Posted on 14-4-2003
India
Mulls 'Pre-Emptive' Pakistan Strike
Agence France Presse,Friday 11 April 2003
JODHPUR, India - Defence Minister George Fernandes reiterated
Indian warnings that Pakistan was a prime case for pre-emptive
strikes.
"There are enough reasons to launch such strikes against
Pakistan, but I cannot make public statements on whatever action
that may be taken," Fernandes told a meeting of ex-soldiers
in this northern Indian desert city on Friday.
The renewed warning came just hours after US Secretary of State
Colin Powell said Washington would strive to cool tensions between
nuclear enemies Pakistan and India, who have fought three wars
since 1947.
Fernandes said he endorsed Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha's
recent comments that India had "a much better case to go
for pre-emptive action against Pakistan than the United States
has in Iraq."
Sinha also argued that Pakistan was "a fit case" for
US military action, because it had weapons of mass destruction
and terrorists.
Fernandes also rejected Pakistani allegations that India had
breached United Nations Security Council resolutions from 1948
to 1957 which call for a plebiscite among Kashmiris to choose
rule by India or Pakistan.
"Pakistan has a habit of lying and the issue of cross-border
terrorism is a serious issue," Fernandes said.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslim militants
in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge but says it offers moral
and political support to what it describes as Kashmiris' legitimate
struggle for self-expression.
Around 38,000 people have died in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority
state, since the launch of the armed insurgency by Islamic guerrillas
in 1989 in the Himalayan territory.
Pakistan and India both claim the scenic region, which is divided
between them by a ceasefire line known as the Line of Control,
with Pakistan controlling the northern part and India the south
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