Chak De Phatte

Waging guerilla warfare against the Mughals in the 18th century, the Khalsa Sikhs would cross the canals in the Punjab over temporary wooden bridges to launch surprise attacks, while retreating they would quickly dismantle these bridges by uprooting (Chak De) the wooden planks (Phatte) to prevent being chased. The phrase “Chak De Phatte” is commonly…

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A Crucial Phase

Better late than never, the much awaited assault on North Waziristan has begun, 75 days later than it should have. To quote my article, “Non-stop” of Mar 6, 2014, “The precision strikes of the PAF disrupted the TTP’s administrative and operational deployment. More importantly, ‘actionable intelligence’ was available for these to be carried out, that…

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Fighting Terror

In the back drop of resonations about usage of Indian origin arms and ammunition by the attackers of Karachi airport and recovery of huge cache of such weapons and munitions, the Indian Prime Minister has condemned the terrorist attack on Karachi Airport. In a letter to his Pakistani counterpart he has expressed sorrow over the…

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Australian Defence Force Command and Control Framework – Need for Change

Defence from external aggression and internal threat is the prime responsibility of any government in a state. Soon after becoming a federation of all colonies in 1901, the Australian Defence Forces were created after merger of all colonial forces.1 The structure of the forces has seen many changes based on national and international influences and…

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