
Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal
Pakistanis seek truth on Kargil
A year after Pakistan’s stunning military defeat at the hands of the Indian Army in Kargil, the skeletons are now tumbling out of the cupboard. Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif…

An Open letter to Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff
Dear General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Greetings from New Delhi from a former Indian soldier, who has served on the Line of Control (LoC), conducted counter-insurgency operations against Pakistan-trained terrorists in Kashmir…

Fighting to the Muzzle: A Tradition of Valour and Professionalism
There can be no doubt that the lion’s share of the credit for the military victory during the Kargil conflict in the summer of 1999, goes to the infantry battalions…
India’s Strategic Culture: Need for Change
Alexander of Greece, the Scythians, Genghis Khan, Mahmud Ghazni (17 times), Mohammed Ghori, Timur the Lame and the Mughals, among others, all invaded India through the Khyber Pass. Less than…

Inadequate Budgetary Allotment and India’s Defence Preparedness
In the budget for the Financial Year (FY) 2017-18, presented in the Indian parliament on 1 February 2017, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been allotted INR 2,74,114 crore,…
Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Warheads and India’s Nuclear Doctrine
In an endeavour to preserve strategic stability, India, a reluctant nuclear power, has demonstrated immense restraint despite grave incitement from Pakistan. In stark contrast, ever since it became a nuclear-armed…
Time to hit and hurt the Pakistan Army!
The Pakistan-sponsored fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri on September 18, that resulted in the martyrdom of 17 soldiers, is the worst since 2002. Though all four fidayeenwere killed, that is…

Two Years of NDA Government: Defence Preparedness and Modernisation need Attention
The defence budget has dipped to 1.72 per cent of the country’s GDP – the lowest level since the disastrous 1962 War with China. Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence and…

Defence Procurement: A Major Overhaul of Policy and Procedures is Necessary
No country that is not substantially self-reliant in defence production can aspire to become a dominant military power in its region and, in due course, on the world stage. Prime…

Air Power: Ground Strike Capabilities must be enhanced to Support Army Operations
A specialised aircraft is needed to destroy targets on land on the future battlefield As the biennial DefExpo gets underway at Goa on March 28th, the state of India’s air…

Lt Gen JFR Jacob: A Personal Remembrance
1971 War hero, principal planner of the Indian army’s race to Dhaka, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, Governor of Goa and Punjab, Lt Gen JFR Jacob passed away in early January 2016.…

The Indian Soldier is a Role Model for the Nation: An Army Day Tribute
The Idea of India The Indian soldier is a role model for the people of India. Scrupulously honest, positively secular, completely apolitical, with an ethos of working hard, simple needs…

General O P Malhotra – A Personal Remembrance
After he took over as the Army Chief in June 1978, as a proud Gunner, General O P Malhotra’s first visit was quite naturally to Devlali – the home of…

Restructuring Defence Reforms for National Security
Systemic weaknesses and structural shortcomings in India’s national security decision making system have led to sub-optimal synergisation of the available combat resources, meagre as these are. The government must accord…

Exercise Hand-in-Hand: Counter-terrorism Cooperation between India and China is Odd
The Indian army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China participated in a joint counter-terrorism exercise at Kunming in the Yunnan province of China in the second week of…

UN Sanctions Must Be Imposed On Pakistan
On June 22, 2015, the Afghan Parliament was attacked by Jihadi extremists while it was in session. According to Haseeb Sediqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency the National Directorate…

Defence Expenditure: Conflicting Tales
Presently, India’s defence budget – 1.74 per cent of its GDP – is too low to undertake the capacity building necessary to deter China from contemplating another border war. The…

Meeting the long-term Chinese Challenge
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to China was eminently successful – no matter by which yardstick success is measured. It resulted in agreements to facilitate US$ 10 billion Chinese…

Defence Budget 2015-16: Allocation Inadequate for Modernisation
The finance Minister has hiked the defence budget for FY 2015-16 by 9.46 per cent to Rs 2,46,727 crore, which is Rs 23,357 crore more than the revised estimates for…

Agenda for the new Defence Minister
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) did not have a full-time Defence Minister for over five months after the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on…

Indo-China relations: Some Plain Speaking by the Indian PM
Even as President Xi Jinping was being entertained by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the bank of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, Chinese and Indian troops were once again engaged…
