Fernandes warns Pak. against any more Kargils

NEW DELHI, MAY 14. A year after Pakistan's misadventure, the Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, today warned Islamabad against attempting any more Kargils.

``There is no way another Kargil can be repeated as on security matters we are much better placed than ever before,'' Mr. Fernandes told PTI on the first anniversary of the operations launched by the Indian armed forces this day to evict the Pakistani intruders.

Mr. Fernandes said though the Islamabad-backed proxy war is continuing, the threat from Pakistan had ``receded considerably'' in Jammu and Kashmir, and all because of the ``drubbing Pakistan got in Kargil last year''.

The Minister was speaking in the backdrop of a former Army chief warning that the euphoria built up after the Kargil triumph had not been sustained with the newly-inducted troops in the area still to get promised high-tech equipment.

Twelve months after the conflict, the former Army chief, Gen. Shankar Roy Chowdhury, feels that major lessons from the Kargil experience are yet to sink in.

``The crucial Srinagar-Leh highway is still vulnerable between Zojila and Kargil and priority has to be given to an alternative route from Ghumri to Kargil,'' Gen. Chowdhury cautioned.

Voicing similar concerns, the IPKF Commander in Sri Lanka, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Satish Nambiar, regretted that the requirement of sophisticated monitoring equipment was yet to be fully met.

Lt. Gen. Nambiar said a central authority to analyse vital Intelligence inputs from all sources was still not a reality. ``Meetings of the National Security Advisory Board and the National Security Council should be a continuous exercise,'' he said, adding it seemed that ``there is lethargy prevailing''.

He said the defence planning had to be taken on a sustained basis.

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