India, Pakistan deploy missiles

UPI News Wire | 12/25/2001

[Mensch]

NEW DELHI, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Both India and Pakistan have moved their missiles close to the border and the line of control that divides the disputed Himalayan valley of Kashmir.

Quoting defense sources several Indian and Pakistani newspapers reported the move in their early Internet editions Wednesday.

"Pakistan has redeployed its strategic units aggressively" close to Indian positions, reported The Times of India. Both the countries use the term 'strategic unit' for troops equipped with ordinary and nuclear tipped missiles.

The Pakistani newspaper -- the Jang -- reported similar deployment on the Indian side, saying that the Indians were preparing for a war.

Officially, both sides deny such reports and blame the other for pushing for the war but the situation has deteriorated rapidly since Dec. 13 when alleged Kashmiri militants attacked the Indian parliament. Nine Indian security men and all five attackers were killed in the fight that followed.

In New Delhi, India's prime minister blamed Pakistan Tuesday of thrusting a war upon India, while Pakistan's president told a crowd in Karachi that his forces were ready for "any Indian adventure."

"We do not want war but war is being thrust on us and we will have to face it," Indian leader Atal Behari Vajpayee told a rally organized by the youth wing of his Bharatiya Janata Party on his 77th birthday.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf echoed similar sentiments when he told a rally in the southern port city of Karachi that Pakistan did not want a war but "is capable of defending itself if forced to fight."

Although talking tough, Pakistan made a little reconciliatory gesture Tuesday when it arrested a fundamentalist leader blamed by India for the suicide attack on its parliament.

Maulana Masud Azhar heads a militant organization called Jasih-i-Mohammed, one of the two groups blamed for the attack. Pakistan also has frozen the accounts of the other militant outfit, Lashkar-i-Toiba and forced its chief, Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed, to resign.

But India described these measures as "too little and too late" and urged Pakistan to disband all militants groups fighting in Kashmir and arrest their leaders.

As politicians exchanged allegations, residents on both sides of the border reported heavy troop-movement.

Even in a major urban center like Karachi, people saw hundreds of military vehicles moving anti-aircraft guns and missiles to sensitive areas to prepare for a surprise Indian attack, as a Pakistani military official said.

A presidential spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, described the move as "an appropriate defensive measure against massive troop movement on the Indian side."

Officials told Indian journalists in New Delhi that Pakistan had made "some aggressive deployment along the border and in Kashmir during the last 24 hours."

They said the Pakistanis also had deployed "medium range ballistic missiles at some places."

"Moving missiles to sensitive areas has increased tensions. We are worried these missiles may be used. We are keeping a close watch," an Indian military official told The Times of India.

To counter these moves, the report said, Indian forces have "accelerated mine-laying operations in the border areas."

Residents reported heavy cross border firing in Kashmir during the last 24 hours, killing several villagers on both sides. Both sides also claimed destroying each other's bunkers and military positions along the line of control in Kashmir. A group of journalists who visited Kashmir Tuesday reported a continuous exchange of mortar and heavy machinegun fire between the Indian and Pakistani forces.

Thousands of civilians have already moved away from the border areas.

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Copyright © 2001 United Press International  

[Future Useless Eater]

The U.S. has given the Taliban over 6 billion dollars in direct aid. During the reign of Clintigula.

You are right!
President Clinton and her husband Bill have always been VERY Pro-Islam (just ask Israel).

But now maybe Pakistan sees they have a U.S. superpower in their western back yard, and poised to turn against them if they go to war with the largest democracy in the world to their east.

[bsaunders]

Well, one result is it will decrease the number of available H1B visa applicants for programming and engineering jobs.

[ecru]

What time is it? 15:59:59:59:59 PM?

Yes...it's almost four o'clock....

[freethinkingman]

" I hope India crushes Pakistan. Period."

A very perplexing decision will be upon us. Do we back a predominately muslim country just because we have a temporary bi-lateral agreement with them in respect to hunting terrorists? Which we have quite possibly milked for all thats worth, save for UBL hisself. (a nuke may be whats needed here). Or do we side with a Hindu nation that in a purelitic fit ran into Chinas' arms after our giving them a spanking over nuclear arms proliferaion.

I believe it comes down to a question of which culture could we see ourselves fighting alongside.

My bet is on the Hindus.

[soapboxsallie]

India and Pakistan should be bickering over who HAS to take Kashmir. Why would either want the wretched place? Not exactly a desirable resort area...

[Uncle Bill]

The China-Pakistan missile cover-up
"Yet, as displayed above, Bernard Schwartz and Ron Brown knew all too well of the "East Wind" missiles in Pakistan. The Clinton administration knew all too well that M-11s in Pakistan meant automatic sanctions on China. If such news had been made public in 1994, then Loral would not have been able to sell satellites to China's Army and Martin would not have given MARV technology to launch AsiaSat.

There is no question that President Clinton and Ron Brown worked hard to help Loral and others obtain sales access to China. That work included covering up the "East Wind" in Pakistan and in the White House."

Clinton Export Policy Helped India Hide The Bomb
"In 1994, the U.S. Commerce Department authorized Allied Signal -- Allison Engine Company -- to sell T800 Comanche turbine engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for a mere $35 million dollars. The turbine engines were slated for India's Advanced Light Helicopter. The U.S. Army did not get the T800 until two years AFTER the engine was exported to India."

The Assassination of Ron Brown

Blair: Koran inspired me

THE THIRD WAY - Key Documents

Orwell's 1984: The Future Is Here

Doctrine of International Community - British Prime Minister Tony Blair

The New Covenant - Remarks by Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton to Students at Georgetown University

The Third Way - Defining slavery

The Third Way - Phase II

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary - Remarks by Bill Clinton
"And we have fundamentally, especially here at the DLC, been a group of Democrats committed to ideas. And in that sense, we have embraced one of the central gems of wisdom of the greatest Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, who, in a very eloquent series of statements that I'm sure many of you remember by heart, reminded us that we could never build our country up by tearing others down. I am proud to be a New Democratic with all of you. (Applause.)

We have called our approach "The Third Way" -- with a government that is more active, more effective, less expensive; one that can bring us together and move us forward, not drive us apart and set us back."

The Third Way - Blair and Clinton
"So in summary, I'm grateful that The Third Way seems to be taking hold around the world. I think if you look at the record of the people on either side of me, the evidence is that the policies work for ordinary citizens and our countries. I think the challenges ahead of us are very, very profound. But I think if we meet them we will find that this whole approach will work in a global sense in the same way it's worked nationally in the nations here represented and in many others around the world."

The Third Way and Liberty: An Authoritarian Streak in Europe's New Center by Ralf Dahrendorf - From Foreign Affairs, September/October 1999

The Third Way After Clinton

Hillary Clinton and the "Third Way"

George W. Bush and the Third Way

Third Way Contract: Gingrich & Toffler, an Odd Duo

The Third Way - America: 2003

The Third Way: "Invisible Fist"

The Third Way

World Socialists Love "The Third Way"

Just what is "Communitarianism"?

It’s Cool Again to Be Communist

..

Hug your kids, they are coming to kill, steal and destroy.

The Fall of the Republic

[Lancey Howard]

Dear Lord, do I feel old. Thanks!

Well, we developed the first atomic bombs in the early '40s - - that's a real long time ago - - with slide-rules. When I think about the technological revolution that has transpired since then, I simply cannot imagine that the atomic bomb is still the most sophisticated weapon in our arsenal. No way. Those things are technological dinosaurs, and we have had nearly 60 secret, well-funded years to come up with:
1. A way to stop them from being used against us, and
2. Far more potent weaponry.

[fastvette]

And make those H1B's who are here non-deportable (no land to deport them to), which means that their radioactive families get to come over here and die slowly in our hospitals.

Never realied H1Bs are so hated.

[CommiesOut]

bttt

[lavaroise]

I hope India has a couple missile lefts against the Chinese border. Do Pakies and Chinese have a deal? After all it is war against terror.

[lavaroise]

The third way, or another name for power lever addiction like no other drugs in order to claim accomplishment and power.

[lavaroise]

THe chinese thugs are at it again. They may be overplaying their hands this time though. I bet Pakistan hopes that China will get in, I am wondering what is the level of trust between China, Pakistan and Russia in such bureaucratic no turning point runaway freight train war that is starting.

Heightening tensions along border part of China's gameplan

Kolkata, December 25

---

The “hostile actions” by the Chinese in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim is, according to strategic experts, part of a well-thought-out move to corner India on two fronts. China has also beefed up its presence in Myanmar’s Coco Islands on the Bay of Bengal and plans to move in two aircraft carriers that are under construction now to the area.

“India cannot concentrate exclusively on the western theatre with Pakistan if China undertakes these measures along Arunachal and Sikkim. And it could well be that it is goading Pakistan to anti-Indian actions in Rajasthan, Punjab and Kashmir. A distracted India is a weaker India and China stands to gain the most from it,” pointed out a senior army officer.

In fact, say serving and retired officer, the situation now is quite similar to the pre-1962 situation when Beijing lulled New Delhi into a false sense of complacency.

China constructed a load linking Tibet with Xinjiang Ugyur region in 1961. This road passed through Aksai Chin area of India and to thwart any further moves by Chibna, India sent its troops to defend that territory in November 1961. By October 1962, China launched a full-scale aggression.

“This time, too, China has started acting on its claims over Arunachal and Sikkim and has constructed roads and rail links right up to our borders. It is encouraging new Chinese towns just across the border to spill over slowly into India. It is upgrading its formidable military infrastructure in the Small Coco and Great Coco Islands by stationing radar squadrons, extending two runways and beefing up the naval base there.

"At the same time, Chinese leaders are talking of peaceful resolution of the border issue with India and are trying to charm the Indian leadership into thinking that China is no threat to India. Our Foreign Minister said as much when he visited Beijing in June 1999, though our Defence Minister did say in April 1998 that China continues to represent a security threat to us,” said a retired army officer who did not want to be named.

China, said a strategic expert, has a “long memory” and has never shied away on taking concrete action on its territorial claims.

“Look at tactics China has employed to keep Japan and other countries on a leash. Apart from keeping India under pressure on the eastern front, China has been employing Pakistan as a surrogate belligerent to jeopardize India’s security,” said an analyst.

China has also been sending out conflicting signals—a few months after Jaswant Singh declared that China was no security threat to India, Chinese President Jiang Zemin made highly derogatory references to India while speaking to President Bill Clinton.

Zemin reportedly said that India would be dealt with strongly if it does not stop providing shelter to Tibetan refugees and continues to oppose China’s efforts to integrate Arunachal and Sikkim with the rest of that country. The USA’s Central Intelligence Agency sums it the best: “Beijing treats India as a country to be threatened, belittled and kept in check”. This, and other such assessments by the CIA, can be found in the CIA Factbooks.

According to the army sources, India will take at least a decade to upgrade its infrastructure in the North East to what China has on its side of the LAC now. It is learnt that the Indian Air Force (IAF) installations in the eastern and northeastern region have also been put on alert.

(Concluded)

Part I: Tensions flare along Sino-Indian border

[Jack of Diamonds]

what is the source of this information?

[American in Israel]

"Pakistan has redeployed its strategic units aggressively" close to Indian positions

That is real stupid. As there is no real anti-missile defense, and the range of the missile allows it to hit easily, moving your missile batterys far from the enemy is a bit smarter. The Syrians after fighting Israel bought new long range Skud-D's just so they could move them to the far border on Iraq's side. That will make the Israeli Jets have to fly all the way across Syria to reach the skuds. Waving your skud in your enemies face is a good way to have it removed from your inventory before its time.

[Wordsmith]

bump for later

[mikhailovich]

Post #50 beautifully stated!

[Demidog]

Please tell me how and if this will affect the US.

Did anyone mention in the last few weeks that Pakistan is an "ally" of the US and that we have quite a few troops and assets on the ground there?

[Caipirabob]

I sure hope Pakistan has no deliverable nukes. Has there ever been evidence of Pak nukes other than a test detonation? Getting uranium or plutonium to go boom is one thing, making it portable is quite another.

I believe the Pakis have deliverable nukes, but the guidance systems are "manual". ; )