|
India pak { December 24 2001 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19180-2001Dec23.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19180-2001Dec23.html
Pakistan, India Mass Troops
Tensions Escalate As New Delhi Considers Strike
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 24, 2001; Page A01
NEW DELHI, Dec. 23 -- India and Pakistan have increased deployments of troops and military equipment along
their shared border in recent days as the Indian government considers whether to strike at Pakistan-based militant
groups that officials here hold responsible for a recent attack on Parliament.
The military buildup, described by officials on both sides as the biggest in years, comes as relations between the two
nuclear-armed neighbors have slipped to their lowest point in decades. On Friday, India recalled its top envoy to
Pakistan for the first time in 30 years and suspended bus and train service between the countries.
The additional troops have massed not just in the disputed Kashmir region, a traditional flash point between the two
nations, but all along their frontier, from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.
In Pakistan, officials say columns of troops left their bases in Punjab and Sindh provinces on Saturday night to take
positions closer to the Indian border. Pakistan's strategic command also has redeployed batteries of medium-range
ballistic missiles, which can be equipped with nuclear warheads, to areas close to the border, military sources said.
Here in India, Defense Minister George Fernandes said that strike forces, which include tanks and artillery, had been
moved close to the border in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Punjab. Military officials have called up
extra soldiers from central India, canceling holiday leave and requisitioning special trains that have prevented civilian
movements near the border.
Neither country was specific about the number of troops on the move.
U.S. officials have voiced fears that the escalating tensions could complicate the U.S.-led war on terrorism. India and
Pakistan have endorsed the anti-terrorism campaign, with Pakistan being a principal ally of the United States in its
efforts to unseat the Taliban and hunt down accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. Among other assistance, Pakistan has
allowed its air bases to be used for U.S. missions in Afghanistan and has now stationed more than 60,000 soldiers
along the border to help capture members of bin Laden's al Qaeda network attempting to flee the U.S. air assault in
the eastern Afghan mountains. An outbreak of fighting between Pakistan and India could result in a redeployment of
those forces.
President Bush said Friday that he was "very much involved" in reducing tensions between the two countries. He said
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell "had been on the phone with India and Pakistan, reminding everybody that a
flare-up in that region could really create severe problems for all of us engaged in the fight against terror."
There also is the far graver worry -- shared by officials and analysts in India, Pakistan and the rest of the world -- that
a conventional confrontation could escalate into a nuclear exchange. Both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998,
and two of the three wars between them have been fought over Kashmir, where troops continue to exchange fire
across the Line of Control that partitions the disputed region.
Indian officials said two Indian paramilitary guards were killed and three wounded in Kashmir today as the two sides
traded gun and artillery fire. Pakistan's military said that it destroyed four Indian army bunkers, while India's military
said that it destroyed three Pakistani bunkers.
Mindful of the consequences of an all-out war, some Indian officials privately conceded that the troop movements
were not part of an offensive strategy, but rather an effort to get the United States to more forcefully push the
Pakistani government to crack down on militant groups that strike India from bases over the border. "We are keeping
up the warmongering to get the U.S. to put pressure" on Pakistan, one senior official said.
But several other Indian officials said a military strike is under consideration. "All options -- diplomatic and military --
are being weighed right now," said I.D. Swami, the deputy home minister. "We have not ruled out any option."
A senior government official said Indian military intelligence analysts have been asked to identify possible targets and
predict Pakistani responses to a strike.
India has blamed the Dec. 13 attack on Parliament, which left 14 people dead, on two Pakistan-based guerrilla
groups that are part of the Muslim insurgency fighting to end Indian rule in Kashmir. India has asked Pakistan to crack
down on the two groups, Lashkar-i-Taiba (Army of the Pious) and Jaish-i-Muhammad (Soldiers of Muhammad), but
Pakistani officials have asked for evidence of the groups' involvement and proposed a joint investigation by both
governments, which India has rejected.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which five men drove onto the Parliament grounds armed
with guns, bombs and grenades. They engaged in a 40-minute shootout with security forces, resulting in the deaths of
all five assailants and nine guards.
Officials in Pakistan have said they have no proof that any Pakistan-based groups were involved in the attack. But
Indian officials maintain that they have strong evidence that links both groups, particularly Jaish-i-Muhammad, to the
incident.
Seeking to defuse tensions, Bush on Friday asked Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to shut down the two
groups. Pakistani officials said they would freeze Lashkar's assets -- a move taken against Jaish two months ago --
and consider other steps to restrict the organizations.
[On Monday, Musharraf said he would act against the two militant groups accused of the attacks on Parliament if
evidence was found to sustain the charges, the Reuters news agency reported.
["Yes, if we find evidence of it, we would like to move against them," he told reporters in the southern city of
Guangzhou as he neared the end of a five-day visit to China.]
The raid on Parliament was the second major attack in India since Oct. 1, when suicide bombers assaulted the
legislative assembly building in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, leaving 38 people dead. The two
strikes have led to an outpouring of anger here and seemingly widespread support for military action against alleged
Jaish and Lashkar training camps in Pakistani Kashmir.
Several senior Indian officials have talked publicly about sending troops across the border in "hot pursuit" of militants
and their training camps.
People "have not asked for war, but hot pursuit. What is wrong with that? It is legitimate under international law,"
India's home minister, L.K. Advani, said in an interview published in the Hindustan Times today.
But several military analysts and even some government officials have questioned India's ability to crush Jaish and
Lashkar by destroying their camps. "These are not forts," one official said. "They are just a tent and a shooting range in
most places."
Indian intelligence officials contend that many of the camps have been moved away from the border since the Sept. 11
attacks. And, they note, the headquarters of the two groups are in major Pakistani cities.
Are we going to go deep into Pakistan to attack these groups? said Afsir Karim, a retired army general. "It's not a
feasible proposition. It will lead to all-out war, and that is something we do not want."
Special correspondents Rama Lakshmi, and Kamran Khan in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
|
|
