Sources indicated that during Saturday's talks, India will insist on a faster disengagement process in remaining areas to bring down tension in the region, which has witnessed a tense standoff between the two militaries for over nine months.
"Our worry is that a small mistake, an accidental exchange of fire at night, might lead to an unintended escalation," a senior officer confessed
Manmohan Singh and Musharraf felt that what they were embarking upon, if successful, could lead to a future of boundless potential for the two countries and for the relationship that was hard to foresee from the prism of the existing situation and the historical position and orthodox ideas on both sides.
'India is not going to accept whatever the Chinese say. That is not going to happen.'
India and Pakistan have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors, according to a joint statement on Thursday.
Official sources said withdrawal of tanks and other armoured elements from certain friction points is nearing completion while pulling back of troops from the North bank areas is being undertaken.
As per the agreement reached by the two sides, India and China will withdraw the forward deployment in a phased and coordinated manner, the defence minister said.
Union Power Minister R K Singh says the Mumbai power outage of October 2020 was caused by 'human error'.
Answering questions on the clashes near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector which resulted in injuries to both sides, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the most pressing issue for the world at present is the fight against the coronavirus.
Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary veteran of the Second World War, was a natural choice to raise, train and command the Special Frontier Force and mould them into a well oiled fighting machine, recalls his son Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd), who led SFF troops during the Kargil War.
India must break out of this strategic triangulation between China and Pakistan. We need to settle our issues with one of the two, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'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'
'The Indian Army is fully prepared for a long and permanent deployment if the PLA does not retreat.'
It is the first highest level face-to-face meeting between the two sides after the border row escalated in eastern Ladakh in early May.
The sources said the focus of the talks was to take forward the disengagement process in friction points like Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh.
The order for the second batch of the assault rifles would be coming after the first lot of 72,000 rifles, has already been delivered to the army for use by troops in Northern Command and other operational areas.
'We must be careful because China has not given its design in Eastern Ladakh.'
'Rezang La was a unique battle.' 'It was not a large scale battle like the Battle of Kohima which involved a large number of troops.' 'Here there was just a company that fought it out till the last man.'
One priority for Delhi (for the new foreign secretary in particular) is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible, suggests Claude Arpi.
Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh paid homage to Kargil martyrs in Drass sector of Kargil on Friday.
There will be no let-up in troop deployment or Army operations along the Pakistan borders to fight terrorism and infiltration, military officials said on Thursday after a ceasefire agreement was announced between the two armies which they called a step towards regional peace.
'There is a sense of realism in the Pakistan army that if they needled India during the Ladakh standoff, they would have seen a strong retaliation.' 'Pakistan was hoping that India would come out looking weaker in the region and get embarrassed, but that obviously has not happened.'
The defence minister said "last year in Galwan Valley, our soldiers displayed exemplary courage and valour in line of duty. I salute all brave soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for the nation."
....a long-term boundary agreement is reached between the two countries.
In the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a total of Rs 1,52,369 crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.
Only he, with his tremendous political capital and personal stature, can pull it off, observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
Amidst reports of Chinese incursions, the Peoples Liberation Army and the Indian Army on Sunday decided to uphold treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control.
On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in Pangong Tso lake area in Eastern Ladakh.
'The leverage created by the Indian military must not be lost.'
An Army Court of Inquiry has recommended disciplinary action against 168 personnel, including the then Commanding Officer of an artillery unit, for their role in a clash between officers and jawans in May last year in Nyoma in Ladakh.
As a tense stand-off continues on the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh, where a Chinese patrol has apparently established a camp eight km inside India, the ministry of defence is confronted with a difficult decision -- an inexplicable army proposal to shift top generals, which would see key hotspots being placed under new commanders, unfamiliar with the situation.
The Indian delegation led by Lt General Harinder Singh, the general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, and Commander of the Tibet Military District Maj Gen Liu Lin held an extensive meeting in Maldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh on Saturday that began at around 11.30 am and went on till evening.
No compromise was made to end the stand off with China in the Ladakh sector, Army's General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, K T Parnaik said on Monday.
'The potential of one such LAC engagement going out of control and leading to heavy casualties cannot be ruled out,' warns Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'Both sides should, therefore, focus on easing tensions in the friction areas by refraining from any actions that may lead to an escalation in the situation'
'Everytime the Chinese raised the issue of our patrol crossing the line, I told them let's not fight over a line that does not exist yet.' 'Commanders resolved such situations sitting across the table, sometimes we posed veiled threats about creating problems elsewhere along the 800 km frontier as a tit-for-tat.'
The Congress on Friday questioned the silence of the government on the veracity of a video which purportedly shows injured Indian soldiers in captivity of the Chinese and said if it is genuine, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi must ensure that China is held globally accountable for indulging in war crimes.
'Not a single bullet was fired, but we were warning the enemy not to continue with their antics!' IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe finds out how the Light Combat Helicopter, which will be inducted into the IAF on October 3, was designed, developed and flown.
'There is no such area that we have left unguarded. Our surveillance team is keeping a tight watch and regularly patrolling the areas'
The government is set to begin the process soon to appoint the next Chief of Defence Staff with Army Chief Gen MM Naravane emerging as the front-runner for the top post that fell vacant following the demise of Gen Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash.
