Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

In 1947, British officer Yahya Khan offered his colleague 1,000 rupees for his spiffy red motorcycle. His colleague, Sam Manekshaw, agreed. But before Khan could pay, he was off to what was going to become Pakistan. The British split its Indian colony, and things on the subcontinent have been pretty tense ever since. To top it all off, Yahya Khan didn't pay for the motorbike. But he would, even if it took almost 25 years. The Partition of India was much more than the splitting of the British Raj into two independent states. It was a catastrophic split that tore apart the country and created millions of refugees, cost millions of lives, and split the armed forces of the country in two, all based on religion. Violence erupted almost immediately between the two groups on such a large scale that much of it has never been forgotten or forgiven. Animosity continued between both sides for decades, and the two have fought war after war because of the myriad issues left unaddressed. By 1970...

At the stroke of midnight, Jammu & Kashmir ceased to be a state of the Union, making way for two new Union territories of J&K and Ladakh. This marks an important milestone in the history of J&K and, especially, Kashmir Valley’s tense ties with the rest of the country, and culminates the process which started on August 5 with the landmark announcement for emasculation of Article 370 as well as end of statehood for J&K. This also put to an end to J&K’s flag and constitution, symbols of the state’s special status. With October 31 fixed as the appointed day for reorganisation of J&K, the new lieutenant governors of the two UTs — G C Murmu in J&K and R K Mathur in Ladakh — will be sworn in at separate ceremonies in Srinagar and Leh, respectively. The creation of the UTs of J&K and Ladakh coincides with the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, credited with the merger of over 560 states with the Indian Union and who has been promoted by the Modi gove...

While India operates one aircraft carrier at the moment, New Delhi is planning to operate at least three such ships, provided it will have the funds. The construction of such a large machine is a strategic choice not only in pure military terms, however. For a country like India, which needs foreign technology, it is also a political statement. It is not only about whom the carrier could be used against, but whom to cooperate with to procure the needed systems – and whom to leave out from cooperation. Here I argue that India’s five aircraft carriers – the past, present and future ones – may turn out to represent four stages in New Delhi’s evolving foreign policy. This will, therefore, not be a text on technology, but on how choices in importing foreign technologies are intertwined with diplomacy. To be sure, each of the ships is at a completely different stage now: the first two ones were already decommissioned, the third, still operating, has been guarding India’s waters for the past ...

ICAO has sought information from Pakistan on the issue of repeated denial of giving overflying clearance to Air India One flying the Indian President or Prime Minister between Delhi and the west In the latest case, PM Modi took the longer route while flying from Delhi to Riyadh on Monday The United Nation’s aviation arm, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), has sought information from Pakistan on the issue of repeated denial of giving overflying clearance to Air India One flying the Indian President or Prime Minister between Delhi and the west. India had officially approached ICAO against Pakistan's most recent decision to deny overflight clearance to PM Narendra Modi's aircraft, saying such nods are otherwise routinely provided by any normal country. In the latest case, PM Modi took the longer route while flying from Delhi to Riyadh on Monday. “ICAO’s Council President has acknowledged the letter from India, and that he has sent a request to Pakistan requesting fu...

The United States is interested in providing an entire fighter aircraft ecosystem to India, the country's Under-Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD), Ellen Lord said in New Delhi on Thursday. Lord was in New Delhi for the ninth group meeting of the India-US Defence Technologies and Trade Initiative (DTTI), a pact signed between the two countries in 2012 for co-development and joint manufacturing of defence products. "With the fighter jet programme, we are very, very interested in providing an entire fighter aircraft ecosystem to India where we not only bring in aircraft but also bring in training and sustainment for the whole lifecycle which we believe we can offer to the Indian government," said Lord. Lord also said that a project for co-developing jet engines under the Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group between the two countries has been suspended right now. "We could not come to an understanding as to what exportable technology would b...

Vice-President Venkaiah Nadu will represent India at the 18th Non- Aligned Movement summit on October 25-26 in Azerbaijan's Baku, the government announced late Tuesday. This is the second time in a row that PM Narendra Modi will skip the summit, marking India’s transformation from a non-aligned country to one which is supposedly multi-aligned. Modi became effectively the first Indian PM to skip the meeting of heads of states and governments of NAM nations in 2016 when he gave the 17th summit, in Venezuela that year, the go-by. While this may be yet another sign of the winds of change sweeping India’s foreign policy, it’s signifi-cant that India’s neighbours like Nepal and Bangladesh have again reposed trust in NAM with their PMs, K P Oli and Sheikh Hasina, respectively, confirming their participation. The Maldives’ foreign minister Abdulla Shahid is also attending. At the last summit, too, India was represented by its Vice-President, Hamid Ansari. The theme for the Baku summit is ‘...

The river bridge is crucial for troops and military equipment deployment in the Eastern Ladakh region - a contentious region between China and India. China had recently upped its ante in the area calling the entire region disputed after India declared Ladakh a separate administrative zone under the direct control of Delhi. In a significant boost to Indian defence capability near the Ladakh region, the country's government has opened a strategic bridge over Shyok River which connects Ladakh with the China border. The construction work on the bridge has been completed in record time on the river Shyok, which rises in one of the branches of the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram. The name of the river 'Shyok' also means "The River of Death" in the local Ladakhi/Yarkandi language. The bridge, in eastern Ladakh, will enable the military to speed up the dispatch of forces to the Line of Actual Control- a loosely demarcated border between India and China. This bridge will ...

On August 6th India constitutionally abrogated the conservative and absolutist Article 370 from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The move – which proved to be a stumper for Pakistan’s diplomacy wing – triggered a fission of frustration catalysed with enigmas in Pakistan’s entire establishment. Pakistan’s frustration found many ways to carve itself out open on the world canvas, the darkest of it was their military and ISI’s sweating attempt at maligning India at the world stage. Every brush of the box was used to paint a case for liberation of Kashmir from Indian state and longing for the merger with Pakistan. Pakistan ever since its creation – which was a result of instalment of intense religious hatred, fundamentalism and extremism along with clever populistic political play – has used every trick to annex Kashmir from India. It partly, due to negligence of Indian state, succeeded in annexing a third of J&K in 1947. Bound by its ideology of Gazwa-e-hind, Pakistan has injected the m...

Pakistan has not yet responded to India's proposal on hosting the biannual meeting between the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers, another example of what appears to be the neighbour unilaterally snapping functional level contacts, government sources said on Tuesday. The meeting at the level of director generals of both the border guarding forces is scheduled to be held this month. The biannual meeting has taken place regularly despite ups and downs in bilateral ties between the two countries in the past. "This time the Indian side has proposed to hold the meeting in October, but the Pakistan Rangers has so far not confirmed its intention to participate in the meeting," said a source. Another source said it is yet another instance of unilateral measures by Pakistan to stop functional level contacts. Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for its decision to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcate the state in...

When the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meets in Paris to review Pakistans case on fight against terror, it must take cognisance of a recent question posed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - "Whether it is 9/11 or 26/11, in which country are the conspirators found?" Though the Prime Minister, during his 'Howdy Modi' event in Houston last month where US President Donald Trump was also present, did not name Pakistan but his hint was very clear as he said this "particular country" is feeling troubled since India ended special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Modi's reference about presence of conspirators of 9/11 and 26/11 was to slain al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and Jamaat-ud-Dawa head Hafiz Saeed, respectively. While Laden was the chief architect of the terror attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, Saeed is the mastermind of the attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. Though Laden was hunted by the US and killed in a stealth operation on May 1, 2011 i...