Author: B L Kak
Publication: The Daily Excelsior
Date: October 24, 2001
URL: http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/01oct24/news.htm#4
NEW DELHI, Oct 23: The Government
of India is understood to have approved a plan to carry out seek-and-destroy
mission in Jammu and Kashmir.
This follows desperate attempts
by Pakistanis to push into the Indian territory fresh groups of infiltrators,
and the interception of wireless messages from across the border that have
directed the cadre of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba to launch
suicide attacks on Indian troops and their installations and camps in J&K.
The new strategy, formulated at
the instance of the Army Headquarters, will replace the old policy where
Indian security forces only retaliated in the event of any offensive from
Pakistani forces.
According to sources in the Army
Headquarters, if Pakistanis insisted on violating the ground rules anywhere
along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border, then Indian
troops would be compelled to carry out more operations like the ones in
Mendhar and Akhnoor sectors last week.
Offensive and punitive action by
Indian forces in the two sectors was, significantly, followed by the Defence
Minister, Mr George Fernandes' statement on "specific action" in Kashmir.
This clearly suggested some kind of a change in strategy by the Government
in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan's ruling military establishment
was prompted to put the troops on high alert after Islamabad received three
messages at the same time. First, India admitted that it fired the first
shot to abort Pakistan's serious infiltration bid. Second, Indian troops
let it be known that they had destroyed not just a few bunkers but Pakistani
posts. Third, New Delhi described the action in Mendhar and Akhnoor sectors
in strong words such as "punitive" and "ruthless" and not retaliatory.
True, difficulties for India in
Kashmir have not declined. But India's action, a top Government source
told EXCELSIOR, led military ruler of Pakistan, Gen. Parvez Musharraf,
to get into touch with Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee on hot-line only to assure
him that he (Gen. Musharraf) had no hand in the October 1 blast in the
Srinagar premises of the J&K Legislature.
After Indian troops' punitive action
in Mendhar and Akhnoor sectors, the US President, Mr George W Bush, pleaded
from Washington with New Delhi to stand down. India did. But only after
the message was sent across to Pakistan: International Border or LoC, India
will hit back.
Considerable amount of consternation
has been triggered in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) by the
recent statements of Mr George Fernandes and the demand voiced by the Jammu
and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, calling for Indian attacks
on PoK-based terrorist training camps.
At the same time, however, Gen.
Musharraf has begun to play the India card to save himself from the unrest
in his country against his support to America's war on Afghanistan. A recent
poll has indicated that only 3 per cent of Pakistanis support the US strikes
against Afghanistan. In contrast, at least 87 per cent Pakistanis, according
to the poll, have sympathies for the Taliban. Most significantly, the opinion
poll shows that opponents of Gen. Musharraf's policy form not 10 to 15
per cent, as claimed by him, but 41 per cent.
Equally significant is the disenchantment
within Pakistan's armed forces-a section of them, according to latest intelligence
inputs, has justified Pak army's links with the Taliban by seeking to discover
in Afghanistan the 'strategic depth' in relations to Pakistan's border
with India. This section of the Pak armed forces looked the other way when
Osama bin Laden-trained militants and terrorists slipped into Jammu and
Kashmir.
Indian forces carried out the attacks,
until recently, at the infiltrators. But last week Indian border guards
attacked what the Government source termed as "the very source" from where
the Pakistani infiltrators began their march toward the Indian side in
Jammu region.
By the time the Government of India
formulated the new strategy aimed at carrying out the seek-and-destroy
mission on the Indian side of the border in Jammu and Kashmir, a signal
emanated from the Ministry of Defence making it clear that military commanders
can now take decisions at their level on tackling militants and infiltrators.
