Army chief dismissive of Pak offer
Abandon terrorism: India
Tribune News Service and PTI

NEW DELHI, Oct 18 — The Army chief, Gen V.P. Malik, today said the announcement of Pakistan military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf to pull back his forces along the international border with India did not "amount to much" militarily.

"We should not read too much in this Pakistani announcement", he said during an interaction with editors of an agency here.

Asked how the Indian Army would respond to the "de-escalation" announcement by Gen Musharraf, the Army chief said "we shall assess the situation and our deployment on the basis of overall security situation along the international border as well as the Line of Control... Overall, we will assess the situation. We are not going by the international border alone."

Asked if the Army had been put on high alert after the coup in Pakistan, he said the armed forces were "vigilant".

"Movement of troops was sequel to Pakistan initiating war in Kargil. We were forced to take these necessary security measures and defeat Pakistani intrusion in Kargil. The real problem, I believe in the way of the Indo-Pakistan confidence building measures (CBMs), is the Pakistan army-sponsored terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. Kargil was linked to that".

Maintaining that post-Kargil, the proxy war had been intensified, General Malik referred to today’s media reports quoting so-called Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as having said "strenuous efforts are being made to promote the ideological integrity of Kashmir in PoK, making it the base camp for an independence movement in the real sense.

General Musharraf’s statement does not address such problems, he said.

Stating that there had been no military level contact between Pakistan and India since the military take-over, he, however, said there was no change in the routine weekly telephonic contact between the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) held on Tuesdays.

Asked if he foresaw any Pakistani military misadventure, he said "I think we should wait and see".

On measures to prevent Pakistani infiltration keeping in view the approaching winter, General Malik said there had been re-deployment of troops in the Kargil sector and certain surveillance measures in addition to manning of certain posts during winter months.

He denied any additional movement of Indian troops after the military take-over in Pakistan.

General Malik said India moved its formations as a consequence of the Kargil conflict initiated by Pakistan. "So the question is that you must read the whole thing how it happened,’’ he remarked

He said Pakistan had violated a decision taken in principle by the DGMOs of the two countries for pulling back troops one km from the LoC in the Kargil sector at a meeting held on July 10 to prevent firing at each other.

On the current situation in Kargil, he said "we are sitting eyeball-to-eyeball in many places on either side of the LoC."

A spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs today rejected Pakistan’s proposal for resumption of bilateral dialogue asking Islamabad to stop "cross-border terrorism" and abandon "hostile propaganda". In response to a question on Gen Pervez Musharraf’s offer of resumption of the Indo-Pak bilateral dialogue, the spokesman said while India "desires to build with them (Pakistan) ties of friendship and cooperation based on mutual trust and confidence", Islamabad "needs to create a proper environment".

Elaborating, the spokesman said:" In order to foster such an environment, it is imperative that Pakistan should cease its sponsorship of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India. Pakistan has pursued the sponsorship of terrorism in India as a matter of state policy and as yet we see no signs that this is abating".

"We will judge them by their actions in stopping cross-border terrorism and abandoning hostile propaganda", the spokesman said reiterating that it was "too early" for New Delhi to consider resumption of the stalled dialogue process with Pakistan or in fixing any time-frame for it.

The spokesman said that "India continues to wish the people of Pakistan well and desires to build with them ties of friendship and cooperation.."

With regard to General Musharraf’s announcement of the return of forces moved to the international border in the recent past, the spokesman said let us be clear about this withdrawal offer.

"The withdrawal is intended to be from the international border where Pakistani troops had massed during the Kargil operations. All that is going to happen is that Pakistani troops from these locations will now go back to their barracks. Attempts, however, at transgressing the LoC continue, of which Kargil was an extreme manifestation", the spokesman pointed out.

Reacting to General Musharraf’s comments on Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesman reiterated India’s position saying that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of the Indian union.

C’wealth suspends Pakistan

LONDON, Oct 18 (PTI) — The Commonwealth today recommended suspension of Pakistan from the organisation following last week’s military coup by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

"The Commonwealth ministerial action group unanimously condemned the unconstitutional overthrow of the democratically elected government of Pakistan and decided therefore that the Pakistan military regime should forthwith be suspended from the commonwealth," an official statement said.

The eight-member action group — the committee that monitors violation of democratic rule in the 54-member association — which held an emergency meeting here, also decided to sent a mission to Islamabad in the last week of this month to hold discussions with the Pakistan authorities for early restoration of civilian rule.