26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed may become an ugly fly in the soup at the lunch meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday. But senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir hopes that the two leaders will focus instead on smaller issues like Siachen, Kori Creek and water
The creation of a CDS has got the head right. Issues that were not talked about for years are now being discussed, points out Ajai Shukla.
Honorary Captain Bana Singh won the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest ranking gallantry award, for recapturing a Pakistani post on the Siachen Glacier. Living a retired life in a quiet village in Jammu & Kashmir, he makes you feel that his act of phenomenal courage was part of a soldier's day at work.
The defence minister will review the security situation along the Line of Control in the Valley and Line of Actual Control in the Ladakh region.
Pakistan has handed over to India a "new set of proposals" aimed at resuming the stalled bilateral dialogue and gradually addressing all longstanding issues, a media report said on Saturday.
Modi's hardline policy towards Pakistan and J&K has created numerous leverages and bargaining positions that New Delhi can bring to the bargaining table and translate into concessions, argues Ajai Shukla.
Pak claimed that the Indian Prime Minister's 'internal politics' do not permit him to extend an invitation to his Pakistani counterpart.
'When the Indian Army carries out anti-infiltration ops, the Pakistan army willy-nilly will get involved in some way. So, it is imperative for the Pakistan army to act against militant groups.'
'India should stop claiming that a united Pakistan is in India's interests.' 'Pakistan's break-up is a necessity for peace and progress in the region,' says Major General Mrinal Suman (retd).
Thirty-one army personnel too have been awarded the Sena (gallantry) medal.
Any nation that yearns to fulfil the aspirations of its people needs two emotional nutrients: Sense of pride and sense of shame. Wonder whether the sight of military veterans protesting governmental injustice will prick the national conscience, asks M P Anil Kumar.
In the first case of a general- level officer getting a jail term, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sahni was on Friday sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment and cashiered from service after being found guilty of irregularities in procurement of rations for troops in Jammu and Kashmir.
Bodies of five of the deceased have been recovered so far, while efforts are on to find the remaining five persons, whose chances of survival are bleak, a police official said in Srinagar.
"Though we reiterate our commitment to peace, our defence forces -- the army, the air force and the navy -- are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine our security. Our national interest will be protected at all costs. We have also ensured a widespread understanding in the international community of India's firm and principled stand," the President said. India and China are locked in a nearly nine-month long military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
As India accused it of inaction in the Mumbai attacks case, Pakistan on Friday expressed its commitment to bring to justice those responsible for the 2008 terror strikes, but said that it too wanted progress in the resolution of issues like Kashmir and Siachen.
He was the army commander who planned Operation Bluestar. As army chief he planned Operation Brasstacks which rattled the Pakistan army. General K Sundarji was brilliant, ambitious and controversial, remembers Rahul Bedi.
'Why has the rhetoric gone down on the Indian side, Durrani wondered aloud.' 'I said because almost total normalcy and peace had returned on the ground in Kashmir,' recalls Shekhar Gupta. 'The general gave me that career spook's laser look. And he said: "That situation on the ground can change in no time".' 'This was precisely when the Pakistanis began their first incursions into Kargil.' 'Durrani had been retired for five years.' 'But once the ISI boss, you are always in the know.'
The IAF has planned several activities at the air base to commemorate the 20 years of the war and the symbolic recreation of the Tiger Hill attack was one of them.
Pakistan has asked the US to nudge India to address contentious issues in order to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries instead of looking at the distrust solely through the prism of terrorism, a media report said on Wednesday. "We want the US to encourage India to take steps for improving the human rights situation in Kashmir, moving forward on Siachen and Sir Creek and agreeing to arbitration on the Kishanganga hydropower project."
India cannot afford to be complacent about a possible Pakistan resort to military options across the LoC, warns Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
In his first engagement outside the national capital, the President confers a rare honour on a brave, young, regiment.
Greeting the jawans on the occasion, the prime minister said their devotion to duty in the remote icy heights, is enabling the strength of the nation, and securing the future and the dreams of 125 crore Indians,
Army personnel deployed in icy heights like Siachen and Kargil now can look forward to munch mutton and chicken biryanis or non-vegetarian sandwiches with all nutrients and taste attached, thanks to the efforts of a leading food laboratory.
India and Pakistan were close to sealing an agreement on Kashmir and other contentious issues between the two countries when President President Pervez Musharraf was in power. "...I had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he had agreed, of course. It was his turn to come to Pakistan and we had decided that if he comes and there is no signature on at least one out of those three, if not all the three, it would be a total flop and that must never happen," he said.
India and Pakistan were close to working out the outline of a solution to the Kashmir issue and reached an understanding on disengagement in Siachen while discussing demilitarisation on both the sides of the Line of Control, said former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid M Kasuri.
'We must be careful because China has not given its design in Eastern Ladakh.'
Lauding the bravery displayed by the soldiers, the prime minister said: "The bravery that you and your compatriots showed, a message has gone to the world about India's strength."
Raking up Kashmir, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said the non-resolution of the issue reflected failure of the UN and proposed a 4-point "peace initiative" which includes demilitarisation of Kashmir and unconditional withdrawal of forces from Siachen.
Describing terrorism as a "common menace," Pakistan Wednesday agreed to fight it jointly with India and gave a commitment for maintaining ceasefire on the Line of Control. After extensive talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the two sides also reported progress on Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek issues and expressed willingness to push forward the confidence building measures.
From twisting ears to poking into strange claymen from China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proven time and again that he is an awkward-moment magnet. The camera loves him, and he responds in kind, always.
'The Chinese have not crossed the LAC in Galwan.' 'They are on their side of the LAC and we are on our side.'
India is actively considering the Pakistani proposal on the talk schedule for remaining secretary-level meetings in the third round of resumed dialogue with dates on the crucial issue of water and Sir Creek being suggested ahead of the meeting between their prime ministers in New York in September.
Talking to media persons, Qureshi said that the peace process between India and Pakistan had not stalled but admitted that there had been 'hiccups'.
Here are some glimpses of the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort.
Modi visited the border district in Jammu region, his first to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, coinciding with Infantry Day celebrations.
Disclosing this, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said the finance ministry has agreed to release additional Rs 100 crore for this purpose.
How will the Modi Sarkar's likely return affect other nations?
'There was this judicial crisis in Pakistan that began in March and then there were two-three elections in India, including the one in Uttar Pradesh, that took the attention of the governments away,' Kasuri told Karan Thapar on India Tonight programme on CNBC-TV18.
President Ram Nath Kovind presents the President's Colours to the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre today, August 21. These are normally presented to units that distinguish themselves consistently over decades. The Ladakh Scouts became a regular army regiment only in June 2001 after its stunning performance in the Kargil conflict, notes Ajai Shukla.
He also expressed 'optimism and hope' over the Indo-Pak peace process.
