New Delhi, February 19
The Vajpayee government is in no mood to soften its stand vis-a-vis Pakistan and go for a military de-alert even though mobilisation and deployment of troops costs about Rs 40 crore a day.

On the contrary, the government has already put into high gear its coercive diplomacy by launching “Operation Trishul” yesterday in which the IAF started its exercises on the borders and the Army preparing for its own war manoeuvres very shortly, well placed sources.

Simultaneously, New Delhi is going to step up its diplomatic offensive on world powers to initiate action against Pakistan under Resolution 1373 for aiding and abetting international terrorism from its soil. The matter is being taken up with various countries, especially the USA.

The sources said the Air Force part of “Operation Trishul” started in the border areas yesterday in which some 50 fighter and transport aircraft of Western Air Command were participating. Fighters like Sukhois and Mirages are not participating in “Operation Trishul” and from the fighter category MiG Series aircraft like MiG-21s, 23s and 29s were used in the exercises.

Next phase of “Operation Trishul” would be when the Army also takes part in war manoeuvres, the sources said. Forward Deployed Formations (FDLs) of the Army would not be touched during these exercises and only the reserves are going to be used to conduct exercises.

The basic purpose of Operation Trishul is three-fold:

*To tone up the killer instinct of the troops and to ensure that this instinct is not affected by the changing weather.

* To beat the troops’ boredom as the troops mobilisation process started more than two months back.