June 29, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1423

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NEW DELHI, June 28: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Friday ruled out going to war with Pakistan, but US Ambassador in New Delhi Robert Blackwill was quoted as saying that dangers of a conflict “still persist,” a view not dissimilar to that of Islamabad.

The issue of the obvious foreign pressure on New Delhi, something that is widely credited with recently averting an all- out war with its incalculable consequences, will be taken up for criticism by the rightwing Hindu revivalist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh at a two-day conclave beginning in Kurukshetra on Saturday.

The RSS is believed to regard western pressure on India vis-a- vis Pakistan and Kashmir as interference in the country’s internal affairs.

The conclave is also expected to focus on the future electoral strategy of its political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party, whose lacklustre performance has forced a major party overhaul, including a cabinet reshuffle scheduled for Monday.

Hostility with Pakistan and the Ayodhya temple row are expected to be the main options, forcing the Vajpayee government to choose between a greater communal upsurge or a continuing militarist agenda for the coming months, analysts said.

“There is no question of a war,” Vajpayee told the press in Lucknow. His statement follows what Defence Minister George Fernandes said in Delhi on June 14 that India could have launched a strike against Pakistan but “we were never at that point”.

Press Trust of India, quoting Blackwill, said the United States viewed the current India-Pakistan situation as “still dangerous”.

Blackwill said Washington would be cautious in relaxing travel warnings since the elements that threatened to escalate into a war “are still in place”.

“The tensions have certainly eased in the last few weeks...but the situation still remains dangerous,” Blackwill said.

“We are going to be cautious as we go forward on travel warnings,” he said on being asked when Washington would withdraw its warning asking Americans to defer travel to India.

Blackwill said the US was worried about the possibility of an Indo-Pakistan war in mid-June. “Even though the crisis has subsided to some degree, the structural elements that caused it are still in place.”

These include mobilization of the two armies on the borders, India making it clear that it would maintain the forces until after October elections in Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi still being concerned about “infiltration” which has gone down significantly and rhetoric remaining at a high level on both sides, he said.

Advocating a “step-by-step” process towards defusing tensions, the ambassador said there were many things that could be done on the diplomatic and military sides by the two countries.

“We would like India and Pakistan to get back into a dialogue on a variety of issues which they have to discuss, including Kashmir, as soon as possible. But a decision on this is up to the Indian government,” he said.

Separately, PTI said India had acquired the advanced Green Pine radars from Israel to bolster its defence, but no headway has been made on acquisition of spy satellites or anti-missile shield as these systems are still under development by Tel Aviv. It quoted Defence Secretary Yogendera Narain as saying on Friday: “After discussions for the past three to four years, we have acquired a Green Pine Radar,” Narain said, adding that the radar, which is mainly used in the role of Air-borne Warning and Control System when mounted on a flying platform, would be used for “advanced research”.

While confirming that an Israeli defence delegation had recently visited India, Narain, when asked to comment on media reports that New Delhi had requested Israel for Ofek spy satellite and Arrow anti-missile, said talks had not centred on these systems as they were not operational yet.

On the Israeli Phalcon AWACS project, the defence secretary said these were highly operational matters and could not be disclosed.

Narain said as part of moves to check “infiltration” across the Line of Control, the defence ministry had cleared purchase of all varieties of night vision devices in large numbers.

On the US offer of sale of advanced remote sensing Sensors for the purpose, Narain said New Delhi was trying to find the best available technology to monitor infiltrations.

Asserting that there would not be pullback of troops from the borders till October, Narain said some tactical re-deployment could take place.

He, however, said that military re-deployment could be in the form of holding of more combined exercises.