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THE NATION: KASHMIR
'Retaliating With Effect'
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INCREASED
VIGIL: Troops at their positions along the Line of Control; (below)
repair work on a mine-hit truck
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However, Union Minister
of State for Home I.D. Swamy spurns reports that the impasse at Agra fuelled
jehadi fire and hostilities along the Indo-Pakistan border. "In fact
the jehadi operations and firing along the international border and the
loc never stopped," asserts Swamy.
In a bid to ensure that killings like the ones
in Doda and Sheshnag are not repeated, the army has chalked out a strategy
to tackle cross-LoC firing and infiltration. Sources say that the Indian
commanders have been instructed to "retaliate with effect" to
any Pakistani firing on the LoC and the depth areas. The message is to
punish with pinpoint accuracy so that the adversary feels the heat. The
instructions to Indian artillery are to reply in the same sector to avoid
"horizontal" escalation along the LoC. The army is keen to get
its response just right. Lt-General Arjun Ray, corps-commander of the
Leh based 14 Corps that guards the Kargil sector, says he did not order
his troops to counter the latest "unprovoked Pakistani shelling".
Ray says Pakistan's aim is to turn these sectors into warzones to invite
international attention.
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The
army is calling for a tougher line and wants clearance to hit back
hard.
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The Indian Army expects a calibrated increase
in infiltration across the LoC as "unbridled intrusion" would
be a retrograde step for any future Indo-Pak dialogue. Indian commanders
have been told to closely monitor 10 km on both sides of the loc using
human as well as electronic intelligence. This means that traditional
infiltration routes will come under the magnifying glass and the jehadis
will be targeted before they enter Indian territory.
The drive to beef up surveillance equipment
after the Kargil war has helped. The Indian Army has been able to obtain
high-resolution images of Pakistani positions along the loc through flights
of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and reconnaissance aircraft in the
area south of Pir Panjal. But there are still stretches from the north
of Mushkoh Valley to the Siachen sector where local commanders have only
low resolution satellite images. They have to use higher resolution hand-held
thermal imagers and battlefield surveillance radars for the complete picture.
Even with these state-of-the-art devices, its is difficult to pick up
the infiltrators in this daunting mountain terrain. The internal assessment
is that Pakistan will try to engage Indian positions in such sectors.
The Indian Army is concerned by the possible
escalation. Last week General S. Padmanabhan, chief of army staff, briefed
Defence Minister Jaswant Singh on the various scenarios. The army is keen
on pursuing a much tougher line and wants tolerance levels to be lowered.
But for the moment the Government does not want to go proactive and escalate
the violence. It prefers the calibrated approach. With Pakistan President
General Musharraf calling the jehadis "freedom fighters" and
pledging "moral and political" support to them, the Indian security
forces are prepared for a long haul. For them peace will continue to be
a victim in Kashmir till the question of cross-border terrorism is resolved.
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