US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Aziz will be told to leave LoC alone

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

India will not mince words in telling Pakistan that its devious attempts to alter the Line of Control in Islamabad's favour in Kargil will not be tolerated by New Delhi and that the Nawaz Sharif government will have to take full responsibility if the situation gets out of control, government officials indicated today.

According to officials in the Prime Minister's Office, a vocal section in the National Security Council has been furious over the attempt by the Pakistani government officials, including Foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz, to deliberately create confusion over the LoC in Kargil. This section is understood to have exhorted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to forcefully deter Pakistan from attempting to seize Indian territory.

It was pointed out that the prime minister, who presided over the National Security Council meeting yesterday, assured the members that all steps would be taken to defend Indian territory, which was why a major offensive had been undertaken to dislodge the Pakistani intruders from the Indian positions and expel them beyond the LoC in Kargil. However, the prime minister is understood to have stressed primarily on a peaceful dialogue with Pakistan to sort out the matter.

The ministry of external affairs, meanwhile, today informed the Pakistan high commission that India had proposed June 12 as the date for the Pakistani foreign minister's New Delhi visit for talks with the Indian authorities to de-escalate tension on the Kargil conflict.

It is learnt that in the interregnum, the MEA is sharpening India's strategy to counter the Pakistani propaganda regarding Islamabad's distorted viewpoint on the LoC in Kargil. It is understood that the Indian missions abroad are already engaged in proving with facts and figures that Pakistan is the aggressor on Indian territory and responsible for the Kargil conflict.

Senior officials in the MEA stressed that Pakistan had been intimated that the sole topic of discussion with Aziz would be the Kargil conflict. It was pointed out that New Delhi would not entertain any other topic of discussion during the Pakistan foreign minister's visit and Islamabad had been accordingly informed.

The officials maintained that Aziz would also be given a ''mouthful" on the way he had been going around telling foreign media that the LoC in Kargil is delineated on the map but not fully demarcated on the ground.

They said the Pakistan foreign minister would be told that this kind of disinformation would have an adverse effect on Indo-Pak relations.

The Kargil Crisis

Tell us what you think of this report