Posted on 05/22/2002 4:49:53 PM PDT by swarthyguy
NEW DELHI, May 22: Even as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee warned of a decisive battle against terrorism, Pakistan army is reported to have stepped up efforts to infiltrate militants across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
The army during the past 24 hours detected and foiled two major attempts to push in militants in Uri sector in Kashmir valley killing two Pakistani mercenaries. "There may have been a number of more such attempts which went undetected", officials here said.
With the melting of snow, these were the first two major attempts which came to light and both the bids made during early morning were foiled, officials said.
They said for the past several months, army patrols had witnessed a new pattern in the infiltrations bids, with the militants being pushed in being all Pakistani or Afghan nationals.
"Unlike in the past attempts are now made to push in smaller groups, as against groups of 20 to 40 militants earlier", officials said adding that the infiltrators were now very lightly armed indicating that they were being provided heavier weapons inside Jammu and Kashmir.
"These new incidents vindicates the assessment that infiltration from Pakistan is likely to increase with the melting of snow", officials said.
They said the mountainous terrain along the Shamsbari range dividing frontier district of Kupwara from Neelam valley in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, northern Pir Panjal range dividing high altitude meadows of Gulmarg, Khilanmarg and Kulgam from PoK and areas north of Rajdhani pass had now become conducive to movement.
Army officials quoting intelligence inputs said that they had reports of about 8,000 to 12,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda members being massed by Pakistan in northern areas of Gilgit and Baltistan and another 5,000 to 10,000 near the Kotli second facing Naurshera area of the Jammu region.
Asked about mercenaries being pushed in with light arms, army officials said Pakistan had over the years succeeded in creating major arms dumps in high altitude areas and it was from these dumps that heavier weapons were being distributed.
He said over the past few months, various army formations engaged in counter insurgency operations had busted at least ten such major arms dumps which included two dumps which were acting as high frequency communication centres for militants to their bases across the LoC as well as relay centres for smaller Fidayeen cells.
"We have now evolved a new strategy to deal with these groups inside the Valley" officials said. (PTI) ******************************************************
*** KUPWARA, May 22: In a tough message to Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today declared that the time had come for to wage a "decisive battle" against cross-border terrorism.
Addressing troops barely 25 kms from the Line of Control, Vajpayee said there was a limit to India’s tolerance of the proxy war.
"India is forced to fight a war thrust on it and we will emerge victorious. Let there be no doubt about it," he told cheering jawans and officers in the presence of Defence Minister George Fernandes, state Governor G C Saxena and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah shortly after flying into the Valley from Jammu.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan after successive defeats, particularly in Kargil conflict had lost the courage to wage a direct war against India and had resorted to proxy war.
It was making use of mercenaries with the help of money power and jehadis by selling them dreams of heavenly rewards in the proxy war, Vajpayee said.
"We have been once again put to a test but we have faith in the valour of our troops and are sure they will once again make sacrifices to protect their motherland," he said amidst loud cheers from the jawans and officials present at the headquarters of the 28 Division of the Army here.
"My arrival here is indicative of something. Whether our neighbour understands it or not, whether the world takes note of it or not, history will recall that we will write a new chapter of victory...There is no doubt about it," the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said the "world understands that we have been wronged but they are not coming out openly in our favour. Hence we have to defend ourselves and we are ready for that."
Vajpayee said during 54 years since independence, India had to face several attacks from Pakistan which was humbled on every occasion.
"They tried to snatch our territory, disrupt our democratic process and create communal disharmony but did not succeed. Our forces did their duty commendably and they had to return empty handed," he said. Vajpayee, who had yesterday visited the victims of Kaluchak terrorist attack in Jammu, asked, "what kind of a fight or a struggle is this where mothers and children are targeted. Children are snatched from their mothers and killed. What animosity do they have against children?."
The Prime Minister bluntly told Pakistan that there was a limit to India’s tolerance of the proxy war it was waging.
"Nobody should think that the threshold of our tolerance has no limit," he told troops.
The Prime Minister said after the Kargil conflict, Pakistan had lost the courage to engage in a direct conflict with India.
"It has now evolved a new strategy of proxy war by making use of mercenaries and selling the dream of heavenly rewards to the so-called jehadis," he said.
"But there was a limit to our tolerance to put up with such designs," he said.
Vajpayee said India wanted peace and development and desired to make the country a progressive nation.
"We want to fight poverty and disease," he said.
He said that the Kaluchak attack took place at a time when the Army personnel were posted at borders and their families were behind in their homes.
Stating that Kargil was fresh in the nation’s memory, Vajpayee said, "we thought that repeated defeats may have led them to the right path but when we were talking of peace, of abandoning enmity and living like good neighbours, they surreptitiously attacked us from the snow-clad mountains."
"However, the way our troops evicted them from every inch of the land was appreciated the world over. They were not even able to take back the bodies of their dead. We, however, gave them a decent burial because we had no enmity with dead soldiers, the Prime Minister said
"We know how to respect even our enemies but that should not be seen as our weakness," he said.
The Prime Minister said India won a decisive victory in the recent battle at Kargil by giving a befitting reply to the enemy and regaining every inch of the invaded area.
The enemy, which has lost to us in every direct conflict, has now resorted to proxy-war by sending in hired mercenaries into Jammu and Kashmir to indulge in barbaric acts which was reflected in the recent massacre of innocent wives, children and relatives of the jawans guarding the borders, he said.
"We respected even their dead soldiers, whose corpse were abandoned by the enemy, during the Kargil conflict by giving them a decent burial. But that should not be construed as our weakness," he said.
Nobody should think that there was no limit to India’s tolerance, the Prime Minister said asserting that "we will fight the war imposed on us and there was no doubt that we will emerge victorious."
"We had thought that after tasting defeats, Pakistan would have learnt to venture on the right path," Vajpayee said and referred to the Lahore Agreement where an "agreement of friendship was signed."
"But surreptitiously in darkness they attacked from the ice-covered mountain peaks. The result is known to everyone. We gave them a befitting reply," he said, adding due to the bravery of the soldiers and officers "every inch occupied by them (Pakistani troops) was vacated."
Defence Minister George Fernandes said the country and the defence forces were faced with a "new challenge" in the ongoing fight against terrorism in the wake of the "massacre" in Kaluchak.
He asked the forces to be ready to carry out "whatever steps" would be decided by the Government.
On his earlier trips to the forward areas, Fernandes said "the troops have been asking only one thing — when will we get orders to act."
Asserting that the morale of troops was very high, the Defence Minister conveyed to the Prime Minister on behalf of the troops that "whatever we are called upon to do, we will do so."
He asked the officers and jawans to get ready to "defeat terrorism completely."(PTI
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