The Chinese have just one commander for all the forces confronting India. Commanders of all these forces answer to one man, and one headquarter. India, on the other hand, offers a diversity of options that is a military embarrassment in the 21st century. In Arunachal and Sikkim-Bhutan, the Eastern Army Commander is in charge. In the Uttarakhand (central) sector, it will be the Central Army Commander. The Himachal-Tibet border is the domain of the Western Army Commander. And all of Kashmir and Ladakh further on, the Northern Army's. Effectively, an array of at least eight 'three-star' commanders will be arrayed against one Chinese, says Shekhar Gupta.
'The Balakot mission was an act of political signaling that India is willing to raise the price that the Pakistani State has to pay in order to support terrorism.'
'All PoWs recounted that one of the worst aspects of their captivity in Tibet was the constant attempt at brainwashing by Chinese Communist propaganda,' reveals Claude Arpi.
The shelling was so intense that the deafening sound of mortar shell explosions was even heard in the Jammu city, residents said.
Talking about the Line of Actual Control, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said as it is not completely demarcated, there are differing perceptions about it by both sides.
General Zhao Zongqi is well known in India for having commanded the Chinese troops during the Dokalam episode. Zhao knows every inch and corner of the Indian border, at least the Eastern and Central sectors, including the Naku La area which witnessed fist-fights between Indian and Chinese troops in April/May. Claude Arpi introduces us to the PLA generals masterminding the Chinese aggression in Ladakh.
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
Please be mindful of your language so as to not hurt anybody's sentiments. Convince Kashmiris that the nation is with them.
This is the second major ceasefire violation along the IB this month and came despite Director General Military Operations of the two countries agreeing, on May 29, to implement the ceasefire pact of 2003 in "letter and spirit".
With the Indian Army having blocked the PLA several kilometres inside India, hundreds of soldiers from both sides remain in a tense face-off.
Apprehending attack by Pakistan's Border Action Team on forward posts and patrol parties in the run up to Republic Day, Army has sounded an alert along the boundary with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
India's premier defence research organisation, DRDO has now roped in yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda Limited to manufacture and market in the country and abroad some herbal supplements and food products developed by it.
The key airbase at Panagarh in West Bengal has been renamed as 'Air Force Station Arjan Singh' in honour of the Marshal of the Air Force, who turned 97 on Friday.
The new 17 Strike Corps with 80,000 troops and a budget of Rs 64,000 crore will provided the much-needed offensive capacity against China. R S Chauhan reports.
China is spending billions of dollars to improve infrastructure in Tibet and other parts of its border with India. Claude Arpi explains why New Delhi can't afford to ignore Beijing's plans.
Brigadier M P Bajwa (retd), commander of the troops that captured Tiger Hill, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how a band of young soldiers won the Kargil War's most famous battle with their blood and grit.
'If the nub of India's sensitivity over the Chinese presence in Doklam is the enhanced threat to the Siliguri Corridor, a vital link to the northeast, does it serve the national purpose to have the districts along it, and then much of the tribal northeast, in turmoil?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'We will not accept these misadventures by the Chinese.'
Awful religious practices need to be abolished. But through social and political reformers, not by courts, argues Shekhar Gupta.
'If only Cariappa/Thimayya/Chaudhari/Manekshaw were given a free hand, there'll be no PoK, the Chinese would have been taught a lesson, 1965 would have slain the Pak demon and in 1971 just another fortnight's fighting after Bangladesh and West Pakistan would have been occupied.' 'No authoritative military account suggests anything remotely like any of these...' '...Chronologies, names, even periods get mixed up, but, never mind, because the point -- strong Army denied by cowardly Congress -- is made.' 'This is where Modi is coming from,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
Taliban attackers' brazen assault on a school in Pakistan's Peshawar city that claimed the lives of over 150 students on Tuesday has brought back chilling memories of a similar bloodbath in Russia in 2004 when Chechen rebels stormed a school.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid a surprise visit to Siachen to celebrate Diwali with soldiers posted at the world's highest battlefield and hailed the role of the armed forces in securing the country.
'Overlying his idealism was a hatred of war and of all things military. He gave no deep thought to politico-military matters and this prevented him from making sound security decisions.'
The Indian agenda for the talks has put extra stress on the "most important" issue of breach of ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir
Very few today realise that without Brigadier John Dalvi's courage, we would never have known what really happened during those tragic days of October/November 1962, reveals Claude Arpi.
Anti-CAB protests intensify in Guwahati even as the PM appealed for calm, assuring the people of the state that the govt will protect their interests.
He finished the decade with 20,960 international runs -- 5,775 more than anybody else -- and 69 hundreds -- 22 more than anybody else. This is a player performing at an extraordinarily high all-format level unseen in the history of cricket.
The three heavily-armed terrorists killed by the Border Security Force in Samba district had infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir to carry out a chain of terror attacks by blowing up running trains and tracks with chained IEDs and hard to detect liquid explosives, a top force official said on Wednesday.
The attacks that killed 130 people in Paris last November and 32 in Brussels in March forced a reassessment by Brazil's security forces. An anti-terrorism effort is now at the heart of their planning for the Olympics.
In all the noise surrounding the Dok La confrontation, Claude Arpi focuses on a crucial issue that has hardly been covered -- the construction of roads for the armed forces and the local population to reach the most remote border posts.
Two suspected operatives of Al Qaeda have been arrested in New Delhi and Odisha and Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a module of the terror group's Indian sub-continent wing operating out of the country.
Major Somnath Sharma was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his bravery in the Kashmir operations on November 3, 1947.
During the World War, Singh fought alongside the Allied Forces in North West Frontier province, Eritrea, Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), Libya, Egypt and Italy.
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
'The Indian Air Force wanted to fight. My squadron leaders and flight lieutenants, all of us were eager to fight. Unless they are keen I can't have confidence.' Marshal of the Air Force, the legendary Arjan Singh, on the 1965 War.
September 12 marked the 122th anniversary of one of the most incredible battles in Indian history.
The election seem to have been conducted without any major security lapses. However, in the coming weeks, the military situation in Kandahar could tilt in the Taliban's favour, notes Aveek Sen.
The Pakistani election on July 25 has a strong Indian flavour and connection, says Vivek Shukla.
Fortunately, there was no cold exposure-related frost bite or bony injuries to him, a medical bulletin issued by the hospital said.
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