‘Restraining service chiefs during Op Parakram biggest challenge’

Identifying “internal challenge” during the operations as the most difficult,Singh has said that the service chiefs had to be convinced that restrain was a strategic asset. “The chiefs so wanted a chance,‘to have a crack’ as the military would put it — I had not only to persuade but also convince them otherwise,” Singh has written in his new book India at Risk.

The book captures Singh’s views and personal experiences on most matters relating to national security that the nation has faced since Independence. It borrows extensively from his experience as a cabinet minister in the NDA government and identifies “mistakes,misconceptions and misadventures of security policy”.

In a chapter that includes recollections about the Kargil war,he recalls how in the initial days the army was unable to gauge the depth of the situation,believing it to be an attack by “irregulars and terrorists”. Singh says that initially,he was against the use of the air force to evict the infiltrators as it would “escalate the conflict” and the loss of an aircraft would become an “issue that catches the public eye”.

Modi can’t be a good PM : Javed Akhtar

PATNA: Lyricist and Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar Thursday said Narendra Modi can never be a good prime minister,alleging that the BJP’s PM aspirant was not only tainted of communal riots but was also “undemocratic”. PTI