June 20, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1423

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NEW DELHI, June 19: The Indian army, in a sign of easier days ahead on the border, may be deployed in strength for state elections in October in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir, senior officials said on Wednesday.

Their comments came after a string of high-level statements through interviews and news conferences officially acknowledged that “cross-border infiltration” in Kashmir had dropped substantially.

The comments also came amid suggestions that the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan were being authorized, therefore, to sort out the nitty-gritty of further easing the military standoff.

Defence Minister George Fernandes spoke in New Delhi of the need to keep the vigil intact on the borders until a degree of confidence was restored between the estranged neighbours.

But he also indicated that the burden of this round-the-clock watch would be shared by US-supplied electronic sensors offered by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and apparently accepted as a solution.

“So far as cross-border terrorism is concerned there has been considerable decline,” he told reporters.

On a query as to whether the deployment of troops in Jammu and Kashmir was linked to the elections due in October, Fernandes said: “There is no direct role for the army in J&K elections but troops will be deployed wherever there is a law and order problem, as is the norm.”

Army chief General S. Padmanabhan, accompanying Fernandes at a public function, said, “If there is a law and order situation army may step in.”

The deployment of ground sensors had been proposed recently by Rumsfeld as an effective means to monitor infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC). There were some “technical issues still to be sorted out,” Rumsfeld had said.

Fernandes ruled out any de-escalation of troops along the Indo- Pakistan border despite a “considerable decline in cross-border terrorism as well as infiltration as we have no confidence in our neighbour Pakistan.”

“Although there are positive indications emerging, the troops will remain deployed as the confidence and trust between the two countries is quite low,” he said.

The Indian defence minister further played down any immediate role for joint patrolling along the LoC, a proposal originally put forward by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. “It is still a long way off,” he said.

He said the military-to-military interaction between the two countries would be limited to the weekly telephone conversation between the DGMOs. He ruled out any further military talks between the two countries until “confidence is restored.”

In an analysis that appeared to stem from a briefing from the prime minister’s office, the Times of India said: “The Centre appears to be satisfied that Pakistan’s ‘guarantee’ to stop infiltration is working.”

Vajpayee said on Monday that the issue was not that of more or less trust in President Pervez Musharraf’s words, but that the ‘measured steps’ being taken were in tune with the country’s security requirements and the need to take the international community with India’ stance.

However, he said, there were signs the situation on the border had changed and that these were an outcome of India’s successful diplomatic campaign, even while it had been ready for war.

LEAVES, VISITS: To underline that war is not imminent, the government has authorised armed forces personnel to take routine leave. It has also permitted the foreign visits of defence secretary Yogendra Narain and Air Force chief S. Krishnaswamy. The former is leading a delegation to Italy and the latter is expected to travel to the US on what is described as a “goodwill visit” beginning Saturday.

Government officials were quoted as saying that while they were taking calibrated steps to ease the tension, they were clear that normalcy would not return till they were convinced that Pakistan had “permanently” ended infiltration.

To this end, they were willing to wait till the end of the “infiltration season” which are the months of July, August and September, the Times said.

In his interview, Vajpayee clarified that “India will not accept any claim by Pakistan (that it has stopped infiltration) till the terrorists’ training camps are dismantled.”

Speaking in an exclusive interview to The Indian Express, published on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said: “When the need arises, the two militaries can engage in dialogue through existing established channels so that the de-escalation process is properly handled.”

But even as New Delhi kept a watchful eye on infiltration across the Line of Control and the border, the minister pointed out, the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan could use their weekly Tuesday telephone calls to soon begin talks on the de-escalation process.

According to the Express, sources in New Delhi would not commit themselves to any time-frame on the next diplomatic-military moves, that includes seeking an “agreement” for India’s new high commissioner to Pakistan, Harsh Bhasin, but said it could happen over the next two-three weeks.

Despite his carefully placed prefix, the sources said, Singh’s statement was the first public acknowledgement that the de-escalation process between the two hostile neighbours was on the cards if Islamabad lived up to the “guarantees it has given” to Washington.

“The sources stressed that India would not withdraw its army from the border before the Kashmir elections in October, but steps that included pulling back to peacetime locations and de-alerting the air force could be done,” the Express said.