Zojila Pass, at a height of 11,516 feet above sea level, connects the picturesque Kashmir Valley with the cold Indus valley desert through the 434-km long Srinagar-Leh road.
The next phase of the de-escalation process will kick off only after the fourth round of talks between corps commanders of the two sides.
Army chief General V K Singh arrived in Srinagar on Monday on a two day visit to the Kashmir Valley.
The visit is also aimed at boosting morale of the army personnel engaged in the seven-week bitter border faceoff with the Chinese troops in the region, sources added.
In a swift action, the army said on Tuesday it had taken 'strict disciplinary action against soldiers who had misbehaved with tourists in the south Kashmir's health resort of Pahalgam on Monday.'
Lt Gen P K Rath, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff-designate, was on Friday found guilty by an Army court martial in the Sukna land scam, becoming the highest ranking serving officer to be convicted for corruption.
'Even if there is no full-scale war, Galwan-like skirmishes cannot be ruled out.'
Sources indicated that during Saturday's talks, India will insist on a faster disengagement process in remaining areas to bring down tension in the region, which has witnessed a tense standoff between the two militaries for over nine months.
The Army has also further bolstered overall surveillance mechanisms in all areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after foiling China's fresh attempt to occupy an area on the southern bank of Pangong lake, they said.
Once the tanks roll back, a zero-based assessment of future equations with China is necessary. Given the conflict situations that China is imposing on India time and again, the red, amber and green lines of interactions with China need to be laid down and communicated in no uncertain terms, asserts Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
For the first time in the history of Indian armed forces, a serving lieutenant general will face a court martial for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities. Former 33 Corps Commander Lieutenant General General P K Rath will face a court martial starting August 30 for his role in issuing a no-objection certificate to a private realtor for building an educational institution on a 70-acre piece of land adjacent to the Sukna military station in West Bengal.
The Corps Commander, who heads the army in Kashmir, was replying to a question about the possibility of the Islamic State forging an alliance with the militant outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad for expanding its activities to the valley.
The Leh deputy commisioner who drew army headquarters's attention is a highly regarded IAS officer, whose father is Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa.
Pakistan Army commanders have developed a consensus that their chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, should remain in his post till the war on terror takes a decisive turn and the military's achievements can be consolidated, according to a media report on Monday. The army's top brass came to the conclusion during the Corps Commanders and Formation Commanders' conference that concluded last week, The News daily reported.
This will be the fifth time that Prime Minister Sharif will pick the top commander of the country's nearly 550,000 ground troops.
Pushed on the back foot by the powerful military's criticism of some of the provisions in the US economic aid bill, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that the clauses of the Kerry-Lugar legislation are not binding on Pakistan.
'The military advantage the Indian Army had gained by the Special Frontier Force occupying the heights of the Rezang La-Rechin La ridge on the Kailash Range is lost without the PLA withdrawing to east of the Khurnak Fort line.'
Pakistan troops and people were conveyed only fabricated stories about the Kargil War by then army chief General Pervez Musharraf, according to a senior Pakistani commander having long experience of serving on the Line of Control.
After being indicted by the Armed Forces Tribunal for showing bias against a Brigadier and falsifying the accounts of the Kargil war, Lt Gen Kishan Pal on Thursday said he had "not fudged any war reports" and whatever he wrote about the battle was "unbiased".
In the next few days, Indian Army will carry out a detailed verification to check actual implementation of the disengagement process, he said. It is learnt that the mutual disengagement in Gogra (patrolling point 17A) is expected to be completed by Thursday.
The sources said the mutual disengagement of troops at the two friction points is likely to be completed within two days, and that there has been 'substantial' withdrawal of forces by Chinese military from the areas.
A senior Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Masood Alam, has said that there are reports that Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah had fled the region fearing arrest by security agencies.
Downplaying reports of India losing territory to China in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said there was 'no change' in the Line of Actual Control.Antony said the issue was raised at a meeting he had with Jammu and Kashmir government officials and Army officers in Jammu on Tuesday, where the Army Corps Commander for Ladakh had categorically reported that there was not much change in the situation along the LAC.
The focus of the deliberations was on finalising modalities for disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh.
A Major and his team have been accused of entering into a criminal conspiracy to abduct three youths, who were later killed in an alleged fake encounter, in a probe report by Jammu and Kashmir Police handed over to the Army which ordered a high-level enquiry into the case.
The meeting was attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General M M Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria.
The Chinese military is now desperately attempting to give "ex post facto strategic meaning" to its actions in eastern Ladakh.
The Army has charged Lieutenant General P K Rath with granting a No Objection Certificate to a private realtor with an "intent to defraud" even as his counsel has said the Court of Inquiry did not talk about any such intent during its probe in the Rs 300 crore Sukna land scam case.
Within the army, there is growing concern that New Delhi will allow the Chinese to retain the territory they have occupied in the last month.
'It is not difficult for a Pakistan army chief assisted by the deep state to manipulate a situation.' 'Pulwama, Uri and Pathankot, all come to mind,' cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The new ISI chief Lt Gen Mukhtar possesses a vast experience in the field of intelligence and has headed the counter-terrorism wing of the spy agency in Islamabad. He was commissioned in the Armoured Corps regiment in 1983.
There was an unanimous endorsement of his decision to impose emergency, suspend the Constitution and sack Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhury. However, the majority of the commanders expressed their reservations over the wisdom of his attempts, under US pressure, to reach a power-sharing agreement with Benazir Bhutto.
The Indian Army posts strongly retaliated to the firing from the other side.
Kiyani is a non-controversial officer, who had in the past not come to notice for any dubious association with the Taliban or Al Qaeda or any of Pakistan's fundamentalist organisations.
"The local terrorists must realise that it is easy to call themselves a Mujahid. But are you a Mujahid, or just a proxy for Pakistan?"
Official sources said withdrawal of tanks and other armoured elements from certain friction points is nearing completion while pulling back of troops from the North bank areas is being undertaken.
As per the agreement reached by the two sides, India and China will withdraw the forward deployment in a phased and coordinated manner, the defence minister said.
The encounter took place in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Wednesday.
Lal was serving as the 3 Infantry Division General Officer Commanding in Leh last year when the woman officer Capt Neha Rawat made a written complaint against the two-star General alleging sexual misconduct under the pretext of conducting meditation classes at his residence.
The recent postings and promotions of three-star generals in the Pakistan Army have propelled some of former chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's favourites to traditionally important positions
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