"It is a dastardly attack and I can only tell it has strengthened our resolve to fight against this menace...," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, when asked about Monday's attack by the Maoists.
The well-fought defensive battles in Aksai Chin and eastern Arunachal, in remote and forbidding locations such as Galwan, Rezang La, Gurung Hill and Walong, effectively halted Chinese advances not once but twice during the campaign. These engagements, fought with grit and without adequate support, were not immediately known to the world in 1962, points out Dr Kumar.
If they act now, they can reshape the strategic map of Asia without firing a shot. If they wait, the next opportunity will come only after a serious Taiwan Strait incident -- by which time the price will be far higher, and the room for boldness far smaller -- the opportunity may well be lost by then. The question is no longer whether this can or should be done, points out Varun Arya.
The state government has its own security forces like the Eastern Frontier Rifles and was not deploying them, the MHA said.
Major Khathing was the first man to hoist the Indian flag in Tawang. He also brought Bum La under Indian control.
Ten persons, including a physically-challenged man, were allegedly assaulted by drunk soldiers of the Eastern Frontier Rifles over a petty issue near Rajaramchak High School where a camp had been set up to oversee the law and order situation on Tuesday night.
In a prize catch, the West Bengal police on Tuesday night arrested top Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy, the suspected mastermind of the attack that killed 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel in Silda in West Midnapore district. Additional Director General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department Raj Kanojia said Reddy, alias Telugu Dipak, was arrested from Sarshuna on the southern fringes of the city.
Monday's Naxalite attack on a joint forces camp in Silda, West Midnapore, has left the West Bengal government red-faced and the Union home ministry livid. At least 24 paramilitary jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed last evening.
Security forces conducting the operation to liberate Lalgarh have cleared 22 of 42 villages in the area of Maoist-backed tribal agitators and were further consolidating their positions, officials said on Monday.
Security forces entered Lalgarh on Saturday to reclaim it from Maoist-backed tribals and were closing in on the police station there. The personnel of paramilitary forces and the state police were just two km away from the Lalgarh police station, which is under Maoist control.
Senior Indian Police Service officer Manoj Kumar Verma was appointed the new Kolkata Police commissioner, replacing Vineet Goyal, on Tuesday, a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with agitating junior doctors and agreed to their demands in a bid to resolve the more than a month-long impasse over the RG Kar hospital incident.
Virtually shielding higher officials from any blame, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that failure, if any, was at the camp level leadership when Maoists attacked Silda camp of Eastern Frontier Rifles in which 24 personnel were killed last month.
Three Maoists and a civilian were among those killed when the ultras attacked the Eastern Frontier Rifle camp in West Midnapore district leaving 24 jawans dead, police said on Tuesday.
Fierce gun battles took place on Monday between the Maoists and combined security forces at three places in West Midnapore district, a day after four Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans were gunned down by the extremists at Gidhni bazar in Kolkata.
Four Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans were killed in a surprise assault by Maoists in Gidhni in West Midnapore on Sunday, hours after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wrapped up a two-day visit to the violence-hit district. Claiming responsibility for the killings, top Maoist leader Koteshar Rao alias Kishanji dared the central government to deploy as many forces as they wanted in the embattled area.
The two sides exchanged several rounds of fire since early on Tuesday at Gokulnagar, Ranichak, Bhangaberia and Satengabari areas with the violence still continuing
After Tuesday's Naxal attack on the Central Reserve Police Forces, police forces across the country are likely to see a sharp jump in their insurance premia when their group personal accident policies are renewed. The hike could be in the region of 200-300 per cent, according to insurance firms.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted on Thursday that there was a definite lack of alertness on the part of the forces leading to the massacre of 24 jawans by Maoists in West Midnapore district.
At least 24 paramilitary jawans were killed in the biggest-ever Maoist attack in West Bengal, when ultras overran their camp at Silda in West Midnapore after setting it on fire on Monday, barely a week after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's meeting in Kolkata to draw up a joint strategy to counter them.
In a surprise attack by the Maoists, four security personnel were killed and their arms looted in Jhargram sub-division of Naxal affected West Midnapore district on Sunday.
Five Eastern Frontier Rifles were among those killed in the landmine blast in Belpahari forest.
Fourteen jawans were feared killed when armed Maoists attacked a paramilitary force camp at Sildha in West Midnapore district on Monday evening."According to information available here, nine jawans were burnt to death and five others were shot dead. We are yet to get the detailed figure of the casualty," a source said.District Magistrate N S Nigam said at least 50 Maoists on 25 motorcycles, armed with sophisticated weapons, swooped down on the camp.
The Army says such a move will seriously jeopardise surveillance over the country's sensitive border with China.
Gen Dwivedi, who has vast operational experience along the frontiers with China and Pakistan, was serving as the Vice Chief of the Army.
Gorkhaland supporters torched a police outpost, a toytrain station and clashed with the police at two places.
About 416 Myanmarese soldiers crossed over to India in view of the situation arising out of the fighting between Myanmar's armed ethnic groups and the government forces, and Indian military is 'closely watching' the unfolding developments, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said on Thursday.
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 Himmatsinghji Report is still 'missing'.' 'It is a great loss for the knowledge of India's borders.' 'It would have an immense value at a time China is bound to shift its attention to other border fronts in the Himalayas,' notes Claude Arpi.
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.
Military affairs experts said his key challenge will be to build consensus among the three services for the theaterisation plan as the Indian Air Force has some apprehensions about its roll-out.
The timing of these transfers, while being projected as routine, is significant in both strategic and political terms, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Tawang wears its history -- and also its present -- with ease. The flourishing town, with restaurants selling everything from noodles to dosas and locals returning home to new business prospects, shows little sign of the tension building up at the border about 40 km away to the north.
'China wants to change the status quo of India's Northern Border and proves that it can do whatever it wants in what it perceives as its own territory,' states Claude Arpi.
Facing difficulty in guarding riverine sections of Indo-Pak border, the Border Security Force has started installing laser walls to fill the gaps which saw several breach by militants from across the border.
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
Tawang is very much a part of India, and if the present Dalai Lama decides one day to take rebirth in Tawang, the Indian government will openly welcome him and support him, notes Claude Arpi.
The Chinese have just one commander for all the forces confronting India. Commanders of all these forces answer to one man, and one headquarter. India, on the other hand, offers a diversity of options that is a military embarrassment in the 21st century. In Arunachal and Sikkim-Bhutan, the Eastern Army Commander is in charge. In the Uttarakhand (central) sector, it will be the Central Army Commander. The Himachal-Tibet border is the domain of the Western Army Commander. And all of Kashmir and Ladakh further on, the Northern Army's. Effectively, an array of at least eight 'three-star' commanders will be arrayed against one Chinese, says Shekhar Gupta.
Claude Arpi salutes Lieutenant General Zorawar Chand Bakshi, India's most decorated general, who passed into the ages recently.
Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, 21, received the Mahavir Chakra in the 1962 War with China. Such was his valour that a temple and museum stands on the land he died defending in the icy valley of Arunachal Pradesh.
Fencing the border between Myanmar and Nagaland is expected to adversely affect the Naga tribals. Gautam Sen, an expert on Nagaland, explains why the Indian government needs a more comprehensive and long-term perspective on this issue and why it must take local tribal sensitivities and customs into account.
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