ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

'No change in Kashmir situation' despite bus diplomacy, army's 'summer offensive soon'

Bashir Ahmad Soffi in Srinagar

The bus diplomacy between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief has not changed the ground reality in the Kashmir valley and on the Line of Actual Control.

Disclosing this, Lieutenant General Krishan Pal told the media that the army would launch a major 'summer offensive' against the militants and Pakistan infiltrators within a fortnight.

After the 'bus diplomacy' between the two countries, ''I see no change in the overall situation in the valley, and on the Line of Actual Control and Siachen''.

''Pakistan is still making desperate attempts to capture some of our strategic posts in Siachen glacier,'' he said. ''Efforts to send trained and well-equipped militants still continue. Across-the-border shelling on Indian positions including civilians has not ceased.''

Shelling from across the border in Kargil, Uri and other sectors is still going on, he disclosed.

''We have information that about 450 militants, 48 per cent of whom are foreigners, are waiting across the border to sneak into our side once the snow on the infiltrating routes melts,'' he said.

''Within a fortnight our soldiers will be deployed on the upper reaches so that our presence is felt even before the snow starts melting there.

''Even after the bus journey, Pakistan is giving cover to infiltrators and shelling our positions,'' he said, adding that the army is capable of facing threats from any quarter.

''In the firing in border areas, Pakistani troops have suffered five times more casualties then us,'' he said, adding that information about Pakistan casualties come in from radio interceptions and reports of intelligence agencies including the Research and Analysis Wing and the Intelligence Bureau.

Intensified operations against the militants in the valley, particularly in the rural areas, has proved very successful this winter, he said. During February and March alone, troops killed 87 militants, and a majority of them were foreigners, he added.

''The overall situation in the valley is much better than what is being projected in the media,'' he opined. ''There are fewer militant attacks now.''

On the recent militant attack on the deputy inspector general of police on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway, he said the attack took place because the Road Opening Party of the security forces was withdrawn from the area at 1800 hours that day.

It has been decided to deploy more forces and conduct joint patrolling along with other forces on the highway, he said. ''For every nine militants killed, we lose one soldier,'' he added.

The people are now fully cooperating with the security forces and at some places people have been providing information about the militants and their hideouts, he said.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report