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India to continue PR war against Pakistan

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Pakistan's commitment to withdraw troops from the Kargil sector will not prevent India from apprising the international community of Islamabad's devious plan to continue sending Islamic mercenaries to Kashmir.

Top officials in the ministry of external affairs said New Delhi is preparing to focus the world's attention on Afghan Ambassador to the United Kingdom Wali Masood's recent statement.

Masood had said what was happening in Kargil today was what had unravelled in Afghanistan in the last seven years. He had underscored that it was Pakistan's military that had come into Afghanistan under the label of the Taliban, and that the same card was being played in Kargil.

Sources said the MEA would be making a special mention of the ambassador's warning that cross-border in Kashmir "was not going to end with the Pakistani troop withdrawal in Kargil."

Intelligence reports from Kabul and Islamabad indicate that Pakistani military has 8,000 to 10,000 mercenaries and army regulars ready for a fresh summer offensive in Afghanistan. This is likely to spill over into Kashmir, officials said.

Significantly, the opposition in Afghanistan like the Jamait-I-Islami, Hezb-I-Wahadat, Ismaili forces and Uzbek groups have termed the Pakistani intrusion in Kashmir as part of the ISI's hidden agenda

The officials said the Afghan ambassador in London is also understood to have highlighted that three months ago, the Taliban, the ISI and Saudi terrorists met in Kabul to advocate simultaneous intensification of attacks on India and Afghanistan.

It is learnt that the Afghan ambassador had already written to US President Bill Clinton about Pakistan's designs in Afghanistan and Kashmir. New Delhi plans to utilise this to buttress its claim that Pakistan is not a responsible state.

Meanwhile, ministry of defence personnel have pointed out that publicity material and documents recovered from the Batalik and Drass sectors show the ISI's plan to foster cross-border terrorism. These documents highlight the preliminary indoctrination of recruits to the cause of the Mujahideen.

The MOD personnel said the brief curriculum include introduction to AK-47 rifles, Chinese pistols, rocket launchers, light machine gun, explosives and the art of ambush with minimum firing practice.

According to them, ISI experts also give the recruits training in concealment, camouflage, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. Sabotage and subversive activities are usually taught to promising candidates.

The Kargil Crisis

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