International

ISI warns of high-risk conflict with India

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD MAY 6 . Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is believed to have warned the Musharraf Government about the possibility of a "high-risk" conflict with India in the coming weeks.

The English daily, Pakistan Observer, quoted the ISI chief, Eshanul Haq, of having told the Formation Commanders conference on Monday that with the international community turning a blind eye to the brewing tension between India and Pakistan, "there exists an all-time high risk" of conflict in the coming weeks at the LoC and the border.

An official statement on the meeting had merely said that the ISI chief briefed the participants in detail about the internal and external security environment. The Director-General, Military Operations, Ashfaq Kiani, dwelt at length on the deployment as well as the "threat" posed by the Indian armed forces and the measures taken by the Pakistan armed forces to neutralise the "threat".

In his presentation, the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Abdul Sattar, alleged that after a futile attempt to pressure Islamabad to "renege on its principled stand on Kashmir' New Delhi felt further frustrated with "no line of action left for any face-saving". He was answering a question on the alleged continued "belligerent attitude" of India towards Pakistan.

A statement put out by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate on the deliberations of the opening day of the two-day conference quoted Mr. Sattar as saying that India seemed to be "disconcerted at Pakistan's prominence". "After sulking for some time, India had adopted a stance to pressurise Pakistan into reneging on its principled stand on Kashmir. Since Indian belligerence had no effect on Pakistan, it now feels frustrated with no line of action left for any face-saving.''

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