Unforgettable Tales Of The Kargil War The Kargil War In The Summer Of 1999 Was A Tale Of Brutality And Courage. Here Was War In Its Essence: Barren, Icy Peaks Held By A Strongly Entrenched Enemy, And The Only Way To Dislodge The Intruders Was To Climb Up In The Face Of Overwhelming Fire. By The End Of The War Many More Heroes Were Added To The List Of The Nation S Brave: Saurav Kalia, Vijayant Thapar, Yogendra Singh Yadav, Mariappan Sarvanan And Vikram Batra, To Name Only A Few. Their Exploits In This Harrowing Battle Read Like The Stuff Of Legend. In Despatches From Kargil, Srinjoy Chowdhury, Who Covered The War For The Statesman, Recounts What It Was Like For Journalists To Battle Against Deadlines, Shellfire-And Particularly Vicious Bedbugs-To Transmit Their Reports. He Draws Graphic Pictures Of The Major Assaults, Such As In Drass And Batalik, Relying Heavily On The First-Hand Accounts Of Those Who Took Part In The Action. There Are Memorable Portrayals Of The Soldiers And Officers Too-Sometimes Of The Other Side As Well. This Is War Reportage At Its Best: Observant, Objective, And Ultimately, For All The Wry Understatement, Extremely Moving. If I Don T Inform The Platoon Commander (About The Presence Of The Enemy), He Will Be Overrun, I Thought. And All Because Of Me. I Was Wounded. I Couldn T Walk. I Must Have Been Hit About Fifteen Times, In The Leg, The Chest, The Groin And Arm& I Began Crawling Down& -Param Vir Chakra, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav

Ask anyone from India about Jammu and Kashmir, and he or she will tell you it is the home of spirituality. Its a beautiful place blessed by the gods with beautiful rivers, calm lakes, picturesque waterfalls, and cypress trees. Its famous for its ancient Mughal heritage and Hindu shrines. But toady these places are in news for something else: Islamic extremistsespecially those operating from Pakistancontinue to terrorize residents, visitors and spreading militancy in region. Azad Singh Rathore, a successful entrepreneur from India, traces the history of the region in this textbook, which highlights how Pakistanis have betrayed Indians time and again. He explores how Pakistans aggression triggered an all-out war. The Kargil War was defined by high-altitude warfare in a climate as low as minus forty degrees. Posts were fought over in hand-to-hand combat, and India defeated Pakistan with great courage and bravery. Join the author as he highlights Pakistans misdeeds and celebrates the bravery and patriotism of Indian soldiers that fought for their beloved nation in Kargil.

Harinder Baweja, an Editor with Hindustan Times has earned a reputation as a fearless, committed reporter through her prolonged coverage of conflict zones. Her experience of covering the Kashmir crisis gave her access to a wide range of sources, particularly among the army units that were sent to Kargil. She covered the sharp, short war for India Today magazine, using her enviable range of sources to compile a definite account of the Kargil war. She has also edited and authored chapters for 26/11 Mumbai Attacked.

Strategic thinking has not been part of our national discourse. Till the end of 20th century, there were a very few public or private think tanks discussing the challenges our nation faced. There was no private news channel till 1999 and when they started, they went about doing their news business. Lack of strategic thinking was apparent during 1962 war with China, when we had clear indications of heinous moves and design of China. The Indian Army had submitted reports highlighting the Chinese threat but it all fell on deaf ears. The Prime Minister of the time thumped the table and said, “It is not the job of Commander-in-Chief to tell the Government who will attack India. China will never attack us, rather China would come to our rescue if needed. You should concentrate on Pakistan!” Rest is history. Successive governments did not learn the lesson. Strategic and National Security matters were still prerogative of government institutions. Till 2000, there were a few government funded or private think tanks (United Service Institution of India, Indian Direct Selling Association, Indian Defence Review etc.) working on this vital subject. New think tanks came up but their reach was limited. There appears to be much more interest in masses now than what it was 20 years ago. This book is a compilation of articles written on different subjects. It is divided in four sections – every section dealing with a different subject. Readers should consider the backdrop date given at the first page of every chapter. This will help putting things in the right perspective.

This book is about media content analysis in the English language print media in South Asia, with reference to certain contemporary issues. It is written from the perspective of the need to analyze media discourses and the ways in which their circulation creates a ‘common sense’ view of the world. The focus is on English language papers and news magazines; additionally, some Hindi, Urdu, and Sindhi newspapers are examined. The highlight is on the ways in which English language publications contribute to and function within middle class matrices of modernity, consumption, conflict, and conservatism in India.

The conflict was short and limited, packed with intense activity, major movement, heavy fighting and crucial decisions. The initiative rested with Pakistan to commence hostilities, which they did with a mix of irregular and regular troops and tactics. This is a story of anticipation, of impending actions, of virtual equality of forces engaged in a savage battle of attrition in which no quarters were given or asked. The author, GOC-in-C Western Command during those fateful days provided an unflappable presence under whose command the Army imposed unacceptable levels of losses on the enemy, first toning down their rhetoric, then their confidence, and lastly their ability to sustain very high levels of material losses. There is very little material or records to draw upon for our military studies of warfare in and around the Indian subcontinent. War Despatches narrates for the first time the inside story through original despatches field by the Army Commander from the war zone. To maintain the authenticity of the Despatches, the military style of writing has been followed in the text as far as possible.