Columnists

Ashok K Mehta

The writer is an Indian Army Gorkha regiment officer and has known Nepal since 1959

As RIMC turns 100, a celebration of its legacy of courage

Wed, Mar 16, 2022

Ashok K Mehta writes: Several alumni of the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, have distinguished themselves in service of the nation.

CDS Bipin Rawat was scripting roadmap for reforms and upgrade, his boots hard to fill

Thu, Dec 09, 2021

🔴 Rawat started his career as an officer in the Gorkhas and rose to command 5/11 Gorkha Rifles, the battalion his father Lt Gen L S Rawat also commanded.

Fahim Dashty represented the Afghan national resistance that fought Taliban

Sat, Sep 18, 2021

He said: ‘If we die in resistance, it is a win for us. History will write about us as people who stood for their country till the end of time’

The little-known story of how West Germany brokered peace between Pakistan and Bangladesh

Fri, Mar 26, 2021

Through protracted negotiations with the emissaries of Zulfiqar Bhutto and Mujibur Rehman, German chancellor Willy Brandt and his foreign minister Walter Scheel succeeded in convincing the latter that he should forego the trials of Pakistani POWs, citing the German experience after the war and the Nuremberg trials.

Jaswant Singh: Underneath the intimidating facade was a mellow man with a great sense of humour

Thu, Oct 01, 2020

It was Jaswant who paved the path for the India-US strategic partnership as natural allies though the going was not easy after the nuclear tests.

India’s negotiating strategy did not factor in the lessons from Wangdung and Doklam

Thu, Aug 20, 2020

The salvo of “befitting replies” will not impress the Chinese as our ambassador in Beijing pleads with Chinese officials for the restoration of the April 19 status quo ante.

A rare courage: Celebrating the three Victoria Cross winners in World War II

Sat, Nov 09, 2019

Gorkhas have a flair for risk taking as many are not familiar with danger. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw once famously said: “Anyone who says he does not know fear is either lying or a Gorkha”.

India can counter China’s strategic gains in Nepal by winning over confidence of its people

Sat, Nov 02, 2019

Xi’s dream — to be the sole leader of the Asian century — is attainable: By keeping India anchored to the region using Pakistan, even as Beijing, assisted by Kathmandu, blocks New Delhi’s traditional strategic space in Nepal. But, not all is lost for India.

The Kathmandu moment, hopefully at Astana

Fri, Jun 09, 2017

Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can throw aside all the tricks and tirades of history and diplomacy and reach for peace with Pakistan

This tolerance is worrying

Tue, Jan 23, 2001

The deadline for the Ramzan ceasefire in J&K is just three days away. The Army Chief says he's not averse to its extension though Faro...

This game is for a strategic gateway

Fri, Oct 09, 1998

All the famous captains of Kipling's Great Game were baptised on their long march from Kabul to Kandahar. This expeditionary force, calle...

Make the nuclear philosophy complete

Tue, Sep 08, 1998

Nearly four months after Pok-haran II, a minimum nuclear doctrine is emerging. Having named its nuclear threats, India's nuclear strategy...

The mental block against modernisation

Fri, May 01, 1998

The army is unable to utilise the paltry amount the government allots for new weapons. This year it has had to surrender Rs 103 crore out of...

Securing national interests, BJP style

Sat, Apr 04, 1998

During a television debate in the run up to the elections, while other parties were ambivalent about exercising their nuclear option, Brajes...

He needs a life after the Army

Tue, Mar 24, 1998

Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away. The most vivid enactment of wilting was that of Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck of Morocco, i...

War or peace, the fight must continue

Tue, Mar 03, 1998

The ten-month long stand-off over the promotion to Lieutenant General of the 1963 batch between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Army H...

Don’t write off democracy in Nepal

Fri, Feb 13, 1998

Wherever you go in Nepal, you can see children playing the country's favourite game, football, bouncing an improvised cotton-wool ball on th...

The civilian way of disarming the chief

Fri, Jan 23, 1998

The appointment of the three-star Adjutant General (AG) is crucial in a peacetime army. In the British and American armies he is a four-star...

Tigers come to town; talk to them

Mon, Nov 03, 1997

A powerful truck bomb reminiscent of the bombing of the Central Bank of Ceylon 20 months ago struck the world Trade Centre and adjoining lu...

Long live the poor, bloody infantry

Thu, Aug 14, 1997

On the golden jubilee of our independence, it is heartening to notice the awakening in the national press about the special importance of t...

Service chiefs, stand up and say no

Wed, Aug 06, 1997

After the selective announcement of the so-called improved Fifth Pay Commission (FPC) award and the defence minister's triumphant press bri...

An unsure, incomplete victory

Thu, Jul 17, 1997

The LTTE's surprise demolition work in July last year on the isolated Sri Lankan Army's (SLA) coastal brigade-size garrison of Mullaittivu ...

Taliban fail to be the unifier

Thu, Jun 19, 1997

In a striking replay of the Great Game, the white flag of the radical Islamic Pashtun-majority Taliban fluttered over Afghanistan's norther...

Waiting for an assault

Thu, May 08, 1997

Barring the spectacular assaults by the LTTE on the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) garrison at Paranthan early this year and the two smaller attacks...