Columnist at TOI, HT & Moneycontrol War Correspondent, Cliffs of Kargil; LineofFire CT-Ops reporter, Kashmir, 1997-99 & 2004. Author: Flowers on a Kargil Cliff
Chandigarh
Joined August 2019
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1. 5 Kargil Generals have written books: VP Malik, Chandra Shekhar, NC Vij, Mohinder Puri, VS Budhwar
2.Books contradict each other & KRC Report, especially Budhwar's
3. 11 jawans KIA in first phase erased from history to cover up higher command failure
youtu.be/AyTPXEHHtvU?si=WOxD…
Crux of Rakesh Handoo case
Alleged to have manipulated, created & posted content using letterheads of proxy terror tanzeems. These posts on X targeted individuals such as Rohit Raina, Finance dept, JK, and PM Employees Forum Prez, Baramulla.
Handoo's defense attached:
1. Police have "serious & substantial clues" about Rakesh Handoo, says IGP Kashmir
2. Arrested on basis of FIR 151/2026 at Baramulla on Sept. 21, complaint by Rohit Raina, employee, Finance Dept
3. In August, Handoo had demanded probe into leak of details of migrant employees
Rakesh Handoo arrested under stringent laws for circulating threats to migrant employees in Kashmir on social media. Threats were issued under such outfits as “United Liberation Council”. Threats had created widespread terror among employees in July-August 2026.
India/Bharat must prepare to cross LAC & occupy territory if Chinese invade. This, unfortunately is not our strategy. It was not the strategy during Kargil. Conflict in difficult, high, disputed mountains cannot be resolved into settled boundaries unless retaliation is assured.
Territory is secondary to Chinese strategy in the high disputed mountains. Military pressure is merely tactical.
Real objective is to mount pressure via a domestic political backlash on perceived territorial losses, and thus extract geoeconomic, geopolitcal gains from GoI.
4. China aim to tie down Indian military in frozen heights, not firing a single shot
5. That imposes prolonged economic burden
6. It shifts focus to land defence, diverts resources from air & ocean
7. China cannot annex large regions
8. Armed coexistence is future of Indo-China
1. War with China over territory is remote possibility
2. Ch uses military pressure in disputed areas to leverage geopolitical / geoeconomic advantage. Not to annex territory
3. That is why it keeps disputed areas ''alive'' to mount pressure on higher, strategic issues
A set of oil paintings by the 19th century artist Herbert Nye depict an indomitable tiger taking on a mighty elephant and a colonial hunter armed with a big bore double rifle.
Hunters: The Good, Bad, the Ugly
1. Domestic buffaloes killed leopard
2. Bullfrog ambushed diving kingfisher with a flying hold
3. Goat tongue laced with chillies to make it bleat and lure Jodhpur man-eater leopard
4. British Cavalry officer who shot 1,000 bustards in 24 years
1. No statement from 16 Corps though names are confirmed
2. No photos of "4 Lashkar terrorists" showing off weapons before death
3. Of 4 killed, Faizan Sahgeer was JKLF office-bearer who had protested against Pak Army
4. Fence was away from (behind) LOC
5. Misdirected mine/IED
The delicate nest, the killer's quest
Over the years, have written a quartet of articles in the HT and TOI newspapers on the Rat snake's predation bids on nests of Baya weaver birds featuring expressive, action photos by Kola Venkateswarlu, Dr. Nisarga, Arun Khanna.
Nana's Patekar's Parinda in real life
"In the morning, I don't need an alarm clock, it is the calls of birds at dawn that awaken me. Peacocks come to my farm every morning: 25-30, sometimes 40. It brings me an other world 'sakoon', peace."
The Baya nest: it bends but does not yield
An accomplished practioner of organic farming pays the ulitmate tribute the soft yet remarkably resilient Baya bird fortress
A glimpse into how the Baya weaver bird constructs and sites a nest to frustrate the intrusion of Rat snakes
More critical to counter-terrorism strategy is beyond shooting Pak jehaadis.
But bringing to book OGWs, conspirators, guides, narco-terror fund launderers.
Only someone from local milieu could have found & used this for arms dump (or built tactical hideouts in mtns)
Sopore
A rare recovery of a 40 mm multi-grenade launcher and five grenades from the forests of Mukaam-Cherhar of Sopore by the Police.
Lashkar-e-taiba proxy fronts are known to display this weapon in their social media messages.
