India is witnessing trailers of future conflicts and its adversaries will continue with efforts to achieve their strategic aims, Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said on Thursday delving into national security challenges emanating from China and Pakistan.
In a statement released on the eve of General Naravane's visit, the Indian high commission in Colombo described Sri Lanka as India's 'Priority One' partner.
"Our patience is a sign of our self-confidence, but no one should make the mistake of testing it," Gen Naravane said.
'The Pakistanis called the US state department and said we agree with India on peace.' 'It was then that US President Donald Trump jumped in and took credit for the ceasefire.'
It is the first-ever visit by a head of the Indian Army to South Korea.
'It was inspired by the Hamas attack and was like their attack -- well planned and well executed.'
The Indian Air Force will carry out a mega exercise covering the Northeastern region early next month to check its combat readiness, amid a fresh spike in tension with China along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, a precautionary blackout has been enforfced in the multiple areas amid the esclating tensions between India and Pakistan.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi revealed that 300 to 400 drones were deployed across 36 locations, with several being shot down by Indian forces using both kinetic and non-kinetic methods.
His comments came in the midst of the disengagement process between Indian and Chinese armies in Pangong Tso areas in eastern Ladakh where the two sides have been locked in a nine-month standoff.
'A six month extension, if not extended further, would make General Bajwa a lame duck chief, altering the balance of his equations with the senior peer group of lieutenant generals,' says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
He noted that the primary responsibility of the Indian Army is to maintain operational readiness of the "highest order".
'One good outcome of Operation Sindoor -- perhaps, its best outcome -- could be that India has resumed meaningful contact directly with Pakistan at the military-to-military level,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'He is intrigued by the intractability of Kashmir issue. With his interest in dealmaking and peacebrokering, he sees it as an exciting challenge to tackle.'
The Pahalgam massacre highlights the evolution of terrorism into a multi-domain challenge. India's response must similarly evolve -- from tactical retaliation to comprehensive strategic deterrence. To establish a credible and sustained deterrent, India must also carry out continuous kinetic operations, both overt and covert, suggest Sakshit Raina and Rahul Mishra. To establish a credible and sustained deterrent, India must also carry out continuous kinetic operations, both overt and covert, suggest Sakshit Raina & Rahul Mishra.
Pakistan's ISI chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum said on Thursday that Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was given a "lucrative offer" in March by the then government amidst the political turmoil, as the powerful top spy launched a veiled attack on ousted premier Imran Khan at an unprecedented press conference.
Naravane is scheduled to meet Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Friday.
General Naravane said that operational readiness and modernisation will be among the top priorities of the army under his leadership.
....a long-term boundary agreement is reached between the two countries.
General Naravane's UAE and Saudi Arabia visits communicate India's long awaited arrival in the domain of integrated foreign policy where the diplomatic and the military domains both complement each other much more substantially, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'Diplomatic and economic responses are first announced and then implemented. A military response is announced only after it is done.'
Gen Ahmadzai was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday on a three-day visit to explore ways to deepen bilateral military ties in the backdrop of the Taliban carrying out offensive operations across Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign forces.
Azad said the Bhim Army will run parallel to the party and continue to fight for Dalit rights and enrol new members.
Khan, in the same breath, praised the Army, saying "Pakistan needs the Armed forces more than Imran Khan."
Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Wednesday described as 'highly regrettable' the December 4 firing incident in Nagaland's Mon district in which 14 civilians were killed and said 'appropriate action,' as required to uphold the law of the land, would be taken based on the investigation.
With General Naravane taking charge, all three services chiefs, including navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and the Indian Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, are now from the 56th course of the National Defence Academy.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
The Army Chief replied in the affirmative when asked by the moderator whether he concurs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks after the border standoff that the Chinese have not come into control of Indian territory.
'This strike has certainly enhanced your image.' 'Otherwise, people would have called you a damp squib, capable of doing nothing except talking big.'
'There's something called deterrence by punishment.' 'That means you hit in a manner calculated to raise costs and consequences for Pakistan, so that the next time it attempts a Pahalgam-like attack, it has to think ten times.'
General Bajwa, unlike many of his predecessors, believes the Pakistan army's long-term interests lie in reducing tensions with India, reports Ajai Shukla.
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday made his first visit to the Eastern Command after taking over the office and also went to the forward areas at the international borders with China.
The ISI strategy has been to use its proxies to target Hindus in India. They want an outrage and counter-targeting of India's minorities. Further, even the whiff of it restores the Pakistan army's popularity, especially when it's in the dumps, like now, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Fears in Washington began to intensify when it was realised that subsequent Pakistani and Indian attacks on major military facilities -- which were significant in terms of geographic scope and intensity -- could rapidly take both sides to where neither actually wanted to go.' 'The US objective was to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary.'
Indian troops were maintaining their "posture" along the border with China while infrastructure development in the frontier areas was on track, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said on Thursday, days after personnel of the two countries were locked in two separate incidents of violent face-offs. Gen Naravane said the incidents in Eastern Ladakh and North Sikkim involved aggressive behaviour by Chinese and Indian troops resulting in minor injuries to personnel from both the sides.
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
As per the plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.
'Pakistan cannot sustain a war with India for more than four days. They are in such dire straits. At best they can sustain war for one week.'
The dastardly dimensions of the attack are gradually sinking in even as the Government of India announced its immediate diplomatic and other retaliatory measures. It is generally expected to be followed up with punitive military action across the LoC, sooner than later, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Gen Naravane on Tuesday said he was eagerly looking forward to the visit and exuded confidence that it will go a long way in strengthening the "bonds of friendship" between the armies of the two countries.
