Posted on 05/19/2002 9:27:58 AM PDT by maquiladora
Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh announced on Sunday a stepped-up mobilisation in the disputed province of Kashmir, with paramilitary forces there being transferred from the command of the interior ministry to the command of the army.
He also announced, at the end of a meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his security advisers, that the coast guard had been placed under the command of the navy.
Pakistan has termed the situation at the borders with India as "very dangerous" and urged New Delhi to pull back its troops, even as official reports here claimed one more person was killed on Sunday due to firing from India in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir(PoK).
"The situation on borders is very dangerous. We had said earlier that troops should be pulled back from the borders. The Indian forces have been resorting to firing as a result of which a number of civilians have been killed. It is absolutely wrong. They should withdraw their troops from the borders and resolve all disputes through talks," Pakistan foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan Told BBC radio here on Sunday.
He said there should be de-escalation and lessening of tension and all disputes should be resolved through talks. "We are trying our level best to keep the situation under control and resolve all disputes through peaceful means," he said.
Referring to India's decision to ask Pakistan to withdraw its high commissioner from New Delhi, he said, "We are greatly disappointed over this step. When India had called back its high commissioner from Pakistan, at that time we had not reciprocated as we were of the view that talks and contact at high diplomatic level should continue between the two countries. That is why Pakistan had not called back its high commissioner from India," he said.
Meanwhile, the official media here claimed that one person was killed and 15 others injured in the heavy shelling from the Indian side.
He was very hesitant to go this year, explaining that there have been dramatic changes for the worse in his former country.
He is there now. I wish him well.
I don't think the relatives of the women and children (34 dead, dozens wounded, they families of Indian troops) who were butchered by the Pakistani militants on Tuesday see it quite so simple as that.
India will have it overdue revenge in the coming days/weeks. Mark my words.
Most likely the offensive will begin before the monsoons start in late June.
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