This four-pronged initiative will integrate fighting components like infantry, mechanised infantry, armoured units, artillery, special forces and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within each brigade

Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service

In a major restructuring move, the Army is set to transform its war-fighting structure, empowering Brigades with greater firepower and operational autonomy under a new plan called ‘Rudra’.

This four-pronged initiative will integrate fighting components like infantry, mechanised infantry, armoured units, artillery, special forces and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within each brigade. Unlike before — when, for example, an Infantry Brigade lacked armoured or drone elements — these integrated formations will now be self-contained and combat-ready.

The second component is the creation of ‘Bhairav’ units —lethal light commando battalions evolved from the existing ‘ghatak’ platoons. These specialised forces will be tasked with rapid response and border operations, especially along the LoC and in counter-insurgency zones.

The third pillar is ‘Shaktibaan’ artillery regiments, which will focus on drone warfare and loitering munitions — advanced weapons that can hover mid-air and strike precise targets on command.

The final element, ‘Divyastra’ batteries, will comprise infantry battalions equipped with drones and indigenous air defence systems. These units will strengthen the Army’s multi-layered air defence shield, successfully demonstrated during Operation Sindoor.

Importantly, this transformation won’t require fresh inductions. Instead, existing units — across infantry, armoured corps, artillery, engineers, UAVs and signals — will be reconfigured into integrated Brigades with dedicated logistics and combat support.

In 2023, the Army’s top commanders decided to restructure the force in phases, with the goal of transforming it into a lean, agile and tech-enabled 21st-century military. Key operational concepts — such as the creation of Integrated Battle Groups — had already been validated during field exercises in Punjab in 2013.

This decision was informed by a comprehensive 2022 study on “Re-organisation and Rightsizing of the Indian Army”, which examined existing operational structures with the aim of making them more efficient, adaptable and future-ready, especially in the context of evolving challenges along India’s western and northern borders.

Jordan, UAE carry out airdrops | Hamas says Israel finally acknowledges it is starving people

The Israeli military on Sunday began a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, part of a series of steps that included multiple airdrops as concerns over surging hunger in the territory mount and Israel faces a wave of international criticism over its conduct in the 21-month war.

he military said it would begin a daily “tactical pause” in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, three areas of the territory with large populations, to “increase the scale of humanitarian aid” entering the territory. The pause was running from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm local time and was to be repeated each day until further notice.

In a sign of how precarious the situation remained for people in Gaza, shortly after the pause began, Gaza health officials said an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in Gaza City killed a woman and her four children. A second strike killed four people, including a young boy, his mother and his grandfather, in the eastern Zaytoun neighbourhood, health officials said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either strike. Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule, without providing evidence for that claim.

Images emerging from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies, who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned.

Israel said the new measures were taking place while it continued its offensive against Hamas in other areas. Health officials in Gaza said at least 38 Palestinians were killed in separate strikes from late Saturday into Sunday, including 23 people seeking aid.

As part of the eased restrictions, the military also said that it would put in place secure routes for aid delivery. It also said it carried out aid airdrops into Gaza, which included packages of aid with flour, sugar and canned food.

Jordan announced it had carried out three airdrops over the skies of Gaza, including one in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates. It said the cargo planes had dropped 25 tons of food and supplies on several locations in Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi said that Israel’s change of tack on the humanitarian crisis amounted to an acknowledgement that they were starving Palestinians in Gaza, adding that Israel would not escape punishment for its crimes.

The United Nations’ food agency welcomed the steps to ease aid restrictions, but said a broader ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need in Gaza. UNICEF called it “an opportunity to save lives.”

Dr Muneer al-Boursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, called for a flood of medical supplies and other goods to help treat child malnutrition. “This (humanitarian) truce will mean nothing if it doesn’t turn into a real opportunity to save lives,” he said. “Every delay is measured by another funeral.”

Later in the day, US President Donald Trump said Israel would have to make a decision on the next steps in Gaza, adding that he did not know what would happen after moves by Israel to pull out of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas.

World War I (28 July, 1914 – 11 Nov, 1918)

he First World War, or the “Great War”, marked a seismic shift in international relations, paving the way for the rise of the United States as a global superpower, the founding of the League of Nations, and eventually, the United Nations. Yet, its aftermath also left a humiliated Germany burdened by crippling reparations, 20 billion gold marks, imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. This overwhelming debt, coupled with the “War Guilt Clause,” created a “metaphorical chariot of loss” for Germany. A young Adolf Hitler, deeply embittered by Germany’s defeat and cast down by this humiliation, pledged revenge and a ruthless vision of racial supremacy that would sow the seeds of the Second World War. Romanticised by some zealous historians, the story of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophie, assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, is often portrayed as a romantic tragedy that triggered the war. Indeed, Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, escalated through entangled alliances into a global conflict that claimed over 16 million lives and reshaped the 20th century. The Central Powers, including Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, faced off against the Allied Powers —- Britain, France, Russia and later the United States. However, when we clear the Western imperial lens, a sharper truth emerges: World War I was fundamentally a war of race and domination. European powers competed fiercely over colonies, exploiting racial hierarchies to control vast territories and subjugate peoples of Asia, Africa and beyond. India, then a British colony, contributed over 1.4 million soldiers, half of whom were from Punjab, the “martial races” heartland, to this imperial war machine. The war’s devastating social and economic impact and the unfulfilled promises of political reform ignited the flames of Indian nationalism. When veteran soldiers returned, they helped galvanise resistance that culminated in tragic events like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, marking a turning point in India’s struggle for independence. Today, as one witnesses ongoing atrocities, whether in Gaza, Yemen, or elsewhere, the same dark legacies of colonialism, racism and imperial power struggles persist. These are not distant conflicts but continuations of historic patterns of oppression, racism and the denial of human dignity. For Indians and all people conscious of this legacy, the legacy of the First World War compels one to reject Eurocentric narratives. It instigates one to call the war for what it was, a brutal contest for dominion underpinned by racism and anti-democratic violence.

The ‘Great War to Race Riots’ Project centres on an archive of original, significant documents covering the period 1919 to 1921. It relates to the position of black ex-servicemen, seamen and factory workers stranded or left destitute in Liverpool after the First World War. It includes letters and testimony from soldiers and merchant seamen from Africa, India and the Caribbean, who had fought for England on land and at sea during the Great War, or had worked in factories to support the war effort. The documents reveal a plight of daily racism and loss of jobs because of the boycott by white workers, a boycott often supported by the trades unions. This tension led to the race riots of 1919, which resulted in many serious assaults and attacks on the black community and the murder of a black seaman, Charles Wotten, by a white mob. The unique nature of this material is that it contains the written word of those ex-servicemen, sailors and workers who were being confronted with verbal, physical and racial abuse on the streets of Liverpool, abuse which was compounded by institutional indifference and racism. The first phase of the project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, involved cataloguing of the material, bringing it to public access in Liverpool’s Records Office. Writing on the Wall commissioned Levi Tafari to produce new poetic works in response to the archive. Levi then led workshops which invited the public to also respond creatively to the material. The work was celebrated at public events during Writing on the Wall’s annual writing festival; WoWFest. A publication was produced and a plague was erected, in partnership with David Olusoga’s ‘Black and British’ TV series, in memory of Charles Wotten. An art installation of Black Poppies was created involving over 60 members of the public. The second phase of the project was delivered in partnership with the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool and was funded by AHRC, via the ‘Centre for Hidden Histories’ (University of Nottingham). This phase mapped the residences of the men named in the archive and the events of the race riots. A walking tour was devised and a short film was produced. With additional funding from the Department of Geography and Planning, a national conference was held during the centenary of the 1919 Race Riots which brought together representatives from other port cities that had experienced race riots in 1919. With the support of Liverpool’s Mayors office and Arts Council England, the race riots became the focus of Black History Month in Liverpool in 2019. The walking tours were animated by performance from Tmesis Theatre and events were brought to life with an augmented reality trail produced in partnership with First Take. Since its onset the project has worked with twenty two regular volunteers, providing training in archiving and experience of film making, public speaking and in leading guided tours. There have been a number of exhibitions of the archive material curated in partnership with the Liverpool Records Office and The National Archives. The project continues to offer guided walking tours, exhibitions, illustrated talks and rticipation in seminars and conferences.

CBI ਵਲੋਂ Colonel Bath ਕੇਸ ‘ਚ FIR ਦਰਜ ਦਿੱਲੀ ‘ਚ ਕੇਸ ਦਰਜ CBI ਦਾ DSP ਕਰੂ ਜਾਂਚ

SALUTE TO KARGIL MARTYRS

वीरों के चरणों में सुरों की सलामी | राष्ट्रीय समर स्मारक, नई दिल्ली

Ex-Army officer moves SC for war record correction

India issues advisory for citizens in Cambodia amidst border clashes

Operation Sindoor stern message to terror backers: Army Chief

Wreath-laying ceremony held for Agniveer killed in landmine blast

SC orders CBI probe, arrest of officers for brutal torture causing J&K cop’s castration

Northern Army commander reviews security situation in Doda-Ramban-Kishtwar region

Two men die as landslide hits tent in Reasi, Jammu-Srinagar highway blocked

BSF neutralises 6 Pakistani drones in 24 hours; pistols, heroin recovered 

The real drone war is yet to come

ना झुके, ना डरे, ना रुके!

कारगिल के शूरवीरों ने शौर्य, बलिदान और राष्ट्रभक्ति की ऐसी अमिट कहानी लिखी, जो हर भारतीय के हृदय में सम्मान और गर्व बनकर धड़कती है।आइए नमन करते है उन वीरों को, जिन्होंने अपने लहू से विजय का इतिहास रचा।

Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service

As the nation commemorates the 26th anniversary of the 1999 Kargil conflict, a former wartime commander of the Kargil Brigade, Brig Surinder Singh, has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a fresh probe and “corrections” in war records.

He was removed from command midway during the conflict and later his services were terminated for allegedly mishandling classified documents. Claiming in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed on May 24 that the truth still lies buried under layers of bureaucratic silence and doctored reports, he has sought a de novo inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge or existing group of ministers.

Detailing events that led to the conflict and subsequent actions, he accused the top military hierarchy of suppressing facts, creating false narratives, reshuffling key appointments and withholding human and material resources to deal with the situation despite knowing the grim reality. He said the decisions of top generals were contrary to all military teachings and established practices.

The Kargil Review Committee (KRC) set up by the government, he said, had limited scope and adopted a faulty methodology of not examining direct evidence from the eyewitnesses and the ground troops and commanders at various levels on the frontline.

Most facts were not investigated by the KRC as it was not appraised about them. Despite this grave deficiency, KRC went ahead to recommend measures to safeguard national security and avert future occurrence of similar kinds.

He also referred to a statement made in August 2006 by Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis, who was the Air Chief during the conflict, that Army generals deliberately attempted to hide the Kargil intrusions from the government as late as mid-May 1999 because they had been caught off guard. “The first lesson we ought to have learnt from this, and which I believe the Kargil Committee did not bring out, is to say that whatever be the situation, don’t keep it to yourself,” the former Air Chief had said.

“Thus, a highly avoidable war was thrust upon the nation to recover own area intruded by the enemy over a front of more than 227 km along the LoC,” he said. “The Kargil War would not have happened, had the defences asked for in the crucial locations as correctly assessed and persistently demanded by the petitioner were provided and troops allotted,” he added.

The flare-up between Thailand and Cambodia has killed at least 32 people

India on Saturday advised its citizens in Cambodia to avoid travelling to border areas as the clash between Thailand and Cambodia over a disputed border entered its third day.

According to reports, the flare-up, which began on Thursday, has killed at least 32 people — 19 in Thailand and 13 in Cambodia.

“In view of the ongoing clashes at the Cambodia-Thailand border, Indian nationals are advised to avoid travelling to the border areas,” the Indian embassy here said in an X post.

It also urged Indian citizens to contact the mission in case of any emergency at +855 92881676 or email cons.phnompenh@mea.gov.in.

On Friday, India issued a similar advisory to its citizens in Thailand, asking them to exercise caution and avoid travelling to seven provinces of the country.

Kargil Vijay Diwas: Says combat power enhanced, air defence upgraded since Pahalgam

Adil Akhzer Tribune News Service

rmy Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Saturday said Operation Sindoor was a clear message “that those who support terrorism will not be spared

“On the night of May 6 and 7, the Army targeted nine high-value terrorist locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir without harming any innocent citizens. This was not just an answer but a clear message that those who support terrorism will not be spared,” General Dwivedi said during his address on Kargil Vijay Diwas. An event was organised to mark the occasion at the Kargil War Memorial in Ladakh.

He said after the Army’s unprecedented victory in 1999, it became clear that the military won’t allow the country’s unity and integrity to be harmed.

General Dwivedi said, “The same tradition continued during Operation Sindoor, when the Army, with the same courage and determination, targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and achieved a decisive victory by effectively repelling the offensive operations by Pakistan.”

Stating that while India gave peace a chance, Pakistan acted with cowardice, the Army Chief said, “Operation Sindoor was our resolve, our message and our answer.” He emphasised that after the Pahalgam terror attack in April, it was decided that the response “would be decisive”.

“Our air defence stood like an unbreakable wall. No drone or missile could breach it. This was possible due to the whole-of-nation approach, where the Army, Air Force, Navy, the government and private departments and even NGOs stood together,” he said.

The Army Chief warned that any forces planning to harm India’s sovereignty, integrity or people would face a “decisive answer. This is the new normal of India,” he said, adding that while “India seeks peace, it will respond decisively to provocation”.

General Dwivedi stressed that today’s Army was not only successfully countering current challenges but also evolving into a modern, transformative and future-oriented force.

Announcing the sanctioning of an all-arms brigade, “Rudra”, he said, “This brigade will integrate combat components such as infantry, mechanised infantry, armoured units, artillery, special forces and unmanned aerial systems, along with logistic and combat support.”

Additionally, he revealed that agile and lethal special forces, the Bhairav Light Commando Battalion, had been raised and were always ready to surprise the enemy at the borders.

General Dwivedi also highlighted the creation of drone platoons in every infantry battalion and the formation of a ‘Shaktibaan’ regiment in the artillery, equipped with drone and counter-drone systems as well as loitering ammunition.

“A diverse composite battery has also been established in every regiment, equipped with these advanced systems,” he said. The Army Chief noted that combat capabilities would multiply in the coming days, with the Army’s air defence being upgraded with indigenous missile systems. He also spoke about the Army’s role in nation-building in border areas through various initiatives.