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Ashok K Mehta
Ashok K Mehta is a retired Lt General of the Indian Army. He writes extensively on defence matters and anchors Defence Watch on Doordarshan
Needed, a healing touch
The Army remains the ultimate protector of the Sri Lankan people but there’s a need to track down human rights violations. The country must also stop demonising Muslims Last month, the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) held its ninth annual defence seminar under the shadow of the tragic Easter Sunday bombings in...
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Soldiers battle two fronts
28 August 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Lost art of development
14 August 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Of broken promises
31 July 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Defenceless defence
17 July 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Sandwiched in between
03 July 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Forked road in Sri Lanka
19 June 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Tango with Pakistan
04 June 2019 | Ashok K Mehta
Engage with Taliban
While the US has made several U-turns in brokering peace in Afghanistan, India’s biggest policy failure has been the inability to make its only military base in Tajikistan operational The Afghanistan peace process has undergone nuanced changes and several U-turns under the Trump dispensation. These are worth reflecting upon. It is no...
Nobody joined the dots
The Easter Sunday self-inflicted tragedy was in military parlance a total command failure, which is likely to take Sri Lanka a decade back Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Alfred Hitchcock would have been mystified by intelligence oversights that led to one of the world’s most dastardly terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka last...
Nurture ties that bind
Post the economic blockade of 2015, relations between India and Nepal have moved from static to steady. The next Government must do all it can to win Nepalese hearts In 2015, after the India-Nepal ties hit the lowest point during the promulgation of Nepal’s new Constitution and anti-India sentiment saw a...
Thinking global, acting local
While the revival of the LTTE in the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka has been ruled out, is a religious conflict in the offing? Or are multiple bombers the warning strikes? Sadly, Sri Lanka earning the sobriquet of being the only country to comprehensively eradicate terrorism could survive for just 10...
Stop milking the Army
The two military operations of the IAF and the Army may win the BJP another term in Government but will dangerously politicise the secular and professional armed forces VK Singh, the BJP’s candidate from Ghaziabad who polled a record number of votes in 2014 only next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,...
Don’t politicise forces
A professional, secular and apolitical military is being utilised for electoral gains of the ruling establishment. Questioning it and the Government is kosher If the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returns to power two months from now, piggybacking the armed forces, one central fact will be eminently clear: The optics of...
Don’t misuse our forces
Crass politicisation of the Army is this government’s way of perpetuating cardinal sin. The EC must go beyond banning militarised banners, outlaw mention of operations A plethora of sweeping phraseology — “game-changer,” “paradigm shift” and even “calling Pakistan’s nuclear bluff” — has entered the strategic discourse post-Balakot, signalling a turning point...
