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Sunday's CCS meeting will wrestle with cease-fire extension

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Protagonists and antagonists of the Kashmir cease-fire within the Cabinet Committee on Security are itching to fight it out in Sunday's crucial meeting, at which Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will decide whether to extend the truce further or not.

"Unlike the previous extensions (of the cease-fire), Vajpayeeji has a difficult decision at hand on Sunday (February 18). Two leading central ministers in the CCS are dead set against extending it in the wake of the continuing slayings in J&K by militants. With the recent massacre of the Sikhs in Jammu, some more ministers have joined those pressing for revoking the cease-fire. That makes the prime minister's decision all the more difficult," Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chamanlal Gupta told rediff.com.

He, however, declined to identify which central ministers are opposed to the ceasefire.

Gupta is not a member of the CCS. The central ministers in it are, apart from Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra, is also in the CCS in his capacity as the national security advisor. The three service chiefs and officials of the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of defence also attend its meetings, including the home secretary, Kamal Pande.

Advani, who has consistently advocated a pro-active policy against the militants and infiltrators, was against the first extension of the cease-fire on January 24.

At the CCS meeting on January 24, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh had made a strong plea for extending the cease-fire (till February 26), underscoring that the peace process initiated by the prime minister in J&K must continue as the international community had greatly appreciated it even while it highlighted Pakistan's negative role in the insurgency.

While Finance Minister Sinha pursued a middle path, Defence Minister Fernandes too wanted the extension, although he warned that the security forces deployed in J&K would have to step up their vigil.

However, according to a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office Fernandes is now against an extension of the cease-fire since he feels that the desired results are being eclipsed by the stepped-up violence by the militants and Pakistan's continuing intransigence on the peace process in the state.

With Advani and Fernandes now placed together in their opposition to any further extension of the cease-fire, Vajpayee has an apparently tricky proposition at hand.

However, National Security Advisor Mishra, as the PMO official underscored, was staunchly behind Singh in the latter's pro cease-fire stance, as was the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Padmanabhan. The latter has recently gone on record that the J&K cease-fire should be extended because their was 'relative peace and quiet' in the border areas and that the shelling and firing from the other side of the border had decreased significantly.

Following a recent meeting of the Union Cabinet, Mahajan told rediff.com that his conversation with the prime minister had convinced him that Vajpayee favoured an extension of the cease-fire 'because the world is taking note of Pakistan's doublespeak on Kashmir while our peace process is being widely lauded by the international peace-loving community'.

However, Mahajan on Saturday warned against speculating on which course the prime minister would take.

"Vajpayeeji knows best. Leave the decision to him, whatever he decides will be in the interests of the nation," Mahajan told rediff.com.

The PMO official emphasised that despite the cease-fire, the security forces were ready to repulse militant attacks with determination.

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