'Many senior officers are unhappy with him, but many lower level officers are still supportive.' 'This is also not something that has happened for a long time. So this is certainly a milestone.'
A large number of militants led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah have fled the Swat valley and adjoining Shangla district in the North West Frontier Province. After more than two weeks of fierce clashes with the security forces, key militant leaders had also gone into hiding, the army said.
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Stepping up the campaign against terrorists, Pakistani security forces killed at least 67 militants in a countrywide swoop on Friday, taking the number of insurgents killed to 124 after the brutal Peshawar school massacre that left 148 people dead.
Pakistan Army and United States-led forces in Afghanistan have decided to target Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah using drones rather than a ground operation in the areas where he is believed to be taking sanctuary.
The horrific attack on the Peshawar school is the terrorists's retaliation for the Zarb-e-Azb military operation in North Waziristan.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asserted that Pak is 'fully capable' of defending its territory against 'any aggression'.
"There is always some support available to militants to infiltrate across the border," Singh told reporters at a defence ministry function in Delhi.
Sharif's younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met army chief on Thursday evening.
The attack on an Indian Army patrol in January, in which one soldier was beheaded, was carried out by Special Services Group of Pakistan Army, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Pakistan "has transited from the most sanctioned ally to the most bullied ally" of the United States, a top Pakistani military official has claimed. The official said the US still has a "transactional" relationship with Pakistan and is interested in perpetuating a state of "controlled chaos" in the country. And the "real aim of US strategy is to de-nuclearise Pakistan," he said.
Pakistan's army on Thursday used helicopters and boats to rescue thousands of stranded people as the country grapples with the deadliest floods in its history that have killed over 260 people and affected over a million others in Punjab and PoK.
The seeping unhappiness among soldiers unable to reach out to their families affected by the disaster is not only likely to affect its counter-insurgency performance, but it would also add to the sympathy for the Taliban in the lower ranks.
Khanduri, retired Indian Army Major General, told rediff.com, "Such incidents should not be taken lightly. Doing so, the hostile country across the border will have a tendency to repeat such a ghastly incident. They will then go into denial mode and wash their hands off as it happened during the meeting between Indian foreign secretary and Pakistan high commissioner in India when the latter flatly denied any knowledge about it."
Political parties on Wednesday condemned the killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistan army with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding that the government clearly draw the redlines in dealing with the neighbouring nation.
The Indian retaliation came after Pakistani forces resorted to heavy shelling in several areas in north Kashmir, killing five security personnel and six civilians. A number of videos released by the Indian Army showed destruction of several Pakistani positions and bunkers across the LoC with some of them going up in flames following the Indian retaliation.
Indian Army's Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen A K Bhatt on Monday met his Pakistani counterpart.
Pakistan's powerful Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was on Thursday night given a three-year extension in service, ending months of speculation over his continuance.
Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has rubbished media reports of him organising a secret meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Haqqani network commander Sirajuddin Haqqani in Kabul last month.
The civilian leadership informed the military authorities that Sharif's hour-long meeting with Jindal was a part of back-channel diplomacy. And Jindal had the backing of some important Indian officials for the meeting to defuse ongoing tension between the two countries, the report said.
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.
'We have to keep that in mind and have plan A B C D because the trust factor with Pakistan or China is very low.'
The Pakistani military has ousted the civilian government from the role making strategic decisions and has taken virtual control of the foreign policy, a noted and award-winning Pakistani journalist said on Tuesday. "Pakistan's military has virtually taken control of foreign policy and strategic decision making from the civilian government.Thus Pakistan's foreign policy reflects the military's obsession with India," wrote Ahmed Rashid in The Washington Post.
As Pakistan's armed forces on Sunday staged a massive drill in the Cholistan desert, close to the Indian border, the country's civil and military leadership said Islamabad's defence strategy is based on credible minimum deterrence and had 'no offensive design' against anyone.
The meeting took place two days after a military tribunal sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadav to death on charges of spying
India and Pakistan are talking once again today at the official level. The preparation on the Indian side leaves no doubt that the focus will be on terrorism. The foreign ministry is consulting with the home ministry, defence ministry and security agencies. Pakistan will be placed in the dock. We can reasonably expect Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to press for the complete unravelling of the 26/11 conspiracy.
C Christine Fair, an acclaimed Pakistan expert who teaches at Georgetown University rebutted some of the common perceptions of Pakistan.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Sayed Ansari alias Abu Jundal has told interrogators that four Indians were working for the banned terror outfit in Pakistan in 2006 and the raids conducted by the army and Federal Investigation Agency on terror camps in that country after the 26/11 strike were an 'eyewash'.
He said that while Pakistan public opinion favouring Al Qaeda and the Taliban have declined precipitously in the past year, "on the other hand, despite robust Pakistani military operations against extremists that directly challenge the Pakistani government authority, Afghan Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Pakistani militant groups continue to use Pakistan as a safe haven for organising, training and planning attacks against the United States and our allies in Afghanistan."
Warning that Pakistan's desire for peace should not be seen as 'a sign of weakness', President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said the country's armed forces are ready to tackle all challenges and 'external and internal' threats."Pakistan is a peace-loving nation. We believe in peace with honour. However, our desire for peace must not be taken as a sign of weakness," he said in his address at a passing out parade at the naval academy in Karachi.
Hillary Clinton was advised to quietly take action against Pakistani military leaders who gave support to Al Qaeda and its affiliates, an email sent to her when she was secretary of state shows.
The Pakistani military has "significantly degraded" the Pakistani Taliban, but is still reluctant to take action against the elements of Afghan Taliban operating from inside its territory, a top US General said on Wednesday.
The former armyman -- identified as Sajid Mir -- has turned out to be Headley's handler in Pakistan and was tasking the American to learn praying like Jews so that he could conduct a recce of Jewish Centre Nariman House in Mumbai and the premises of a newspaper in Denmark, official sources said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday threatened they would launch a guerrilla war once security forces entered the whole of the South Waziristan tribal region, where a military operation is currently underway.
Pakistani security agencies have nabbed the alleged mastermind of the audacious October 10 terror attack on the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
United States Commander of Joint Operations Special Command General Stanley McChrystal has facilitated the removal of scores of security check-posts from the Afghanistan side of the Pak-Afghan border as part of a conspiracy against the Pakistani military, fear Pakistani security experts."This is an intriguing move aimed at different ends. But the primary motive of it is to encourage large-scale reinforcements and infiltration," said a security expert.
The Pakistan military believes that American and British military will withdraw from Afghanistan -- and when they do, they will need old Taliban friends such as Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin to minimise the influence of India in its Afghan backyard.Although Pakistan's military chiefs have been talking about an 'imminent' assault since last June, all the evidence has pointed to deep reluctance to launch a massive ground offensive.
The advance on Mehsud tribal positions began on Saturday morning after a go-ahead was given by the government for starting an offensive on Taliban stronghold at a meeting attended by the top political and military leadership.
In a dramatic rescue mission, Pakistani commandos on Sunday stormed a building near the army headquarters in Rawalpindi to end a 20-hour siege freeing 42 hostages held by the Taliban terrorists, who staged a brazen assault on the top military facility, and killed 4 militants.
A report based on the assessment of the US led 'war on terror' by General Stanley McChrystal, the top military commander in Afghanistan, also highlights the increasing clout of the Taliban even after eight years of continuous struggle.
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