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There is national anger, Vajpayee tells Blair

By Atul Aneja & Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI MAY 27. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, spoke tonight to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, as part of the ongoing Anglo-American diplomatic initiative to defuse military tensions between India and Pakistan.

(A PTI report from Manali said that Mr. Vajpayee firmly told Mr. Blair that India's patience was running out as Pakistan had failed to keep its promise of curbing cross-border terrorism. ``There is a national anger'' because the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had not translated into reality the promises he made in his January 12 speech to stop cross-border terrorism. ``This time we would expect any promises made by him to be translated into action and this should be verifiable on the ground,'' he was quoted as telling Mr. Blair during their 15-minute telephone conversation. Mr. Blair expressed sympathy for those killed in the May 14 terrorist attack in Kaluchak in Jammu and Kashmir).

With two days to go for the visit of the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, India has begun giving final shape to its diplomatic and military posture to put a permanent end to cross-border terrorism.

According to highly-placed Government sources, India, in doing so, is going beyond engaging the United States and Britain. For instance, it is reaching out to its "time -tested'' friend, Russia, as also Israel. Not surprisingly, New Delhi and Tel Aviv are beginning a crucial day-long session on counter-terrorism on Tuesday.

During the Kargil war, Israel had supplied sensitive surveillance equipment to India, including its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). India subsequently has shown interest in acquiring the latest UAVs developed by Israel.

The political bonding between the two is partly governed by the possibility of mass destruction weaponry proliferating from Pakistan to its periphery in West Asia, from where Israel could be targeted.

Russia, which has been constantly informed about the Indian perception in its stand-off with Pakistan, recently committed itself to providing "all possible help'' to enable India to address "any eventuality'' that it might encounter in the near future, sources said.

Though assured of the Russian support, a meeting between Mr. Vajpayee and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on the sidelines of the CICA conference in Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, in early June has already been sought.

The Almaty conclave is unlikely to see a Russia-brokered thaw in the India-Pakistan relationship.

India, on the contrary, may already be looking at contingency plans, including sounding Russia on diplomatic assistance, in case hostilities with Pakistan break out, analysts say.

Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner, Rob Young, met the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, as did the U.S. ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill.

Mr. Mishra held "frank'' discussions with the two envoys. Mr. Blackwill also met the Home Minister, L. K. Advani, during the day.

Heavy Pak. firing in Dras sector

PTI reports:

For the first time after the Kargil conflict, Pakistani forces today opened heavy fire on Dras town on the crucial Srinagar-Leh highway.

Army officials here said 240 Pakistani soliders had been killed and 75 bunkers destroyed in retailatory fire over the past 10 days.

In the past two days it had also begun heavy firing in Siachen, Kargil and in upper areas of northern Kashmir like Uri and Kupwara.

Indian forces, in response, had inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistani forces with 70 killed or wounded and destroyed 75 bunkers in Akhnoor, Poonch, Nowshera and Rajouri sectors.

Officials said as the Pakistani forces had moved right up to the Line of Control in Poonch, Uri and Kupwara areas, thousands of villagers on the PoK side had moved out of their villages.

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