Pakistan military ruler is bad news for India: army chief
NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (The new military regime in Pakistan provides a no-win scenario for New Delhi, Indian army chief General V.P. Malik said in comments published Saturday.
Malik said circumstances would force his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf, who ousted Nawaz Sharif's government last month and declared himself chief executive, to further strain relations with arch rival India.
"The present ruler of Pakistan is facing a problem of legitimacy both at home and abroad," the Indian Express daily quoted Malik as saying.
And in order to gain that legitimacy, Musharraf has to revive the economy and redeem the honour of the military, he said in a military lecture on Friday.
"If he fails, then frustration would set in and it could manifest itself in something not good for us.
"And if he succeeds, they could get over-confident and then again this could manifest itself in something not good for us," Malik said in his lecture on the May-July conflict between Indian troops and Pakistan-backed guerrillas in the Kargil sector of disputed Kashmir.
The general also said the change of guard in Islamabad had united various Islamic militant groups in Pakistan with the military.
"More than collusion and nexus, now there is a fusion between the army and mujahedeen (freedom fighters) in Pakistan and this is apparent in post-Kargil proxy war scenario," he said.
The Indian army chief also said New Delhi was concerned by mushrooming Islamic religious schools in Pakistan.
"As long as they remain institutions of learning, there is no problem. But they are becoming schools of military and weapons training, sectarian hatred and breeding grounds of terrorism," Malik said.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslim separatists in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge, but gives moral support to the insurgency which has killed more than 25,000 in the Himalayan territory since 1989.
India and Pakistan, which successfully tested nuclear weapons in May last year, have fought three wars since independence in 1947 -- two of them over Kashmir.
NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (The new military regime in Pakistan provides a no-win scenario for New Delhi, Indian army chief General V.P. Malik said in comments published Saturday.
Malik said circumstances would force his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf, who ousted Nawaz Sharif's government last month and declared himself chief executive, to further strain relations with arch rival India.
"The present ruler of Pakistan is facing a problem of legitimacy both at home and abroad," the Indian Express daily quoted Malik as saying.
And in order to gain that legitimacy, Musharraf has to revive the economy and redeem the honour of the military, he said in a military lecture on Friday.
"If he fails, then frustration would set in and it could manifest itself in something not good for us.
"And if he succeeds, they could get over-confident and then again this could manifest itself in something not good for us," Malik said in his lecture on the May-July conflict between Indian troops and Pakistan-backed guerrillas in the Kargil sector of disputed Kashmir.
The general also said the change of guard in Islamabad had united various Islamic militant groups in Pakistan with the military.
"More than collusion and nexus, now there is a fusion between the army and mujahedeen (freedom fighters) in Pakistan and this is apparent in post-Kargil proxy war scenario," he said.
The Indian army chief also said New Delhi was concerned by mushrooming Islamic religious schools in Pakistan.
"As long as they remain institutions of learning, there is no problem. But they are becoming schools of military and weapons training, sectarian hatred and breeding grounds of terrorism," Malik said.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslim separatists in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge, but gives moral support to the insurgency which has killed more than 25,000 in the Himalayan territory since 1989.
India and Pakistan, which successfully tested nuclear weapons in May last year, have fought three wars since independence in 1947 -- two of them over Kashmir.
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