Indian strategists want swift `surgical strike' at supply lines

Despite the Indian army's various successes in driving out Islamic mercenaries from its territory in northern Kashmir state over the past week, military planners are increasingly of the view that without a swift "surgical strike" across the line of control with Pakistan, the intruders' supply lines cannot be effectively sealed.

If this is not done, the strategically located infiltrators - which India claims are Pakistani soldiers and Islamic mercenaries - can play havoc on army assault teams and threaten the military highway that services Indian troops along the northern borders with Pakistan and China.

Pakistan denies India's allegations. It claims the intruders are local "freedom fighters" who have been waging decade-long civil war, in which over 20,000 people have died, for an Islamic homeland.

The Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has already told the country to prepare for war if that is what is required to resolve the month-long armed conflict following failed peace talks between the two foreign ministers on Sunday. Yesterday he turned down his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif's, request to prevent south Asia from "descending into chaos and conflagration".

Speaking over their "hotline", Mr Sharif stressed the need to "promote durable peace and security through dialogue".

"We will not rest in peace till the intruders are driven out," Mr Vajpyee said. He said India was ready for dialogue with Pakistan, but only after it withdrew its forces from Indian-administered Kashmir.

There is unanimity in Indian military circles that dislodging the intruders from commanding ridges in the Kargil, Drass and Batalik areas, between 15,000 and 17,000 feet high, will not only be a long, arduous and expensive affair, but one with an alarmingly high casualty rate running into hundreds of soldiers. Indian casualties since May 10th in Kashmir totalled 103 dead, 242 wounded and eight missing.

The unofficial death toll, however, is twice that number. Army spokesman Col Bikram Singh yesterday said 267 of the enemy had died.

With every hillock and ridge controlled by the intruders a virtual battlefield and a ratio of one fighting man to a backup contingent of around five to sustain him in the harsh, icy terrain, the enormity of the task the army faces if the Pakistani supply bases across the line of control remain functional is evident.

Military officers said all assaults by the Indian army had to be executed in the open, where any movement stands out against the snowy, white background. In addition to the formidable natural obstacles, Indian soldiers faced lethal fire from above from the intruders, obviously trained in mountain warfare and well protected behind huge rocks or cement and stone bunkers from artillery shelling and air strikes.

Analysts said that though India's military had amazing resilience it was debatable how long it could continue to bleed.

Meanwhile, thousands of people living along the 553km-long border with Pakistan in Punjab state, bordering Kashmir, began shifting their womenfolk and children and household articles to safer places.

Migration was also reported from the Jammu region in southern Kashmir where the army carried out unscheduled manoeuvres against a tentative Pakistani onslaught, causing panic. People ran out of their homes mistaking the unannounced exercises in Satwari for bombardment from across the border.

The rupee fell to its lowest level against the dollar in the past year yesterday.