Proxy War By Pakistan Will Be Crushed, Says Advani

The government yesterday said it was firm on quelling the proxy war unleashed by Pakistan and warned that any misadventure on its territory will be dealt with in a pro-active manner.

Terrorism will be and shall be crushed, without false pity, home minister L K Advani said reacting to Islamabads outburst on the decisions taken at a high-level meeting in New Delhi on militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. The New Delhi meeting held out no threats. But it did resolve to quell the proxy war Pakistan and its agencies have unleashed on the nation, he said.

Stating that the proxy war began with the defeat of Pakistan in the Bangladesh war, Advani wondered as to why Islamabad believes that the terrorists-for-hire shall prove any more successful that its soldiers were in 1971. The reason is that the Pakistani establishment has persisted with its ostrich-necked tactics for well over a quarter of century, absolutely refusing to recognise why Islamabads policies alienated the erstwhile East Pakistan, he said.

 

He said Pakistan is persisting in its copy-cat tactics as it foolishly believes that there is no difference between bands of imported mercenaries in J&K and the old mukti bahini.

Advani said the same complex of Islamabad is on exhibition again. The technological skills displayed by India at Pokhran were as much of a shock to Pakistan as our military prowess in 1971.

Stating that he had this in mind when he spoke of geo-strategic changes, Advani said one could not say how Pakistan shall react to Pokhran. It is entirely possible that they unable to match our skills in science may revert to extending terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley and elsewhere.

He said that up to now, Indias policy towards such provocations has been essentially reactive. At the meeting held three days back, it was decided that further misadventures on Indian territory would be dealt with in a pro-active manner.

Advani said the world knew the details of Pakistans Operation Topac, which was finalised in April, 1988. In the last eight years, in Kashmir alone, over 7,975 civilians have been killed.

The casualties for Indian security forces stood at 1,600. In total, 15,000 lives have been lost, and the number of injured, dispossessed and displaced is much more.