FAUJI INDIA - August 2018

I dette nummeret

With the Pakistan Army having orchestrated the recent elections to have a civilian government of their choice in place, they'll now adopt a renewed focus on the Kashmir issue, more so as India's political leadership gets busy with the impending elections of 2019. Pakistan will be keen to undo its international isolation and upset the relative calm in the Valley of the past month or so.
Kashmir was on the boil until the BJP pulled out from its coalition with the PDP - with an alliance that wouldn't look good prior to the elections - and enforced the long overdue Governor's rule. Kashmir now doesn't figure in the news as much. The non-state actors are on the run and there seems to be some semblance of order in the state now. But how long will this so-called normalcy prevail, will be determined by a robust Kashmir policy that must be shaped at the earliest.
On 26th July, 'Vijay Diwas' - marking our victory in the Kargil conflict - was celebrated in parts of the country. 'Kargil' has spawned a growing trend of holding public programmes to celebrate the valour of our forces. Credit must go to the electronic media for its role in bringing the heroics of our soldiers to our homes. And now social media has helped bond our citizens and multiplied patriotic fervour across the country. But the government's initiatives of opening of Cantonment roads to the public, is also being debated in military gatherings.
Our focus however is on the cyber threat, with internet dominating our lives. It has created off-shoots like the menace of Cyber-Jihad which threatens our nation's security. We thus have experts articulating this theme - Countering Radicalisation and Cyber Security - in depth. The army chief has stated that he has asked for solutions on how to get 'geeks' to be absorbed in the army without the trappings of a military way of life allowing them to be a 'cyber army' within the army!