Defence 360

The world needs more India and less China—that’s according to many of the members of the global strategic community who were in India last week. They came for the third Raisina Dialogue, hosted by the Observer Research Foundation and India’s Ministry of External Affairs. It was a stellar line up. On the Indian side, among the those giving talks were Ministers Sushma Swaraj, M.J. Akbar, Smriti Irani, Suresh Prabhu, General (Retd.) V.K. Singh and Hardeep Singh Puri. The current Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar, was there, as well as the future one, Vijay Keshav Gokhale. Politically, the tone was kept appropriately neutral, with prominent roles for both Ram Madhav and Shashi Tharoor. The range and seniority of foreign delegations underlined the uniqueness of India’s global position. There were high-level speakers from around the region and around the world, including the United States, Russia, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Singapore and more. The opening session...

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), has picked up evidence in Punjab that indicates that Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is highly active to link pro-Khalistani groups in Punjab and abroad with J&K terrorists “to make it a two-state terror theatre”. With the help of Punjab police, the NIA has reached the conclusion that the ISI once again wants to revive militancy in the state. The NIA is in the process of approaching the Interpol to corroborate the evidence that the ISI is involved in the targeted killings of Hindu leaders in Punjab during the past two years. The Moga police recently interrogated some Sikh hardliners and gangsters and learnt that huge funds were being routed from Pakistan to radicals in Canada, US, UK, Italy, France, Germany, the UAE and some other countries, and from there diverted to India through hawala channels. Senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja, Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad Gupta, Hindu lead...