The annual threat assessment of the US Intelligence Community released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) also said that the 'expanded military posture by both India and China along the disputed border elevates the risk of armed confrontation between two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for US intervention'.
The Hamirpur and Sabzian sectors in Poonch have been targeted by Pakistan troops for the past 3 days, possibly to facilitate infiltration from across the border.
The boat was probably washed away due to rising water level in River Ravi in Pathankot sector, the BSF said.
With this, the number of ceasefire violations along the IB and the LoC in the state after surgical strikes by the Indian Army in PoK has risen to 31.
The year 2019 witnessed a total of 3,168 ceasefire violations against 1,629 in 2018.
The enhanced allowance will be applicable to all paramilitary personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-hit areas.
Voicing concern at the heavy shelling in border areas, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said no one in India was in favour of war with Pakistan but friendship cannot be a one-sided affair.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi the need for an early resolution of all outstanding issues along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, and asserted that bilateral ties should be based on mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.
Addressing party MPs at the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the central hall of Parliament, she said when facing a significant national challenge, it has been the tradition in our country to bring Parliament into confidence.
The DG of the ITBP said his troops have been provided with special winter clothing and nutritious food as they brave the severe chill in eastern Ladakh where the armies of India and China are locked in a tense standoff for over six months. He said 'strains in bilateral relations are already evident but we are confident these will be sorted out peacefully very shortly'.
The stringent and rare action against Commandant Rajesh Kumar Tomar was confirmed by the ITBP director general after a general force court trial was held against him under the ITBP Force Act of 1992.
Villagers along the Line of Control in Poonch and Rajouri have been asked to shift immediately inside the bunkers in case of shelling from across the border.
The further expansion and upgrade of the Chinese military does not augur well for India, which continues to confront an increasingly belligerent China on its borders, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Observers say China should re-address its policies towards India or else it will continue to face flare-ups increasing the tensions between the two countries at a time China's increasing tension with the US over Taiwan and the South China Sea besides the downturn in the Chinese economy which is hit hard by the zero-covid policy.
The BSF commanders initially thought that the jawan was killed by a sniper shot from across the border.
Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice by firing with small arms and automatic weapons on Indian posts along the Line of Control in Poonch district, drawing retaliation from the army.
India and China decided to seek a fair and rational solution to their border dispute on Saturday as they focused on the proposed border defence cooperation agreement to avert incursions like the one witnessed in Leh region last month.
Pakistani troops violated the bilateral ceasefire at the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Thursday night.
'When armies start attacking with clubs and batons, then at some point this can take an escalatory spiral and spin out of control.'
But it is less adventurous. It seems, at last, that in its eighth decade, Pakistan has settled into being a parliamentary democracy just like Bangladesh has and like we have always been, observes Aakar Patel.
'Belgian Malinois' dogs have been extensively used by central security forces and police units in anti-Naxal operations and counter-terrorist tasks.
The international community must be clear that such a behaviour is unacceptable, a top US senator said.
The gunfight erupted after the army and police jointly surrounded Bhat Mohalla area of Handwara on specific information about presence of a group of militants there.
India has maintained there is no scope for a third party mediation.
Amid continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army, top military officials of India and Pakistan on Tuesday discussed over the hotline the situation along the Line of Control and International Border.
Violating the ceasefire for the 10th time this month, Pakistani troops on Sunday opened heavy fire on Indian posts along the LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
J&K Governor N N Vohra on Friday ordered a security audit of all vital establishments and installations in Jammu and Kashmir by a multi-disciplinary team of security agencies.
This is the second such incident of mutilation of the body of an Indian soldier on the LoC since October 29.
'China is in the middle of a substantial expansion of its nuclear weapon arsenal, which satellite images indicate includes the construction of over 300 new missile silos,' SIPRI's statement noted.
The Indian position on the Russia-Ukraine war and the unconditional treaty between China and Russia appear to have caused some ripples in India-US relations and led to a reappraisal of India's usefulness to the US in the eventuality of a conflict with China, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
However, it said the high-speed facility which was restored on a trial basis in central Kashmir's Ganderbal and Jammu region's Udhampur on August 16 would continue till this month-end as there has been no report of its misuse in the two districts.
The Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan will meet each other when they feel the need for it, Defence Minister AK Antony said in New Delhi on Monday.
Outgoing Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh on Thursday said that India had given a befitting reply to Pakistan after the beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistani troops in 2013 along the Line of Control even as he did not rule out the possibility of skirmishes on the western front in future.
A Border Security Force jawan and a woman were injured and two houses damaged on Saturday when Pakistani troops targeted Indian posts and civilian areas along the LoC in Nowshera and Sunderbani sectors of Rajouri district with mortar bombs and small arms fire, prompting the army to give a "befitting response".
Sources in the security establishment said the force is also set to get sanctions from the Union Home ministry to raise at least nine fresh battalions soon. They said in order to bolster troop numbers along the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, as many as 60 companies have been ordered to move towards the front in various areas like Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
One person has been killed and seven injured after Pakistani troops pounded forward posts and civilian areas along the Line of Control in Saujian sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir with heavy shelling and firing, forcing the Army to retaliate.
New Delhi's regional partners in restraining a belligerent China -- primarily the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore -- would like the Indian Navy to lock down the Indian Ocean Region, while the other partners can focus on deterring the PLA (navy) in the South China Sea, explains Ajai Shukla.
'Drone warfare has come to stay.' 'India should exploit the expected Reaper acquisition from the US to build an effective counter terror campaign,' argues Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Asserting that Indian democracy is a "global public good", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that its "collapse" will have an impact on the world and is not in America's national interest.
Jaishankar noted that it would be difficult to say what will happen in the future as there are a lot of "contradictions and frictions" out there today.
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