Maj Gen Lodin succeeds Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana, who completes his two-year assignment as chief military observer and head of mission for the UNMOGIP on July 2.
After initial 'zero infiltration' in the wake of renewed ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in February, fresh attempts are on to push terrorists from across the border where 250 to 300 terrorists are trained and waiting on the launch pads, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said on Tuesday.
So far, almost every positive development in terms of the bilateral ties has been overtaken by innate hostility that is often driven by popular sentiments.
It would be realistic to see India's position on the DGMOs joint statement more as 'engagement, different from dialogue', where our subsequent options could be decided depending on the realities of the situation on the ground, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
"Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation in the Pallanwala sector at 1915 hours today, using automatic weapons and mortars. "The same is being responded to befittingly by own troops", a defence spokesman said.
There has been a spurt in Pakistani shelling along the border in Jammu and Kashmir this year with over 2,027 cases of violation of a ceasefire agreement being reported till June 10.
The rebels threatened to resume the blockades of highways leading to capital and other district headquarters if Parliament failed to set in motion the process for constituent assembly elections on Friday.
A spokesperson of the Karachi Police confirmed in a statement that the Karachi police chief's head office had come under attack.
The talks were convened in Delhi in a bid to iron out differences, particularly on the NSCN-IM's demands for a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas, which have already been rejected by the Centre.
One person has been killed and seven injured after Pakistani troops pounded forward posts and civilian areas along the Line of Control in Saujian sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir with heavy shelling and firing, forcing the Army to retaliate.
Israel on Tuesday resumed air strikes on Gaza after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire failed to stop the escalating violence that has killed 192 Palestinians in nine days of fighting as Hamas continued to fire rockets at the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asserted that Pak is 'fully capable' of defending its territory against 'any aggression'.
The Pakistani troops were seen firing mortars and missiles from civilian houses, using villagers as human shields. The Pakistani army used heavy weaponry, firing 120-mm mortar targeting civilian hamlets.
A 67-year-old resident, Mangat Ram and a BSF jawan was injured in the firing.
The army, in a statement, said that Indian troops retaliated "strongly and effectively".
Also, the two sides decided to upgrade the existing hotline between their Directors-General of Military Operations by September this year.
Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by resorting to brief firing on border outposts along the International Border.
Pakistan on Monday briefed the envoys of 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council about the tensions on the LoC and International Border with India.
Top military officials of Pakistan and India on Wednesday spoke to each other on hotline to lower tension after the killing of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
This was the first time that sweets were exchanged between the two forces after the abrogation of Article 370 as the Pakistani side refused to continue with the custom, they said, adding after the developments of August 2019, the offer of exchanging sweets was made by the BSF but the Pakistani side did not reciprocate.
The shelling from across the border started in Nowshera sector around 12.30 pm, ending over 12-hour-long lull in the border skirmishes which intensified after India's pre-emptive strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camps at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan on Tuesday.
This year saw no improvement in bilateral ties as India accused Pakistan of cross-border infiltration and re-activation of terror-launching pads near the LoC.
Singh said India has a policy of maintaining cordial relations with neighbours.
Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra, GOC-in-C, Northern Command visited army units and formations in the valley and reviewed the operational preparedness along the Line of Control and security situation in the hinterland.
He suggested that the new structures will emerge within one year's time.
Talks between the two sides were last held in December, 2013, in Lahore.
The firing and mortar shelling continued night long in several sectors of Poonch and Rajouri districts.
Two Border Security Force jawans were among four persons injured when Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire for the third time in less than 48 hours by firing with small arms, automatic weapons and mortar shells on 10 border out posts and civilian areas along the International Border in Jammu district.
With an aim of ending insurgency in Nagaland, the government on Monday signed an accord with key outfit Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland- Isaac-Muivah which Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as a "historic" step to usher in peace in the state.
Pakistan's permanent representative at the UN Maleeha Lodhi was instructed to contact the UN leadership to discuss the rejection of dialogue by India.
The central government has already rejected the NSCN-IM's demand for unification of Naga inhabited areas -- located in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
At least four militants belonging to two rebel groups were killed in Assam in two separate encounters with security forces on Wednesday morning.
Security forces in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have mounted vigil in areas where the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (Khaplang) led by Burmese-origin Naga S S Khaplang has strong influence.
Voicing concern at the heavy shelling in border areas, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said no one in India was in favour of war with Pakistan but friendship cannot be a one-sided affair.
Israeli authorities stated that after Palestinians threw explosives at the fence separating Israel and Gaza, its officers opened fire, according to Al Jazeera.
State minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, a national spokesman of the party, made the averment in Patna at a press conference he addressed jointly with Sanjay Jaiswal, the Bihar BJP president.
The 87-year-old chairman of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland- Isak-Muivah was undergoing treatment for almost a year at a private hospital in South Delhi where he breathed his last on Tuesday afternoon, Nagaland government spokesperson Kuolie Mere said.
Nine security force personnel were injured in the firing by the terrorists, they said adding five of them succumbed to injuries.
This is the first time the government sources have confirmed that artillery fire was indeed used by the Army to launch a massive assault against Pakistan.
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