After the defeat in the 1962 war with China, the Indian government requested Lieutenant General Henderson-Brooks and Brigadier Prem Bhagat to prepare a report. Fifty years later, it remains one of India's most secret documents. What on earth has stopped the government from revealing the report to the Indian public, asks Claude Arpi.
A 38-year-old Sikh woman has been charged in connection with the attack on the 1984 Operation Blue Star hero K S Brar here last September, taking to four the number of people accused in the case. "Harjit Kaur appeared in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm on Lieutenant General KS Brar," a Metropolitan police spokesperson said.
In a joint stand, the three defence services have demanded the inclusion of a representative of the armed forces in the committee formed by the government to address issues related to their pay and pension. The committee is headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth and all its members are from the Indian Administrative Service. It is looking into the main demands of the services such as elevation of all lieutenant general rank officers to a higher pay grade.
The security forces in Assam have decided to beef up security throughout the state after receiving intelligence inputs about militants' design to carry out attacks during Christmas and harvest festival Bihu.
The Lashkar-e-Tayiba's global mission is quite extensive something the West has now begun to realise. Many now assess the LeT to be a bigger eventual threat than the Al Qaeda because the Lashkar has state sponsorship, says Vikram Sood.
Pakistan on Saturday did an about turn on sending the Inter-Services Intelligence chief to India, in connection with the probe into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying a representative of the spy agency would be sent instead of him.The decision was made at a late night meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the powerful army. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also joined the meeting.
'There have been equal or more casualties on the Chinese side.' 'Our soldiers are hardy and strong and far superior than the Chinese.'
'Individuals who have participated in violence and arson should be identified and not be recruited.'
The Delhi high court on Thursday refused to direct the Centre to take back a press release of the army alleging that Lieutenant General (retired) Tejinder Singh offered a bribe to the army chief in connection with a defence deal. "The Union of India cannot be directed to disown or retract the aforesaid press release," Justice Mukta Gupta said while disposing off a petition by Tejinder Singh seeking withdrawal of the alleged defamatory press release.
The British police have arrested two more people, including a woman, in connection with the assassination attempt in London on Lieutenant General (retired) K S Brar, who had led Operation Blue Star against Khalistani terrorists in 1984. Brar, 78, who was in London on a private visit, was returning to his hotel with his wife when he was attacked in central London by four men on September 30. He suffered injuries on his neck and cheek.
'It has been doing yeoman service for the people of the North East.'
'The military officers at China's National People's Congress reflect Xi Jinping's preference for elevating politically reliable, younger, officers with good professional qualifications,' says former RAW officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
The public interest litigation filed in the Supreme Court against the selection of Lt Gen Bikram Singh as the next chief of the Indian Army has been dumped by the court.
After his pledge to the Supreme Court to quit as army chief if re-elected as president, Pervez Musharraf on Friday carried out a major reshuffle of top Pakistan army commanders and appointed a new Inter Services Intelligence chief.
The United States has announced the appointment of a new commander of its forces in Afghanistan as it now starts sending an additional 21,000 troops to this war-torn country to fight against the Taliban and the Al Qaeda. "McKiernan was asked to resign," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon press conference. Both the White House and the Defense Department said the changes in the top US military leadership has been taken in view of US President Barack Obaama's new Af-Pak policy.
'India is not the India of 1962. We are not carrying that baggage of history anymore.'
'The leverage created by the Indian military must not be lost.'
The American raid that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May has left a "very deep imprint" on Pakistan and its armed forces, which had never considered the United States as a "direct threat", Defence Secretary Syed Athar Ali said on Saturday.
Pakistani diplomats are engaged in behind-the-scenes diplomacy in a bid to stop United States President Barack Obama's administration from supporting a lawsuit filed against Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha in a US court by relatives of two Jewish-American victims of the Mumbai terror attacks.
'Nobody wants him to gain power.' 'But saying that all these players together conspired against Imran Khan and had him arrested would be in the realm of conjecture but possibilities cannot be ruled out.'
The deteriorating regional security environment and the rising tide of Islamist radicalism in Pakistan might just force Beijing to change its course towards India, says Harsh V Pant.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the army's public criticism of him and his government, following which Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General B S Jaswal has tendered an apology. The controversy arose after the army's Northern Command based in Udhampur issued a press release on the encounter that took place on November 29 on the outskirts of Srinagar.
'There is something in our desh ki mitti that has held us together.'
'So many conquerors, colonisers, cultures came and went, but we withstood them and rose up again.'
Pakistan's Defence Secretary Lieutenant General (Retired) Syed Ather Ali arrived in New Delhi on Saturday for the 12th round of defence secretary-level talks on the long- pending Siachen issue, which is being resumed after a gap of three years. "Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar will lead the Indian delegation during the two-day talks. India and Pakistan decided to resume the talks last year after both prime ministers met in Thimpu," defence ministry officials said.
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.
Security forces found two bodies from the Gadole forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on the sixth day of an anti-terror operation on Monday even as Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha vowed to avenge the death of three officers and a soldier, who were killed by terrorists in an encounter.
Former military secretary Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash was on Saturday found guilty on three counts by an army court in Guwahati in the Sukna land scam involving transfer of 71 acres of land adjacent to the military station in West Bengal. He is the seniormost army officer to face court martial.
The weekend army reshuffle is a clear sign that Musharraf will not step down as army chief in December, say analysts.
'We're hitting at the core strength of our armed forces.'
Army Chief Gen V K Singh on rejected the charge that he was trying to block the promotion of a Lieutenant General, to whom he has issued a show cause notice, and said there was no line of succession in the Army.
The Congress has already secured the required 21 seats to form the government in the 40-member House. The chief minister was defeated in his Champhai North seat and the MNF has so far manage to win only one seat.
'When the Executive can do whatever they want, why bother having an election?'
The Army has pressed 18 columns and 17 more would be mobilised in two more days, taking the total number to 35, for carrying out relief and rescue operations in flood ravaged areas in north Bihar.General Commanding Officer of Eastern Command Lieutenant General H S Panag told newspersons that a total of 18 columns had already reached the flood affected areas and 17 more would reach by September 3, making it a total of 35.
'We are dealing with a very difficult social situation. It needs a lot of maturity, patience and self control,' says Lt Gen V G Patankar (retd).
The army said on Friday that it will observe 'maximum restraint' while dealing with the agitation over the Amarnath land transfer issue but it will be compelled to use "minimum force" if confronted.
'Unless they create some spectacular event people don't take cognisance of them. So they will select targets that will give them publicity and prominence,' says Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (retd).
The first batch of indigenously built T-90 Bhishma tanks was flagged off by Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju in Avadi near Chennai on Monday. \n\nThis group, consisting of ten T-90 tanks, was also inducted into the Indian Army.\n\nLieutenant General Dilip Bharadwaj, Defence Ministry Secretary S K Sinha, Heavy Vehicles Factory officials and important army officials took part in the rolling out ceremony of the T-90 tanks.
Claude Arpi salutes Lieutenant General Zorawar Chand Bakshi, India's most decorated general, who passed into the ages recently.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw's funeral did not receive the respect that a man of his stature deserved, feels Lieutenant General S K Sinha (retired).
Both sides are fielding the same number of troops for the joint exercises, which will culminate on October.
