Tuesday, Jun 04, 2002
Tuesday, Jun 04, 2002 |
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By Sandeep Dikshit
Having been "deceived'' twice by Islamabad's assurances — once after the December 13 attack on Parliament and then by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's address on January 12 — New Delhi would be keen on evaluating certain parameters over a period of time before it was convinced of Pakistan's intentions. "On our part, we can't take the risk of withdrawing from the border unless there is some sign of a permanent change of policy by Pakistan,'' reiterated senior Defence Ministry officials. The parameters which will form the initial basis for any analysis include the level of violence, magnitude of communication traffic between terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and their mentors across the Line of Control, trend of supplies in terms of food and ammunition, pace of hawala transactions and the intensity of firing from the Pakistani side which usually picks up during infiltration bids. These have to be analysed over at least four weeks before firm indicators become available. The sources said communications intercepts have indicated that at a recent ISI-convened meeting, the various `tanzeems' were asked to stop infiltration for the "time being''. The Pakistani 10 corps commander was also instructed to stop abetting cross-border incursions. "But as yet there is no evidence of these instructions having been complied with,'' said Government sources. It was pointed out that India would have to be extremely cautious while surmising the trends post-December 13 and especially after January 12 because a slight lull was reported in the following months as compared to the same period last year. However, the data available with security forces shows that Pakistan had again reactivated its support for terrorists in May. In fact according to most indicators, May 2002 proved much hotter for the security forces compared to the same month last year. Terrorist incursions, stand-off firing, IED blasts and grenade explosions increased significantly. Although some `over-run' could be expected even after Pakistan totally stopped supporting the terrorists, Ministry officials felt the next logical step after India was convinced of its action should be the posting of observers along the LoC to ascertain the ground situation first-hand. "The U.S. and Britain could monitor Pakistan's actions,'' they suggested, while making it clear that any decision of this type would have to come from the political executive.
`No use of nuclear arms'
Meanwhile, in an attempt to address international concerns, India today emphatically ruled out use of nuclear weapons against Pakistan. "The Government makes it clear that India does not believe in the use of nuclear weapons. Neither does it visualise that it will be used by any other country,'' said a Defence Ministry statement. Reacting to media reports about the possible use of nuclear weapons in the context of the current India-Pakistan stand off, the Government said India is a responsible nation and "it feels it will be imprudent to use such weapons''.
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