'With the Balakot strike, India has now established a precedent for response to any new terrorist attack engineered by Pakistan.' 'This will stay irrespective of who wins the coming elections,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistan troops also fired on forward posts and civilian areas last night in Rajouri.
The Tridents squadron which is now also known as the "Defender of the North" has replaced the MiG-21 squadron at the Srinagar air base which has traditionally been responsible for taking care of the threat from Pakistan.
'In the Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launch precision stand of weapons with great accuracy.'
It is the first time in nearly nine years that India's foreign minister travelled to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained tense over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
The brief exchange and handshake between Jaishankar and Sharif took place at a banquet dinner hosted by the Pakistani prime minister at his residence in honour of the delegates attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The move is expected to give a major relief to Air India, which suffered a huge financial loss of around Rs 491 crore.
Even a whiff of an incident like the violent 1989 shirt-ripping attack on Krishnamachari Srikkanth by a Karachi spectator would be ruinous. It would set back the ties further, derail an ongoing tournament, and harden Indian attitudes on playing Pakistan anywhere at all, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The government on Thursday reappointed former IPS officer Ajit Doval as the National Security Adviser (NSA), according to an official order.
The infiltration bid was scuttled in Balakot sector on Saturday evening and a massive search operation is still underway, the spokesman said.
'Crucial intelligence was obtained by a R&AW operative from a couple of moles inside the camps four days before the Balakot operation.'
The Made in France Rafales are clearly not the best advertisement for Modi's Atmanirbhar agenda, but as long as none of its parts have Made in China embossed on them, we guess it is chaal se as the Amadavadis would say.
As the majority of Pakistani airspace has remained closed for Indian airlines since the Balakot strike on February 26, the decision to avoid affected Iranian airspace on Saturday is going to further disturb the routes of their international flights towards middle-eastern and European countries, and the US.
'The West has always opposed a strong nationalist leader in India and Narendra Modi is no exception.' 'The West prefers weak leaders who are amenable to Western pressure and Mr Modi's independent stance is not to the liking of the West,' asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistani troops heavily shelled border hamlets and army posts along the LoC with mortar bombs for the eleventh consecutive day in two sectors of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, which witnessed two fresh ceasefire violations from across the border on Wednesday.
Violating the ceasefire for the ninth time in the past four days, Pakistani troops targeted 16 Indian forward posts and civilian areas along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir resulting in heavy exchanges.
'For Pakistan, the comfortable old calculations and certainties are no longer valid.' 'Strikes on Indian targets now carry a high risk of retaliation and escalation,' notes Ajai Shukla.
Troops of Pakistan opened fire at Army posts and civilian areas in Poonch district on the Line of Control with automatic weapons and rockets for the fourth day in row on Wednesday prompting army to return fire.
Indians must remember that Pakistanis hate losing to India, at war or in cricket, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
The Heron unmanned aerial vehicles are already in the Air Force, Navy, and the Army and are being used extensively at the moment by both Army surveillance and Target acquisition batteries and Air Force in the Ladakh sector.
Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice by firing and shelling on forward posts along the Line of Control in two sectors of Poonch district, drawing retaliation from Indian troops on Wednesday.
"Pakistani soldiers opened unprovoked firing on Indian posts in Doda Battalion forward area of Poonch district at around 0930 hours today (on Tuesday)," Defence spokesman S N Acharya said.
"The way he (Pakistan MP) is saying that 'pair kaanp rahe the' (his legs were trembling). It is because the military posture was very offensive... God forbid if there are military misadventure on 27th and hit some of our military installations, we were in a position to wipe out their forward brigades. They know what is our capability," he said.
There was no report of any casualty on the Indian side, he said.
Violating the ceasefire again, Pakistani troops pounded Indian posts and civilian areas along the LoC with 82 mm mortar shells and fired from automatic weapons in Poonch district.
Pakistani troops have been firing at Indian posts in the Arnia and RS Pura sectors along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir in what is the third ceasefire violation in the last 24 hours.
There has been firing by Pakistani troops along the LoC in Nowshera sector since 8:45 am, a senior army officer said.
Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retired) will assume charge as India's new Chief of Defence Staff on Friday, an appointment that is expected to bring the focus back on the implementation of the ambitious theaterisation drive to bring synergy among the three services.
Tharoor's social media post condoling Musharraf's demise evoked a sharp response from the Bharatiya Janata Party which accused the Congress of "Pakistan parasti (worshipping)".
From being the third largest party in the outgoing Lok Sabha with 37 seats, the AIADMK has to now contend with single digit tally, pushed to the third spot behind arch rival DMK and Congress despite fighting the polls as part of a "mega alliance" with parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Two Border Security Force jawans were on Friday injured when Pakistani troops opened fire at seven border out posts and civilian areas along the International Border in Jammu and Samba districts.
After a two-day lull, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice on Sunday by resorting to heavy firing with automatic and small arms along International Border and Line of Control in Jammu and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, forcing Indian troops to retaliate.
Kumar also said in the last three years, the Jaish-e-Mohammed has been "wiped out" in the Kashmir Valley. Only seven to eight terrorists are active now, he said.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
This is fourth consecutive day of firing and shelling by the Pakistan army.
This is the first time that a retired officer has been appointed at this position for which a gazette notification was issued to announce the change in rules for the appointment.
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.
Shewale insisted that a large number of Sena leaders were in favour of an alliance with the BJP and keen to contest the next Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Before assuming charge of the CDS, Gen Chauhan paid tributes to India's fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in the India Gate complex.
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