At this time, sixty years ago, Brigadier John Parshuram Dalvi and a majority of his men were captured as prisoners of war by the Chinese during the 1962 war. His son Michael Dalvi, 77, has preserved his father's memory and the story of the gallant men of the 7th Infantry Brigade with honour.
'I was exhausted, hungry, unshaven and despondent.' 'My mouth was full of sores due to dehydration.' 'My clothes were in tatters due to walking through bushes and sliding down thorny slopes,' Brigadier John Parshuram Dalvi wrote of his capture during the 1962 War.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday chose Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new Army chief to replace incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
'...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.'
'The tank battle was fought at ranges of 300-700 metres.' 'It was a rare example of the complete destruction of a squadron by another squadron.'
'Our armed forces are prepared for any eventuality, and God forbid if the balloon goes up, people will get a bloody nose from us'
With the Armed Forces Tribunal indicting a top officer for falsifying Kargil war reports and showing bias towards a brigadier, the army said it will take action on the issue after analysing the verdict.
'In the 1971 War my battalion suffered 4 casualties after fighting for 14 days.' 'In Operation Blue Star, I lost 19 men in just one hour.'
Officers at Army headquarters say the chief has personally initiated this reshuffle, reports Ajai Shukla
The battle against the infiltrators in Kashmir and the battle against the Maoists need strong but different responses, argues Brigadier S K Chatterji (retired).
As more and more cases of Canadian visa rejection to Indian men in uniform pour in, certain ugly facets of double standards are getting illuminated. Brigadier S K Chatterji, a retired Indian Army officer, recounts his experience:
'Given the past practice in the Pakistan army, this delay is most unusual,' notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'Rezang La was a unique battle.' 'It was not a large scale battle like the Battle of Kohima which involved a large number of troops.' 'Here there was just a company that fought it out till the last man.'
Of late, war films -- particularly those that tell stories of the 1971 War and Kargil -- have been produced.
'Imagine for a soldier -- first you conquer territory after fighting a fierce battle, suffer casualties and then you are ordered to come back to your side of the International Border in India.'
'Before going to battle, Captain Anuj Nayyar gave me the engagement ring and photograph of his fiance.' 'I told him, "Why don't you keep it? It will motivate you to fight'.' 'He said he did not want the photograph to fall in the dirty hands of the enemy.' 'I wondered why he was giving it to me. Did he feel he would not return?'
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
Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri was awarded the Mahavir Chakra, the second highest medal for gallantry for leading a small company of men against a massive Pakistani attack.
The Chinese admitted that they had suffered the maximum casualties fighting in the first battle on October 20, 1962, and these casualties had been inflicted mostly by 2 Rajput. Claude Arpi salutes Major B K Pant and his fighting force of 112 men, 82 of whom lost their lives in the Battle of Namkha Chu, and whose courage must never ever be forgotten by a grateful country for who they laid down their lives.
'We are ready to surrender,' Lieutenant General A A K Niazi said over the phone from Dhaka.
'I'm now living under threat, but life has to go on because as a soldier, you can't run away from it.'
'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 moment the Army approved the script, they told us that they will give their full support and asked us for our full dedication.'
'Already, there is talk of a possible extension for Raheel Sharif in the context of his perceived sterling, but incomplete work in the war against terror, as also the cleansing of crime and extortion networks in Karachi,' says Rana Banerji.
Dhaka emerged as the free capital of independent Bangladesh on December 16, 1971 after the war between India and Pakistan broke out on December 3 when the Indian troops directly stood beside the Mukti Bahini soldiers.
Internal simmering in the army has come to a boil after the government tries to retain a discriminatory promotions policy.
'By beheading an Indian soldier, the Pakistan army has demonstrated its proclivity for barbaric medievalism.' 'The strategies adopted and the punishment inflicted by India must be made progressively more stringent with every new act of terrorism till the cost becomes prohibitive for Pakistan,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'The next war will be fought by China-Pakistan against India and we have to fully be prepared. We must read the writing on the wall.'
'Anglo-Indians have played a significant role at the forefront, meeting every challenge to the security of the motherland.' A fascinating excerpt from Barry O'Brien's The Anglo-Indians: A Portrait of a Community.
Lt Gen Haroon Aslam of the Pakistan Army on Thursday resigned a day after he was superseded by his two juniors who were made the new army chief and the chairman joint chief of staff committee.
as journalists active in Pakistani media have been quick to point out, with Ghafoor at the helm in Balochistan, no one will take seriously any claims by the civilian leadership to use the velvet glove to work for peace there, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.He did not hesitate to pejorate developments in India at the slightest opportunity, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
''I heard from the Pakistani brigadier that Flying Officer Pradeep Apte had been killed after he ejected safely and tried to escape. This news sent a chill up my spine. I had been lucky so far...'
Brigadier M P Bajwa (retd), commander of the troops that captured Tiger Hill, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how a band of young soldiers won the Kargil War's most famous battle with their blood and grit.
Nidhi Dubey and Swati Mahadik will join the Indian Army as officers just as their deceased soldier husbands did before them.
'There have been equal or more casualties on the Chinese side.' 'Our soldiers are hardy and strong and far superior than the Chinese.'
Both Major Iqbal and Major Pasha are shown as wanted accused in the charge sheet filed by the city police's crime branch in the case.
In fresh revelations of provocative actions, Canada has denied visas to a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal, three serving Brigadiers, a retired Lt General and a former senior Intelligence Bureau official on the grounds that their organisations have been engaging in violence.
'Political parties have appropriated our military victories -- the Kargil war is the BJP's and the Bangladesh war is the Congress's -- what is going on?' As Uttarakhand -- where faujis number nearly 40% of the state's population -- prepares to vote, Rediff.com's Archana Masih discovers what upsets retired soldiers in Uttarakhand the most is a forgotten protest in the heart of Delhi.
Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day on Tuesday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them.
He was focussed on his career and determined to join the prestigious National Defence Academy, located at Khadakwasla near Pune in Maharashtra, said some of his classmates from the Class 11 batch of St Vincent School.
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