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Islamabad claim a malicious propaganda, says New Delhi

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI AUG. 23. India today dismissed as "malicious'' Pakistani claims that its armed forces had attacked a Pakistani post across the Line of Control on Thursday employing artillery and air power.

The Ministries of External Affairs and Defence pointed out that such claims being made during a top U.S. official's ongoing visit are intended to divert attention from Pakistan's continuing abetment of cross-border terrorism into Jammu and Kashmir. In a terse statement, the Defence Ministry said, "the Pakistani allegations are apparently an effort at spreading disinformation and malicious propaganda to malign India internationally''.

It reiterated the Foreign Office's claims that the Indian armed forces have neither crossed the LoC or any border anywhere. Sources said Pakistan had initiated artillery fire and the Indian forces had retaliated. No reports of casualties had been received so far, they claimed.

Meanwhile, Defence Ministry sources said that while infiltration had indeed gone down last month, latest data from frontline formations had indicated a "sharp'' increase in the ingress of terrorists during the current month. The army had detected 10 appreciable cases of infiltration of which eight took place in northern Kashmir. Terming this as a "major reversal of trend'', sources expected the trend to increase in view of the Assembly elections in the State.

The sources said another noteworthy trend was that most of the terrorists apprehended or killed in the past couple of months owed allegiance to pro-Pak. outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, while confusion in the ranks of the Hizb-ul-Mujahiddin could have led to their cadres becoming inactive.

Although infiltration had increased in the last fortnight, analysts said the trend should be seen over a wider time frame. If the trend continued for another month, only then would it reflect Pakistan's continued support to Jehadi outfits and its desire to disrupt the elections.

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