The CIA saw the Nathu La clashes as “military expressions of intensified political relations”, and asked for better reporting on the Sino-Indian border situation.
Gurinder Chaddha’s film on partition has no real victors – all characters are taken over by a sense of defeat and betrayal. And just as well.
Sanya Dhingra
At ‘Off The Cuff’, Abdul Basit says Pakistan's stand is that talks need to be separated from terror, reiterates that Hizbul Mujahideen is “freedom fighting organization”
ThePrint REPORTER
Pakistani politics is so important for India that we Indians can't be faulted for being obsessed with it. But must we continue to be ignorant and self-servingly patronising about it?
We have failed terribly at two important things. One, we are reacting to this issue only emotionally, not logically. And two, we are not asking the right questions.
WhatsApp privacy policy case is among a string of matters involving practices like restrictive platform rules, pricing & billing policies, reflecting India’s tight scrutiny of market dominance.
Bihar is blessed with a land more fertile for revolutions than any in India. Why has it fallen so far behind then? Constant obsession with politics is at the root of its destruction.
Shameful that somebody who headed the Northern Command would make such patently biased and ignorant comments.
The idea that surgical strike would entail a repeated escalation cycle of strike-counter strike operations in response to Pakistani or terrorist attacks was never on the cards and no rational strategist would venture to claim such. The consequence of such folly would be a full out war and a massive death toll for marginal tactical victories or a few dead terrorists.
The surgical strike was always about “perception” – both domestically and especially in Pakistani military minds. The psychological component is the reason these strikes were carried out – not the tactical reasons why, since these tactical objectives would have been achieved through fire support just as easily.
To claim that there was no effect from the surgical strikes is therefore a falsehood -as Pakistani military’s image took a body blow both inside Pakistan and in the militant groups, the massive fire assaults on the LOC – especially those targetting Pakistani army facilities and support infrastructure has caused great consternation in the Pakistani Army – with the constant news reports in Pakistan, the Pakistani Govt’s repeated statements on the LOC violations at the UN and other fora and the frequency of Pakistani Rangers and Army personnel calling for flag meetings. Pakistan which cared nothing for the LoC ceasefire is now suddenly its biggest proponent. The massive civilian casualties have not helped the Pakistani Army’s image either.
This pro-active posture beside the employment of other tools of attack like diplomacy and intelligence operations have put Pakistan under pressure like never before – so much so that they have explicitly cried about it at the UN .
In such circumstances it is the “fake news” retired officers who want to spin fiction while issuing sermons about “post-truth politics” while reverently quoting Churchil – perhaps the biggest mass-murder of Indian lives for his role in the Bengal Famine. Yet so-called “patriots” would use his words to play politics.
If “generals can’t be trusted” with war – do you really presume that they can be trusted with something far more dangerous like “politics” ?
I wonder if Pakistan can indeed match India’s aggressive posture along the LoC in a quid pro quo manner using matching firepower!!! If that were the case why has there been no visible escalation and why are only a few low cost Jihadis bring pushed in??? Neither has anything spectacular has been achieved by their Special Forces or Border Action Teams in the past year. Infiltration into J&K has increased but so has their elimination rate. That Pakistan has made it clear by their actions that there will be no change in its strategy is a fact … However low cost Jehadis who can only strike once before being extinguished, that certainly does not serve their stated purpose of integrating Kashmir within the Pakistani Fold in the near term … If Pakistan is not winning nor are we loosing .. much!!! General Panag has just skirted the issue and has not given his mind on the way forward and I wonder what constrains him now that he can and should speak his mind !!! In the absence of his own road map ahead this is just a compulsive & meaningless critique!!!
Shameful that somebody who headed the Northern Command would make such patently biased and ignorant comments.
The idea that surgical strike would entail a repeated escalation cycle of strike-counter strike operations in response to Pakistani or terrorist attacks was never on the cards and no rational strategist would venture to claim such. The consequence of such folly would be a full out war and a massive death toll for marginal tactical victories or a few dead terrorists.
The surgical strike was always about “perception” – both domestically and especially in Pakistani military minds. The psychological component is the reason these strikes were carried out – not the tactical reasons why, since these tactical objectives would have been achieved through fire support just as easily.
To claim that there was no effect from the surgical strikes is therefore a falsehood -as Pakistani military’s image took a body blow both inside Pakistan and in the militant groups, the massive fire assaults on the LOC – especially those targetting Pakistani army facilities and support infrastructure has caused great consternation in the Pakistani Army – with the constant news reports in Pakistan, the Pakistani Govt’s repeated statements on the LOC violations at the UN and other fora and the frequency of Pakistani Rangers and Army personnel calling for flag meetings. Pakistan which cared nothing for the LoC ceasefire is now suddenly its biggest proponent. The massive civilian casualties have not helped the Pakistani Army’s image either.
This pro-active posture beside the employment of other tools of attack like diplomacy and intelligence operations have put Pakistan under pressure like never before – so much so that they have explicitly cried about it at the UN .
In such circumstances it is the “fake news” retired officers who want to spin fiction while issuing sermons about “post-truth politics” while reverently quoting Churchil – perhaps the biggest mass-murder of Indian lives for his role in the Bengal Famine. Yet so-called “patriots” would use his words to play politics.
If “generals can’t be trusted” with war – do you really presume that they can be trusted with something far more dangerous like “politics” ?
I wonder if Pakistan can indeed match India’s aggressive posture along the LoC in a quid pro quo manner using matching firepower!!! If that were the case why has there been no visible escalation and why are only a few low cost Jihadis bring pushed in??? Neither has anything spectacular has been achieved by their Special Forces or Border Action Teams in the past year. Infiltration into J&K has increased but so has their elimination rate. That Pakistan has made it clear by their actions that there will be no change in its strategy is a fact … However low cost Jehadis who can only strike once before being extinguished, that certainly does not serve their stated purpose of integrating Kashmir within the Pakistani Fold in the near term … If Pakistan is not winning nor are we loosing .. much!!! General Panag has just skirted the issue and has not given his mind on the way forward and I wonder what constrains him now that he can and should speak his mind !!! In the absence of his own road map ahead this is just a compulsive & meaningless critique!!!