Current Events :
The meeting signals that India is seriously contemplating military action following the terror attack.
Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting with the military and security establishment to decide the next course of action against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.
The meeting, under way at the PM’s 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence, is being attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan and the three service chiefs.
The meeting signals that India is seriously contemplating military action following the terror attack.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi said, “We have very little time and very big goals.”
Wednesday’s meeting will be the second meeting of the CCS, the highest decision-making body of the country with respect to security, defence and strategic matters, within a week.
The meeting will be attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Principal Secretaries to the PM, the Cabinet Secretary, and other top officials.
A decision on whether to close Indian airspace to Pakistani planes is likely to be taken.
Pakistani wives of ex-militants rehabilitated here have asserted they would rather die than return to their old country. The Pakistani women, who had come to Kashmir under the 2010 rehabilitation policy for former ultras, have pleaded the government to allow…
Pakistani wives of ex-militants rehabilitated here have asserted they would rather die than return to their old country.
The Pakistani women, who had come to Kashmir under the 2010 rehabilitation policy for former ultras, have pleaded the government to allow them to stay or send them in “body bags.”
Alyza Rafiq, married to an ex-militant, came to Kashmir in 2013 under the then-Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s policy that enabled the rehabilitation of ultras who had gone to Pakistan or Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for arms training, but abjured violence and wanted to return to the Valley.
Living at present in this north Kashmir district, Rafiq said the police have told her to leave the country.
“We have been asked to leave the country. I have three children. They have told me to leave my youngest daughter here. She is little, how can I leave her here!” Rafiq told PTI.
“How can I leave my husband here? I have built a house here. We came here because of the government’s policy… What have we done? What is our fault in this? We have election card, Aadhaar card. I have voted in elections,” she said.
With tears rolling down her cheeks, Rafiq appealed to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to let them live in Kashmir -– her home for the past 12 years.
“I appeal to the Governor sahib, please do not be cruel to us. We have not committed any sin. Please let us live here. If not, then kill us and send our bodies across the border,” she said.
Zahida Begum, another such Pakistani woman, said she wants to live in peace in Kashmir. “The police have asked me to leave. I do not want to go back. I have two daughters Maryam and Aamna. My son, Faizan, is 10 and they are telling me to keep him here. I do not want to go back. Please forgive me. I want to live here,” she said.
At a high-level security meeting, the PM affirms that ‘it is our national resolve to deal a crushing blow to terrorism’
PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the armed forces have complete operational freedom to decide the mode, targets and timing of India’s response.
At a high-level security meeting, the PM affirmed that “it is our national resolve to deal a crushing blow to terrorism”, officials said.
Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday, Modi on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting with the military and security establishment to decide the next course of action against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.
The meeting, at the PM’s 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence, was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan and the three service chiefs.
The meeting signalled that India is seriously contemplating military action following the terror attack.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi said, “We have very little time and very big goals.”
Wednesday’s meeting will be the second meeting of the CCS, the highest decision-making body of the country with respect to security, defence and strategic matters, within a week.
The meeting will be attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Principal Secretaries to the PM, the Cabinet Secretary, and other top officials.
The Indian military will have to evolve a comprehensive doctrine around drone warfare. Fundamental changes would have to be made in how the Army fights.
IN a seminar hosted by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies on March 10, General Anil Chauhan, India’s Chief of Defence Staff, emphasised the transformative role of unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones, in modern warfare and called for doctrinal clarity on the employment of drones.
Drones have been around for decades in the military arsenal of countries. What is new is the extensive use of drones in the Russia-Ukraine war, from the tactical battlefield to achieving strategic effects. As the Indian military increasingly looks to induct drones into service, key insights from the Ukraine conflict should guide this effort.
The start of the Ukraine war saw the traditional employment of large, slow-flying drones, like Ukraine’s Bayraktar TB2 and Russia’s Orion, in surveillance and strike roles. However, these drones were vulnerable to air defence systems and soon disappeared from the skies, replaced by smaller military drones, like the Ukrainian Furia and the Russian Orlan-10.
The real transformation occurred when Ukraine turned to commercial off-the-shelf drones, repurposing thousands of them as combat tools. By the war’s second year, drone operations had massively expanded in scale and sophistication. In 2023, the Ukrainian army raised over 60 special drone strike units embedded in combat brigades and independent drone groups, institutionalising drone warfare.
With the increasing role of drones on the battlefield, their numbers expanded exponentially. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said over 1.3 million drones had been delivered to frontline soldiers in 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia was ramping up its drone production to nearly 1.4 million in 2024, a tenfold increase from the previous year.
Today, small quadcopters costing less than $1,000 dominate the tactical battlefield, carrying out a variety of roles —intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and kinetic strikes. This omnipresence of drones has dramatically compressed the kill chain: spotting a target and directing fire on it is often done in just minutes or even seconds. A February 2025 study by the Royal United Services Institute estimates that tactical drones account for 60 to 70 per cent of the damaged and destroyed Russian systems.
Russia’s success in driving Ukrainian forces out of Kursk in March 2025 has been attributed to the mass employment of fibre-optic drones. These drones are tethered to their operator via a physical cable and are immune to electronic jamming. Ukraine troops described their retreat from Kursk as a “horror movie” as drones “hunted them day and night.”
Drones have also had strategic impacts away from the frontlines. Ukrainian uncrewed surface drones (USVs) have sunk Russian warships, compelling Russia to relocate much of its Black Sea fleet to ports like Novorossiysk, effectively ceding control of large parts of the Black Sea. USVs carrying drones have attacked Russian gas platforms and other targets around the Black Sea.
As drones proliferate in the Indian military, they must not be treated as standalone assets but integrated into a combined arms operation. The control of thousands of drones in the sky will require a network-centric approach to manage the information overload. Ukraine has adopted the DELTA system, which integrates data from multiple sources, including drone video feeds, open-source intelligence and satellite imagery, to present a real-time picture to commanders, enabling quick targeting.
A current deficit in India’s military power is the limited inventory of conventional missiles for engaging targets deep in enemy territory. Long-range strike drones can fill this gap. According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Russia carried out 8,484-long-range strikes against Ukraine between September and December 2024. More than 90 per cent of these strikes were carried out by attack drones, mostly Shahed drones imported from Iran. While relatively slow and often intercepted, the Shaheds are cheap (about $35,000 each) and are being used in large numbers as expendable cruise missiles. As a comparison, Russian missiles like the ground-launched Iskander and air-launched
Kh-22 cost around $10,00,000.
Technology sans doctrine is of little use. The Indian military will have to evolve a comprehensive doctrine around drone warfare. Constant surveillance over the battlefield and the ability to quickly hit individual targets is forcing troops to disperse and remain hidden, making mass surprise attacks difficult. The operational tempo and decision cycles have compressed, requiring greater delegation and initiative from local commanders. Fundamental changes would have to be made in how the Army fights.
In a highly contested airspace and a plethora of air defence systems, drones will play a key role in deep observation and targeting. The Air Force will have to develop doctrines for manned-unmanned teaming of fighter aircraft and drones. The drones will carry out the role of surveillance, electronic warfare and other risky tasks while the manned aircraft deliver strategic strikes. Strategies will also have to be formulated for defending airspace from mass drone attacks. An effective defence will require a layered approach, combining detection, disruption and destruction, with electronic warfare as a critical component.
The Navy will have to integrate drones as strategic strike assets while reviewing the concept of coastal and harbour defence to protect from attacks by surface or underwater drones. Like the Air Force, the Navy must look at the concept of manned-unmanned teaming in fleets.
Organisational changes must accompany doctrinal development. Merely allocating drones to existing units will result in suboptimal employment. Specialised drone units will have to be created within all three services and there will be a requirement to raise additional electronic warfare and counter-drone units.
Such a proliferation of roles will require mass manufacturing of drones and production capacity will have to be ramped up quickly. This necessitates an extensive participation of the civil sector and changes in the defence procurement process to make it more agile.
The jury is still out on whether drones have completely transformed how future wars will be fought, but it is a reality that drone warfare has become a central feature of modern combat. The Indian military must put doctrines and organisational structures in place to exploit this new weapon of war.
Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) is former Northern Army Commander.
Closures are temporary and based on current security scenario; destinations will be reopened later, says a senior official
n the aftermath of the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have temporarily shut down 48 out of 87 tourist destinations across the Valley, officials said on Tuesday.
A senior official said the closures span multiple districts and are based on the current security situation. These measures are intended to ensure tourist safety and are expected to be temporary, with sites reopening once conditions improve.
In Bandipora district, Gurez Valley has been closed to non-local tourists. In Budgam district, the popular spots of Yousmarg, Tousimaidan, and Doodpathri have been shut.
Similarly, in Kulgam, Aharbal and Kousarnag will remain closed. Several other tourist destinations in different districts have also been affected.
The Tribune had reported last week that authorities were likely to temporarily restrict tourist access to remote destinations lacking adequate security.
Officials believe it is currently impractical to provide full-time security in these isolated locations. “Until these regions are secured, it would be inappropriate to allow tourist activity, especially after the recent attack in Pahalgam,” sources said.
The move comes at a time when tourism in the region has been witnessing a significant boom. Last year, Jammu and Kashmir recorded its highest-ever tourist footfall, with 2.36 crore visitors, including domestic travellers, foreign tourists, and pilgrims visiting Amarnath and Mata Vaishno Devi. In addition to traditional destinations, many tourists have started exploring lesser-known spots in Kashmir.
In South Kashmir, the number of trekkers from across the country has recently increased, according to tour operators.
In a related move, the administration in Kupwara district recently issued a public advisory urging tourists to seek prior permission before visiting border areas like Karnah, Keran, Machil, and Bungus Valley.
India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Yojna Patel says ‘Pakistan is a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilising region’
India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Yojna Patel says ‘Pakistan is a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilising region’
India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel delivers India’s statement at the launch of the Victims of Terrorism Association Network. Photo: X@IndiaUNNewYork
India on Tuesday mentioned at the UN the deadly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 tourists and said Pakistan is a “rogue state” fuelling global terrorism and fomenting destabilisation in the region.
Exercising her right to reply following a Pakistan delegation statement at the launch of the Victims of Terrorism Association Network at the UN, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel stressed that the world could no longer turn a blind eye to Pakistan’s support for terror.
To cement India’s case on the issue, Patel brought up a recent interview of Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, who admitted to backing terror groups against India.
“It is unfortunate that one particular delegation has chosen to misuse and undermine this forum to indulge in propaganda and make baseless allegations against India. The whole world has heard Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan’s history of supporting, financing and training terror organisations in a recent TV interview,” said Patel.
She said this open confession surprised no one and “exposed Pakistan as a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region.”
The world can no longer turn a blind eye, India said at the UN amid rising demands to work diplomatically for getting declared Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.
In her opening remarks at the event, Patel spoke of the Pahalgam attack and said India has been a victim of cross border terror for decades and understands the importance of initiatives against terrorism.
“The Pahalgam terrorist attack represents the largest number of civilian casualties since the horrific 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008. Having been a victim of cross-border terrorism for decades, India fully understands the long-lasting impact such acts have on victims, their families and society,” she said.
The Indian deputy envoy at the UN also said the country deeply appreciates and values the strong unequivocal support and solidarity extended by leaders and governments across the world in wake of the recent terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.
“This is a testimony to the international community’s zero tolerance for terrorism,” she noted, calling for terrorism in all its forms to be condemned unequivocally.
Patel said the establishment of the Victims of Terrorism Association (VoTAN) is a significant step and will create a structured, safe space for victims to be heard and supported.
“India believes that initiatives like VoTAN are essential to strengthening the global response to terrorism, ensuring that victims remain at the center of our collective efforts,” she added.
In Brampton, Punjabis win on five seats
A record 22 Punjabis have been elected to the House of Commons in the federal polls in Canada. In 2021, 18 Punjabis won, while in 2019, 20 Punjabis were elected.
In Brampton, Punjabis won five seats
Liberal candidate Ruby Sahota defeated Conservative Amandeep Judge from Brampton North.
Liberal candidate Maninder Sidhu defeated Conservative candidate Bob Dosanjh from Brampton East.
Liberal candidate Amandeep Sohi defeated Taran Chahal from Brampton Centre.
Conservative candidate Sukhdeep Kang defeated Liberal candidate Sonia Sidhu from Brampton South.
Conservative candidate Amarjeet Gill defeated sitting minister Kamal Khera from Brampton West.
Prominent winners from Liberal party in these polls include
Anita Anand from Oakville East
Bardish Chagger from Waterloo
Anju Dhillon from Dorval Lachine
Sukh Dhaliwal from Surrey Newton
Iqwinder Singh Gaheer from Mississauga Malton
Randeep Sarai from Surrey Centre
Gurbax Saini from Fleetwood Port Kells
Param Bains from Richmond East Steveston
Prominent winners from Conservative Party include
Jasraj Hallan from Calgary East
Dalwinder Gill from Calgary McKnight
Amanpreet Gill from Calgary Skyview
Arpan Khanna from Oxford
Tim Uppal from Edmonton Gateway
Parm Gill from Milton East
Sukhman Gill from Abbotsford South Langley
Jagsharan Singh Mahal from Edmonton Southeast
Harb Gill from Windsor West
However, in a major political development, NDP president and two-time sitting MP Jagmeet Singh lost from Burnaby Central riding, finishing third.
Following his defeat, he also resigned as NDP president. Another significant loser was sitting health minister and two-time MP Kamal Khera, who lost to Amarjeet Gill in Brampton West riding.
X accounts of some Pakistani journalists learnt to be working for the ISI have also been suspended
The suspension followed a formal demand by the Indian government, X said on its update. The account was suspended in the wake of disinformation and fake news being spread through Asif’s official handle and in the wake of Asif’s confession on camera that Pakistan has been backing terror groups at the behest of the West.
X accounts of some Pakistani journalists learnt to be working for the ISI have also been suspended.
Earlier on Monday, India announced a ban on 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for spreading provocative and communally sensitive content and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies in the backdrop of the Pahalgam terror incident.
Last week, the Pakistani Defence Minister made a huge admission by stating that Pakistan has been funding and backing terror groups in a viral video clip.
