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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
Defenceless defence
The Budgetary allocation to the armed forces has been stagnant as Governments have failed to address the concern that modern warfare needs upgradation When former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman — one of four in the Modi 1.0 government — presented her maiden finance budget, hope and expectation about the defence allocation...
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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
22 May 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Nobody joined the dots
08 May 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Nurture ties that bind
29 April 2019 | Ashok K Mehta -
Thinking global, acting local
24 April 2019 | Ashok K Mehta
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...
Calling Pakistan’s bluff
Like the surgical strikes failed to deter Pakistan from cross-border infiltration, deep penetration air strikes, too, will not stop it from waging a proxy war. Change has to come from within India crossed the red line in Pakistan for the first time since 1971 when its Air Force carried out audacious...
The soldier’s caretaker
George Saab was one of the best Defence Ministers for whom the welfare and well-being of the Army personnel came first. Unfortunately, he wasn’t given his due For a former Defence Minister, even the most unlikely, George Fernandes was laid to rest without the traditional military honours due to him...
Chill in the Valley
The non-initiation of dialogue is an immense disservice to our security forces. The momentum of internal talks must be matched by reviving the same with Pakistan A deeply poignant moment of the 70th Republic Day parade was the spellbinding citation of Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani for the award of...
A fractured negotiation
It is the Americans who are in a hurry to withdraw, not the Taliban. They can outwait them indefinitely. But what about the peace process? From an Indian perspective, Afghanistan turned out to be the flavour of the fourth edition of the Raisina Dialogue at New Delhi, which, compared to other...
