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Indian troops brace for
Pak retaliation on border

Binoo Joshi in Jammu

The Indian Army was geared Tuesday for Pakistani retaliation, a day after Indian troops destroyed a dozen Pakistani border posts in Kashmir in "punitive operations" to halt cross-border terrorism.

Indian soldiers fired more than 14,000 rounds on Monday evening and destroyed 12 posts in Mendhar and Akhnoor sectors.

A military source in New Delhi said sporadic small arms firing was "still going on" on Tuesday.

Military officials said the Indian offensive, which coincided with the arrival in Islamabad of US Secretary of State Colin Powell, was a conscious decisions to "teach Pakistan a lesson for aiding and abetting infiltration" of terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Though Indian authorities did not have precise casualty figures, military officials said they believed a number of Pakistani soldiers were killed or wounded along with probably a dozen terrorists.

Pakistan maintained that the "unprovoked" Indian attack, which reportedly involved the use of machine guns, artillery, mortars and rockets, killed a woman and wounded 25 people. Islamabad dubbed it "Indian state-sponsored terrorism."

"Our reports are that Pakistanis will open fire in retaliation in any of the sectors (along the border). But we are prepared," a military official told IANS.

He said the Indian Army was willing to face "Pakistan any time, any place."

"Pakistan cannot go unpunished for its actions in sponsoring terrorists and subversives," he added.

India accuses Pakistan of harbouring, arming and training guerrillas seeking to end Indian rule over Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge and says it only gives diplomatic and moral support to the separatist campaign in Jammu and Kashmir that it claims is a legitimate struggle for self-determination.

The border clashes, the worst since November when India declared maximum restraint along the Kashmir frontier, occurred shortly after George Fernandes was again sworn in as India's defence minister, just seven months after he quit the post following a corruption scandal. Hours later, Fernandes declared that there was a "war-like" situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Late Monday, Brigadier P Das said at Nagrauta, in Jammu and Kashmir: "This is part of the pro-active approach adopted by the Indian Army. We have completely destroyed their posts." He alleged that Pakistani troops had sneaked into Indian territory at Akhnoor earlier and damaged three power transformers.

Military officials insisted Tuesday that the timing of the Indian Army's strikes had nothing to do with Powell's visit to Pakistan and India, where he has said he will discuss Kashmir among other issues.

India and Pakistan share 720 km of the Line of Control that divides the Himalayan state of Kashmir between the two countries and 195 km of international border in the region.

Indo-Asian News Service

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