December 15, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 16, 1429

WASHINGTON, Dec 14: The US media on Sunday questioned Pakistan’s version of the Indian air violations, pointing out that two violations happening at least 100 miles from each other could not have been inadvertent.

Also, one US news magazine reported that the Indian military is trying to convince decision-makers in New Delhi to authorise an aerial attack on Muridke, a Jamaatud Dawa base.

“The Pakistani government sought to play down the airspace violations as ‘inadvertent,’ but it did not elaborate on how two separate breaches so far away could be unintended and coincidental,” observed The New York Times.

The newspaper noted that one violation occurred over the portion of Azad Kashmir while the other happened at least 100 miles south, near Lahore.

The NYT pointed out that “both areas are strongholds of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaatud Dawa, the charity group shut down last week by the Pakistani government after the United Nations labelled it a front for Lashkar.”

The Washington Post noted that while the Pakistani government downplayed the significance of the air violations, Commodore Humayun Viqar, a spokesman for the Pakistan Air Force, said that the force would remain on alert to “thwart any aggression” from India.

Almost all major US media outlets reported the incident, pointing out that Pakistan scrambled its own jets to intercept the Indian fighters to chase them back across the border, adding that this was not a response to an accidental breach of air space.At least one report said that Pakistan declared emergency at its airbases after the violations.

Meanwhile, Weekly Standard, a right-leaning American opinion magazine close to the ruling Republican Party, reported in its latest issue that the Indian military establishment is trying to convince the decision-makers in the Congress government to attack Muridke.

The Indian military argued that an aerial attack on Muridke could be justified on the basis of the pattern of the ongoing drone attacks inside the Pakistani territory by Afghanistan-based US forces, which are targeting Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts, the report added.

The Indian government is being pursued by the military establishment to declare Muridke an enemy hideout [of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants] before targeting it,” the report said.