NEW DELHI, July 13 (Reuters) -
Watching vanquished Islamic
guerrillas retreat to Pakistan, India's
top general fears they will return as
Islamabad reverts to running a
``proxy war'' in Kashmir.
Chief of Army Staff General Ved
Prakash Malik said comments by
Pakistan's political leaders in the
wake of an ignominious withdrawal
from Kashmir suggested they will
again support Islamic militants
exporting a ``jihad,'' or holy war, to
Kashmir.
``Some of the statements which have
been made at the political level (by
Pakistan) are alarming because that
means they are going to encourage
more proxy war and that is indeed
dangerous,'' Malik told Reuters on
Tuesday.
Militants have sneaked into India's
side of Kashmir from Pakistan
throughout the 1990s intent on trying
to rekindle the popular uprising that
swept the country's only Moslem
majority state in the early years of the
decade.
But this was the first time they had
occupied a swathe of territory,
prompting India in May to launch
Operation Vijay, an air and ground
offensive, to expel the intruders.
Malik, 59, a veteran of two wars
with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971 and
a border war with China in 1962,
said in his first interview since the
flareup began that he never
considered using India's new found
nuclear option.
He was less confident that the
Pakistani side would act responsibly
with any nuclear weapons, but
believed they would also shy away
from making the ultimate escalation.
``There were some irrational
decisions taken on the other side, but
even then I never thought they would
be so irrational as to take such a
step.''
While Kashmir's frontiers, in
diplomatic speak, are returning to the
``status quo ante,'' it will be less easy
to rebuild any trust formed at the
Lahore Declaration signed by the
country's two prime ministers in
February.
``We thought there was a genuine
effort at Lahore when the two prime
ministers met, but even that has now
been neutralised.''
But the defeat of the guerrilla force,
which India said contained a heavy
contingent of Pakistan army regulars,
and Pakistan insists were Kashmiri
freedom fighters, means the worst
may be past, for now.
``All is not over yet. This is a delicate
period when you cannot afford to let
your guard down. Maybe the more
turbulent period is over,'' General
Malik said.
New Delhi has given the infiltrators
until the morning of July 16 to get out
of India completely, and the army for
the next few days will monitor the
withdrawal sector by sector.
There is no formal ceasefire, but
Indian troops will train guns on the
retreating guerrillas without pulling
the trigger, so long as they stick to a
schedule agreed with Pakistan's
generals.
General Malik will only declare
Operation Vijay successfully
completed when the last fighter is
expelled from Indian soil.
``The time limit that has been laid
down for withdrawal from the
Kaksar sector is over. We are in the
process of verifying now on the
ground that they have gone. They
have also started withdrawing from
Mushkhoh and that will go on until
the 14th.
General Malik said the bodies left
behind confirm the role played by the
Pakistani Army, primarily the
Northern Light Infantry, in the
occupation of the mountains on the
Indian side of the military Line of
Control.
``There is so much of evidence in
terms of dead bodies, in terms of
prisoners, documents they have left
behind, the weapons they have left
behind, the identity cards and letters.
These are littered all over the place.''
India says it lost nearly 400 men and
close to 600 were wounded in the
two months of bitter fighting in the
inhospitable Himalayan territory. It
put the number of dead on the
Pakistan side at almost 700.
Pakistan said more than 1,700 Indian
soldiers were killed while its own
dead and missing amounted to just
over 200.
Malik said the enemy had surprised
India's border patrols by executing a
commando style operation to secure
heights commanding a highway
linking the Kashmir valley to the
remote Ladakh region.
But he said the Pakistani strategy
was a gamble that appeared to lack
an end-game.
``I think it was a huge miscalculation.
I really don't know why they couldn't
see it through and through because
yes, they were able to surprise us in
the beginning, but they should have
been able to see beyond that, that
there was no chance of success.''
General Malik said he expected the
armed forces performance would
help win support for boosting the
defence budget, which has been kept
in check for the past few years.
``There is a need to spend more
money. There are some systemic
changes that are called for.''
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication and
redistribution of Reuters content is
expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters. Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon.
Watching vanquished Islamic
guerrillas retreat to Pakistan, India's
top general fears they will return as
Islamabad reverts to running a
``proxy war'' in Kashmir.
Chief of Army Staff General Ved
Prakash Malik said comments by
Pakistan's political leaders in the
wake of an ignominious withdrawal
from Kashmir suggested they will
again support Islamic militants
exporting a ``jihad,'' or holy war, to
Kashmir.
``Some of the statements which have
been made at the political level (by
Pakistan) are alarming because that
means they are going to encourage
more proxy war and that is indeed
dangerous,'' Malik told Reuters on
Tuesday.
Militants have sneaked into India's
side of Kashmir from Pakistan
throughout the 1990s intent on trying
to rekindle the popular uprising that
swept the country's only Moslem
majority state in the early years of the
decade.
But this was the first time they had
occupied a swathe of territory,
prompting India in May to launch
Operation Vijay, an air and ground
offensive, to expel the intruders.
Malik, 59, a veteran of two wars
with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971 and
a border war with China in 1962,
said in his first interview since the
flareup began that he never
considered using India's new found
nuclear option.
He was less confident that the
Pakistani side would act responsibly
with any nuclear weapons, but
believed they would also shy away
from making the ultimate escalation.
``There were some irrational
decisions taken on the other side, but
even then I never thought they would
be so irrational as to take such a
step.''
While Kashmir's frontiers, in
diplomatic speak, are returning to the
``status quo ante,'' it will be less easy
to rebuild any trust formed at the
Lahore Declaration signed by the
country's two prime ministers in
February.
``We thought there was a genuine
effort at Lahore when the two prime
ministers met, but even that has now
been neutralised.''
But the defeat of the guerrilla force,
which India said contained a heavy
contingent of Pakistan army regulars,
and Pakistan insists were Kashmiri
freedom fighters, means the worst
may be past, for now.
``All is not over yet. This is a delicate
period when you cannot afford to let
your guard down. Maybe the more
turbulent period is over,'' General
Malik said.
New Delhi has given the infiltrators
until the morning of July 16 to get out
of India completely, and the army for
the next few days will monitor the
withdrawal sector by sector.
There is no formal ceasefire, but
Indian troops will train guns on the
retreating guerrillas without pulling
the trigger, so long as they stick to a
schedule agreed with Pakistan's
generals.
General Malik will only declare
Operation Vijay successfully
completed when the last fighter is
expelled from Indian soil.
``The time limit that has been laid
down for withdrawal from the
Kaksar sector is over. We are in the
process of verifying now on the
ground that they have gone. They
have also started withdrawing from
Mushkhoh and that will go on until
the 14th.
General Malik said the bodies left
behind confirm the role played by the
Pakistani Army, primarily the
Northern Light Infantry, in the
occupation of the mountains on the
Indian side of the military Line of
Control.
``There is so much of evidence in
terms of dead bodies, in terms of
prisoners, documents they have left
behind, the weapons they have left
behind, the identity cards and letters.
These are littered all over the place.''
India says it lost nearly 400 men and
close to 600 were wounded in the
two months of bitter fighting in the
inhospitable Himalayan territory. It
put the number of dead on the
Pakistan side at almost 700.
Pakistan said more than 1,700 Indian
soldiers were killed while its own
dead and missing amounted to just
over 200.
Malik said the enemy had surprised
India's border patrols by executing a
commando style operation to secure
heights commanding a highway
linking the Kashmir valley to the
remote Ladakh region.
But he said the Pakistani strategy
was a gamble that appeared to lack
an end-game.
``I think it was a huge miscalculation.
I really don't know why they couldn't
see it through and through because
yes, they were able to surprise us in
the beginning, but they should have
been able to see beyond that, that
there was no chance of success.''
General Malik said he expected the
armed forces performance would
help win support for boosting the
defence budget, which has been kept
in check for the past few years.
``There is a need to spend more
money. There are some systemic
changes that are called for.''
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication and
redistribution of Reuters content is
expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters. Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon.
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