Pak. forces on high alert

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 17. Pakistan today accused India of moving its troops and relocating its air force assets along the Line of Control (LOC) and the International Border (IB) and said this action might prove to be a threat to Pakistan's security.

The Press Secretary to the Pakistan President and Director- General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, who made a sudden appearance at the fag-end of the regular briefing of the Foreign Office spokesman, declared that Pakistani forces were on high alert to thwart any ``mischief and misadventure.''

``Now we have information wherein India has moved some troops and relocated some air force assets. This action in the context of the irresponsible remarks of the newly-appointed Defence Minister of India and unprovoked firing by the Indian forces on Monday in Azad Kashmir (Pak-occupied Kashmir) as well as the international border has become a cause of concern.''

The Pakistan armed forces were fully alive to the situation and were on a high state of alert. While world attention remained focused on developments in Afghanistan, no one would be allowed to take advantage of the situation.

Pakistan reserved the right to retaliate against any act of aggression. Demonstrations by some extremist elements in different parts of Pakistan might have conveyed an impression of weakness, he said and maintained that Pakistanis had always demonstrated unity in any hour of need.

Earlier in his briefing, the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, said Islamabad was intrigued by some of the developments in India. ``We find a sinister pattern in these incidents'', he said specifically mentioning the firing on Monday and the car blast outside the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on October 1.

Asked if Pakistan was blaming the Indian authorities for the incident outside the Srinagar Assembly, Mr. Khan said that in the past renegade elements encouraged by Indian intelligence had indulged in such acts. ``India has been trying to use these incidents to malign Pakistan and the freedom struggle in Kashmir.''

He said the car blast outside the Srinagar Assembly, which Pakistan had condemned as an act of terrorism, took place at a juncture when the Indian Foreign Minister was in Washington. ``The Indian media to malign Pakistan used it. The hijack of the aircraft was another incident''.

Mr. Khan said the massacre of Sikhs in Chattisinghpura coincided with the visit of the former U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, to the region. He maintained that India refused to hold an impartial enquiry into the killings of the Amarnath yatris in August last year on the ground that it would `demoralise' the armed forces.

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