ladakh, also successfully graduated as a qualified helicopter pilot, according to the Indian Navy.
For the most battle-hardened, specialised and successful counter-insurgency army in the world, this is an unfamiliar, first-time experience of dealing with the north east's deepest complexities, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The Indian Army is effecting a major "reorientation" and "rebalancing" of its troops in the strategically sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, with a top general saying its overall combat readiness in the region is of a "very high order."
The army shared pictures of tanks and convoys of light armored vehicles moving with soldiers and equipment towards the rear areas as part of the disengagement process. Large number of Chinese tanks can be seen moving away from the south bank of the Pangong Tso.
It would perhaps have been better for Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh to have been elevated to the top post by the new government, notes R S Chauhan.
Asked about the reports of the troops on both sides disengaging and moving back to their previous positions, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing that both sides are taking steps to ease the situation along the borders.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
In the confrontation in Doklam, where Indian and Chinese soldiers were lined up eyeball-to-eyeball, senior Indian commanders recount they could sense the uncertainty in the Chinese. While Indian soldiers had to be restrained from pushing the Chinese troops back, our chief interpreter heard the Chinese officers threatening to open fire on PLA soldiers who wavered or withdrew, reveals Ajai Shukla.
Lt Gen PGK Menon, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, popularly known as 'Fire and Fury' Corps, briefed the army chief on various aspects of the situation in eastern Ladakh.
This is Gen Pande's first visit to the sector after taking over as the chief of the Indian Army on April 30.
'We hope the Indian side will work with the Chinese side towards the same goal, keep up close communication through military and diplomatic channels, and ease the situation and reduce the temperature along the border'
So far, the Central Sector has never seen active hostilities, remaining peaceful even through the 1962 war. A reason for the Central Sector having remained peaceful is the towering Himalayan watershed that defines the border.
The military standoff with China has been going on for over two years now when the Chinese side attempted to change the status quo unilaterally by moving troops in large numbers against Indian positions.
With General Naravane taking charge, all three services chiefs, including navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and the Indian Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, are now from the 56th course of the National Defence Academy.
The Indian Air Force (IAF), soon after receiving information about the sighting of unidentified flying objects near the Imphal airport on Sunday, scrambled its Rafale fighter aircraft to search for them.
'There was plenty of pushing, pulling and jostling going on as everyone wanted to see what was going on at the table.'
The meeting came after the Indian Army thwarted an attempt by the Chinese Army to transgress into Indian areas near the southern bank of Pangong Tso near Chushul in Ladakh on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
Vice Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General C P Mohanty on Thursday carried out a comprehensive review of India's military preparedness in eastern Ladakh on the first day of his three-day visit to the region where Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a bitter standoff for over a year.
The curfew imposed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will be relaxed from 7 am to 10 am, it said.
The army said senior commanders of the Indian and Chinese military reviewed the progress on implementation of the first phase of disengagement and discussed further steps to ensure complete withdrawal of troops in the region.
Naravane's appointment has been cleared at the highest level, adding the government has followed the principle of seniority in the appointment.
The marathon fourth round of Lt Gen-level talks also focussed on steps for pulling back large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
The Indian Army has occupied several key heights in the strategically located Rezang-La and Reqin-La areas on the southern bank of the lake since the end of August.
As per the plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.
The talks between the two armies are going to be held this week at multiple locations including Patroling point 14 (Galwan area), Patrolling point 15, and Hot Springs area, top government sources said.
"The contents of video being circulated are not authenticated. Attempt to link it with the situation on the Northern borders is mala fide," the army said in a statement. It said differences between the two sides are being addressed through interaction between military commanders following established protocols on management of border between the two countries.
Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Wednesday described as 'highly regrettable' the December 4 firing incident in Nagaland's Mon district in which 14 civilians were killed and said 'appropriate action,' as required to uphold the law of the land, would be taken based on the investigation.
The sources said the Indian Army has been on a very high level of alert and is ready to deal with any eventuality in the area.
A retired Indian colonel working with the United Nations was killed in Gaza when the vehicle he was travelling in came under attack in strife-torn Rafah, the 'first international' casualty for the world body since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
This meeting is taking place after a gap of around four months.
The meeting started at around 11.30 am at Moldo on the Chinese side of Line of Actual Control (LAC) opposite Chushul to defuse the tensions in Eastern Ladakh sector due to Chinese military build-up, the sources said. This is the second meeting between the two corps commanders.
Mere shuffling of resources or cosmetic changes to prove a point would be counterproductive in the long run, observes Commodore Venugoptal Menon (retd).
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