Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) Lt Gen Katoch is renowned special forces officer with an unparalleled service record. He has been a prolific writer with his articles published in leading Defence magazines like FORCE & Fauji India. 15 posts Twitter
US Foreign Policy Changes under Biden could have Profound Impact on South Asia "Joe Biden may not drastically reverse foreign policy decisions of his predecessor like Donald Trump did of Barack Obama but Biden’s novel approaches to issues and regions could have ramifications for South Asia even as India-US relationship continues to grow," writes Lt Gen PC Katoch (Retd). Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 11 Nov 2020 Read more
Quad’s Tokyo Meet – More Rhetoric "Tongue-in-cheek statements like at the Quad meet in Tokyo will only embolden Beijing. China will continue in the same vein riding on its economic clout and military muscle even though latter has yet to catch up with the US." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 14 Oct 2020 Read more
Marathon Military-to-Military Talks With China Will Serve Little Purpose As it stands today, China assumes India has shot its bolt for now and will not initiate any offensive action unless China executes its next move. So the ball is in China’s court. Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 9 Oct 2020 Read more
Rise of Sub-Conventional Threat from Pakistan & Afghanistan Should Worry Iran Having a porous border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, Iran should focus more on institutionalized Shia killings in these countries, not Gulf states normalizing relations with Israel. Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 24 Sep 2020 Read more
Fresh Chinese Moves in Ladakh The number of PLA battalions deployed in Ladakh has gone up from 35 in August to 50 in September. Tensions are high as opposing troops are eyeball to eyeball in certain locations and there have been incidents of shots being fired in the air. Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 21 Sep 2020 Read more
The Curse of Semantics in Conflict "Clearly China had infiltrated the Indian establishment years back to include bureaucrats, politicians, media, scholars and other besides working on diplomats posted in Beijing. Little wonder that all recommended or rather enforced a ‘soft’ line on China – quiet submission." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 11 Sep 2020 Read more
China Tests India’s Redlines, Military Response Required "What was the apprehension in admitting that intrusions had taken place and appropriate response was being planned? It would have not brought the government down. Intrusions are inevitable where gaps are covered by patrolling and the enemy has the initiative." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 18 Jun 2020 Read more
India Must Not Fall into Chinese Trap "In my assessment, the present PLA intrusions are obviously with the approval of C-in-C and President Xi Jinping, China's supreme leader. China would like to retain some of these." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 8 Jun 2020 Read more
Dissecting Tour of Duty "Why would youth like to join Army as jawan under ToD with uncertain future and not prefer to join the police forces? Another government proposal, as commented upon by a veteran Army Commander, is to induct 100 officers and 1,000 jawans per year under ToD with six-months training to man borders." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 1 Jun 2020 Read more
PLA’s Vicious Antics Damaging Pride, Fighting Spirit of Indian Soldiers. Time India Prepares Befitting Response "China had been witnessing our soldiers being periodically stone-pelted in Jammu and Kashmir by paid mobs, and even when they opened fire in self-defence with injuries to own personnel and government property destroyed," Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 1 Jun 2020 Read more
Contact Tracing and the Data War "Concurrently, Pakistan’s ISI has developed a ‘malicious application ‘ArogyaSetu.apk” which was reportedly shared through Whatsapp from Britain. The difference between ‘Aarogya’ in the original and ‘Arogya’ in the malicious is small, to fool users." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 16 May 2020 Read more
Special Forces – Combined Employment with Irregulars Despite having large number of Special Operations Forces (SOF), India has ignored the basics of employment of SF. This is perhaps because India still doesn’t have a national security strategy, leave aside defining a national level concept for employment of SF. Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 14 May 2020 Read more
Splitting the Anatomy of Problems Plaguing Indian Special Forces "The primary task of the special forces is across the border, not within the country. Counter-insurgency tasks can be easily carried out by the Rashtriya Rifles, the infantry, and the Assam Rifles in the northeast, with SF used very selectively within our borders, if at all." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 8 May 2020 Read more
The Faux Pas of Taxing Disabled Soldiers – Part II The following is the full reproduction of the letter written by war hero and combat amputee Maj Gen Ian Cardozo (Retd) to the present Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat on Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 5 May 2020 Read more
Special Forces Division – Lame Duck Beginning "Is placing it away from HQ IDS by design? We may propagate that India is raising SOD on the lines of US SOCOM but there is little understanding that aircraft and helicopters integral to SOCOM are specially modified for special operations forces." Lieutenant General PC Katoch (Retd) 29 Apr 2020 Read more