Roundup: Border Quiets, But Talks Between India, Pakistan Not Possible

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 20, 2002

Roundup: Border Quiets, But Talks Between India, Pakistan Not Possible

Amid signs of a significant reduction in tension in south Asia, the border between India and Pakistan has been quiet down in the past few days.

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Amid signs of a significant reduction in tension in south Asia, the border between India and Pakistan has been quiet down in the past few days.

A defense ministry official said Wednesday that shelling by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir had dropped by some 90 percent in the past two days.

But he noted that shelling continued overnight in the southern R.S. Pura and Nowshera sectors of the Line of Control (LoC). Therewere no casualties, he added.

Meanwhile, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes and Chief of the Army Staff S. Padmanabhan Wednesday spoke in one voice at aceremony about a "considerable" decline in infiltration from across the border.

"There has been a decline in trans-border terrorism", the Defense Minister stated while the Army Chief said there had been a"considerable" drop in infiltration.

This is the first time that the Army Chief has confirmed a decline in infiltration after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf gave an undertaking to the United States that he would put a permanent ban on cross-border terrorism.

Field commanders along the LoC last week stated that they had no indication that infiltration had stopped and it would take themat least three to six months to get "conclusive evidence."

However, Fernandes said that despite a drop in infiltration of militants, the army would remain on alert and be tasked with providing security across the Kashmir valley, including the LoC.

In an interview with a leading Hindu newspaper Monday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that there were signs the situation on the border had changed and that these were an outcomeof India's successful diplomatic campaign.

To underline that war is not imminent, the government has authorized armed forces personnel to take routine leave. It has also permitted the foreign visits of defense secretary Yogendra Narain and Air Force Chief S. Krishnaswamy. The former is leading a delegation to Italy and the latter is expected to travel to the U.S. on what is described as a "goodwill visit" beginning Saturday.

Senior officials said that while India is taking calibrated steps to ease the tension, it is clear that normalcy will not return till it is convinced that Pakistan has "permanently" ended infiltration.

To this end, India is willing to wait till the end of the "infiltration season" which are the months of July, August and September, they said.

Prime Minister Vajpayee clarified, "India will not accept any claim by Pakistan (that it has stopped infiltration) till the terrorists training camps are dismantled."

While the government says that there is no question of talks with Pakistan till infiltration is "permanently" ended, it is willing to see the possibility of military-to-military talks between India and Pakistan to aid the process, senior officials indicated.

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