Despite persisting questions among peer officers in the army about his professional competence and ethics, after his recent 'triumphal' Kabul sojourn, Faiz Hameed remains the hot favourite of both General Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
'...they were shocked to learn that just 352 Indian soldiers had made 3 brigadiers, 2 colonels, 170 officers, 290 JCOs and 8,000 troops surrender to the Indian Army.'
China and Pakistan have agreed to step up their defence and counter-terrorism cooperation amidst 'challenging times', as Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa held wide-ranging talks with the Chinese military leadership to further cement their all-weather strategic partnership.
The Indian Army today dismissed reports of Pakistan's military build-up along the borders, saying presence of the neighbouring country's troops seemed like routine exercises, but asserted it is always ready to tackle any eventuality.
With its new army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa set to take charge, Pakistan has asserted that focus will remain on country's eastern border with India, even as the US nudged Islamabad to keep the pledge of not allowing use of its soil for terror attacks against neighbours.
'I am inclined to believe that there must have been some low-level rogue element in the Pakistani government who looked the other way while the training and logistics support were being provided,' Muqtedar Khan told rediff.com 'Otherwise, it is very difficult for anybody to carry out such a sophisticated operation.'
Khan, in the same breath, praised the Army, saying "Pakistan needs the Armed forces more than Imran Khan."
If the government is able to deliver the promised projects, the large number of youth will be taken off the streets and that is not acceptable to the Pakistan army nor the terrorists hiding in Pakistan, notes Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
In unprecedented scenes, supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday stormed the Pakistan Army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and the Corps Commander's residence in Lahore after his dramatic arrest in a corruption case.
Lauding the Indian leadership's willingness to engage Pakistan despite its failure to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 terror attacks to justice, a leading United States daily has said that the Pakistani Army's use of militants to counter Indian influence in Kashmir is "self-destructive."
General Asim Munir becomes Pakistan's 17th Chief of the Army Staff.
General Bajwa, unlike many of his predecessors, believes the Pakistan army's long-term interests lie in reducing tensions with India, reports Ajai Shukla.
These are obviously not 'organic' desertions but brought about under intense military pressure, post the 9/5 arrests. It seemed as if the party was being dismantled the same way it was brought into power!, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
Sources in PoK reveal that special quarantine centres have been set-up in Mirpur and other major cities in the occupied regions to cleanse the Punjab province of COVID-19 patients as Army top brass has ordered that no positive patient should be anywhere near where Army facilities and Army family housing is there.
Khan was arrested on Tuesday in the case, sparking massive country-wide protests by his supporters.
Pakistan is bracing for another day of violence that broke out in many cities after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan for alleged corruption with the leaders of his party announcing a countrywide strike on Wednesday to protest against the fascist government.
The surprise reiteration of the ceasefire agreement by the two neighbours from the midnight of February 24 last year came as a huge relief to the people of Uri near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief of the army staff said that with one-third of the world in the Gulf region and elsewhere involved in some sort of conflict and war, "it is important that we keep the flames of fire away from our region."
"We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 per cent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation," Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of the Balkh province.
'As one might expect, he believed the Indians were preparing their nuclear weapons for deployment. It took us a few hours - and remarkably good work by our teams on the ground in New Delhi and Islamabad - to convince each side that the other was not preparing for nuclear war'
JKLF leader Yasin Malik on terrorism and independence.
This is fourth consecutive day of firing and shelling by the Pakistan army.
'It is for the first time in about five or six years that the LoC has been silent. That really bodes well for the future'
'What has the impact of 40 years of warfare in Afghanistan been on us?' 'Afghanistan is marginal to India's future.'
The Pakistan Army initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing from small arms and intense shelling of mortars along the LoC in the Mankote and Krishna Ghati sectors on Wednesday night, a defence spokesperson said.
'If the jihadi infiltration attempts are assisted by the Pakistan army, the Indian Army will retaliate strongly.'
'We are ready to surrender,' Lieutenant General A A K Niazi said over the phone from Dhaka.
Indian Army retaliated befittingly to the unprovoked ceasefire violations.
A video shared by Qureshi's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Twitter shows plain-clothed men taking him away, with him waving at party workers before departing from the location where he was detained.
India should remember that Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations will remain special due, not least, to bonds of all Muslims with The Holy Land. They would also be strategic enough, irrespective of whether the ambassador is a military man or a career civilian appointee., notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
After his failed misadventure in Kargil, Musharraf deposed the then Prime Minister Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 in various positions.
Munir was among those in Pakistan who oversaw the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, according to Tilak Devasher, a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and who retired as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.
The Pak army also claimed that three Indian soldiers were killed in the exchange of fire. An Indian JCO was killed in Pak firing on Wednesday.
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Deepa Gahlot picks the top 10 Karan Johar films -- some that he directed and others that he produced or co-produced -- that you can watch on steaming platforms.
'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.'
Pakistan still has to acquire the patience you need in a democracy. The patience to accept that even if I do not like the government I have, I must wait till the next election to change it, explains Shekhar Gupta.
Pakistani military leaders, including army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, were surprised to know that Osama bin Laden was hiding in their country when they were told about the American raid that killed the dreaded terrorist, according to an analysis of conversations conducted by the United States intelligence.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said the first suicide attack occurred at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Army's general headquarters while the second was carried out on a bus carrying defence personnel.
The US needs to do three things to help the newly elected Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, says Stanley A Weiss
