'Even if your soldiers are Sunny Deol and Vicky Kaushal, Pakistanis are no Johnny Walkers.' 'The one lot who never takes them lightly is India's professional soldiers.' 'That's why they keep winning the real wars,' says Shekhar Gupta.
After nine days of heavy firing and mortar shelling from across the border, firing de-escalated along the 192-km long border in Jammu frontier overnight with Pakistan opening fire on four border out posts in Kathua district.
The bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif seems to have also finally met its demise. Here's a look at their 'relationship'.
At least 56 seminaries and facilities being run by JuD and its wing FIF in Pakistan's southern Sindh province have been taken over by authorities.
Pakistani officials handed over Varthaman to Indian officials, including from the IAF, at the Attari-Wagah Border.
Media reports said North Korea has successfully miniaturised a nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles.
'India, which climbed the escalation ladder first, has climbed down.'
'It remains unclear what Indian objectives have been realised in precipitating the crisis in the first instance last Tuesday,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's King Salman amid the Arab world's biggest diplomatic crisis in years over Qatar's alleged support to extremists, reports Lalit K Jha.
The comments came a day after sources said China maintained a sizeable presence of troops near the site of the Doklam standoff with India and had started widening a road, around 12 km from the area of conflict.
'Imran cannot escape responsibility for providing a mask to the Pakistan army to engage in unlawful activities and to wage aggression after India retaliated to the terrorist attack,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Responding to questions, Kirby called for de-escalation of tension between the two countries. "We've seen those reports (of Indian surgical attack), we're following the situation closely as I think you can understand. "We also understand that the Indian and Pakistani militaries have been in communication," he said. "We believe that continued communication is obviously important to reduce tensions.
Stone-pelting youth were not giving up their lives for tourism but for resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes of its people, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said.
'They don't have a political strategy so they are going to try to deal with it purely as a law and order problem.' 'They will try to use the same strategy they have repeatedly used since 2014 in Kashmir.' 'Mr Modi has landed in a situation where he faces the possible prospect of not only being unable to Indianise Kashmir, but his actions may end up making the rest of India a virtual carbon copy of Kashmir.'
"My appeal is for calm. We have to sit down, put our heads together and see if we can find a way out of this situation. So everybody, who is in anyway involved in Jammu-Kashmir, needs to introspect and see what we can do to stop it. It is not person or one organisation which can do it (alone)," the top army commander said.
The Opposition parties also demanded stopping the use of pellet guns on protesters, even as one member demanded withdrawal of AFPSA from the Kashmir Valley and withdrawal of the dominating presence of army from civilian areas.
'Will it lead to a full-scale war? I doubt it.' 'But I do think there will be some kind of limited conflict.'
'The border standoff, if not properly addressed by both sides, could escalate to a conventional or sub-conventional conflict between India and China,' predicts Srikanth Kondapalli, one of India's leading China experts.
The development comes after four of the eight member states -- India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh -- decided to pull out.
Introducing a new irritant into the bilateral ties, Pakistan has complained to UN Security Council alleging that India was building a wall along the International Border in violation of the world body's resolutions.
'No matter how severe sanctions the UN security council imposes on North Korea, the impact of the sanctions would depend on how faithfully they are enforced by China,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.
'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 resignation has been more like a statement. Like an alarm bell that "Look, something is wrong".' 'I am saying that "Look, I rang the bell, but I am also going to provide solutions".'
Pakistan's ruler Pervez Musharraf and his top diplomats made a U-turn on talks with India after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee released Hurriyat leaders in early 2000 as part of his peace initiatives on Kashmir, according to a declassified US cable.
India strongly believes that its economic growth must bring benefits to its neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today as a stadium in Jaffna renovated by India was jointly inaugurated by him along with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
Girls in the Kashmir valley hurling defiance at the security forces will detract from the legitimacy of India's response and its standing in the world, says Ajai Shukla.
'Does the Indian army's new assertiveness risk a clash escalating into shooting and possibly skirmishes?' asks Ajai Shukla.
'NSA Doval and the PM are known to admire Israel's tough response to cross-border terrorism.' 'However, New Delhi's situation is far more complex than Tel Aviv's, which enjoys military superiority over all its neighbours,' says Ajai Shukla.
The United States on Friday said that it is not ruling out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating the surface-to air missile that downed the Malaysia Airlines plane.
'Modi's brilliance seems to be in combining Indira Gandhi's 'feel' for the Indian pulse and Narasimha Rao's cynicism.' 'By the time the Opposition leaders caught up with Modi over the 'surgical strikes', he had already moved on,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
Apple still has a request pending for a sales ban against newer Samsung phones in that proceeding.
Immediately after India launched its surgical strikes, sources said, it had informed the US of its action.
Unlike in the past, Modi made candid, frank and direct remarks on his hosts by suggesting that the Chinese side is holding back on further improving relations, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
'India should be more confident and let Pakistanis meet Hurriyat leaders. India's main concern is terrorism, and India should talk terrorism. If that means talking Kashmir, so be it. India can't answer terror with terror because we don't have terror factories. India can't answer terrorism with war because we both have nuclear weapons. That leaves talks as the only option,' says Shivam Vij.
'The CM seems to have forgotten that she is dealing with the Gorkhas, people known for their valour and loyalty to India.' 'It is shameful that Mamata Banerjee and her administration treated them like insurgents, choosing to use live bullets instead of other ways and means to control crowds.'
'It should be of concern that some youth in Kashmir have started raising Daesh flags along with those of Pakistan.'
'Their failure to take Siachen is an embarrassment to the Pakistan army -- and let them live with it. Our army's shoulders are broad enough to endure the challenge.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to China with a bagful of initiatives, but not all seems to have been fulfilled given China's reluctance to go the whole hog with him
Kashmir's youth are being radicalised. The once-alienated separatists are ready to return to their old haunting ground. The ruling PDP-BJP coalition finds itself on the defensive over almost every issue of governance.
The Border Defence Cooperation Agreement with China needs closer scrutiny, says Rup Narayan Das.
The year 2014 is coming to an end. It was the year of conflict, the year of strife. Year 2014 will be remembered for several reasons -- the rise and threat of the Islamic State, the downing of two Malayasia Airlines aircraft and the sudden and effective way of using hastags on social media to generate a buzz about the event. After all, who can forget #theicebucket challenge and the phenomenon it grew into. Read on as we bring you an overview of international news and events of 2014.
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