The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, January 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Detentions of ultras in Pak fake: BJP
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 2
Declaring Pakistan an “outlaw” internationally the BJP said today that the whole world knew that Islamabad was behind terrorist attacks on India for the past two decades.

Talking to newspersons, senior BJP leader Jagdish Prasad Mathur said while British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s forthcoming visit here was welcome, but the government must make clear to him and other world leaders that cosmetic steps taken by Islamabad would not lead to solution of the present crisis.

India did not wish ill of Pakistan but only wanted that Islamabad stopped its proxy war, Mr Mathur said, adding that mere arrests of some of the terrorist leaders like Maulana Masood Azhar was not sufficient as such type of detentions were “fake”.

Expressing hope that the Vajpayee government would continue to increase diplomatic pressure on Islamabad, the BJP leader made clear that the Centre should keep itself ready and prepare itself for all options, including a war against Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the party has been informed by the government that the SAARC summit meeting this week in Kathmandu was going to be very crucial for deciding the future course of action regarding the country’s policy towards Pakistan.

Indian officials in Kathmandu, sources said, have been very active behind the scenes for getting a strong resolution against terrorism in the region adopted by the SAARC leaders. Pakistan’s position and attitude in Kathmandu is going to play an important role in further evolution of India’s stand on issue of cross-border terrorism being sponsored by Pakistan.

If Islamabad is not prepared to come forward to address India’s real concerns on terrorism then it would get isolated in SAARC, which would provide a useful instrument for the Indian diplomacy in the world capitals, the BJP leaders have been told by the Prime Minister’s advisers.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security would be held immediately upon the return of Mr Vajpayee where the country’s future course of action would be decided, sources said adding that the country was keeping the gun powder dry.

The present strategy is to get Islamabad fall in line through diplomatic pressure, but if Pakistan continues to play hide and seek on the issue of terrorism and did not stop aiding and abetting cross-border terrorism then only India would launch a punitive action against its neighbour, a senior BJP leader said.

10 Pak soldiers killed
Enemy bunkers smashed
Tribune News Service and agencies

Indian Army men unroll barbed wire to repair a fence at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab on Wednesday.
— Reuters photo

Jammu, January 2
At least 10 Pakistani soldiers, were killed and 10 Pakistani bunkers were smashed when the Indian troops opened retaliatory firing across the Poonch and Nowshehra sectors today.

Defence Ministry sources said the Pakistani troops resorted to heavy mortar shelling and firing on the Indian border villages and posts on this side of Nowshehra in Rajouri and Poonch. There was no casualty on this side except that some houses were partially damaged in the Pakistani shelling.

The Indian troops retaliated using mortar guns and destroyed 10 Pakistani bunkers in which five Pakistani soldiers were killed and several were wounded.

An Army road opening party detected three powerful IEDs planted on the Rajouri-Poonch road. The troops defused the explosives before they could cause damage to the Army convoy.

Pakistan army’s mobile medical units were seen evacuating the injured personnel while Special Services Group (SSG) commandos were being deployed in the forward bunkers. The deployment of SSG personnel came in the wake of heavy casualties suffered by the regulars during the last 48 hours.

The cross-border firing was on when reports last came in.

GURDASPUR: One Pakistan Ranger was believed to have been killed in retaliatory fire by jawans of the BSF near the Simbal border out-post in the Dera Baba Nanak sector of the Punjab frontier on the night of Tuesday.

Official sources here said on Wednesday that the Rangers were allowed by the Indian side to remove the body of their colleague after they showed the white flag soon after the firing ended.