India steps up vigil along border

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, OCT. 21. India today said it was keeping a close vigil along the international border with Pakistan following media reports from Islamabad that the latter was conducting a major military exercise near the Rann of Kutch.

An Army spokesman said Pakistan has not officially informed India about the conduct of any exercise. ``The Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) has received no intimation from his Pakistani counterpart on undertaking any exercise along the borders.''

The DGMOs of the two countries talk to each other once a week, with the option of frequent conversations, if necessary. India and Pakistan, under an existing confidence-building accord, are expected to keep each other informed about any planned military exercise involving a division of around 10,000 troops or more. Pakistani news reports claimed that nine divisions have been mobilised for these manoeuvres.

Reports from Pakistan, quoting an army spokesman, however dismissed these reports as ``concocted.''

Nevertheless, highly-placed sources in the Government here see these news items as a deliberate attempt by the Pakistani establishment to draw international attention to South Asia and Kashmir at a time when world attention was riveted on the tensions in West Asia and its larger implications on the flow of oil and gas to the rest of the world.

The sources pointed out that Pakistan has also repositioned its defences in recent months. The Pakistani military establishment, they pointed out, was war-gaming the concept of ``limited war'' which revolved around testing the limits to which a conventional war with India could be fought without the conflict going nuclear.

Besides, Pakistan was also reshuffling its missile defences. For instance, its M-11 missiles were now being stored in Sargodha and Gujranwala. The Shaheen and the Ghauri missiles were being kept at Fatehganj and Jhelum for deployment around Rawalpindi and Peshawar. The short range Hatf-1 was being stored at Attock, with Kahuta as the area of deployment.

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