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A China-based cyber spy network has hacked into government and private systems in 103 countries, including those of many Indian embassies and the Dalai Lama, an Internet research group said here Saturday. The Information Warfare Monitor (IWM), which carried out an extensive 10-month research on cyber spy activities emanating from China, said the hacked systems include the computers of Indian embassies and offices of the Dalai Lama.

China has been in the news of late over the Tibetan issue, which also impacts India in a major way. To put Sino-Indian relations into perspective, it is necessary to look at from a historical as well as a strategic context. Let me begin from the Second Opium War in1860 in which Indian troops took part. Four brigades of British and Indian infantry (Sikh Regiment, Madras Regiment, Bombay Native Infantry and the Ludhiana Rifles) and one cavalry brigade, which included Probyn’s Horse, took part in these operations, in which the Summer Palace in Peking was sacked and looted. I recall...

THIMPU: When its big brother Tibet was invaded by China in 1950, the lesson was not lost on the rulers of the tiny hermit kingdom of Bhutan. Isolation did not pay, and a gradual process of opening up and modernisation culminated on Monday with the first parliamentary elections in the history of the last independent Himalayan kingdom. ( Watch: Bhutan: The transition to democracy ) Sandwiched by giant neighbours India and China, Bhutan had always felt very vulnerable, said Kinley Dorji, managing director of the state-owned Kuensel newspaper. "Our strategy was to hide up in the mountains," he said....

Bhutan was set to bring a century of absolute monarchy to an end Monday with the election of the remote Himalayan nation's first democratic government. The polls are the culmination of an initiative by Bhutan's royal family to peacefully transform the small Buddhist kingdom, which is wedged in the mountains between India and China, into a constitutional monarchy. The country's young Oxford-educated King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck made a strong pitch at the weekend for his subjects, many of whom view the concept of democracy with a mixture of excitement and alarm, to take part. Two parties are locked in...

The kingdom of Bhutan stands poised to become the world's newest democracy on Monday with historic polls ordered by its revered royal family to end their reign. The tiny Buddhist state will elect members for a lower house, ending the century-old absolute rule by the hugely popular Wangchuk dynasty. The country's young Oxford-educated King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk made a forceful last-minute appeal on Saturday to his subjects -- some of whom were initially reluctant to bring in democracy -- to cast their vote. "As you approach the duty of voting at the elections that will bring democracy, do so...

India border weapons plan revived By Subir Bhaumik, BBC News, Calcutta India's Special Services Bureau (SSB) has revived a programme to provide weapons training to youths in border villages after a gap of seven years. The SSB is a para-military agency now responsible for guarding the country's borders with Nepal and Bhutan, It was formed in 1963 after India's humiliating defeat in the 1962 border war with China. Its brief was to train border populations for behind-the-lines partisan warfare. Ten days In 2001, the SSB was placed under the Home Ministry and given the job to guard India's borders with...

The king (left) is spending five days in India India and Bhutan are due to update their friendship treaty to give the Himalayan kingdom greater control over many areas of governance. The revised 57-year-old agreement will allow Bhutan more freedom in areas of foreign policy and military purchases. The Bhutanese monarch, Jigme Khesar Namgyel, will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi to sign the treaty. In 2008 Bhutan becomes a parliamentary democracy with a new constitution. The meeting is part of a six-day visit by the Bhutanese monarch to India. After taking over from his father, King...

GAUHATI, India -- Bhutan's new king pledged in a speech to tens of thousands of supporters Sunday to carry on his father's legacy of transforming the secluded Himalayan kingdom into a parliamentary democracy. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck asked his countrymen for help in completing the task begun by his father, former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who abdicated power to his 26-year-old son earlier this month. "My father has handed over his responsibilities to the people. And now it is our turn to take the country forward by following his legacy," the new king said in his first public address...

Chinese troops in Bhutan raising concernBy UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Published December 28, 2005 NEW DELHI -- The presence of Chinese soldiers in Bhutan has set off alarm bells in Thimphu and New Delhi.          Chinese soldiers are building roads and bridges deep inside Bhutan, The Hindustan Times newspaper said Wednesday. More than 200 Chinese troops crossed into Bhutan in mid-November.          "Relations between the two countries have been on the edge since then," said the report.          Bhutanese Foreign Minister Khandu Wangchuk took up the matter with Chinese authorities after the issue was raised in Bhutanese parliament.          "They (Chinese) told them (Bhutanese)...

The Chinese are in Bhutan — its soldiers are building roads and bridges deep inside the country and setting off alarms in both Thimphu and Delhi. Over 200 Chinese soldiers crossed into Bhutan in mid-November and since then, the relations between the two countries have been on the edge. Bhutan, which has a 470-km unfenced border with China, considers the unasked-for presence of the Red Army in its territory as a violation of the 1998 Sino-Bhutanese border treaty of peace and tranquillity. Rattled by the developments, the tiny kingdom, which shares a special relationship and a 605-km border with India,...

GAUHATI, India -- The king of the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan has said he will step down as ruler in 2008 and hold the country's first national elections for a parliamentary democracy, state media reported Sunday. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck said he will be succeeded by his son, the crown prince. ''Bhutan will remain strong and glorious and our country will achieve greater prosperity with the sun of peace and happiness shining on our people,'' the king said. The king has been circulating a draft constitution for months that would end almost 100 years of monarchical rule in the...

JALPAIGURI (Indo-Nepal-Bhutan-Bangladesh Border), July 24: Over 165 Maoist cadres are being trained in Bhutan at present, as Bhutan has been included in the future Maoist country, ‘Dandkaranya Desam’. The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) are imparting the training. A senior leader of the Standing Committee of a Maoist outfit confirmed this to the South Asia Tribune.

NEW DELHI: India is livid with anger over the Sino-Bhutan border talks that took place during the second week of July. It has caused a flutter in South Block. Hackles in the Indian military have been raised. That is why it dispatched its Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Madan Gopal, to Bhutan to meet the King. And the King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, himself will arrive next Monday at New Delhi to explain what transpired between the two countries. He will have to do some hard explaining when he meets the National Security Advisor, M K Narayanan who is...

Bhutan unveils new constitution The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has unveiled a new constitution that will transform the absolute monarchy into a two-party democratic system. King Jigme Singye Wangchuk says the draft will be sent to all 530,000 citizens, asking for their views. The proposed 34-article constitution outlines the role of the monarchy, clergy and the duties of the people. Bhutan's chief justice told the BBC a referendum would be held at the end of the year to ratify the constitution. Steady progress The proposed code is the culmination of four years of preparation for democracy. One of its suggestions...

THE success of Royal Bhutan Army’s operation against Indian insurgents operating from its territory has encouraged the Vajpayee government to mount pressure on Nepal for a similar strike on hideouts of Indian Maoists across the Indo-Nepal border. The issue was taken up by Union Home Secretary N Gopalaswami at his two-day interaction with Nepalese counterpart Ananta Raj Pandey that ended on Wednesday. Mr Gopalaswami is said to have offered technical assistance by the Indian forces in the proposed military crackdown by the Royal Nepalese Army on Maoist hideouts bordering Terai region in UP, Purnea in Bihar and Siliguri in West...

South Asia's foreign ministers agreed on three key pacts including a free trade agreement to be signed at a regional summit opening in Islamabad this weekend, setting a positive note ahead of the landmark seven-nation meeting. "This development (agreement on three documents) would contribute in achieving even bilateral progress," said India's Foreign Secretary Shashank, who uses only one name, at a briefing, striking a buoyant tone on the eve of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's arrival in host country Pakistan. The accords were reached during meetings that began on a high note when Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers Yashwant...

Ulfa knocks on China's door GUWAHATI: Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has appealed to China to offer temporary shelter to the fleeing cadres while its ideologue Bhimakanta Borgohain said they would now accord priority to Myanmar to set up fresh camps there. Rajkhowa in a letter to the Chairman of People's Republic of China said, “'We request you to permit them safe passage to your territory with minimum temporary hospitality necessary for their survival.” Rajkhowa in a letter faxed to the chairman on December 25, which was e-mailed to a section of the local media here on Sunday, said that of...

Bhutan won’t stop cracking down on N-E militants Jaideep Mazumdar and PTI Kolkata/Samdrup Jongkhar, December 18 Bhutan on Thursday rejected the Ulfa's appeal for a ceasefire and vowed to continue the "short but decisive" military operation to flush out anti-India insurgents from its soil. The Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) has met with major successes in expelling the 3,000-odd militants of the Ulfa, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) who had taken refuge in the Dragon Kingdom. According to reports, so far more than 150 militants have been killed and hundreds captured, including Ulfa publicity secretary...

Indian rebels fighting Bhutanese troops have offered to move out of their bases in the Himalayan kingdom if the army operation against them is halted. Bhutanese soldiers have overrun several rebel bases in the south and arrested three senior separatist leaders. Nearly 70 people are reported to have died in fighting. It is Bhutan's first campaign against the rebels. Troops are trying to evict more than 3,000 Indian rebels from 30 of their bases inside the kingdom. "Located on strategic heights in rugged jungle terrain, the camps are usually guarded by a series of outposts and landmines," a Bhutanese government...

Bhutan's army launches first attack in its history By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi (Filed: 16/12/2003) The 6,000-strong army of the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan launched the first offensive in its history yesterday, attacking Indian separatist rebels with camps in the country. "Military action has been initiated to flush out militants," Thinley Penjor, the Bhutanese embassy spokesman in New Delhi, said. The home ministry in the capital, Thimpu, said citizens were holding rituals and saying prayers for the kingdom's security. He said people were also holding meetings to raise additional militia volunteers. Last month King Jigme Singye Wangchuk's son,...

Thirteen persons, including two policemen were killed, a minister's house and a Hydropower project attacked in heightened Maoist violence in Nepal. According to the police, the rebels killed three civilians in Kapilvastu district, three in Banke district, one each in Parsa and Bardia districts and a policeman in Nawalparasi district. "A group of Maoist rebels travelling on bicycles forced all the family members out of the house and blasted the minister's house using cooker bomb", police said. In Rupendahi district, Maoists bombed and destroyed the ancestral house of Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sarvendranath Shukla. Despite a Maoist announcement...

Fast forward into troubleFour years ago, Bhutan, the fabled Himalayan Shangri-la, became the last nation on earth to introduce television. Suddenly a culture, barely changed in centuries, was bombarded by 46 cable channels. And all too soon came Bhutan's first crime wave - murder, fraud, drug offences. Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report from a country crash-landing in the 21st century Saturday June 14, 2003The GuardianApril 2002 was a turbulent month for the people of Bhutan. One of the remotest nations in the world, perched high in the snowlines of the Himalayas, suffered a crime wave. The 700,000 inhabitants of...

<p>While Nepal has received widespread international attention, due mainly to its seven-year Maoist insurgency, Bhutan — another Himalayan kingdom, about the size of Switzerland, with a population of 2 million — has failed until now to attract similar international attention.</p> <p>But that may change.</p>

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...