NEW DELHI, Dec 24: There were at least two distinctly contradictory claims in India on Monday about the real nature of its troop build-up along the borders with Pakistan.
One was the official statement whereby India said that the military movements along the border were part of its normal periodic deployment around there, which was being unfairly used by Islamabad to foment war fever.
“We are not contributing to the build-up of tension,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao told reporters. “From our side normal deployments take place from time to time. We reject the claim that we are building tension.”
The other view was the one put out by the Indian media. “As tensions between India and Pakistan build, the Indian army is taking up — what is being called — an offensive posture not only along the Line of Control (LoC) but also in Rajasthan,” said the Star TV’s Indian news channel.
It said three elite strike formations “the 1, 2 and 21 Corps — have started moving to locations along the border. These would be used for any attack deep into Pakistan.
“One of them has reportedly been relocated from Sukhna to the Jammu region,” the report said.
Major movements are also taking place in Rajasthan where the Army has hired civil transport to move its men and materials. The news channel was also reporting the troop movement on the Pakistani side, which “has advanced its troops and air force closer to the Sindh-Rajasthan and Punjab borders with India besides deploying the naval flotilla of frigates and submarines engaged in aggressive patrolling of the sea.” It quoted media reports for its source.
Another report said a strong retaliatory attack by New Delhi following the killing of its three border guards, Indian troops on Sunday night destroyed nearly 21 Pakistani bunkers besides inflicting considerable damage in Poonch and Samba areas along the Line of Control.
A TV news channel said Indian troops carried out engagements in Poonch sector and destroyed Pakistani bunkers abetting, supporting and harbouring terrorists, the official said. In Samba area also, the Indian troops launched offensive leading to destruction of more than two bunkers. Earlier, Pakistani Rangers had killed three Indian troopers of the border guard and injured three others of a patrolling party in an ambush in Samba sector.
In the middle of this claim and counter-claim within the Indian establishment, came one good news for the Indian war machinery. It came in the form of a commitment by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha that he would open the purse-strings for the army no matter what the cost to allow for the security of the nation. Sinha made the offer in a TV interview. He however admitted that the state of the economy was otherwise bleak.
Analysts said if there was a war, Sinha would have an easier passage with the budget due nine weeks from now. So far he has had a bad run of whatever promises he had made in his last budget. Neither his call for investments nor his plans for disinvestments have worked. But he will find a global alibi to lean on. The world is in recession. India will be no exception.
As tension remained high on the border, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee directed all central ministers to stay in the country. Talking to rediff.com news website, a Cabinet minister said the decision has been taken to enable the ministers to dash to New Delhi in case of any emergency.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who is holidaying in London, has also been asked to come back and will be in the country on Dec 28. Besides, the prime minister has also debarred most of the ministers — except the home minister, defence minister and the foreign minister — from speaking to the media about Kashmir, the report said.
In related remarks, the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Jana Krishnamurthy warned Pakistan on Monday that India would not be the first to use the nuclear weapon, “but if it is used against us by Pakistan, its existence itself would be wiped out of the world map,” he said in an interview to a private TV channel.
Also in a pointed snub to Pakistan, soon after recalling the High Commissioner from Islamabad, New Delhi appears to have effectively boycotted the Pakistani High Commissioner to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.
While this has not been formally enunciated as an official government policy, the fact that India was loathe to deal with Qazi was evident when the External Affairs Ministry on Monday morning chose to summon Qazi’s deputy at the Pakistan High Commission Jaleel Abbas Jeelani, rather than the High Commissioner to serve the order of deportation against High Commission staffer Mohammed Sharif Khan for ‘spying.’
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry clarified again that Vajpayee will travel to Kathmandu to attend the SAARC summit but he would not hold any talks on the sidelines with President Pervez Musharraf.