Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts

Sunday, 23 July 2023

 https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/speaking-truth-to-power/

Book Review

Anuradha Bhasin, A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 370, Gurugram: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-93-629-608-4, pp. 386, Rs. 699/-.

Anuradha Bhasin hit the national headlines with her challenge in the Supreme Court on the government disconnecting Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) from India and those living there from each other by turning off the internet as part of its massive crackdown to usher in Naya Kashmir with the evacuation of Article 370 of all meaning. It was a courageous standing up to authoritarianism by Bhasin, a senior editor distressed by her inability to pursue her professional calling as a consequence of all communication conduits lapsing between her and her team in Kashmir. The government won that round, only reluctantly and in ‘due course’ allowing light back into and on Kashmir, and that too only in fits and starts.

Bhasin does the Indian nation another favour in writing up this book, a body blow to the government’s narrative on Kashmir. Even though one and half crore tourists visited the region last year and the statistics of those meeting a violent deaths in the insurgency there are comparatively negligible, no one is under the illusion that the situation in Kashmir has stabilized. No wonder the government advisedly keeps the security forces in places that it had pumped in prior to its move on Article 370.

It has rightly been said, ‘there are lies, damned lies and statistics.’ Bhasin unsparingly exposes the grand lies on Kashmir. How bad the situation is can best be put in her own words:

The Indian government can use all its power to subjugate and suppress the local peoples in J&K and their multiple and complex aspirations for now, but it cannot sustain this till eternity (p. 295)…. Breathing beneath the behemoth of silence is a deceptive volcano, which could erupt in a chaos of different forms and varied voices. What would be its dominant articulation – frightening, violent rage or a kaleidoscope of ideas and vision? That moment is yet to come.

Assuming that the landslide victory in the national elections on the back of the Pulwama-Balakot episode had given the government the backing for widespread change, Narendra Modi used the moment to hammer home the long standing pledge of the right wing: to ‘integrate’ Kashmir into India. This to the Hindu nationalist government meant ending the special relationship signified by Article 370 that J&K maintained with the rest of India. While Article 370 allowed J&K relative autonomy and Article 35A permitted protection of its land and livelihood of its people, the two were nullified through a parliamentary procedure that has yet to face judicial accountability.

While the Supreme Court dallies on when to take up the raft of challenges to the neutralisation of Article 370 on both procedural and substantive grounds, the government has gone on to walk the talk on integration. Knowing that is would be unpopular, it has maintained its dragnet, toting up statistics on Kashmiri youth killed for futilely taking to the gun in despair. Bhasin’s is a blow by blow account of how the State is going about its scheme and the implications of the changes being taken by fiat and absolutely no reference to the people. This holding of democracy in abeyance is lamented, as are the consequences of political arrogance and bureaucratic vandalism on the Rule of Law and the very laws themselves.

Bhasin’s critique covers the whole gamut: political, security, legal, social and economic. With three decades of experience in journalism behind her, Bhasin is able to tap not only the strategies of political leaders but also the sentiment in common folk. She spices up a narrative that could otherwise get dull - it traverses legal details - with the human element, using the voice of the marginalized to tell of the impositions and hardships Hindutva’s liberation of Kashmir has wrought them. The hopes and fears of Gujars and Bakarwals, of lower caste Hindus, of those living along the Line of Control, of shikara paddlers and forgotten Kashmiris come alive through her pen.

Though as a strategy the government has momentarily shifted Kashmiri demands away from meaningful autonomy to statehood, that it continues to dither on conceding the latter shows that its intent is not problem solving or conflict resolution inspired, but merely to pile on humiliation. In a post Article 370 scenario, restoration of statehood by inclusion of another subclause to Article 371 is the way to go. However, with the government denying Sixth Schedule status even to Ladakh, it is unlikely to oblige. The impetus for such strategy-defying logic is in an ideological animus that makes Kashmiris doubly-damned, their being Muslim too.

Bhasin engages also with the development aspect, since it is the legitimizing plank of the government. She cites data to reveal how land laws are being tweaked to acquire land and evict those settled on it. As a native of Jammu, she worries how the developmental model of the plains – based on road building and widening and siting of industrial centers – will impact the fragile environment. Joshimath had not happened by when she wrote the chapter. It’s a pity that the juggernaut will role on since that’s the model in the rest of India, into which Kashmir is being integrated.

The book has copious end notes, doing credit to her current status as a fellow at Stanford University. The only glitch spotted is where she dates the Mumbai terror attack to 2007 (p. 222). Its chapterisation is logical, allowing for a comprehensive coverage of the past three years in Kashmir. A quote from this reviewer also finds mention (p. 114), making it only fair to disclose that Bhasin as editor of Kashmir Times oversaw some 100 opinion pieces by this reviewer over the years. Her book informs that the archives of her newspaper have since gone missing in the cyber world, no doubt part of information operations executed by the State.

The book is a recommended read, particularly for non-Kashmiris. What is happening in Kashmir is a negation of the democracy. It is already visibly and painfully getting clear that jackboots on democracy anywhere endanger democracy everywhere. The book must also be prescribed reading for those in the counter insurgent State apparatus on how not to do counter insurgency. It is true that they are hampered by the preceding political prong Their self-congratulations shall prove rather premature when trends identified by Bhasin in her book eventuate in their logical conclusion.

We can only thank her parents, to whom the book is dedicated, who taught Bhasin to write and to speak the truth fearlessly. She has done them proud, and, in the bargain, done India a national service in bringing to light the ‘untold story of Kashmir’ in face of an authoritarian State’s massive propaganda effort to efface reality. That with such truth telling she opens up herself to paying a personal price is to her credit.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 


 https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/footprints-to-follow/

Book Review

Geeta Mohan (ed.), Nothing is Impossible: Eight Inspiring Profiles (Illustrated by Saurabh Pandey), New Delhi: Children’s Book Trust, 2020, ISBN 978-93-88157-26-1, pp. 86, Rs. 80/-

Naveen Menon (ed.), Kusum Lata Singh (translator), Abhootpurv Prerak Vyaktitva, New Delhi: Children’s Book Trust, 2020, ISBN 978-93-88157-27-8, pp. 78, Rs. 80/-

The first book is a collection of eight prizewinning entries in the category Creative Non-Fiction for children in the 9-12 year bracket of the Competition for Writers of Children’s Books organized by the Children’s Book Trust (CBT). Seven of the profiles are of Indians, while one is of a Kenyan, Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai. The seven Indians are of varied background: a soldier, Param Vir Chakra winner Albert Ekka; Everester Arunima Sinha; solo-forest planter Abdul Kareem; Hockey Olympian Dilip Tirkey; visually impaired Jawahar Kaul; ‘India’s James Herriot’, Vet Dr. Naveen Kumar Pandey and sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik.

The book in Hindi is a compilation of winning entries from the children’s literature writing competition with the topics, Bharat ka Ratna and Shunya se Shikhar Tak. Two additional profiles in the book are respectively of Infosys founder and chairperson of Infosys Foundation, Engineer Sudha Murty and Bharat Ratna Engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.

The Children’s Book Trust has been doing yeoman’s service since its founding by renowned cartoonist, Shankar, in 1957. Its significance has increased exponentially in the internet era when the reading habit is tapering off and books, of paper and held in the hand, are on the verge of extinction. That it continues on the frontlines of preserving a way of life based on accessing knowledge and cogitation is evident from its contribution, as its website has it, in the ‘area of children’s education and entertainment through multi-faceted activities hosted under its various wings’. Its various activities include the dolls’ museum, Shankar’s Academy and a reading room and library. These preserve old-world simplicity and modesty that ought to characterize life, howsoever difficult this is living under the assault from materialism and ostentation.

The two books introduce children not only to reading but in so doing to a set of achievers. The lives recounted leave an impression. The inclusions are thoughtful and the range of their contribution wide. The protagonists of these stories have talent, but, more importantly, a will to fulfill their destinies. They have a vision and endure. Selfless, they are socially mindful. Their footprints in the sands of time shall surely serve as guide for today’s children reading about them, who are the youth of tomorrow. None of the heroes was born with a silver spoon in the mouth, but are now household names. Children get to know how to identify and live up to life’s purpose.

Tales of bravery are in following Albert Ekka in his battle field exploits, how as a junior tactical leader he extricates his squad from a tight spot at the cost of his life, and in Arunima’s mountaineering exploits on overcoming her loss of a leg on being thrown off a train by robbers. Quiet courage is evident in the life of Jawahar Kaul, who goes on to help blind people after himself losing his eyesight at a young age. Pandey’s adventures as a vet take him from Darjeeling to Kutch, while Dilip Tirkey’s hockey wizardy sees him showcase his skills for the national team from Busan to Athens. Self-taught sand artist Sudarsan, winner of international competitions dedicates his craft to Lord Jagannath. Abdul Kareem pioneers a citizen’s forest, creating one out of an empty patch of land. Wangari Maathai’s story ends with her narration of a story, of a hummingbird making trips with water in its beak to stanch a raging forest fire, signifying that though individually puny, we collectively make a difference. The two additional stories in Hindi, of Murthy and Visvesvaraya, each a distinguished engineer, who go on to leave a wider societal imprint through their dedication.   

To keep children hooked, the books have colourful covers, are well illustrated in shades of grey, are of non-intimidating length and are reasonably priced. Now that Covid is over, hopefully, CBT books and products will find their place at book fairs. May its stalls fill up with children browsing, and not scrolling down that enemy-of-eyesight, a computer screen.

A drawback is the distressingly difficult Hindi used in the Hindi edition. It’s almost as if Hindi is only for grown-ups and those with it as a first language. Thoroughly off-putting for a non-native Hindi speaker, this does disservice to a language with ambitions to be a nationally connecting one. Hindi must not ride on the coat tails of Sanskrit, but preserve the cadence of languages it is displacing, Hindustani and Urdu.


Monday, 13 March 2023

 https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/stories-across-space-and-time-from-the-pen-of-an-indian-spymaster/

A LIFE IN THE SHADOWS: A MEMOIR by AS Dulat HarperCollins, Gurugram, 2023, 256 pp., ₹ 699.00

The book review india, MARCH 2023, VOLUME 47, NO 3

AS Dulat is reported to have put out, the book under review has been written without taking clearance from current-day intelligence minders. An earlier government order had it that those serving and retired from intelligence services were required to take such clearance prior to publishing anything related to their work. Dulat, former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) head and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer, has cocked a snook at the order with good reason. On the surface, there is nothing in the book that should see him fall afoul of powers-that-be. In other words, there is little upfront in the book for a reviewer to encourage readers to get a copy. The book however says much, if read between the lines.

A major point that the author puts across in his seemingly casual manner is that there is a hard-line operational in Kashmir and against Pakistan. This owes in part to a streak of ruthlessness in the personality of National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval. Dulat devotes the better part of a chapter to get us familiar with his ‘friend’ and former IB colleague, Doval. To Dulat, Doval is the ideally suited security manager for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who enjoys the reputation of a strong man publicized assiduously since his days in Gujarat and now as the Prime Minister taking ownership of surgical strikes.

But it is not only the personality factor responsible for the situation, but the frame is provided by the tussle between the two security paradigms: realism and liberalism. Though a liberal himself, he is realist enough to understands that force has a role to play in managing internal conflict. His liberal orientation however makes it obvious to him that dialogue is the answer in such circumstance.

As a Sikh, he was witness to how the Khalistani insurgency was tackled. There too the liberal-realist tussle played out in the contrasting approaches of policing heroes, Julio Ribeiro and KPS Gill. While Ribeiro’s was a people friendly approach, Gill was unapologetic about strong arm methods. To Dulat, even if effective, as was the case in Punjab, such rough and ready methods have an avoidable price in societal alienation.

He applies his finding to Kashmir and concludes that the policies of suppression operational there are counter-productive. He rues the inability or unwillingness of the State to resort to readily available political means such as reaching out to both the mainstream regional political parties. He believes even the Hurriyat is ripe for engagement, the security dragnet having suitably tamed its separatism. Pakistan has also sensibly kept its distance, warned off by India’s public lowering of its threshold for violent retaliation in surgical strikes.

Being witness to the hard-line is painful for Dulat, who has had a long professional association with the Kashmir issue. While he was the intelligence services’ pointsman for Kashmir for the initial decade and half of the insurgency, he developed a deep understanding of and affiliation with Kashmiris. That the Kashmiris have been facing the rough end of the Indian stick lately troubles him. The book thus serves a purpose of a reasoned and timely critique of Modi’s policies in Kashmir.

Dulat’s is a voice that can credibly do so. He was the intelligence hand in Kashmir at the outbreak of the insurgency. Later back in Delhi he headed the Kashmir desk, while Doval was in the field in Kashmir reporting to him. He became acquainted with Doval’s tough line back then, but reasons that so long as the cat caught mice, there was no quibbling over its colour. After the stint as head of the R&AW, he was absorbed into Vajpayee’s prime ministerial office as adviser on Kashmir. The episode of the Kandahar hijack is an evocative read, with Doval’s role recounted being particularly interesting since it shows how Doval reacts under pressure.

Vajpayee was a votary of a soft-line in Kashmir and in regard to Pakistan. Dulat has recounted his experience then in his other book, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, recorded on the dust cover of this book as a bestseller. Unfortunately, Dulat’s efforts at conflict resolution by bringing the Hurriyat onboard for talks with the Home Minister Advani could not be taken to culmination by the next government of Manmohan Singh.

While Singh carried forward the dialogue, it lost its way - as did India’s Pakistan rapprochement strategy - with 26/11 Mumbai terror attack writing the epitaph. Dulat nevertheless persisted in his peace-making efforts, this time at the Track II by participating in a conclave of intelligence chiefs of both sides. His interaction with Pakistani spy chief General Durrani is carried in his other ‘bestseller’, The Spy Chronicles.

The book reviewed here is in part Dulat’s latest effort in this noble, if thankless, cause. His chapter on Farooq Abdullah is advocacy for the government to use Abdullah’s good offices in steps out of the quagmire it has got India into in Kashmir with its wanton jettisoning of the Article 370 jugular that linked Kashmir to India. The book gives us insight as to why Dulat is indefatigably on this course, trying to end a protracted conflict.

The first chapter is about his family background, suggestive of an elite upbringing with old school values that have increasingly got out of place in New India. The book is in the form of a collection of vignettes from his eventful life, covering his association with President Giani Zail Singh and, as the spook in-charge of security of visiting dignitaries, with significant political personages of late last century, such as Margaret Thatcher and Lee Kuan Yew. Of interest to professionals and faculties in security studies would be his dilation on the ‘trade’, as the world of spooks is known, and his foreign stint in Nepal. Significant is Dulat’s revelation of how during his tenure as the IB head in Bhopal, that included the response to the gas tragedy, he was rudely reminded in a mob attack on a train he was embarked on during the anti-Sikh pogrom that he was ultimately, Sikh.

Though Dulat presents himself as a laid-back, cricket-playing chap who enjoys his drinks and conversation, he nevertheless comes across as a serious security practitioner. He deliberately eschews trying to impress his reader with any insider knowledge and highfalutin jargon. It’s almost as though he has exhausted his analytical thrust in his official missives.

The good that accrues is that the book then is an accessible one for students of security and peace studies. The bad part is that it appears there is much unsaid in the book in a self-censorship that relegates the book to a travel companion to be picked up at an airport bookstore. Even so, the book is a useful addition in parts to the books by diplomats – such as Satinder Lambah - that have contributed to the understanding of the intractable India-Pakistan conflict and to books by reputed journalists - as Anuradha Bhasin - on the Kashmir conflict.

 

 

 

 

 


Wednesday, 8 February 2023

 https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/sino-indian-entente-a-distant-dream/

two book reviews

Sino-Indian Entente–A Distant Dream?

UNDERSTANDING THE INDIA CHINA BORDER: THE ENDURING THREAT OF WAR IN THE HIGH HIMALAYAS by Manoj Joshi HarperCollins Publishers India, Gurugram, 2022, 289 pp., 599.00
THE LAST WAR: HOW AI WILL SHAPE INDIA’S FINAL SHOWDOWN WITH CHINAby Pravin Sawhney Aleph Book Company, New Delhi, 2022, 390 pp., 999.00


Both authors need no introduction to the public attentive to strategic matters. Between them, they have fifty years of engagement with strategic affairs. Both have past publications that place them in good standing as readers appraise whether they should pick up their latest wares. While Joshi’s landmark book was on Kashmir – The Lost Rebellion - in the nineties, Sawhney’s co-authored one - The War Unfinished - was on the India-Pakistan crisis of early this century. Both have been deeply immersed in the subject of the two books – India-China strategic relations – ever since. While Joshi was on the panel of a defence reform committee some ten years back, Sawhney has been founder editor of a respectable publication on defence issues over past twenty years. Both justify their credentials in their respective books under review.

The subject itself is very topical. China has been breathing down India’s neck for some ten years now, beginning with intrusions of temporary duration exactly ten years back, building up to a wholesale intrusion three years ago. It can reasonably be speculated that had Covid not intervened, the two countries might have come to fisticuffs. Their respective No First Use pledge notwithstanding there is no guarantee the outcome could have been benign for either.

Therefore, understanding what happened is important, particularly when even Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, a China-hand, has admitted to being nonplussed by the Chinese action. The Chinese continue to be present on India-claimed territory and the two sides are poised to weather their third winter in a continuing face-off in the high Himalayas. Both books provide a vantage point towards understanding how the Southern Asian neighbours got to this pass. While Joshi’s provides context to the Chinese action, Sawhney’s explains why the Chinese cannot be militarily evicted.   

Joshi’s is a readable survey of history of the border going back into the British Indian period. He shows how Independent India, as the successor state, took to preserving its inheritance. The coincident advent of revolutionary China on the world stage, witnessed the scramble for Tibet. While India conceded Tibet to China, it perhaps hoped that in return its claims on the border would find recognition by China in reciprocation. Though not Joshi’s interpretation, in the event, the two thieves fell out – complicit in depriving Tibet of statehood they could not agree on the spoils.

Joshi - along with some other recent books - offers a start point for possible resolution in recounting the unilateral fixing of India’s border by prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This enables flexibility to the present government, that wastes no opportunity to denigrate Nehru, to negotiate the border. However, that it is refrains from doing so owes to its nationalist credentials. It cannot be seen as discussing the border from a position of disadvantage, when Chinese troops sit in a threatening posture. This explains Jaishankar’s refrain that Chinese need to sheath the sword before normalcy obtains.

Joshi’s coverage of India’s leaning on the United States (US), as part of external balancing, indicates that China will not let up the pressure either. A security dilemma appears to be driving the two neighbours apart. The US is gainer in its competition with China for global hegemony, with expectations of an Asian Century in a Sino-Indian entente are dashed. That the two sides are wary of coming to blows is evident from military talks yielding up ideas as buffer zones to resolve the impasse.

Sawhney takes up where his other co-authored book on China – The Dragon on our Doorstep - left off just prior to the Doklam episode, when China was surprised by Indian muscle flexing and resolved to outdo India. Ladakh resulted, prompted in part by the political reshuffling in Jammu and Kashmir with the amendment to Article 370. This upset the status quo over the status of Ladakh, giving China an opportunity to try and do India down preemptively before its apprehended competition with the US heats up and the Taiwan issue boils over.

Sawhney paints a cautionary picture in advocating that India not rise to the bait. His prognosis is that China has lately built the capability to deal a 1962-like blow to India through its military modernization. Pitching itself as competitor of the US, China has exerted to redress the asymmetry it started off its military reforms with. It studied US’ military trajectory since the Gulf War, drew the right lessons and has built up its capabilities and in some domains of war, drawn ahead of the US. This has enabled it to get the better of India in any confrontation, given – as Sawhney rues – India has not done a similar exercise in aping its peer militaries.

To Sawhney, India’s military chose instead to get immersed in Kashmir and distracted in staying ahead of a weaker military, Pakistan. It was thus distracted by the immediate threat rather than one over the horizon. The result is for all to see in Ladakh, where it has had to scramble to not only ward off the threat, but to go about a military reset. To Sawhney, this is bolting the barn after the horse has fled.

Sawhney therefore pitches for arriving at a modus vivendi with China – and Pakistan. This will allow the military to buy time to get to grips with twenty first century warfare. Sawhney is particularly informative on what the new character of war is all about. This portion of the book might interest the military – even if it is miffed by his view that it is liable to suffer defeat in a mere 10 days in any fisticuffs today - but will certainly be engrossing – even if a tedious read for non-technical readers - for defence studies faculties and lay military buffs.

Sawhney hints that a military reverse is likely so long as the Indian military brass does not return to the professional straight and narrow, devoting a chapter to the ‘politicisation’ of the Indian military. Hopefully, the military will not, on this count, throw the baby out with the bathwater – especially since this reviewer has also made the same point - on military politicization.

The problem with the recent plethora of publications on the crisis and the border problem have been chary of dwelling on possible solutions. They advocate managing the issue till India has grows the teeth to come to grips with it – so that concessions inevitable in border negotiations are not seen as from a position of weakness or disadvantage. The problem with this is that gaining a position of strength is to chase a receding horizon.

Consequently, it’s better that the government – that has the singular advantage of having the numbers and being nationalist to boot – be encouraged to make the compromises necessary. The government appears to be on the right track in downplaying the border incidents, including Galwan, in order not to have hyper-nationalism tie its hands. It needs to be bold to go a step further. This does not need to await first arriving at military symmetry with China. China would do well to incentivize India down this route by letting up military pressure – lest it in its overkill it pushes India into the expectant arms of the US. The two books lay the ground work for furthering such heretical – if not seditious – thinking and on that count are a recommended read.

 

 





Sunday, 18 December 2022

 https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/books-in-brief-11/

THE 24TH MILE: AN INDIAN DOCTOR’S HEROISM IN WAR-TORN BURMA by Tehmton S. Mistry HarperCollins, 2021, 323 pp., 599.00
ESCAPE FROM PAKISTAN: THE UNTOLD STORY OF JACK SHEAby Debora Ann Shea Penguin, 2021, 224 pp., 599.00
DECEMBER IN DACCA: THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES AND THE 1971 BANGLADESH LIBERATION WARby KS Nair HarperCollins, 2022, 264 pp., 699.00

Rajpal Punia & Damini Punia, Operation Khukri: The True Story Behind Indian Army’s Most Successful Mission as part of the United Nations, Penguin Random House, India, 2021, ISBN (hardcover): 9780143453369

Anuj Nayyar, The Tiger of Dras

Hisila: From revolutionary to first lady
DECEMBER 2022, VOLUME 46, NO 12

There is much in common between these six books. They all carry a subtitle, are inexpensive and light reading, though about a rather heavy topic; are tales simply told; and are about the lesser remarked aspects of war. Other than the one by Hisila, they have been penned by people other than the respective protagonists, with Punia having his daughter along as co-author. All are of stories in southern Asia, other than Punia’s which is situated in West Africa.

However, the most significant factor that compels clubbing them together here is that they are stories of high, pulsating adventure. Consequently, they are recommended reading for youth, who in times of internet have lost the yen for reading. The six can leave behind a constructive hobby for in their coverage of war time settings of the adventures they narrate, they help educate. The adventures themselves serve to inspire, since all the central characters are memorable, having distinguishing character traits that not only mark them out but also help them cope with the adventures that befall each.

Reviewing them chronologically here, we begin with Mistry’s portrayal of the adventures of his uncle by marriage, Dr. Jehangir Anklesaria. The good doctor was posted as port medical officer in Rangoon when the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbour. The Japanese—‘runts’ in the racist prototype held before they overran South East Asia—were at Rangoon’s doors within six months. The British empire’s outpost there scrambled to get out of the way along with the retreating armies of the empire over which the sun never set. The book follows Jehangir as his familiar world crashes about him and his family.  He hastily dispatches his family to Kolkata and readies to help 50,000 refugees, mostly Indian, making their way via the land route back to India. Jehangir’s challenge was to prevent cholera outbreak at a major transit point, lest it spread to the 30,000 British, Indian, Chinese and Burmese troops and sap morale. The book follows him from Rangoon, across the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin, through the refugee transit camp at Monywa and, finally, in the last leg of the arduous journey through the malarial 24th Mile. Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the monsoon hits the serrated edges of the Arakan Yoma ranges as the good doctor struggles alone over the leech-infested and snake-lined pass between Tamu on the Burma border and Palel in Manipur: a 24 Mile eternity-long gap. The author rightly brings out that we owe our second language English to the likes of Dr. Anklesaria, else it could well have been Japanese.

The second book finds us in the independent era with India in the midst of yet another war, its second with Pakistan. The 1965 War finds the family of Jack Shea in Karachi, then capital of Pakistan. Jack is the naval attaché at the High Commission. The author—daughter of Jack Shea—writes of the carefree days before the war, with fishing in the Arabian Sea as Jack’s way not merely to spend time, but to keep an eye on the maritime happenings around Karachi port. The book reveals how Jack was central to the ‘escape from Pakistan’ of an undercover police officer. The agent had spied on Pakistan, resulting in—among other factors—Pakistan losing the war. Since Pakistan’s army wanted revenge for being tripped up, they were narrowing down on the agent. Jack stepped up his plan to send him back to India. The cloak-and-dagger stuff and the adventure of the police officer as he trudges on camel back through the southern Sindh desert to the India border makes for fascinating reading. Clearly, his cool head and valiantly facing up to the undiplomatic consequence were rightly rewarded with a distinguished service medal, a rare award at his rank.

The third book is about India’s next war, the 1971 War. The book, released to coincide with the year-long observation of the fiftieth anniversary of the war, appears intended to transmit tales of derring-do in the war to the next generation. This book is different from the others in that it is not about one individual’s adventure, as much a collage of a set of individuals. Nair is a self-confessed war aficionado, who puts his school-boy enthusiasm to good use in communicating the exploits of soldiers, airmen and sailors to the younger generation that has not seen war. Nair intends the book to recapture the empathy with which India intervened in East Pakistan. His penchant for details, particularly of air battles and technology, however, leave him word space only for making his point, more as an assertion than as a refutation of the argument that India had other motives, principally strategic, that prompted its intervention. Whereas India did end genocide as Nair records, Nair neglects the possibility that India’s interference partially precipitated the genocide in the first place. Since he believes India’s altruistic reason, he is severe on the United States for being double-faced. The book is a good start point for young enthusiasts to explore not only this war, but also move on to India’s military history–that is increasingly in nationalism-charged times coming in for much revision.

The fourth book is about an interesting, if not controversial episode, in India’s UN peacekeeping experience. Punia was the senior company commander of two subunits–his infantry company and one mechanized one–deployed in a remote corner of an anarchic country, Sierra Leone. The book follows Punia inducting into the country and deploying at the location. How he uses the Indian Army’s well known tools of counter insurgency to ‘Win Hearts And Minds’, WHAM, is well described. Lucky for him, the period was in the era of peacekeeping amateurism; else if done today, he’d have an inquiry sitting on how he distributed UN provisioned food for WHAM. But what is most striking in the book is the self-confession of sorts by him of what could be possible violations of international humanitarian law or war crimes. The Indian contingent was entrapped in a hostage situation by the rebels. The author reveals how he arrived at a plan to shoot his way out of a hostage situation. Its implementation in Operation Khukri arguably amounts to war crimes. While shooting their way out of their encirclement, they leveled the village they were located in, killing civilians in the process. From the narration, it is uncertain if civilians were collateral damage. From this narration though, it is clear that instead of a highpoint in Indian peacekeeping success, the book only succeeds in bringing the operation under a cloud.

The fifth book is of a war hero, Captain Anuj Nayyar, authored by his mother and assisted by a well-meaning member of civil society and a biker group that went around the country felicitating families of departed war heroes. The war heroes from the Kargil War have acquired a national profile already, some have had films made on them or figured in films on the war. The book fills out the spirited youth Anuj, showing what goes into the making of heroism. Take his stewardship of the boxing team at the academy. Though not a known boxer himself, since there were no takers for the task, he took it up. Anuj was no spit-and-polish soldier either, who smoked and kept a motorcycle while at the academy. Though not a swashbuckler, he had a girlfriend. On the book cover, showing him with captain’s stars on his shoulder, it is clear he was no budding martinet. The book follows him through the tempering of the steel at the two academies and its being unleashed on an equally redoubtable enemy high on the Kargil ridgeline. Since Anuj’s action is taken as ‘all in a day’s work’ for India’s young officers, it should also prompt the question, what then is the role of the junior leadership in the other ranks. Perhaps, the non-officer leaders build the teams that at the cusp of the moment allow such award winning heroism. The book does well to include 15 pages of mention of such junior leaders, who carried Anuj to immortality on the back of their invisible contribution in wars.

The last book reviewed here is very different from the others. It is about a war alright, but a civil war in India’s vicinity, Nepal. It’s a memoir of Hisila Yami. That she has retained her name shows that she cannot be reduced to merely being wife of Baburam Bhattarai–revolutionary Prime Minister of Nepal. The book shows her in her various identities as a feminist, revolutionary, architect, mother, wife and politician at various times. Yami’s has been a full life, well compressed in a simply told 300 plus pages. What makes the book interesting is also the description of ten years she spent as a revolutionary in a people’s war. The book captures the innocence of a revolution, with participants ready to die and kill for causes such as equality, federalism, socialism and fraternity. Though Nepal is an intimate neighbour and Nepalis are very evident in our neighbourhoods, there is much we are unaware of about their lives and concerns. The book is a good read, introducing us not only to a very sprightly lady, Hisila, but also to a significant part of our region. Together the books can make younger readers not only take to reading as a hobby but to a life of adventure beyond known confines and comforts.

Friday, 10 June 2022

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/a-view-of-war-valour-and-humanity/?ihc_success_login=true

Book Review

Vijay Singh, POW 1971: A Soldier’s account of the Heroic Battle of Daruchhian, New Delhi: Speaking Tiger Books, 2021, Page 236, Rs. 699/-, ISBN 978-93-5447-011-0

There are three special things about this book, the last two of which are interconnected. To begin with the first: its description of a battle for Daruchhian between its well-entrenched Pakistani defenders and an Indian infantry battalion of the Grenadier Regiment. Daruchhian is a hill feature across from Poonch on the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir side of the Ceasefire Line – as the Line of Control (LC) was termed then. Since Daruchhian, by virtue of its location posed a threat for the defences at Poonch, the Indian army decided to take it over to secure Poonch better. The Pakistanis, equally convinced of the importance of Daruchhian to their plans, were determined to put up a fight for the hill. This led to one of the fierce battles of the 1971 War.

Whereas the 1971 War is known more for what happened on the eastern front, arguably the more fierce encounters between the two sides were fought on the western front. The Pakistanis, defending their mainland as against their colony, East Pakistan, gave a better account of themselves on the western front. They had also promised the East Pakistan defenders that the defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan and therefore were more prepared on the western front. For its part, the Indian army had been directed to merely force the Pakistanis on the back foot on the western front, lest Pakistanis send in troop reinforcements to help their beleaguered uniformed brethren in East Pakistan. Therefore, in a way, the Pakistanis had the upper hand psychologically to begin with, with the Indians fighting with a limited purpose and the Pakistani putting up what to them may have appeared an existential fight. This partially accounts for the stalemate on the western front, which - of course - in no way detracts, from the blood and moral treasure that the frontline troops expended in gaining their objectives.

The battle of Daruchhian was one such battle in which fully motivated Pakistani soldiers expectantly awaited an Indian attack and when it did materialize, gave a fearsome reply. The Indian tactical level attack ended up a relative failure, though the Grenadiers compensated with gumption for the lapses in tactical planning and leadership that were revealed as the plan for capture of Daruchhian went awry. The book excels in its first part, dissecting what fell apart, with an unvarnished search for the truth. The details are of interest to men in uniform, especially the younger lot. No doubt, though 50 years since it was fought, lesson are being learnt from this particular battle since the author – son of the war hero Major Hamir Singh - currently heads the senior command faculty at the Army War College, Mhow, that trains the army’s prospective battalion commanders.

To the credit of the battalion commander who thought up the unconventional Indian attack plan, it seems the plan was ahead of its times. It was a precursor to the tactical innovation that dates to about the Kargil War some 20 years on: the multidirectional assault. It was therefore trifle premature, with the levels of training and resilience of junior leadership not being of the order as to operationalise it back then. But more so, as the book brings out, because the battalion commander was unable to step up to the leadership role compelled by his somewhat convoluted plan and the shameful ad-hocism by which the battalion was launched for an objective it had not previously practiced taking down. Conversely, the Pakistani commanding officer had either fortuitously or by design staged forward to the company position on Daruchhian, making at even more formidable nut to crack. As a result, the Pakistanis beat back the attack at severe cost to the Grenadiers, who nevertheless had raw courage to show for themselves in the casualties they suffered.

The book follows the hero of the battle, Hamir Singh, through his travails on that hill feature and beyond into Pakistani captivity. Hamir’s experience of captivity is evident from the extract from his son’e postscript, reproduced below:

It is also a fact that my father is alive today due to the honourable actions of some of the Pakistani officers and men and women who my father was fortunate to have encountered. Of special mention is the Pakistani major who prevented his colleagues from killing my grievously wounded father as well as Colonel Mehmood Hassan and other medical staff who treated him in various Pakistani medical establishments. Warfare is a nasty business but to show humanity during testing times is in accordance with the highest code of conduct of a soldier. On behalf of my family I convey our gratitude to those unknown soldiers.

Evidently, the best of Indian and Pakistani youth faced-off one dreary night on a remote hill side. Both were challenged by the other side to dig deep down and draw out the best within themselves. It’s to the credit of the two armies – from the same womb as it were – that gladiators of both sides emerged with their honour intact, each contributing another chapter to the glorious martial traditions of our shared subcontinent. Interestingly, the Grenadiers are known to number a proportion of Muslims in their ranks. Hamir Singh testifies to their wholesome contribution, singling out Major IH Khan, who received a Vir Chakra posthumously, and Subedar Taj Mohammad. 

Hamir Singh goes on from being wounded on the frontline to convalescing in Pakistani military facilities where he is treated with due courtesy to his rank and in line with the Geneva Conventions. This was perhaps in reciprocation to Indians meticulously observing the Geneva Conventions in treating their large-haul of some 90000 prisoners taken on the eastern front. It is another matter that the gentlemanly conduct in war and its aftermath did not end the antipathy. Hamir Singh, while being treated in Pakistani military hospitals, encounters common Pakistanis. He forges an affectionate bond with a female military nurse, who helps him lurch back to recovery. Later, being the senior prisoner of war (PoW), the book shows him leading the prisoners through their trials with their captors, a delicate role made familiar by World War II PoW movies, notably Bridge on the River Kwai.

This brings one to the third aspect: the ability to behave true to expectations in trying circumstances. It is product of upbringing in a household professing and practicing values, not all martial but sound family values. Hamir Singh’s two sons – their family’s fourth generation in the military - are both generals. The last three generations attained flag rank, while a fifth generation is under training at a military academy. Incidentally both brothers are at neighbouring faculties of the Army War College, Mhow, who amidst tactical training fare for the army’s tactical level commanders are conditioning them on human values and military leadership mores. This is in line with what a military eminence once rightly said: ‘the moral is to the material three is to one.’ (As an aside, given this example of how military men are honed, I wonder what it implies for the new fangled Tour of Duty or Agnipath concept – in which youth will be taken into the military for short duration stints. Has the military ethic ceased to matter in the post modern age or are we to believe that a dose of religious nationalism is all it takes to make a soldier?)

The book is a non-fiction page-turner. It has enough material for a Bollywood hit, including a pleasant interlude between a convalescent, dashing Hamir and an elegant Pakistani nurse; and the travails of his beautiful wife back home, getting to learn only after the war that he was alive and a prisoner. How the Major’s wife copes with bringing up two children while her husband’s fate is, first, unknown and, later, when he remains away till repatriation, is as much a story of fortitude as Hamir’s. Hamir was awarded the Vir Chakra after the interrogation formalities on return of PoWs were done with, another fraught period when all returnees are looked at with suspicion of having been turned by their captors.

Hopefully, when ties with Pakistan improve Hamir Singh will be able to meet up with the Pakistanis who people the book: his infantry opponents on Daruchhian; the medical staff at Rawalpindi and the Lyallpur PoW cage guard commanders. It will help him solve the mystery as to who was the ‘bade saab’ up the Pakistani hierarchy who took an interest in his well being when injured: was it General Tikka Khan, a colleague of his father, General Kalyan Singh; or was it the Pakistani brigadier, who Hamir had fortuitously encountered in his last posting before the war in Nigeria?

 

 

 

 


Monday, 7 June 2021

 


VOLUME XLV NUMBER 6 JUNE 2021

An Archive of India’s Military History

MILITARY MUSINGS: 150 YEARS OF INDIAN MILITARY THOUGHT FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION OF INDIA

Edited by Sqn. Ldr. Rana T.S. Chhina, MBE

Speaking Tiger, New Delhi, 2021, pp. 439,

`899.00

The United Service Institution (USI) describes itself as the oldest think tank in Asia. Set up by the British, it opened in Simla in late nineteenth century. Soon after Independence, it moved to New Delhi. Though under considerable pressure from lack of resources in the early years, it managed to nurture successive generations of Indian military leaders into military matters and mores. Its journal, the USI Journal, claiming to be the oldest military affairs journal in Asia, has been a ubiquitous presence in military stations across the country, with this reviewer once spotting it in a tent of the company commander at a remote United Nations peacekeeping operating base in Gumruk, Pibor County, Jonglei State, South Sudan. (As an aside, the company commander received a paralysing wound in a rebel ambush the following day but recovered enough to command his infantry battalion, though propped up by two crutches.)

This is only to illustrate the USI Journalas a popular professional journal, supplementing the USI’s efforts at imparting professional military education, a military culture and a more widely, a strategic culture. A collection of articles from the Journal at its 150th anniversary is thus a thoughtful commemoration of its sesquicentennial year.

The USI sensibly chose Squadron Leader Rana TS Chhina (Retired), head of the Center of Armed Forces Historical Research, that is lodged in the USI, to undertake the mammoth task of sifting through the 150 years of the quarterly publication (monthly for a brief period some 125 years ago) to cull out the articles that best captured their respective age and its concerns. Rana as an expert on colonial military history, with an award of an Honorary Member of British Empire to boot, was best placed to pick out the articles in the pre-independence era. Having been a crack helicopter pilot with the Indian Air Force (‘crack’ because in the mid-eighties he held the world record for the highest landing for his class of helicopter, probably in Siachen),he was also well placed to spot articles that shaped the post-independence period.

Rana has put together a historical volume, a collector’s item as such, covering 150 momentous years of military history in South Asia. His was a challenging task, since there is so much that has happened in the years the journal has kept a meticulous watch on affairs military in the region. Not only did the army get institutionalised in the early part of the period but is sister services joined it soon thereafter. Not only did Indian military fight in the two world wars, but has participated in four wars, two high intensity military engagements (the Indian Peace Keeping Force and Kargil War), UN peacekeeping and several counter insurgency operations since. Rightly, Rana does not restrict his collation to the operational part, but defining military history widely, he also includes a sociological picture of the manner the services have evolved, embedded in the wider flow of national security. Capturing the grand sweep of history witnessed by the USI in 439 pages has been remarkably done. Alongside, he has taken care to reproduce in an unexpurgated form the articles as originally published to convey the essence of a particular period.

Some articles resonate through the years. For instance, the second article in the anthology, written in 1972, talks of the strategic value of Kashmir declaiming: “’Cashmere’ then may perhaps be regarded as the great N.W (North West) bastion of India; and, lying, as it does within the general frontiers of Hindustan, its defensive resources should, I hold, be absolutely subordinated to those of the state in any grand imperial scheme of defence for India (p. 20).” In the question and answer session at a talk by Captain Francis Younghusband, the legendary traveller who surveyed routes into Tibet from India, Younghusband talked of find Russian goods at all the towns he visited in China during a 7000 km long journey. His testimony that “Russian goods had even been brought into Leh, Ladak and Kashmir (99),” suggest potential for revival of the old Silk Route connections across what is currently a rather troubled Line of Actual Control.

The credibility of the journal is evident from Captain Liddell Hart sending it the paper, ‘A re-definition of strategy’, in 1929. The paper lays out his famous strategy of indirect approach and is a marvel in strategic writing. Presciently he anticipates developments over the coming decades, writing: “The civil conditions give the strategist not only an alternative channel for action but an additional lever towards his military aims. By threatening economic objectives, he may…  dislocate the enemy’s military dispositions… slip past the military shield and strike at them with decisive results. This potential development of strategy is greatly favoured by the development of the air weapon… (p. 187).”

Included is a lecture by Sardar KM Panikkar, as the chair referred to him, in which the great strategist dilates on the nature of war changing in the twentieth century to Total War, thereby making peacemaking an impossible task. The question and answer session at the end of his talk is a must read on the quality of the strategic discussion in the mid-fifties and has insights into the manner India approached security in the years leading up to the infamous debacle in 1962. The 2018 national security lecture delivered by Amb. Shivshankar Menon while bringing the reader up to date, also bespeaks of the continuity in India’s security concerns through the decades.

The military emphasizing jointness these days, the growth and concerns of all three services are evenly represented. The journal had way back in 1912 highlighted the importance of the air planeinvention. Two further articles on air power punctuate the anthology, one of which was authored by the legendary Field Marshal Arjan Singh early in his retirement. For even handedness, maritime history has an equal place, with three articles enabling a rough sketch of the navy as it developed, including one by its former chief, Tahiliani. The only war covered explicitly is 1971 War, while articles on campaigns such as in West Asia in World War II and the Naxal problem are included. 

Perhaps the most significant theme of the anthology is on the moral element. A British officer leaving for home after service in World War II, pays tribute to Indian soldiers he served with, writing: “I remember a Sikh sepoy plucking a drowning P.M. (Punjabi Musalman) out of the mud in a large pond in Bihar, Pathans carrying Sikh wounded to the Regimental Aid Post on the bullet swept slopes of Kohima, P.M.’s bringing in a wounded Pathan in the Arakan, Sikhs of the 1/11 Sikh Regiment giving their all to break a Jap block in Sittang Bend to aid the hard-pressed Battalion of the 8th Gorkhas… In a first class battalion, a man’s religion is his private affair, but he fights and dies a proud member of the Indian Army. What an example to others!” The last perhaps in reference to the Partition clouds that were then building up. The baton of legacy is passed on by Brigadier HS Yadav in his ‘Tips from a Subedar Major’, by Brigadier NB Grant on the soldier’s honour code in his ‘An Officer and Gentleman’ and Brigadier Sardeshpande, in his ‘Passing it on’, passes on ethics and the joy of soldiering. 

Finally, it can only be said that Rana has succeeded in his aim of presenting the reader with a “flavour” of the contents of the journal. The journal is indeed an archive of India’s military history and record of its security consciousness. Rana’s is a but sampler, with only illustrative examples, that should serve to lead readers to the rest of the corpus in the USI’s Pyaralal library, where this reviewer for one has spent his most absorbing time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Saturday, 19 September 2020

 BOOK NAME: THE INDIAN ARMY: REMINISCENCES, REFORMS & ROMANCE

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/from-the-pen-of-a-general/ 

AUTHOR NAME: Lt.Gen. H.S. Panag
BOOK YEAR: 2020
BOOK PRICE: 599.00
REVIEWER NAME: Ali Ahmed
VOLUME NO: 44
PUBLISHER NAME: Westland, New Delhi
BOOK PAGES: 272

Lt Gen HS Panag writes that having commanded two armies, the northern and central army, he had over six lakh troops under him at some point or the other. Most of them may have seen the badge he wore on his uniform since his colonel days that read: ‘Don’t do anything that I don’t do. Do like me, do better than me and do it now!’ This was his command philosophy, arrived at through inspiration from his father, a redoubtable colonel, and with experience since his National Defence Academy days as Academy Cadet Adjutant.

The leadership example of Panag accounted for his fearsome professional reputation across the service. He was known to challenge youngsters visiting his office to pushups and reputedly often came out ahead. He writes of winning his spurs with the soldiery when on a long-range patrol he lugged the heaviest load–the wheat sack–all the way. On reaching back, they carried him on their shoulders into the camp. This distinguishes military officers from the other professions, implying that not only must officers have brains but also brawn. Panag in his book brings out the brains aspect equally dexterously. He is said to have boasted on having read some three thousand books while in service, no mean feat considering soldiering is not an idyllic sojourn.

Besides brains and brawn, more important is moral fibre. Panag’s standing up to the troll brigade over the Right-Wing government’s dissimulation on Chinese action in Ladakh is an example. He led a combat group there, so knows the terrain. His commentary, along with that of a couple of notable veterans, has been of the order of speaking truth to power, which in today’s times in India unfortunately requires considerable guts. Since this book was written prior to the crisis up north, those commentaries do not figure in the book. However, premonitions of danger and what needs to be done to meet it abound in the book, indicating that had the national security minders listened there may have been no set back in Ladakh, requiring the horde of prevarication as now. His section on China is a must read on that account.

The first section in the book, on human rights, also sets him apart. On the military’s human rights record, the General is perhaps a lone ranger, testified to by his calling out the Army Chief for awarding Major Leetul Gogoi, the villain in the ‘human shield’ case.  He has used his experience post retirement on the armed forces tribunal to good effect by pointing out the gap between the army’s precepts on human rights and accountability for its actions. He was the only one to write of the second case that the Supreme Court dealt with when it allowed the army to take over the Pathribal case. In the event, the Pathribal case perpetrators were let off by the army. Panag points out the infirmity in the second case, regarding five killed in a fake encounter at Dangari, in Assam, which he prognosticated would lead to perpetrators being similarly let off. His is therefore an important voice that problematizes the official narrative of terrorists violating the human rights of security forces.

Panag flows with the tide in his section on Pakistan. He believes that the military has a role to play, the extent of which is a governmental decision. To him, India’s strategic options range from surgical strikes to limited war and include generating a fourth-generation warfare threat for Pakistan within Pakistan, what National Security Adviser Ajit Doval once famously referred to as the Baluchistan option. Even so, the first strategic option on his list is to ‘engage Pakistan diplomatically to work out a mutually acceptable solution within India’s constitutional framework and without change in territorial sovereignty’ (p. 182). He was army commander in the period when this option was being tried out.

Panag’s approach to Kashmir, to which is devoted one section, similarly carries cadences of the period of relative quietude when he was in command. He naively suggests that the Prime Minister reach out and hug the Kashmiris. Indeed, the emotional connect could work wonders, as was the case spectacularly with Vajpayee and less so with Manmohan Singh. Kashmir has been reduced to Delhi’s control rather than, howsoever imperfect, democratic control. Panag is prescient in saying that this is a set back that is yet to reveal its full extent and to play out fully. Though the massive protests he anticipated have not occurred, he cannot be faulted for not having anticipated a pandemic when the book went to print. In any case the dragnet across Kashmir suggests that the authorities were also equally worried on this count.

The other sections carry short pieces on leadership, reminiscences and on thus far unremarked military heroes. He writes these up simply, typical of a fauji. His poignant sketch of the love affair between a Sikh lad and a Kashmiri maiden is one waiting for a movie to take it to a wider audience. The story is evidence of the different life scripts that play out in Kashmir, of fear and hate juxtaposed against empathy and kindness.

The book comprises commentaries and articles by Panag on three web portals–Newslaundry, The Print and Times of India–from his retirement lair in a village in Sirhind. Divided into parts on human rights, reforms, leadership, reminiscences, conflict and unforgettable heroes, it has something for everyone, from a defence watcher to a youth enamoured with the fauj. This is perhaps the last such critical work of depth from a general since Krishna Rao’s tome. Subsequent works, such as by Shankar Roy Chaudhury, ‘Paddy’ Padmanabhan, ‘JJ’ Singh and VK Singh, and even from the formidable intellect, Sundarji, were mostly rather light (excluding here Sundarji’s writings on the nuclear question). Other than Rustom Nanavatty’s look at counter insurgency, we have not had from our generals the calibre of work such as that by Rupert Smith and Stanley MacChrystal. However, the strategic commentary over the years by veterans, such as Gen ‘Mucchu’ Chaudhury, ‘Monty’ DK Palit, Mathew Thomas, Afsir Karim, Dipankar Banerji, Ashok Mehta, Gurmeet Kanwal and Ajai Shukla to name some, has been remarkable for a nation supposedly lacking a strategic culture. Since there is more to General Panag than 6-minute reads, he must step up on his next foray for the benefit of Indian strategic literature.

Sunday, 16 August 2020

Tuesday, 31 December 2019


2019: Through my eyes
Ali Ahmed
Total publications – 88
Themes:
·         Strategic affairs – 38
·         Kashmir – 23
·         Military sociology – 17
·         Indian Muslims – 6
·         Book Reviews - 4

Published in:
·         Book chapter (OUP, Karachi) – 1
·         EPW – 4
·         Antinomies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ural Branch - 1
·         Kashmir Times – 20
·         The Citizen – 14
·         Moneycontrol.com – 14
·         Mille Gazette – 10
·         India News Stream – 5
·         Newsclick - 4
·         The Book Review - 3
·         Countercurrents.org – 3
·         The Wire – 2
·         South Asian Voices – 2
·         CLAWS – 1
·         Aussie Trishakti – 1
·         Africa Trends, IDSA – 1
·         IDSA expert comments – 1
·         Future Directions International – 1
(Peer reviewed – 12)


Strategic affairs - 38
1.      ‘India’s nuclear doctrine: Stasis or dynamism’ in Naeem Salik (ed.), India’s habituation with the Bomb, Karachi: OUP, 2019, https://oup.com.pk/new-arrivals/india-s-habituation-with-the-bomb.html
2.      15 November 2019, https://idsa.in/africatrends/crisis-management-in-south-sudan-aahmed#.XdEktyj2Ff4.twitter A lesson from crisis management in South Sudan Africa Trends, IDSA, Jan-June 2019
3.      17 November 2019, https://southasianvoices.org/fallout-of-article-370s-withdrawal100-days-on-indian-militarys-false-optimism/ Fallout of Article 370’s Withdrawal in Kashmir: The Indian Military’s False Optimism?
4.      16 September 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/politics-decoding-indias-recent-rhetoric-on-pok-4440211.html Decoding India’s recent rhetoric on PoK
5.      13 September 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=94571 For constructive Indian engagement in the Afghanistan endgame
9.      26 July 2019 https://thewire.in/security/kargil-vijay-diwas-indian-army-integrated-battle-groups Kargil Vijay Diwas: 20 Years on, Has The Army Learnt its Lessons?
10.  3 June 2019 http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=91323# Event management is no substitute for strategy
13.  24 May 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/politics/modi-2-0-where-is-indias-pakistan-policy-headed-4015981.html Modi 2.0 | Where is India’s Pakistan policy headed?
14.  21 May 2019 http://epaper.kashmirtimes.in/index.aspx?page=6 Gratis advice for the next National Security Adviser
16.  13 April 2019 https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/6/16705/Peoples-Power-in-Sudan-Throws-Out-Omar-al-Bashir-After-30-Years Peoples Power in Sudan Throws Out Omar al-Bashir After 30 Years
17.  5 April 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=89493 The Doval And Hooda Prescriptions Examined
19.  4 April 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16633-will-pakistan-be-happy-if-modi-returns-to-power Will Pakistan be happy if Modi returns to power?
20.  29 March 2019 https://www.indianewsstream.com/kashmir-pakistan-national-security-options-before-next-government/ Pakistan: Post poll national security options before present or next ‘chowkidar’
22.  14 March 2019 https://idsa.in/askanexpert/defensive-offence-and-offensive-defence What is the difference between 'defensive offence' and 'offensive defence'?
23.  11 March 2019 https://www.indianewsstream.com/lessons-learnt-from-iafs-balakot-strike/ Lessons learnt from the Balakot strike
24.  9 March 2019 http://epaper.kashmirtimes.in/index.aspx?page=6 http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=88508 Balakot: Divining India’s strategy from its messaging
25.  7 March 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16591-balakot-nailing-lies-in-the-name-of-national-security Balakot: Nailing lies in the name of national security

27.  28 February 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/opinion-india-and-pakistan-must-de-escalate-the-current-crisis-3592331.html India and Pakistan must de-escalate the current crisis

28.  27 February 2019 https://southasianvoices.org/understanding-indias-land-warfare-doctrine/ https://www.globalvillagespace.com/understanding-indias-land-warfare-doctrine/ Understanding India's land warfare doctrine

29.  26 February 2019 https://www.indianewsstream.com/pulwama-the-counter-attack/ 26 Feb Pulwama: The counter attack
30.  25 February 2019 https://www.indianewsstream.com/options-before-india-to-respond-to-the-pulwama-terror-attack/ Options before India to respond to the Pulwama terror attack
32.  22 February 2019 https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/16334/Why-There-Has-Been-No-Military-Response-on-Pulwama-So-Far Why There Has Been No Military Response on Pulwama So Far
33.  18 February 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=87929 Reminding The Political Class Of Clausewitz's First Injunction
34.  9 February 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=87626# The Army's land warfare doctrine
35.  7 February 2019 https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/16224/New-Land-Warfare-Doctrine-May-Be-the-Garrulous-Army-Chiefs-Alone  The land warfare doctrine: The army's or that of its Chief?
36.  30 January 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16539-george-fernandes-keeps-his-date-with-gujarat-carnage-martyrs George Fernandes keeps his date with Gujarat carnage martyrs

37.  26 January 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=87194 Operation Kabaddi Revealed But Only Partially

38.  22 January 2019 https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/16082/What-Do-the-Echoes-of-Operation-Kabaddi-Really-Say What do the echoes of Operation Kabaddi really say

Kashmir - 23

39.  24 December 2019, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/politics/kashmir-is-in-a-state-of-churn-will-2020-mark-a-new-dawn-4759561.html, Kashmir is in a state of churn. Will 2020 mark a new dawn?

40.  21 December 2019, http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=97570, The options conundrum for Kashmiris,

41.  29 November 2019 https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/47/strategic-affairs/approaching-kashmir-through-theoretical-lenses.html Approaching Kashmir through Theoretical Lenses

42.  14 November 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=96325# Military consequence management in Jammu and Kashmir

43.  14 November 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=96325# Military consequence management in Jammu and Kashmir

44.  17 October 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/kashmir/politics-how-will-new-delhi-react-to-the-civil-disobedience-in-kashmir-4543111.html How will New Delhi react to the civil disobedience in Kashmir?
45.  1 October 2019 http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=95062 Nuclear winter before this winter?
46.  3 September 2019 India’s Kashmir caper has given Pakistan reason for war https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/17497/Has-Indias-Kashmir-Caper-Given-Pakistan-Reason-for-War
47.  28 August 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=94112 Kashmir: Calling Out Strategic Irrationality

48.  20 August 2019 http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publication/kashmir-and-the-abrogation-of-article-370-an-indian-perspective/ Kashmir and the Abrogation of Article 370: An Indian Perspective

49.  16 August 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/kashmir-india/kashmir-india-has-prepared-well-but-pakistan-is-unlikely-to-remain-quiet-4341811.html Kashmir | India has prepared well, but Pakistan is unlikely to remain quiet

50.  10 August 2019 https://www.indianewsstream.com/kashmir-unsolicited-advice-for-pakistan/ Kashmir: Unsolicited advice for Pakistan

51.  2 August 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/politics-the-improved-situation-in-kashmir-is-but-a-mirage-4280951.html The improved situation in Kashmir is but a mirage

52.  10 July 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/politics-un-likely-to-continue-its-focus-on-indias-kashmir-policy-4188511.html UN likely to continue its focus on India’s Kashmir policy

53.  6 July 2019 http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=92436 Kashmir Times Op-ed 6 July 2019 Kashmir: Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

54.  12 June 2019 http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=91653 Kashmir: As The Army Surveys The Next Five Years

55.  7 June 2019 Reframe the Kashmir conflict from terrorism to insurgency https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/politics-reframe-the-kashmir-conflict-from-terrorism-to-insurgency-4069191.html

56.  16 May 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/politics-the-bogey-of-islamic-state-in-kashmir-3981691.html The bogey of the Islamic State in Kashmir

57.  10 May 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=90607 http://srinagar.kashmirtimes.in/index.aspx?page=6 Kashmir: Radicalisation and what to do about it

58.  8 May 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/politics-takeaways-for-kashmir-from-lok-sabha-polls-2019-3948671.html Kashmir: A first cut analysis of the just-concluded parliamentary elections

59.  2 May 2019 Scholar Warrior, CLAWS, Spring 2019 Options for addressing the Kashmir issue

60.  4 April 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/opinion-the-divergent-prescriptions-for-kashmir-3761261.html The divergent prescriptions for Kashmir

61.  22 March 2019 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/opinion-can-shah-faesal-bring-the-winds-of-political-change-to-kashmir-3680971.html Can Shah Faesal bring the winds of political change to Kashmir?


Military sociology - 17
62.  Right Wing Ascendance in India and the Politicisation of India’s Military, Antinomies, 19 (4), http://yearbook.uran.ru/en/archive
63.  27 December 2019, https://www.newsclick.in/Gen-Rawat-Political-Statements-His-Swan-Song, Why Gen Rawat’s Political Statements Should be His Swan Song
64.  27 December 2019, http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=97739 Welcoming The New Army Chief
66.  27 September 2019 National Defence Academy and Societal Representativeness Aussie Trishakti, 2019, Vol 1, No 3, October
67.  24 September 2019 https://www.newsclick.in/Armed-Forces-India-Birender-Singh-Dhanoa-Rafale-LOC Explaining the military’s new found penchant for political partisanship
69.  12 September 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16793-cautioning-the-indian-military-against-being-politically-gullible Cautioning the military against being politically gullible 
70.  17 August 2019 https://www.newsclick.in/rewarding-army-chief-political-assistance Rewarding Army Chief for Political Assistance?
72.  9 August 2019 http://kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=93488# The military’s ethical imperative in the here and now
73.  25 July 2019 Salute, April-May 2019 issue https://salute.co.in/consequences-of-operational-decisions/ Consequences of operational decisions
74.  26 June 2019 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=92061 At The Doorstep Of Indian Military Politicization
76.  12 June 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16701-questioning-afresh-indian-militarys-social-representativeness Questioning afresh Indian military’s social representativeness
78.  19 December 2019 https://countercurrents.org/2019/12/the-agenda-for-the-new-chief Agenda for the new chief
Indian Muslims - 6

79.  26 December 2019, http://www.milligazette.com/news/16848-india-three-scenarios-out-to-2030#disqus_thread, India: three scenarios out to 2030

80.  17 December 2019 https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/18021/CAA-NRC-Those-Who-Voted-for-this-Regime-Need-to-Wake-Up - CAA-NRC: Those who voted for this regime need to wake up

82.  24 May 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16687-modi-2-0-indian-muslim-survival-kit Modi 2.0: Indian Muslim survival kit
83.  23 February 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16569-consequences-for-indias-minority-of-the-gathering-war-clouds-after-pulwama Consequences for India’s minority of the gathering war clouds after Pulwama
84.  12 January 2019 http://www.milligazette.com/news/16526-the-minority-security-problematic The minority security problematic
Book Review - 4

85.  6 December 2019 https://thebookreviewindia.org/art-of-new-age-war/ Army Of None: Autonomous Weapons And The Future Of War By Paul Scharre W. Norton & Company, 2018
86.  10 June 2019 The Book Review https://thebookreviewindia.org/recontextualizing-the-escalation-debate/ Line On Fire: Ceasefire Violations And India-Pakistan Escalation Dynamics by Happymon Jacob, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
87.  1 February 2019 https://thewire.in/books/book-review-the-dangers-of-media-fanned-nationalism Happymon Jacob, Line on Fire: Ceasefire violations and India-Pakistan escalation dynamics, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019.

88.  8 January 2019 http://thebookreviewindia.org/illuminating-past-patterns-and-future-challenges/ The Most Dangerous Place: A History Of The United States In South Asia By Srinath Raghavan, Penguin Random House, Gurgaon, India