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It will be do or die as fighting climaxes: Lt General

Indian troops will face major opposition from the enemy as they carry forward the battle to evict the intruders from Kargil, warns Lieutenant General (retd) M M Lakhera.

He reckons that as they move closer to the Line of Control, Pakistani posts on the other side will be able to actively interfere with their movement, reports Asia Defence News International.

''Our lines of communication and maintenance will get extended and hence more vulnerable. Troops will also come within range of direct firing weapons deployed on these posts. Besides certain other weapons like infantry mortars, which were earlier not used because of their limited range, will also now be in range and effective. The intensity and volume of fire will increase very substantially. The flanks of the attacking troops will be vulnerable to interference by enemy troops deployed on their forward posts, since they would be in a position to move out from their location and attack the flanks of our troops. Besides, whereas our routes of maintenance would get extended that of the enemy would get shortened,'' says Lt Gen Lakhera.

To overcome these disadvantages India would have to deploy troops to secure its routes of maintenance. This would entail committing a larger number of troops, he says.

Also, attempts should be made to interfere with enemy reinforcements being moved forward. ''On the other hand our forward movement instead of being on easy going ridgelines which will make our troops vulnerable to enemy fire will have to be restricted to valleys and reverse slopes. It is evident that the operation would be slow and time consuming. This should really not worry us once we have eliminated enemy direct interference with military traffic on the Srinagar-Leh highway,'' says the lt general.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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