New Delhi says rival aimed to wipe out leaders in attack
NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 19 — India’s army chief accused Pakistan on Wednesday of building up troops along the border and said India had responded in an “appropriate” manner.
HIS COMMENTS suggested there was little chance of an early easing in the tense standoff between the nuclear rivals over an attack on the Indian parliament last week, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist groups.
Islamabad has condemned the attack.
“There is a build-up on the other side,” the Indian army chief, Gen. S. Padmanabhan, told reporters at a business seminar. He did not specify precisely where on the border the buildup had taken place.
“They have moved in certain forces, certain forces which should have gone back have not gone back, and beyond that there is very little to say,” he said.
Asked whether India was also moving up troops, he said: “I have acted in whatever manner was appropriate for me to act.”
“We are a very confident army. We know our strengths. We know our objectives. We know precisely what we want to do. We are fully capable of looking after all these things,” he said.
TENSIONS HAVE ESCALATED
India and Pakistan, whose armies face each other along the Line of Control, a military cease-fire line dividing disputed Kashmir, frequently accuse each other of building up troops and regularly exchange fire across the disputed border.
But tensions have escalated after the attack on parliament in which 14 people died, including the five assailants.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was making a speech on the attack in parliament Wednesday where he was expected to shed some light on how India planned to respond.
PAKISTAN DENIES INVOLVEMENT
Islamabad has described India’s allegation that it was somehow involved in the attack as “preposterous.”
“We don’t really know what the Indian leaders have in mind. They are fueling a frenzy in their country, and as a result there is an apprehension the Indian government will resort to some adventure against Pakistan,” Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said Tuesday.
