M A I N   N E W S

Mumbai Heat
Military option open: Kapoor

New Delhi, January 14
Once again upping the ante on the already charged atmosphere between India and Pakistan post 26/11, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor today said the military option against the neighbouring country was open even now.

Speaking to the press at his annual press conference on ‘Sena Diwas’, General Kapoor said if diplomatic and economic options failed to get the desired result from on the Mumbai attacks, India had kept the military option open.

Stressing that it was an open secret that the 26/11 Mumbai attackers had come from Pakistan, which led to massive tension building between the two countries. General Kapoor said: “We have kept all options open. If diplomatic and economic options fail, then war is the last resort.”

Accepting that Pakistan indeed shifted some of its troops from the Afghanistan border to the Indian border, the Army chief said all this had been taken into consideration while deciding the military option as the last one.

To a pointer whether the country had lost an opportunity to slam terror outfits in Pakistan in the wake of the atmosphere generated after the Mumbai attacks, General Kapoor said in any dispute use of force remained an option, but whether that has to be used or not would have to be decided by the political leadership. “But if all options fail and means exhaust, then war is certainly the last resort,” he said.

On the recent movement of special troops in the Pokharan and Mahajan ranges in Rajasthan, General Kapoor denied such steps were bolstering war hysteria and said not much should be construed in these “routine movements”. — UNI