It seems in the geopolitics of the 21st century, we can see the subcontinent acting as one geopolitical entity to secure its economic interests. Key to this transformation is a strong India that is pre-eminent but not dominant, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Keeping in view infiltration bids by militants from Pakistan and the forthcoming Republic Day celebrations, the Border Security Force has been put on high alert along the country's western border. The decision to put the border guards on top alert was taken in the wake of reports received by the Home Ministry with regard to rocket firing incidents near Attari border on Saturday and Sunday, official sources said.
The ministry has identified three Centre-run hospitals -- Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge -- as nodal centres in the national capital for isolation, management and treatment of any patient with mpox.
BSF's role has become more important now as we are the first line of Indian defence, said DG Rakesh Asthana.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Thursday advocated shifting border residents of Samba district to safer places in view of travails they had to face during the recent heavy cross-border firing and shelling.He was on an extensive visit to border areas of Samba district to assess the situation arisen due to recent firing from Pakistan.
Alert BSF troops observed movement along the international border at a post in Chilyari belt of Samba at around 4:40 am.
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.
BSF personnel on Sunday shot dead a Pakistani intruder near the Indo-Pak border in Samba district.
Captain Sharan and Flight Engineer Anil Jaggia both confirm that the hijackers seemed to know a lot about flying an aircraft. Without help from the ISI or the Pakistan army, it was impossible, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
Hindus for America First, a newly created grassroots organisation, has announced it will endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and launch a campaign against Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
Then 18, Talash crossed the border into Pakistan after Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 before settling in Spain as a refugee the following year. The International Olympics Committee changed break-dancer Talash's life forever by including her in its refugee squad for the Paris Games.
Three men, originally from Tamil Nadu, arrested by the Mumbai Police started their boat journey from Kuwait on January 28 and claimed to have taken the Saudi Arabia-Dubai-Pakistan route before entering Indian shores illegally, as per the police remand note.
According to the data compiled by the Union home ministry about these criminal activities along the international borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, instances of cross-border smuggling of arms, drugs and cattle increased from a total of 19,537 in 2015 to 31,593 in 2017.
Five other civilians injured as Pak troops shelled border out posts along the IB.
Pakistan on Wednesday summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner and lodged a protest over the ceasefire violations allegedly by India in which some Pakistan Rangers were killed.
Indian and Pakistan authorities are scheduled to hold a flag meeting on Wednesday afternoon in the wake of repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the international border.
In the shelling, a BSF jawan and a 17-year-old girl were killed while five civilians and a BSF jawan were injured and have been hospitalised.
Concerned over reports about increasing number of armed militants across the India-Pakistan border to cross over to the Indian side, Army's top commanders have called a meeting in Jammu on Monday to review and chalk out a fresh strategy to foil their attempts."There are reports of mounting terrorists' concentration across the International Border in launching pads, waiting to cross over to Jammu and Kashmir," Defence Spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel S D Goswami said.
Amid repeated ceasefire violations along the international border, the border guards of India and Pakistan on Tuesday held a flag meeting at a forward border outpost in Jammu sector.
Over 100 border dwellers have been evacuated and put in safe shelters
As many as 12 civilians and 17 security personnel were killed in the firing from across the border till October, a home ministry official said quoting the data.
BSF officials at Gurdaspur told PTI that the unprovoked firing from Pakistan side started at about 11 pm on Sunday at Simbal post in Bamial sector and BSF Jawans retaliated. The firing lasted for 30 minutes.
India has abstained in the UN General Assembly on a resolution that demanded that Russia immediately cease its aggression against Ukraine and urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorised personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Prominent international celebrities and activists on Wednesday joined American pop star Rihanna to extend support to the farmers' protests here and garner international attention on the protracted stir but their remarks were slammed by India as 'neither accurate nor responsible'.
In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani Rangers on Thursday resorted to unprovoked firing on forward Indian posts along the Indo-Pakistan border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
The locals in Gharna village in Jammu and Kashmir's RS Pura sector are petrified following yet another ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops.
He visited areas falling under the operational command of the Rising Star Corps, including Kathua, Samba, Jammu and Pathankot, to review the security situation.
Two female constables of the 73 battalion fired 25 rounds at the drone and brought it down at 11.05 pm. During a search operation, the BSF recovered a partially-damaged hexacopter, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with six rotors.
In continued ceasefire violations, Pakistani troops resorted to night-long firing and mortar shelling targeting six Border Out Posts along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu district, forcing the Border Security Force to retaliate effectively.
India said on Thursday that it desired normal relations with all its neighbours, including Pakistan, and advised Islamabad to create a conducive atmosphere, including by taking "credible, verifiable and irreversible actions" to stop cross border terrorism against it and enable the two countries to engage and address issues bilaterally.
The Border Security Force on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with the Pak Rangers over its "unprovoked" cross-border firing which killed one civilian and injured 14 in Jammu and Kashmir over past few days and warned that such acts or any other misadventure will not be tolerated at any cost.
Most villagers decided to stay back to harvest crops, their only source of livelihood.
The Centre has decided to construct 509 new Border Outposts (BOPs) and complete the unfinished barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangla international borders, a top official said on Tuesday.
Today, the two countries, ruthlessly divided by the Radcliffe line that pierced their very heart, grapple with the political challenges of the present. Yet, when friendships develop there are no borders, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
The BSF claimed to have foiled the plans of terrorists to disrupt the Amarnath Yatra.
The villager who gave the tip-off to the army about an underground tunnel dug from Pakistan along the International Border in Samba sector was on Thursday awarded Rs 5,100 cash by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
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.
In December last year, the Centre had decided to construct community bunkers along International Border and Line of Control for being used during shelling and firing by Pak.
India maintained that Pakistan has not issued visas to its 12 officials.
Amid reports of an increase in infiltration bids, the Centre on Tuesday directed the Border Security Force to set up a real time intelligence sharing grid and seal all vulnerable points along the Indo-Pak border.
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