India heightens vigilance along Pakistan border

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New Delhi, Jul 6: Pakistan’s confrontation with militants at Lal Masjid in Islamabad has made India heighten vigilance along the border areas.

According to sources, “With Pakistan struggling to end the face-off between the Musharraf government and militants holed up in Lal Masjid, which has left 19 dead, and alarmed with the increase in cross border infiltration, the government has decided to increase security measures along the border.”

Speaking to FE, Indian Army’s official spokesman Col SK Sakhuja said, “The Indian Army is well prepared to deal with any situation along the LoC.” According to him, the

situation is assessed on a day-to-day basis.

Defence secretary Shekhar Dutt, who was on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), will be submitting a comprehensive report to the defence minister AK Antony.

The defence secretary held meetings in J&K to assess whether the situation was right for “relocation and reconfiguration” of troops within the state.

The defence secretary heads a panel announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in March this year, to study the security situation in the state and assess if relocation and reconfiguration of troops can be carried out in the state.

The panel was formed after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a coalition partner in the Congress-led government in the state, demanded tro-

op reduction.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister had said, “Pakistan is seeing terrorism for the first time. Thinking people now have realised that fundamentalism is perverse and dangerous to society.”

India has been pointing fingers at Pakistan for aiding militants fighting New Delhi’s rule in J&K and launching attacks elsewhere across the country.

However, in a departure from years of acrimonious finger-pointing, India last year said Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism and formed a joint counter-terrorism panel as part of a peace process.

But that process had slowed down because Pakistan was “preoccupied”, Singh was quoted as saying. “The dialogue has slowed down, not because of us, but because of the situation in Pakistan,” he said.

Top home ministry officials of the two countries began two-day security talks in New Delhi on Tuesday but made little progress before they were cut short due to the trouble over the mosque in Islamabad.