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Fernandes now turns to the US, tells it to lay off Indo-Pak problems

Defence Minister George Fernandes today asked the United States to abstain from mediating in the bilateral problems facing India and Pakistan as they need to be resolved by the two countries themselves.

Fernandes, addressing the media in Pune today, said India and Pakistan should discuss and resolve their problems themselves and not go by the initiative by the United States.

Fernandes pointed out that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been consistently emphasising on a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve their contentious issues. Any advice from anyone else as to what we should do is just gratuitous advice, Fernandes scoffed.

The defence minister was also sceptical about the leniency shown to Pakistan by the United States after the former's nuclear tests. The US has not imposed any major sanctions on Pakistan, Fernandes noted, while adding that the US was not playing the role expected of it.

Fernandes said India is and will remain a peace-loving country, but emphasised that any threat to its national security will be dealt with thoroughly without succumbing to pressures.

He said India has a history of being a peace-loving nation without any controversial past of nursing hegemonistic ambitions. He defended the recent nuclear tests, saying that they were conducted with the sole intention of the country's security, and pointed out that conducting N-tests and not going for weaponisation did not make any sense.

Fernandes was addressing the media at the passing-out ceremony of the the cadets of the 94th course of the National Defence Academy today.

He said so far India has been in the forefront in spreading its art, culture and religion in the world and also in participating in the various missions of the United Nations to maintain peace in other countries, but now the circumstances have changed and India has come under the baneful eyes of certain forces, he added without elaborating.

The smart turnout of the 1,058 cadets, who participated in today's parade, left the spectators delighted as they marched in perfect rhythm, unmindful of the puddles left by the overnight rains.

Passing out of the portals of the NDA today were 294 cadets, of whom 191 would join the Indian Military Academy, 35 would join the naval training ship 'Tir', and 68 would join the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad, for further specialised service training before being commissioned as officers into the three defence services.

Fernandes appealed to the cadets to be ready to shoulder newer responsibilities since the country is facing threats from quarters where it was least expected.

A fly-past by three Jaguars and three MiG-29s marked the culmination of the parade. But what captivated every one was the aerobatics show put up by the Suryakiran team.

Asked about his despatching three bureaucrats to the inclement Siachen area, Fernandes said during his visit to the area, he encountered soldiers trudging painfully in the snow. The defence minister also saw a few snow mobiles which prompted him to ask the army authorities as to why those gadgets were not used more often to ease the difficulties of the soldiers. Simply because we do not have them in adequate numbers, pat came the reply.

Returning to New Delhi, Fernandes opened up some closed files and discovered that the demand for the snow mobiles had been placed by the army authorities before the civilian officialdom over a year back.

But, after receiving the demand, the usual ''stupid'' questions were raised. Are snow mobiles really needed, officialdom had wanted to know. And, so, the matter rested there, with the soldiers continuing to trudge with 35-kilogram packs on their backs without the use of the snow mobiles.

''Our boys are dying there and officialdom has absolutely no idea of the ground realities,'' Fernandes rued. The defence minister has, subsequently, asked a few officials, responsible for the delay in the despatch of snow mobiles, to proceed to Siachen glacier as a punishment and also to familiarise themselves with the hardships of the soldiers.

UNI

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