Pak. yet to get over Kargil syndrome: Fernandes

NEW DELHI, JAN. 24. The Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, today accused Pakistan of being gripped by the ``Kargil syndrome'' saying the recurring volatile clashes along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir indicated that Islamabad had not got over the blow.

Reacting sharply to the Pakistan military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf's alleged threat to ``teach India a lesson'' after last Saturday's bloody clash near Akhnoor along the LoC, Mr. Fernandes said, ``it appears Pakistan is still smarting under the Kargil blow. It is time they got over this syndrome''.

The Pakistani rulers, instead of speaking in language of threats, should make conditions for some talking, he said. ``It is pity there is no dialogue.'' Talking to reporters informally after addressing an international defence seminar on ``Asian security in the 21st century'', Mr. Fernandes said they were Pakistani troops who had crossed the international border on Saturday and ``were beaten back by our troops''.

``It was a special charge made inside our territory. We have bodies of six Pakistani soldiers still lying with us.

They have to ask us for these bodies thus acknowledging that it was them who had crossed the border,'' he said.

Asked if he saw a pattern in these recurring clashes, Mr. Fernandes said ``ups and downs keep taking place on the border''.

He declined to be drawn out when asked whether Pakistan by such actions wanted to raise the stakes in the run-up to India's 50th Republic Day celebrations.

On the reported visit of the freed Harkat-ul- Mujahideen ideologue, Masood Azhar, to Kandahar from Pakistan, Mr. Fernandes said, ``everyone knew of the Taliban's involvement with Pakistan and the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane''.

Asked if New Delhi had informed the U.S. about Pakistan's role in the recent hijacking and in sheltering hardcore Islamic terrorist groups, he said India had made it known not only to the U.S. but to other nations as well that terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir were not only Pakistani mercenaries but also nationals from other countries.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Next     : 'Pak. has not claimed soldiers' bodies'