Posted on 05/21/2002 3:55:56 PM PDT by Black Agnes
India made detailed preparations for war with Pakistan yesterday, although senior officers said offensive operations would have to wait for the end of searing summer temperatures and the monsoon rain which follows.
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New Delhi placed all paramilitary units along the border under army control and the coast guard under naval command. The foreign minister, Jaswant Singh, said this was "standard operating procedure" when preparing for action.
The country's military is planning for conflict in September, although New Delhi has announced an "exhaustive" diplomatic offensive to pressure Pakistan into ending support for cross-border attacks against the disputed state of Kashmir.
But with the sub-continent suffering a ferocious heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring as high as 122F, officers conceded that an offensive at the moment would be impossible, with temperatures inside tanks reaching 160F.
"There will be war but, in all likelihood, it will take place after the summer and the monsoon rains," a senior army officer said, declining to be named. There was no other way the Indian army could "let off steam and teach Pakistan a lesson", he added.
As the two sides traded intensive artillery fire across the border yesterday for the fourth day in succession Indian officials maintained New Delhi's hard line, rejecting Pakistani proposals for independent observers to be deployed along the frontier.
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"The figures of infiltration [by Islamic militants] have gone up," said an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nirupama Rao. "There's no point in seeking to deflect attention by talking of involving third parties."
India's aggressive stance is creating increasing anxiety in Pakistan. An Islamabad Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aziz Ahmed Khan, appealed for pressure on New Delhi.
"We hope the international community will increase further its efforts considering the hostile postures adopted by India and convince India to see reason and come to the negotiating table for discussions and dialogue," he said.
But New Delhi has been infuriated by the continuing infiltration of Islamic militants fighting its rule in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir. It accuses Pakistan of providing them with bases, a charge that Islamabad denies.
At least a million men have been mobilised on both sides of the border since an attack by militants on the Indian parliament five months ago.
America and other powers have been lobbying hard to calm the crisis, fearing that war could quickly result in a nuclear exchange.
Pakistan has responded by calling up army reserves, retired officers and civil defence units and has emptied government hospital beds to prepare for casualties. Yesterday the Indian defence minister, George Fernandez, and senior generals began a two-day survey of the border region to assess troop and tank mobilisation.
Pro-war sentiment is widespread in India. Retired Maj Gen Afsir Karim, a member of the National Security Council Advisory Board, said: "We have neither economic nor diplomatic clout against Pakistan and the only instrument left is the military one."
Gen Karim, a Muslim who fought in two of India's three wars against Pakistan, in 1965 and 1971, added: "There is no point in restricting our options indefinitely. We need to chalk out a strategy and strike at a time and place of our choosing."
The normally tense relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours intensified after last week's suicide attack by three gunmen at an army base near Jammu in which 31 people, including 11 women and 11 children, died.
India blamed the attack on a Pakistan-sponsored insurgent group fighting Kashmir's 13-year civil war. Islamabad has denied the charge.
"We will try to exhaust other options first and if they don't work we will think of war," said the Kashmir chief minister, Farooq Abdullah.
No AC in those Russian tanks either.
Gen Karim, a Muslim who fought in two of India's three wars against Pakistan, in 1965 and 1971, added: "There is no point in restricting our options indefinitely. We need to chalk out a strategy and strike at a time and place of our choosing.
This is the type of Muslim we need more of! A General, no less. I guess those Fascist, Kali worshipping Hindus let this one get by.
The Monsoon factor is the best one yet for postponing this war; inja scores some brownie points with the US for acting with restraint and maturity.
The Pakistanis often seem consumed by hatred of India and its people. A few have been quoted as wanting to see India suffer nuclear bombardment even if it meant that Pakistan would be annihilated completely. It would be absurd to expect India to refrain from retaliating, if it were struck with a weapon of mass destruction.
The Communist Chinese would be ready and willing to play Fortinbras in the event. The United States would literally have to stand in their way to prevent it -- but would the American people back such a play? Would we be willing to have American power on the line out there, with American servicemen possibly exposed to the effects of a nuclear exchange, just to protect the Indians and Pakistanis from the full consequences of their homicidal lunacy?
It would be the first war between two nuclear-armed nations, with no proxies intervening. Pray that it won't happen. I do.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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He was joking around....he's actually making fun of racist rednecks who assume all Indians are the guy who shot Gandhi. The only Kali worshippers I know of are the Thuggee, and they were pretty much wiped out by the British Empire afaik. Thuggee is where the term "thug" originates...etymology is fun!
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