NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Indians are polarized along a left-right spectrum over their relations with Pakistan, with supporters of the rightwing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) canvassing for war and communists and centrist politicians counselling restraint as the way forward, opinions available on Thursday said. India’s ruling coalition itself, driven by a fractious BJP that ranges from the generally moderate Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to the hawkish Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani, appears for now to have settled for a less strident stance towards Pakistan and in fact introduced a considerably cautious element in it recently with a decision not to arm its battery of Prithvi missiles with nuclear warheads, a newspaper reported on Thursday. A key opinion poll which supported Vajpayee’s leadership by several percentage points over his nearest rival, the Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, also saw 37 per cent people advocating an attack on “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir/Pakistan” as the best way to deal with the neighbouring country. The next tranche of 19 per cent prescribed restraint including resumption of talks, while 16 per cent backed a diplomatic offensive, including the United Nations to settle the issue of terrorism.
The India Today-ORG-MARG poll was conducted among 17,522 eligible voters in 95 Lok Sabha constituencies across 16 states. Eight per cent people wanted the United States to intervene on India’s behalf and four per cent said India should “do nothing” in this matter, the poll said. Of those who wanted war as an option, 32 per cent said its objective should be to destroy terrorist camps and 21 per cent backed an all-out war, while 19 per cent said just “recover POK”.
The emphatically pro-BJP opinions reflected in the poll had to, however, contend with the reality of staunchly leftist resistance to the war hysteria both at the level of the middle classes and the more down to earth masses.
The Marxist Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, on Thursday warned New Delhi against going for a full-scale war with Pakistan, saying that would go against the economic interests of both the poor neighbours.
“We do not want war against any country. The military build-up in India and Pakistan is not favourable to both the nations. We would like to press for a diplomatic and political solution to the standoff,” Bhattacharya told a public rally in the northeastern city of Guwahati.
“We condemn terrorists outright, but we also regard America as a sponsor of terrorism. The way the US carried out its military action in Afghanistan is totally unacceptable,” he was quoted by net-based newspaper Today as saying.
Bhattacharya accused the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of whipping up a “war hysteria” on the Pakistan front ahead of the important Assembly elections in the large northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is trying to create tensions in the country and is going to the extent of creating a war hysteria on the eve of the Uttar Pradesh polls. This should not happen,” Bhattacharya said.
Communists are not the only groups to oppose a war with Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, an ally of Vajpayee’s government, has also warned against a war, saying it would only help the growth of terrorism in his state.
Talking to a reporter of the Times News Network in Guwahati, Abdullah said the fact that the Al Qaeda militants and Osama bin Laden were still at large and most likely taking shelter in Pakistan, any war between the two countries would give the organisation a free run in Pakistan which would not be in the interest of India or the world.
He said other militant organisations like Jaish-i-Mohammad and Lashkar-i-Taiba were also waiting for a war between India and Pakistan as this would take the heat off them, owing to Pakistan pressure on them. He said this should not be taken as softening of his attitude towards militants as his fight against militancy would continue.
Abdullah added that he was against demilitarization of border between the two countries. He said: “We must keep the pressure on Pakistan till we see positive results and graph of killings by Pakistan-sponsored militants coming down along with cross-border firing which is done by no one else but by Pakistan army troops.”
He said the change in tone of President Pervez Musharraf was being noted but he could only be trusted when there was positive result as required by the government of India and the world community.
The J&K Chief Minister was also hopeful that the political initiative taken by the Union Government against international terrorism including delegations of Members of Parliament to various countries would pay dividends in generating world opinion against militant organisations operating from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Pioneer newspaper reported on Thursday that the Indian government, faced with the possibility of a war with Pakistan, has directed the army to use Prithvi missile as “a last resort under utmost restraint”.
“This significant order, in the backdrop of the military build-up on the Indo-Pakistan border, came late last week after the Chiefs of Staff Committee sought clear directions from the government to meet the threat of battle-field ballistic missiles of Pakistan,” the newspaper said, quoting unnamed sources on Wednesday.
“Following the clear-cut guidelines from the government, the Army has directed the artillery, the main user of Prithvi missile, that use of such missile will be controlled and sanctioned by the Army Chief. The Chiefs of Staff Committee last week had sought directions from the government for the use of Prithvi missile in the eventuality of Pakistan using its short-range battle field ballistic missiles Hatf-I, II and III,” the paper said.
The operational commanders also briefed the government on three other important factors. They included the reaction of international community, enemy’s reaction and steps to be taken if enemy pre-empts and launches its missiles, sources said. The government, after studying all the implications, ordered the Services to use Prithvi only as a last resort and only if Pakistan launches its Hatf missiles.
The paper said the government also ordered that Prithvi missiles would only carry conventional warheads.
The Chiefs of Staff Committee also urged the government to have a dialogue with Pakistan, if and when it takes place, in two phases regarding battle-field ballistic missiles, the report said.
“Favouring a battle-field missile regime between the two countries, the committee suggested a composite dialogue at the diplomatic and political level. It should be followed by an interaction between the armed forces of the two countries at the technological and military level, the paper said.
The two countries have an agreement not to target each other’s nuclear facilities and assets besides India’s declared policy of no first use of nuclear weapons.