Pakistan is considering creating a new position of 'Commander of Defence Forces' (CDF) to improve coordination and unified command among its military services, according to media reports. The move is part of broader defence reforms and is reportedly influenced by recent conflicts and the evolving nature of modern warfare.
Pakistan on Saturday brought in a Constitutional amendment to create a new post of chief of defence forces to ensure greater coordination and unified command among the three services.
After Operation Sindoor, the Army and Navy now view the IAF as not a supporting arm, but the spearhead of India's warfighting capability, capable of decisive outcomes across domains, explains Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
The chief minister further said that the Unified Command required better cooperation from Arunachal Pradesh to flush out the militants holed up in the forests across the boundary.
He said the state government was not heeding to the recommendation of the Justice (retd) K N Saikia Commission, which inquired into certain cases of secret (extra judicial) killings of kin of United Liberation Front of Asom members in the state during 1998-2001, to disband the Unified Command.
Amidst controversy over the issue of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act from parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday said that the final decision on it would be taken by the Unified Command Headquarters in the state.
Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar on Tuesday directed the Committee of Secretaries to formulate a unified command for coastal districts to counter the terrorist threat from the sea.
Maoists have admitted that 28 cadres, including their top leader Basavaraju, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region last week. The Naxals also claimed that some of their cadres had surrendered to police and provided information that led to the operation. Police have recovered a large cache of weapons, including an AK-47 looted by Basavaraju from security forces in a 2010 ambush.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday said he will step down as the chairman of the counter-insurgency Unified Command in order to concentrate on development activities. The chief secretary will take over the responsibility. "I want to focus more on development work as it is the development that will ultimately neutralise insurgency. Had there been no insurgency, the state could have afforded to pump more money into development and welfare schemes," he said.
In a fresh strategy to combat the Naxal menace, the government on Wednesday asked Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to create a unified command for anti-Maoist operations and to appoint a retired major general of the army as its member.
The joint operation group of the Unified Command structure reviewed security scenario in the four Bodoland Territorial Area Districts in view of the Bodoland Territorial Council polls scheduled on April 8, a defence spokesman said on Friday.
The governor-designate said his 'basic approach' in the trouble-torn state would be same like in the northeast, but the 'tactics' would be modified to suit the purpose there.
De-centralised execution should drive the operational concept and support military strategy, under a unified command architecture. Enablers and technology need to be positioned first for such an activity to be undertaken, recommends Lieutenant General Anil Chait (retd).
A village volunteer was killed in a gunfight between two warring communities in Manipur's Kangpokpi district, officials said on Thursday.
The Congress claimed that not inviting the Manipur CM to the meeting violated Schedule 7 of the Constitution.
'I have been asking whether the chief minister (N Biren Singh) is in charge of the situation in Manipur.' 'Law and order is a state subject and chief minister is a Constitutional authority. Why did he follow the diktat, if at all there is a diktat from the Union government?'
The development came two days after Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that a decision has been taken to provide security to the farmers who will start the cropping season.
Three countries share a common interest in warding off cyber attacks from various agencies PLA is developing and training in China.
'Till the time the chief minister continues to have command over the state forces, we don't think that gives any hope of peace coming back to Manipur.'
The surrendered weapons included self-loading rifles, carbine, AK and INSAS rifles, light machine guns, pistols, M16 rifles, smoke gun/tear gas, sten gun and grenade launcher.
"Dialogue is the only solution to the ongoing crisis in Manipur," Shah said.
Appealing with "folded hands" for an end to the three-month-long cycle of violence in Manipur, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday urged the warring Kuki and Meitei communities to hold talks, even as the Lok Sabha adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of peace in the northeastern state.
He said that those who have surrendered and returned to the mainstream are being rehabilitated by both the central and Assam governments and they will participate in the development journey of the state.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday visited the victims of the serial blasts in a hospital in Guwahati and said he would chair a meeting of the unified command in the wake of the explosions, suspected to have been carried out by the banned ULFA killing five people.
The West Bengal government on Saturday sought support of the Indian Army, railways and port for restoring essential infrastructure and services in the cyclone-ravaged areas of the state. It also urged private entities to provide manpower and equipment for the purpose.
The Rs 64 crore warship is named after one of the islands in the archipelago and took 26 months to be constructed.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday discussed ways of resolving the Chinese incursion issue with the top security brass of the country and emphasised that India will take every step to safeguard its interests there.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said that though the counter-insurgency Unified Command comprising the state police, paramilitary force and the army was at work in the state to fight insurgents, special training would be given to the police force to fight Maoists.
The crucial meeting of the Unified Command HQ, presided over by Abdullah, lasted over three hours. However, it only witnessed presentations by every stakeholder -- the state government, the Army, heads of paramilitary forces in Kashmir and intelligence agencies -- but no discussions, sources attending the meeting told rediff.com
The Assam government has requested the Centre for additional central forces to beef up security measures in the state in the wake of anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland resorting to mindless killings of innocent civilians.
The Centre and the states decided this week to set up a unified command to fight the Maoists. But as Rediff.com's Krishnakumar Padmanbhan discovered recently in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, the hostility and rivalry between the central and state police forces will not make such a initiative easy to execute.
Notwithstanding the recent arrest of several top insurgent leaders from various groups in Assam, there will be no let-up on the counter-insurgency operation in Assam till insurgents give up arms and join the political process, said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is working on the draft surrender policy relating to return of Kashmiri militants who had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.
Security forces operating under unified command have launched opeation in Tirap and Changlang districts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh which border with Myanmar to check cross border movements of terrorists from Assam and Nagaland to their bases inside Myanmar.
Concerned over the recent unrest in the Kashmir Valley, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday directed the unified command to come up with a plan in 10 days for the phased replacement of Central Reserve Police Force personnel by local police in law and order duty.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today discussed security issues and progress of development projects with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.
The Union home ministry on direction of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is preparing a road map for relocation of the security forces in the Kashmir Valley -- the major demand of agitators across the state. Unified command of the security forces in the Valley is also involved in this process.
India, on Thursday, said infiltration from Pakistan has declined in the recent past, but the threat from terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir is "real" and there is no question of lowering the guard. "Of late, there has been a decline in infiltration in the borders but we cannot say it is an improvement," Defence Minister A K Antony told media-persons after addressing the Unified Commanders' Conference in New Delhi.
The security forces in Assam have decided to beef up security throughout the state after receiving intelligence inputs about militants' design to carry out attacks during Christmas and harvest festival Bihu.
Double decker flyovers, developing the National Capital Region as a Common Economic Zone and a unified command for governance of Delhi are some of the promises made by ruling Congress on Wednesday in its assembly election manifesto.